scrapers were used to depulp the leaves of the agave plant,
especially the henequen variety, to produce rope and twine.
Tobacco was another locally produced commodity that was
valued both within and outside the Mayan region. Unlike
in modern times, however, the tobacco was not cut and pro-
cessed for mass consumption; instead, acting as a hallucino-
gen in its purest form, tobacco was smoked in cigars or in
pipes during religious ceremonies and perhaps also served
medicinal purposes. Th e tobacco smoke, like incense, may
have also been deemed “food” fi t for consumption by super-
natural beings.
Th e extensive and accessible coasts of the Caribbean Sea
and the Gulf of Mexico provided basic sustenance as well as
export resources. Fishing communities near the coast used
nets fi tted with ceramic weights to collect lobsters, shrimp,
and shellfi sh, while other fi sh were caught using nets and
bone hooks. Given the abundance of marine life relative to
the size of the coastal population, coastal Mayans were able
to salt excesses, preserving them for as long as several years,
and occasionally trade them inland. At a burial site at La-
manai, fewer than 50 miles from the coast, archaeologists
determined from the skeletal remains of an elite couple that
only the male had eaten seafood, such that it must have been
considered a delicacy.
Th e salt that was used to preserve fi sh was also derived
from the sea. One settlement, Komchén, at the northwestern
tip of the Yucatán, evidently existed almost solely to facilitate
the production and exportation of salt. Other sites through-
out the peninsula’s northern fl ats produced the most highly
coveted salt in Mesoamerica; dubbed “white salt,” it was val-
ued enough to be shipped to the elite in the central Mexican
highlands. Along the coast, seawater was collected in shallow
pans, from which it evaporated under the tropical sun, leav-
ing masses of salt behind. Elsewhere, including on the coast
of the Pacifi c and at certain springs in the highlands, saltwa-
ter had to be boiled.
Honey was another valued commodity throughout Meso-
america, especially because no other purely sweet substances
were locally available. Th e Yucatán produced substantial
quantities of honey, with its importance refl ected in the fact
that throughout the region a divine being in the form of a bee
was worshipped. Hives were provided for the small, stingless
bees located there in the form of tree trunks that were hol-
lowed and fi lled in at the ends, with small holes drilled into
the sides to allow the bees entry.
Th e intensifi cation of agricultural production and the
rise of export trade allowed the population density in given
areas to increase. Th is in turn fostered the rise of large urban
and ceremonial centers, where an artisanal class depended on
the production of coveted goods that further fueled the trade
economy. Th ese artisans included painters, whose primary
medium was ceramics; weavers, who employed both cotton
and hemp; and sculptors, who worked with either stone or
jade. Many of these high-quality goods were given to lead-
ers in the form of tribute, while others were deemed valuable
enough to be traded over longer distances than more com-
monly available commercial goods.
While the ruling classes maintained much of the ad-
ministrative control over trade, middle-class merchants were
responsible for most of the actual exchanges of goods and
currency. Merchants conducted business at marketplaces in
their home cities. Markets were likely set up in large plazas
and other open spaces. Any structures that served as market-
place shelters were constructed of materials that would not
have left behind any traces over t he centuries, such as wooden
poles and thatch.
In eff ect, trade heightened the power and prestige of the
Mayan elite. In fact, whereas the ruling classes of the Olmec
evolved primarily through spiritual and religious dominion,
the royal families at the heads of Mayan cities likely attained
their power by amassing and controlling wealth. Accordingly,
the cities stationed on trade routes fl ourished as goods and
wealth passed along those routes; when trade routes shift ed,
cities suddenly prospered or faded into regional irrelevance.
Th e rarest and most exotic goods, such as feathers, shells, and
the most elaborate garments, seem to have belonged to and
been buried with noble families alone, indicating that laws
may have banned the possession of such items by common-
ers. Likewise, only the elite would have consumed certain
foodstuff s, like drinks produced with cacao beans; indeed,
peasants likely would have been disinclined literally to drink
what money they might have had.
Currency, which emerged at an unknown time, facili-
tated the exchange of goods. A trader bearing goods was
no longer obligated to seek out trading partners who both
wanted his goods and possessed goods that he desired. In
both Central and South America, cacao beans emerged as an
important form of currency. As no hieroglyphic records of
fi nancial transactions survive, details regarding the value of
cacao beans are available only for the time of Spanish con-
quest in the 16th century. Th e market value of the beans may
have simply been determined on a day-to-day basis by those
engaged in trade. Counterfeiting did occasionally take place,
with the fl esh of the beans removed from the pod and re-
placed with soil or the rinds of avocados.
Th rough ancient times, certain trade routes rose and di-
minished in importance. With no dominant political center,
haphazard and complex trade networks developed along the
coasts and rivers of Central America. Good were distributed
from the primary cities to the larger towns, then from the
larger towns to the smaller towns, and so forth. Meanwhile,
canoe trade routes to the north, particularly along the coast
of the Yucatán, seem to have prospered throughout ancient
times, spurred by the north–south salt trade. Trade was
conducted both within the Mayan region, particularly with
respect to perishable, bulky foodstuff s, and between the Ma-
yans and neighboring cultures, especially the city of Teoti-
huacán, in south-central Mexico. Trading was carried out
with South America via the Gulf of Ecuador, which provided
both sheltered harbor and a center of exchange between the374 economy: The Americas