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TradeAncient Mesoamerica’s communities developed partly because of trade, just like Liverpool in the past. In fact, although they were long thought of as being isolated by geography and cultural barriers, Mesoamerican societies were closely linked by trade. From earliest times until long after the Spanish invasion, traders held a central place in life, much like that of merchants in our society until not long ago. Over short distances trade would have included some basic foodstuffs as well as pottery clays, minerals, and anything else that was abundant in one place and scarce in another. Pots with decoration that marked them as a specific community’s products were among the favourites. There were no beasts of burden, so people carried the goods on their backs - probably in packs supported by a forehead strap, as they still do in some places today. People traded over longer distances too, sometimes as much as 1500 km, by going from town to town. This sometimes involved trading parties walking for weeks, carrying raw materials and finished products, some with special religious significance. Among the precious goods traded out of southern Guatemala from early times onwards were jade for royal ornaments and obsidian for razor-sharp cutting tools. Later, rarities in bronze and gold such as bells, tweezers, and decorated pins were transported from sources in western, central, and southern Mexico to elites in the farthest reaches of Mesoamerica. If we were able to walk the streets of the ancient communities today, we would surely find their bustle and the variety of goods in vendor’s stalls very like those of 18th and 19th-century Liverpool. In this section
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