The ancient settlement of Izapa, Chiapas, Mexico, established and maintained one of the earliest and longest-lived periods of civic-ceremonial and urban development known anywhere in Mesoamerica. Established in the Early Preclassic (c. 2000-900 b.c.e.), or the period identified with the Formative era of Mesoamerican urban cultures, the site reached its zenith of construction, monumental elaboration, and pan-Mesoamerican influence by the Late Preclassic (c. 300 b.c.e. to 250 c.e.). The Izapan artistic tradition—marked by very elaborately carved bas-relief panels and a stela-altar complex (an altar placed before a stela carved with scenes from mythological narratives)—in turn peaked at 150 b.c.e. Despite this extraordinary period of urban development, culminating with the construction of some eighty platform mounds, the site remained viable and active in agricultural and commercial pursuits well into that period associated with the rise of the Mexica Aztec state c. 1400 c.e. Throughout the course of its history, Izapa and the civilization of which it was a part remained vigorous as the direct result of its near-total monopoly of the Soconusco and Pacific coastal Guatemalan cacao trade. Positioned as it was near the Pacific coastal piedmont, Izapa apparently drew its wealth, and thereby its cultural and commercial longevity, from its role as both intermediary and source for the exchange of the highly valued cacao plant and its byproduct, chocolate.
