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The juxtaposition of highland valleys, basins, and plateaus with lowland regions with markedly different environments and natural resources created the potential for significant movement of natural resources between starkly different environments (Sanders and Price 1968). Mesoamerica’s highlands and lowlands contrast in the distribution of a wide array of natural resources.

Marked wet and dry seasons affect the highlands and lowlands differently and create varying conditions within each zone. Seasonal rainstorms move in across the coast, shedding most of their moisture where they first cross the drier, hotter land surface. Annual rainfall decreases from east to west across the Maya lowlands and Gulf Coast of Mexico. Along the Pacific Coast, rainfall drops off sharply from the coast to the steep edge of the mountains. Heavier rainfall allowed the development of wet tropical forest in the southern Maya lowlands, eastern Yucatan peninsula, and Gulf Coast of Mexico and in places along the coastal strip of the Pacific lowlands. Here, high canopies formed by tall trees screen the ground surface, so little undergrowth develops. In these tropical forests, a high number of plant and animal species are found, scattered over the area so that in any area there is a low number of individuals of each species. The ceiba tree and native fruit trees such as nance, sapote, and avocado grow in wet tropical forests.

In contrast, in western Yucatan, the Motagua river valley, and dry upland basins with less rainfall, dry tropical forests develop, still characterized by high species diversity. Dry plant communities include distinctive species, like nopal cactus and maguey. In the highest mountain ranges, tropical forests give way to upland pine forests. These are the home of the quetzal bird, prized for its long green tail feathers, and of unique plants such as the bromeliads that grow clinging to the branches of trees.

The volcanic mountains that parallel the Pacific Coast include a series of obsidian flows used at different times by different groups within Mesoamerica. Guinope and La Esperanza in Honduras, Ixtepeque, El Chayal, and San Martin Jilotepeque in Guatemala, Tepeapulco, Pachuca, and Zinapecuaro in Mexico were all heavily exploited by Mesoamerican people, and the material and tools produced were traded over long distances. Other rock formations produced a variety of green stones worked into ritual implements and costume ornaments. Major serpentine resources are known in west Mexico and the upper Motagua valley in Guatemala, which is also the sole confirmed source of jade consumed throughout eastern and western Mesoamerica (Lange 1993).

The lowlands have fewer mineral resources. In some areas, locally available chert and limestone were exploited in place of obsidian and volcanic rocks. But lowland peoples also obtained minerals from the highlands through exchange for more perishable lowland resources. Precious substances employed in important Mesoamerican practices, such as cacao, and bird feathers used for costume, were products of the lowland tropical forests. Deer, tapir, peccary, jaguar, monkey, and crocodile, animals abundant in the wet tropical forests, were also exchanged with highland societies. Access to the coast provided lowland peoples with marine resources, including shells, stingray spines, and salt. The movement of local resources back and forth between highlands and lowlands and within each zone enabled practices through which diverse societies were integrated into a single Mesoamerican world, a network of communities of practice.