gems, jade, jadeite, fei cui, Guatemala, Mesoamerica, Maya, Mayan jade, Mexico, history, Costa Rica, Honduras, archaeogemology

The preceding chapters presented analytical data concerning the mineralogical and chemical variation found in jadeitite and jadeitic artifacts, as well as documentation of the wide variety of raw materials employed in the prehistoric lapidary arts of Mesoamerica and Central America. However, the central issues surrounding the number and location of the source or sources for many carved artifacts remain unresolved. One interpretation, the single-source hypothesis, is based on mineralogical observations and plate tectonic theory. George Harlow argues for the existence of a single source located in the Motagua Valley, proposing that this source supplied the raw material for all jadeitic artifacts found in central Mexico, the Maya region, and lower Central America. An opposing interpretation, treated here as the multiple-source hypothesis, combines chemical data with structural characterization and suggests that the observed differences among compositional and structural groups of jadeitite source materials and artifacts are sufficient to reject the idea that a single source in the Motagua Valley fulfilled the procurement needs of pre-Columbian populations. Mineralogical research by Michael Hauff also tends to refute the single-source theory.