Mesoamerica is one of the six or seven areas of the world where independent domestication of plants and animals led to the emergence of food production, and subsequently civilisation (Bellwood 2005; Smith 1998). It was once considered to have lagged behind other regions of the world in agricultural origins, but evidence now places the beginnings of food production soon after the onset of Holocene conditions. Similarly, the origins of urbanism and state formation are now placed much earlier than would have been the case a decade ago. Once thought to be hallmarks of the Classic Period (250–900 ce), both urban settlements and state-level polities are now well attested before the end of the 1st millennium bce.

The time of first domestication and the development of social complexity are called the Archaic and Formative periods. The Archaic begins with the onset of Holocene conditions about 10,000 years ago and continued up to the time of the adoption of pottery, c. 2000 bce. The Formative Period (also called the Preclassic) succeeds the Archaic and ends at 250 ce. The criteria for defining both periods have shifted in recent times, and the divisions have become blurred. It was once thought that the joint appearance of agriculture, sedentism and pottery defined the beginning of the Formative, but earlier placement of first domestication and sedentism leaves early pottery as the sole criterion. The end of the Formative Period is also very arbitrarily placed at 250 ce, as many traits previously used to define the succeeding Classic Period, including writing, calendrics and urbanism, were well attested in the Late Formative (400 bce to 250 ce).