The sourcing of ceramics contributes to resolve questions about the nature of interactions between ancient societies. One such question concerns the primacy of the Olmec center of San Lorenzo in the development of the first unified iconographic style and its role in the early evolution of Mesoamerican civilization. Applying a combination of the isotopic systems of lead and strontium to a selection of ceramics dating to Early Formative period (1500-1000 BCE), this research evaluates the isotopic approach as an independent tool to address previously debated questions. The results demonstrate the capacity of isotopic analyses to discriminate between production centers, identify imports, relate unassigned samples to their production center and ceramics to raw material, and produce insights into production strategies (ceramics used locally versus exports). It subsequently shows how this approach can help solving existing hypotheses relying on ceramic provenance in the Early Formative period in Ancient Mexico. The findings discussed in this study more largely demonstrate that the isotopic approach constitutes a powerful tool to source ceramics and should be considered where contradictory hypotheses exist on their provenance.

陶瓷的采购有助于解决有关古代社会之间相互作用的性质的问题。一个这样的问题涉及圣洛伦索的奥尔梅克中心在形成第一个统一的肖像风格中的重要性及其在中美洲文明的早期发展中的作用。将铅和锶同位素系统的组合应用于早期形成时期（公元前1500-1000年）的陶瓷选择中，这项研究评估了同位素方法作为解决先前争论的问题的独立工具。结果表明，同位素分析能够区分生产中心，识别进口，将未分配的样品与生产中心关联以及将陶瓷与原材料关联，并深入了解生产策略（本地使用陶瓷还是出口陶瓷）。随后，它展示了这种方法如何帮助解决古代墨西哥早期形成时期依赖陶瓷起源的现有假设。这项研究中讨论的发现在更大程度上证明了同位素方法是一种强大的陶瓷来源工具，在其来源存在矛盾的假设的情况下，应考虑采用同位素方法。