This article examines a potential ‘throne–mat’ kenning in the Middle Formative period Olmec writing on the Cascajal Block, an incised serpentine slab dated to c. 900 bc. It is suggested that signs on the Cascajal Block are divorced from the Formative period representational canons in which they are usually contextualized. The organization of signs on the Cascajal Block thus de-emphasizes the connection between a depicted object and its iconographic frame of reference. Instead, the signs are recontextualized within a linguistic framework wherein they leverage their iconicity to denote a word, rather than functioning primarily as an iconographic element within a pictorial composition. It is argued that the throne–mat kenning explored here is one instance of such abstraction from ‘normative’ iconographic contexts and therefore offers potentially significant insights into the origin and development of writing in Mesoamerica.

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This introductory chapter provides a brief history of research on ancient west Mexico and outlines traditional archaeological conceptions of the region as exotic, unique, or “other.” It also provides a preliminary definition and spatial delimitation of the vast area known as “the west,” and a short discussion of regional chronology. In doing so, it contextualizes the constituent chapters of the volume within broader archaeological debates regarding the nature of pre-Hispanic societies in west Mexico and their role in larger, pan-Mesoamerican sociocultural processes. Like the volume itself, the introduction highlights the spatial, temporal, and cultural diversity evident throughout the region’s history. Finally, the introduction provides brief summaries of the chapters that comprise the volume, foregrounding the dialogue among the contributions and foreshadowing the synthesis presented in the conclusions, thus aiding in binding a diverse collection into a coherent whole.