These three zones are about 50 km apart along the coast, but they are connected by a natural inland waterway, which could have permitted easy communication in prehistoric times.

This was followed by the Ocos Phase (1500-1200 BC), exemplified by a ceramic tradition famously identified by archaeologist Michael D. Coe in the 1960s during his work at the Early Formative village of La Victoria.

The Mokaya are thought to have been among the first cultures in Mesoamerica to develop a hierarchical society, which arose in the Early Formative (or Preclassic) period of Mesoamerican chronology, at a time (late 2nd millennium BCE) slightly before similar traits were evident among the early Olmec centers of the Gulf Coast region and the cultures of the Valley of Oaxaca, such as San Jose Mogote.

One specific tecomate found above Structure 4 in Mound 6 at Paso de la Amada tested positive for traces of cacao.

It is believed that these early ceramics were used for beverages such as chicha, cacao or atole consumed in social settings and conferring prestige on the giver.

While domesticated flora was consumed during this period, it is likely that the main source of diet was due to more of a hunter-gatherer society and explains the settlement near rivers and swamps.

By the Locona phase there were several large villages in the Mazatán zone, some of which had large-scale architecture, elaborate ceramics and figurines, imported obsidian, and a well-developed lapidary.

[16] Changes from the Locona through the Cherla phases suggest the gradually increasing importance of unslipped, utilitarian tecomates and open-walled serving bowls.

The elites of the villages displayed vessels to convey status to the rest of the community and continued to use the ceramics in feasting situations to maintain the unbalanced social relationships.

[18] During Conchas A-C, about 850-750 BC, the large center of La Blanca was built, including a huge 25 meter tall earthen mound at the site.

The shift to increasing maize consumption early in the Conchas phase may have had important social and economic consequences, signaled by population growth and aggregation and the construction of monumental earthen mounds.

Dietary, technological and iconographic evidence all indicate that a fundamental reorganization of the Soconusco economy occurred during the early Middle Formative Conchas phase.