Artisans of the Ancient Americas drew upon a wide range of materials (obsidian, gold, spondylus shells), creating objects that included the meanings held to be inherent to the materials. These cultures often derived value from the physical qualities, rather than the imagery, of artworks, prizing aural and tactile features, the quality of workmanship, and the rarity of materials. Various works of art have been discovered large distances from their location of production, indicating that many Pre-Columbian civilizations interacted amongst each other. Moreover,