The city's strategic placement on the old Mezcalapa River meant that Comalcalco controlled the important trading link between Yucatán and the Gulf Coast and the highlands of Chiapas and Guatemala [REF].
Comalcalco was also an important centre of clay figurine production and commerce between 600 and 1000 CE[REF] In and around the site, archaeologists have found identical clay moulds and figures, as well as tools, pit kilns and dumping grounds, indicating standardized mass production.