Investigators have compared changes in the abundance of non-local material with domestic goods that are assumed to represent population. The ratio of the weight of obsidian to volume of excavated dirt (as shown in Figure 2-5) or as a ratio of weight of ceramics (as a proxy measure for population) has been used in a number of studies in Mesoamerica (Sidrys 1976;Zeitlin and Heimbuch 1978: 189). In studies of Near Eastern obsidian exchange Renfrew (1969;1977) develops indices for the presence of obsidian based on counts and weights per phase and per excavated cubic meter, and he also uses the count of obsidian artifacts as a percent of the total lithic assemblage count. Renfrew qualifies his conclusions due to a lack of consistency in the data, but he estimates that the total quantity of to arrive at the site was relatively small and he observes a decrease in obsidian at Deh Luran sites. Working at the Olmec site of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan, Cobean et al. (1971) develop an index that compared the number of obsidian flakes, blades, and total debitage with grinding stones and slabs for each phase at the site, with the abundance of grinding equipment serving as an estimate of number of households. The authors interpret the increasing index of obsidian to grinding slabs as evidence of a gradual rise in "prosperity" for individuals at the site, though they only briefly explore the implications for changing exchange relationships (Cobean, et al. 1991).
In Torrence's examination of the aforementioned studies she concludes that "the major difficulty with studies of consumption based on measures of resource abundance is that they lack the necessary linking arguments between patterns of consumption and type of exchange" (1986: 28-30). She states that what is needed for site-level studies of abundance and exchange is "a series of arguments describing how resource use will respond to specific types of exchange" akin to the explicit connections that Renfrew developed on the regional scale between distance decay and forms of exchange.