Elite-administered caravans would be relatively difficult to differentiate from independent caravans in their source activities. Elite related diagnostic pottery may be encountered in the vicinity of the source area. There may have been some degree of greater standardization if these were part time or full-time specialists working for the elites. Elite-sponsored procurement may involve greater intensification than would be expected from independent caravan procurement because these task groups likely have been organized and dedicated to the procurement objective. Finally, the export of large nodules may have increased as elite-sponsored caravan trains were reportedly large and capable, and the weight of nodules would not have overly interfered with the progress of the caravan following this model. In addition, if the object of elites was prestige building, larger nodules would probably have been more impressive in the distant consumption zone. In short, differentiating elite sponsored caravans at the source may be relatively difficult unless pottery or some other diagnostic material is found to have been associated with procurement.