Ancestral relations and late prehispanic dynamics between the Mimbres and Casas Grandes cultures of the American Southwest/Mexican Northwest region

Paquimé, Chihuahua, was the ceremonial center of the Medio period (AD 1200 to 1450) Casas Grandes world, and the focus of regional pilgrimages. We use a relational perspective to explore the connections that were created and expressed during the pilgrimage. We propose that Paquimé was considered a living city, and that pilgrims actively supported its vitality through offerings of marine shells and other symbolically important goods. A region-wide network of signal fires centered on Cerro de Moctezuma, a hill directly overlooking Paquimé, summoned pilgrims. Ritual negotiations also focused on the dead and may have included at least occasional human sacrifice. While the pilgrimages focused on water-related ritual, they also included community and elite competition as reflected in architectural features such as the ball courts. Central to the pilgrimage was negotiation with the horned serpent, a deity that controlled water and was associated with leadership throughout Mesoamerica and the Southwest. The horned serpent is the primary supernatural entity reflected at the site and in the pottery pilgrims took with them back to their communities. Thus, the pilgrimages were times when the Casas Grandes people created and transformed their relationships with each other, religious elites, the dead, the landscape, and the horned serpent. These relationships in turn are reflected across the region (e.g., the broad distribution of Ramos Polychrome). This case study consequently demonstrates the potential that the relational perspective presented throughout this issue has for providing insight into the archaeological record and the past social structures it reflects.

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The Shaman-Priests of the Casas Grandes Region, Chihuahua, Mexico

American Antiquity ◽

10.2307/3557068 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 68 (4) ◽

pp. 696-717 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Christine S. VanPool

Keyword(s):

North American ◽

Political System ◽

American Southwest ◽

The Political ◽

Casas Grandes ◽

The North ◽

West Mexico ◽

Spirit World ◽

North American Southwest

The Casas Grandes culture flourished between two well-known regions: Mesoamerica and the North American Southwest. An analysis of Medio period (A.D. 1200-1450) pottery suggests that Paquimé, the center of the Casas Grandes world, was dominated by shaman-priests. The pottery includes images that document a “classic shamanic journey” between this world and the spirit world. These images can be connected to the leaders of Paquimé and to valuable objects from West Mexico, indicating that the Casas Grandes leadership had more in common with the Mesoamerican system of shaman-leaders than with the political system of the Pueblo world of the North American Southwest.

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Pottery and Pigments in Arizona: Salado Polychrome

MRS Bulletin ◽

10.1557/s0883769400032103 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 21 (12) ◽

pp. 38-47 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Arleyn W. Simon

Keyword(s):

New Mexico ◽

Social Stress ◽

American Southwest ◽

Diverse Populations ◽

Casas Grandes ◽

Cultural Changes ◽

Population Movements ◽

Definition Of ◽

Color Scheme ◽

Central Arizona

Salado-polychrome ceramics, marked by distinctive black on white with red designs (Figure 1), coincided with the development of platform-mound communities and were the result of an amalgamation of technological traditions that occurred during a time of population movements and cultural changes in the prehistoric American Southwest. Saladopolychrome ceramics were the most abundant decorated ware of the Classic period (A.D. 1275–1450) and have been recovered from sites in central Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and northern Chihuahua, including the site of Casas Grandes. Several archaeologists have interpreted Salado-polychrome designs as symbols of a regional cult (Adams, Crown, Rice) that eased the integration of diverse populations in times of migration and social stress. The color scheme and designs of Salado polychrome are distinctive compared to other contemporary and earlier ceramics, making definition of its development difficult.

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Specialized Ground Stone Production in the Casas Grandes Region of Northern Chihuahua, Mexico

American Antiquity ◽

10.2307/1593800 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 67 (4) ◽

pp. 710-730 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Todd L. VanPool ◽

Robert D. Leonard

Keyword(s):

American Southwest ◽

Similar Degree ◽

Casas Grandes ◽

Exchange System ◽

Prestige Goods ◽

Ground Stone ◽

Specialized Production ◽

Mimbres Valley ◽

Northwestern Mexico ◽

Organization Of Production

Previous research has identified specialized production of prestige goods during the Medio period (A.D. 1200-1450) in the Casas Grandes region of northwestern Mexico and the American Southwest. We evaluate the organization of production of two functionally equivalent types of trough metates from Paquimé, Chihuahua, Mexico, using the standardization hypothesis, i.e., the premise that products produced by specialists have less variation than those manufactured by less-specialized producers. We find that the morphology of one of the metate types (Type 1A metates) is statistically more standardized than the other (Type 1B metates). We then compare the Paquimé metates to those manufactured by generalized producers from the Mimbres Valley region of New Mexico. We find that Mimbres through-trough metates and the Type 1B metates from Paquimé have a similar degree of morphological variation, but that the Type 1A Paquimé metates are morphologically more standardized, indicating that specialists produced them. We conclude that specialized production in the Casas Grandes region was not limited to prestige goods but was instead a fundamental organizing principle of the Medio period economic system, reflecting the presence of a well-established social hierarchy and exchange system.

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Prehistoric Macaw Breeding in the North American Southwest

American Antiquity ◽

10.2307/281969 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 58 (2) ◽

pp. 270-276 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

Paul E. Minnis ◽

Michael E. Whalen ◽

Jane H. Kelley ◽

Joe D. Stewart

Keyword(s):

American Southwest ◽

The Political ◽

Casas Grandes ◽

Northern Mexico ◽

The North ◽

Political Relations ◽

Ara Macao ◽

Scarlet Macaw ◽

Prehistoric Trade ◽

North American Southwest

The scarlet macaw (Ara macao) was an important prehistoric trade item in northern Mexico and southwestern United States. Paquimé (or Casas Grandes) in northwestern Chihuahua has been assumed to have dominated or even monopolized the macaw trade. This conclusion is a result of the fact that Paquimé is the only site with evidence of substantial macaw-breeding facilities. Two recent archaeological projects in Chihuahua indicate that macaw production was not limited to Casas Grandes. Furthermore, the political relations of production for these ritually and economically important birds differed depending on whether or not the producers were part of the complex polity centered at Casas Grandes.

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DRESSING THE PERSON: CLOTHING AND IDENTITY IN THE CASAS GRANDES WORLD

American Antiquity ◽

10.1017/aaq.2017.4 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 82 (2) ◽

pp. 262-287 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Christine S. VanPool ◽

Todd L. VanPool ◽

Lauren W. Downs

Keyword(s):

American Southwest ◽

Sex And Gender ◽

Casas Grandes ◽

Secondary Sexual Traits ◽

The North ◽

Males And Females ◽

Sexual Traits ◽

And Gender ◽

North American Southwest

Casas Grandes Medio–period (A.D. 1200–1450) human effigies are unique in the North American Southwest in that they depict primary and secondary sexual traits, making determination of sex and gender roles possible. Here, we build on previous discussions by considering the importance of depictions of clothing (e.g., belts and sashes), personal adornments (e.g., necklaces and bracelets), facial decorations, and other aspects of dress. We find that Medio-period symbolism for males and females was based on gender complementary that combined the productive, reproductive, and ritual activities of men and women within a single symbolic and ritual system. Some clothing styles are found on both males and females (e.g., arm bands), but there are also sex-based differences. Women wear low horizontal belts across their hips, whereas men primarily wear sandals and elaborate headbands. Aspects of dress also appear to be continued from previous cultures such as the Classic Mimbres (A.D. 1000–1150) and continued into historic northern Mexican and southwestern groups (e.g., headgear and some sandal types). Ultimately, we find that males have more elaborate dress and are associated with a specific set of ritually important symbols. Females are associated with cloud/fertility symbolism, sternal decorations, and birds.

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Ball Courts and Political Centralization in the Casas Grandes Region

American Antiquity ◽

10.2307/282014 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 61 (4) ◽

pp. 732-746 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Michael E. Whalen ◽

Paul E. Minnis

Keyword(s):

New Mexico ◽

American Southwest ◽

Casas Grandes ◽

Low Level ◽

The Social ◽

Political Centralization

Ball courts are well-known features of Mesoamerican societies and of the Hohokam culture of the American Southwest. In both cases, the courts are argued to have served a range of ritual, economic, and political purposes. Ball courts have long been known to exist in the northwestern Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora as well as in the adjacent portion of New Mexico, although they have never been extensively described or interpreted. This paper presents a large, new set of ball court data for the area around the great Prehispanic center of Paquime (or Casas Grandes), Chihuahua. These data suggest that the region around Paquime may have been characterized by a relatively low level of political centralization, regardless of the social and economic alliances that existed among neighboring communities.

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The Spirit in the Material: A Case Study of Animism in the American Southwest

American Antiquity ◽

10.7183/0002-7316.77.2.243 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 77 (2) ◽

pp. 243-262 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Christine S. VanPool ◽

Elizabeth Newsome

Keyword(s):

Human Behavior ◽

New World ◽

American Southwest ◽

Casas Grandes ◽

Archaeological Data ◽

Object Agency ◽

Active Objects

AbstractPeople often imbue their surroundings, including tools, with a “life essence” that makes them active objects. A growing number of archaeologists are beginning to study how such “living” beings impact human behavior. These archaeologists use the term “object agency,” but employ many different ontologicai approaches. We explore this variation, and present a framework comparing different ontologicai models archaeologists use. We adopt an animistic perspective, and evaluate its applicability to the Southwest using ethnographic and archaeological data. We further propose that it is applicable throughout the New World. Puebloan potters consider pots living beings with a spiritual essence that is affected by and that impacts humans. Pottery manufacture is a mutual negotiation between the potter and the clay to create a “Made Being” with its own spiritual and material aspects. We conclude that a similar ontology is reflected in effigy pots and globular jars from the Casas Grandes region. Ultimately we conclude that this perspective provides useful insights into the placement, decoration, and discard of many vessels that have puzzled Southwestern archaeologists for decades.

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