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

2003 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 696-717 ◽  
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.

Prehistoric Macaw Breeding in the North American Southwest

1993 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 270-276 ◽  
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.

Visiting the horned serpent’s home: A relational analysis of Paquimé as a pilgrimage site in the North American Southwest

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 306-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd L VanPool ◽  
Christine S VanPool
Keyword(s):  
American Southwest ◽  
Casas Grandes ◽  
The Past ◽  
The North ◽  
Relational Perspective ◽  
Architectural Features ◽  
The Dead ◽  
North American Southwest ◽  
Insight Into

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.

Record of the North American southwest monsoon from Gulf of Mexico sediment cores

Geology ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 209 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.Z. Poore ◽  
M.J. Pavich ◽  
H.D. Grissino-Mayer
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
North American ◽  
Sediment Cores ◽  
Southwest Monsoon ◽  
American Southwest ◽  
The North ◽  
North American Southwest
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