The Casas Grandes Regional System, A.D. 1200-1450

Judith A. Habicht Mauche

Archaeology of the American Southwest

UCB/UCSC

Spring 2008

The Casas Grandes Regional System, A.D. 1200-1450

The Casas Grandes RegionThe Casas Grandes Region

MIMBRES

Natural Setting and Environment

• High basin-and-range topography• Wide, flat, fertile valley• Chihuahua desert shrub and grassland

Farming

• Sierras--dry farming on terraces--TrincherasTrincheras– View of Cerro de Trin

cheras, Sonora

• Playa Basins--flood water farming

Joint Casas Grandes ProjectAmerind Foundation and INAHCharles Di Peso (1958-1961)

*excavated western portion of site and several other sites in the Casas Grandes area.

Other Major Research Projects• Paul Minnis and Michael Whalen

– Regional Survey– Early 1990s– Publication in 2001: Casas Grandes and its Hinterland (U of A

Press)

• Archaeology of North Mexico Project– Joint project of INAH/UNM/MNM– Robert Leonard (UNM) and Tim Maxwell (MNM) – Excavations at Galeana Site (Medio Period)

• The University of North Florida & University of Missouri Joint Archaeological Field Project to the Casas Grandes Region of Chihuahua, Mexico– Christine and Todd Van Pool et al. (focus to the west of Paquime)

Revised Chronology

• Dean and Ravesloot (1993)– Estimated ratio of

sapwood in squared beams

Viejo Period

• A.D. 700-1200• Cave sites in mountains• Pithouse villages in valley• Example: Convento Site

– Cluster of large pithouses (12 per phase)– Shift to above ground architecture--single story walled

compounds--similar to Classic Hohokam

• Evidence of continuity between Viejo and Medio Evidence of continuity between Viejo and Medio PeriodsPeriods

Medio Period

• A.D. 1200-1450

• Sierras: cave sites– Granaries

• Valleys:– Big sites and small sites– Within 30 km of Paquimé--three-tier

hierarchical settlement pattern

Medio Period Cliff Dwellings

Paquime--Medio Period

• Buena Fe Phase– Single story adobe

rooms clustered around walled courtyards (342 rooms)

– 20 courtyard groups

– Sq. column-fronted galleries

– House of the Serpent--macaw breeding boxes

• Paquime Phase– Site completely rebuilt– Large, multi-story

residential complexes– Ca. 2000 rooms– Extensive public

architecture (3 ballcourts, platform mounds, market?)

– Elaborate water system• Walk-in well, reservoir,

covered drains

– Communal food preparation areas

• Diablo Phase– Degeneration, destruction and abandonment by

late 15th c.– Public building stopped, public space converted

to residential space

Craft Specialization and Trade

What was Casas Grandes role in mediating the exchange of exotic

goods between Mesoamerica and the American Southwest?

What role did “prestige goods” and “prestige goods exchange” play in

the Casas Grandes Regional System?

Ramos Polychrome

Effigy Vessels

“Flight of the Shaman”after Christine S. VanPool (2002)

Non-local Pottery

• John Douglas (1992)• Imported ceramics <3% of decorated pottery• Salado Polychrome (AZ)--imported or local

copies??--concentrated in one room.• El Paso Polychrome (NM)--represents over 90%

of imported decorated ceramics • Different exchange network from shells, turquoise

or copper• GENDER?--Women’s vs. Men’s spheres of

interaction?

Scarlet Macaw Breeding• Birds from

Tamaulipas and Oaxaca

• For trade w/ SW or local consumption??

• Feathers, costumes--Assoc. with Katsina ritualism??

Shell Working

• 4 million pieces excavated• Mostly from two storerooms• Direct acquisition or trade w/ West Mexico• Trade w/ SW--Hohokam vs. Casas Grandes networks (Bradley 2000)

Copper Metallurgy

Turquoise

From West Mexico; mostly From West Mexico; mostly for local consumptionfor local consumption

The Casas Grandes The Casas Grandes Regional SystemRegional System

Distribution of Ballcourts

Signaling Towers/Shrines?

Cerro Montezuma

The Chaco Meridian? (Steve Lekson)

North-South Alignment of Chaco, Aztec, Great North Road and Casas Grandes

Class Discussion: Interpretive Models

The following interpretive models have been used to explain the Casas Grandes Regional System:– The Pochteca Model (Di Peso)

– Prestige Exchange Model (Bradley)

– Peer Polity Interaction and Competition (Minnis and Whalen)

– Chaco Migration Model (Lekson)

Describe the major characteristics and assumptions of Describe the major characteristics and assumptions of each model. What evidence supports or contests each model. What evidence supports or contests each model? Which model or combination of each model? Which model or combination of models do you find most convincing and why?models do you find most convincing and why?