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 Region
Natural Setting and Environment
• High basin-and-range topography
• Wide, flat, fertile valley
• Chihuahua desert shrub and grassland
Farming
• Sierras--dry farming
on terraces-Trincheras
– View of Cerro de
Trincheras, Sonora
• Playa Basins--flood
water farming
Joint Casas Grandes Project
Amerind Foundation and INAH
Charles 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
Periods
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)
Turquoise
Copper
Metallurgy
From West Mexico; mostly
for local consumption
The Casas Grandes
Regional 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
each model. What evidence supports or contests
each model? Which model or combination of
models do you find most convincing and why?