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

2002 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 710-730 ◽  
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.

THE ECONOMY OF SPECIALIZED CERAMIC CRAFT PRODUCTION IN THE CASAS GRANDES REGION

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Topi ◽  
Christine S. VanPool ◽  
Kyle D. Waller ◽  
Todd L. VanPool
Keyword(s):  
Casas Grandes ◽  
Geometric Morphometric ◽  
Household Level ◽  
Northwest Mexico ◽  
Specialized Production ◽  
Archaeological Collections ◽  
Ceramic Vessels ◽  
Geometric Morphometric Analysis ◽  
Organization Of Production ◽  
The Relationship

Recent analyses use geometric morphometrics (GM), the quantitative study of shape and its variation, to examine aspects of the archaeological record. Our research builds on such applications to examine the organization of production by applying GM analysis to whole ceramic vessels from the Casas Grandes culture of northwest Mexico. We quantify variation in vessel shape and size and conclude that specialists made at least some of the Ramos and Babicora Polychromes, but that the other Casas Grandes ceramic types were generally made by nonspecialists. This bolsters arguments for Medio period (AD 1200 to 1450) specialized production above the household level but indicates that specialized production was limited to a subset of economically valuable goods. We further suggest some Ramos Polychrome was made by attached specialists associated with elites at Paquime, the religious center of the Medio period, whereas some Babicora Polychrome was made by independent specialists. The analysis contributes to three important anthropological topics: (1) the study of the Medio period Casas Grandes culture, and by extension the organization of production in mid-level hierarchically organized societies; (2) geometric morphometric analysis of archaeological collections; and (3) the Standardization Hypothesis and the relationship between artifact standardization and the organization of production.

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.

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.

Short-Term Sedentism in the American Southwest: The Mimbres Valley Salado

1989 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 103
Author(s):  
Kent G. Lightfoot ◽  
Ben A. Nelson ◽  
Steven A. LeBlanc
Keyword(s):  
American Southwest ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Mimbres Valley

scholarly journals Copper Artifacts from Caddo Sites in the Southern Caddo Area

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffery S. Girard ◽  
Timothy K. Perttula
Keyword(s):  
Burial Mound ◽  
East Texas ◽  
Exchange System ◽  
Prestige Goods ◽  
Sheet Copper

Copper artifacts have been found at only 18 Caddo sites in the southern Caddo area of Southwest Arkansas, Northwest Louisiana, southeastern Oklahoma, and East Texas. Most of these exotic copper artifacts are found in burial mound context in important civic-ceremonial centers, or in burials in non-mound cemeteries. About 80 percent of the known copper artifacts occur in contexts in sites that date to the Early Caddo period (ca. A.D. 1000-1200). These copper items likely are linked to the Cahokia exchange system, and represent prestige goods with ritual status acquired and displayed by leaders in different Caddo communities. By Late Caddo period times (ca. A.D. 1400-1680), copper items tend to be ear spools, especially copper-covered stone ear spools. Copper continued to be used as personal ornaments linked to specific Caddo individuals, but they no longer served for objects that may have been involved in public ritual, as there are no effigies, sheet copper hand cutouts, or maskettes from Late Caddo contexts as there were in Early or Middle Caddo period contexts.

Pottery and Pigments in Arizona: Salado Polychrome

MRS Bulletin ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
pp. 38-47 ◽  
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.

scholarly journals Starch granule evidence for the earliest potato use in North America

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (29) ◽  
pp. 7606-7610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisbeth A. Louderback ◽  
Bruce M. Pavlik
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Starch Granule ◽  
American Southwest ◽  
Wild Potato ◽  
Starch Granules ◽  
Ground Stone ◽  
Diagnostic Characteristics ◽  
Four Corners ◽  
Solanum Jamesii ◽  
Historical Accounts

The prehistory of wild potato use, leading to its domestication and diversification, has been well-documented in, and confined to, South America. At least 20 tuber-bearing, wild species ofSolanumare known from North and Central America, yet their importance in ancient diets has never been assessed from the archaeological record. Here, we report the earliest evidence of wild potato use in North America at 10,900–10,100 calendar years (cal) B.P. in the form of well-preserved starch granules extracted from ground stone tools at North Creek Shelter, southern Utah. These granules have been identified as those ofSolanum jamesiiTorr. (Four Corners potato), a tuber-bearing species native to the American Southwest. Identification was based on applying five strictly defined diagnostic characteristics (eccentric hilum, longitudinal fissure, lack of fissure branching, fissure ratio, and maximum granule size) to each of 323 archaeological granules. Of those, nine were definitively assigned toS. jamesiibased on possession of all characteristics, and another 61 were either likely or possiblyS. jamesiidepending on the number of characteristics they possessed. The oldest granules were found in substratum 4k (10,900–10,100 cal B.P.). Younger deposits, dating to ∼6,900 cal B.P., also contained tools withS. jamesiigranules, indicating at least 4,000 y of intermittent use. Ethnographic and historical accounts extend the period of use to more than 10,000 y. The question then arises as to whether someS. jamesiipopulations could have undergone transport, cultivation, and eventual domestication over such a long period of time.

scholarly journals Chemical compositional analysis of polychrome pottery in the northern Casas Grandes area (a.d. 1200-1450)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Candace A. Sall
Keyword(s):  
Neutron Activation Analysis ◽  
New Mexico ◽  
Activation Analysis ◽  
Compositional Analysis ◽  
Petrographic Analysis ◽  
Casas Grandes ◽  
Production Location ◽  
Far North ◽  
Religious System ◽  
Mimbres Valley

The northern area of the Casas Grandes Medio Period (A.D. 1200-1450) was not well known archaeologically. 76 Draw is on the border of the Casas Grandes and Salado (A.D. 1275-1450) regions and the nature of interaction and integration with both areas at this site was examined through excavation. 76 Draw, an Animas Phase settlement in Luna County, New Mexico, had both Ramos Polychrome vessels, a Casas Grandes polychrome type, and Gila Polychrome vessels, a Salado polychrome type, and neutron activation analysis was conducted to determine if both types were made at 76 Draw. The Ramos Polychrome pottery at the site came from three production locations based on the geochemical groups as well as petrographic analysis of some of the sherds. One of the production locations is at or near Paquimé and one might be at or near 76 Draw. The Gila Polychrome vessels came to 76 Draw from one production location in the Mimbres Valley north of the site. 76 Draw was integrated with Casas Grandes in Chihuahua, Mexico, as it was participating in the religious system that included the production and use of the iconographic Ramos Polychrome pottery. Evidence of roasting ovens, obsidian from southern sources, shell, and bird burial information from 76 Draw, along with Ramos Polychrome data, demonstrates that the Casas Grandes interaction sphere operates as far north as southern New Mexico.

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