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

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.

New Interpretations of Mimbres Public Architecture and Space: Implications for Cultural Change

Recent excavations and reanalysis of existing data on communal pit structures provide intriguing insights into ritual and cultural developments over a period of about 350 years, from A.D. 800 to 1140, in the Mimbres Valley of southwestern New Mexico. In the middle of this period, people shifted dwellings from pithouses to pueblos, a shift previously viewed as the pivotal transformation of Mimbres society. In this paper we show that significant changes in Mimbres society began in the A.D. 800s. Trends in the construction methods of communal pit structures, the placement of dedicatory items within them, their ritual retirements, and their long-lived significance within Mimbres villages, reflect other changes that occurred in Mimbres society. We contend that in the A.D. 800s, rapid change based on strong connections with the Hohokam of southern Arizona and agricultural intensification began a trajectory that culminated in the Classic Mimbres pueblos of the A.D. 1000s and early 1100s.

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

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.