Examining Webs of Social Relations: New Research in West Mexican Archaeology and West Mexico-U.S. Southwest Connections

In the history of research on prehispanic Mesoamerican cultures, far West Mexico has long been relegated to a position as a peripheral backwater on the northwestern fringes of the complex cultures of highland and southern Mesoamerica. However, the rich diversity of cultural traditions and social developments in West Mexico also have been recognized as being distinct from yet connected to other indigenous societies in Mesoamerica and the U.S. Southwest. A surge in archaeological research in the past decade has begun to draw renewed attention to this often-overlooked region and this recent work has begun to clarify our understanding of the prehispanic history of the coastal lowlands and interior highlands of West Mexico. This session is a platform for highlighting new archaeological research by junior and senior scholars in West Mexico with a sub-focus on examining how the webs of social relations in far West Mexico intersected with the social webs of Pueblo cultures of northwest Mexico and the U.S. Southwest.