Ceramic analysis of site 291, a historic Casas Grandes site.

Summary

Casas Grandes is an archaeological prehistoric site located in the state of Chihuahua, Northwest Mexico. The region’s chronology remains unclear, with knowledge gaps between its time periods, one of these gaps includes the possible social configurations after the collapse of Casas Grandes. This research aims to provide new data obtained from the analysis of the ceramic assemblage of an archaeological site whose architecture seems to linger between late Casas Grandes and Spanish. This site, 291, is located just a few kilometers north of the main Casas Grandes site, Paquimé, and it is immediately surrounded by small neighboring sites. Like its neighbors, 291 is small and was located over a terrace overlooking the floodplains of a local arroyo and spring. Most of the ceramic sherds found on site are, apparently, Casas Grandes plainware, and interestingly, radiocarbon dating for 291 delivered dates as early as the 1600s. This paper provides preliminary results of the contrast between the composition of the plainware ceramics from sites 291 and the Medio Period site 204, to observe if their respective manufacture process changed over time, if they’re similar at all, and provide a discussion regarding the nature of such change and the questions this might yield.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage