From Medio to Missionization: A Comparison of Lithic Technology in the Casas Grandes Valley into the Protohistoric Period

Summary

After the early Medio period, populations subsisting in the Casas Grandes region, northwest Mexico experienced internal and external pressures that led to drastic reorganization of their socioeconomic system. This is reflected by significant changes in their lithic toolkit, where differences in raw material use and tool morphology accrued through time. Presented here are the results of our lithic study comparing multiple excavated Medio and the only excavated protohistoric site located throughout the Casas Grandes regional core. Comparing the organization of lithic technology of early/late Medio large-medium size sites to late Medio small sites in Casas Grandes, as well as studying changes in lithic types into the protohistoric period, provides one means by which to explore how people respond to drastic cultural changes through time.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Casas Grandes: Addressing Key Issues of Chronology, Culture Change, Social Organization, and Exchange

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15801