Casas Grandes Culture in the Sierra Madre of Sonora

Summary

This is an abstract from the "25 Years in the Casas Grandes Region: Celebrating Mexico–U.S. Collaboration in the Gran Chichimeca" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This presentation will summarize results from ongoing research on the late prehistoric period of the Sonoran Sierra Madre. Thus far, investigations focused on the Sahuaripa and Fronteras valleys. These valleys are approximately equidistant from Paquimé at 185 and 165 km, respectively. In the Fronteras valley, there is substantial ceramic and architectural evidence that several sites maintained strong connections to the Casas Grandes system. In the Sahuaripa valley, there is evidence of periodic exchange in the form of rare Casas Grandes ceramics. The presence of appreciable amounts of marine shell indicates the Sahuaripa area potentially participated in the Casas Grandes economic system. Similar to previous research in the Sierra Madre, both valleys present substantial local variation. We argue the differential viability of economic connections—established trade routes—and variability in the saliency of Casas Grandes ideological content contributed to the resulting uneven patchwork of Casas Grandes influence in the Sonoran Sierra Madre. This spatially discontinuous pattern suggests high local autonomy in which local communities, or their leaders, selected the domains and strength of interaction with Casas Grandes institutions.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• 25 Years in the Casas Grandes Region: Celebrating Mexico–U.S. Collaboration in the Gran Chichimeca   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24122