Long-Distance Interaction in Viejo Period Casas Grandes

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Archaeology of Trade and Exchange" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This research addresses how interregional interaction changed between the Viejo period (AD 700–1200) and Medio period (AD 1200–1450) in northwest Chihuahua, Mexico. Nonlocally procured or created artifacts, features, and iconographic elements are used as proxy evidence for past long-distance relationships. Data available in technical reports and other publications concerning these materials in Viejo period contexts and a sample of excavated Medio period sites are synthesized and presented. The data are used to create a geospatial dataset and distribution maps with quantities and contextual information for each of the nonlocal materials. I argue that interaction and social networks with long-distance neighbors were complex and widespread during both the Viejo and Medio periods. These intricate relationships morphed and altered in profound ways with the rise of the regional center Paquimé and the fluorescence of the Casas Grandes cultural tradition, but some of the fundamental relationships also remained the same.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Archaeology of Trade and Exchange   •
• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)

Keywords

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32089