A Reevaluation of Viejo Period Architecture and Construction in the Casas Grandes Region

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

From 1958 to 1961 Charles Di Peso and Eduardo Contreras Sánchez conducted extensive archaeological excavations at Paquimé and the Convento sites in Chihuahua, Mexico. These excavations produced the data that forms the bulk of our understanding about the Casas Grandes archaeological culture during the Viejo period (approximately 700-1200 AD). In the published volumes reporting the findings of these excavations, Di Peso divided the Viejo period into three phases based on architectural variation through time. Since the publication of Di Peso’s volumes, that tripartite division of the Viejo period has been heavily critiqued. Those critiques, however, have not proposed a formal revision to Di Peso’s architectural typology or chronology. In this paper, I reexamine published archaeological data in light of architectural data from recent excavations at the Viejo period San Diego site in Chihuahua in order to more formally establish an updated architectural typology. Additionally, I evaluate the validity of the concept of a northern and southern zone within the Casas Grandes region, distinguished by architectural variation, that has recently taken hold in publication.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36588.0