Casas Grandes

In the late 1200s, people started to re-group into larger communities than ever before.

Where did people go when they left Chaco, Classic Mimbres, and other areas heavily populated in Pueblo II? One place was Casas Grandes, or Paquimé, in Chihuahua.

Post-Classic Mimbres: Evidence for the Classic Mimbres lifeway disappears from the archaeological record between 1100 and 1150. Steve LeBlanc attributes this "demise" to Classic Mimbres success in terms of population growth and settlement expansion into marginal areas, which ultimately resulted in firewood and game depletion. A succession of drought years began in 1130, and Mimbres population dropped precipitously. AD 1150-1250 was a century of poverty, relative to what came before and after. Fertility may have dropped and health conditions may have worsened. These may constitute "push" factors, encouraging families to leave the area or try new lifeways, even new religious practices.

Pull factors are also possible--Casas Grandes arose in Chihuahua at about this time. Did Mimbres people migrate? Some similarities in pottery design support this hypothesis.

Some people stayed in the Mimbres Valley-we call them the Post-Classic Mimbres. They used adobe instead of cobbles to build their pueblos. They started to cremate the dead instead of burying them with painted bowls over their heads. The pottery changed. Life-forms virtually disappear, and narrative type scenes disappear. Polychrome pottery that looks more like Casas Grandes style polychrome appears.

Key terms: Resource depletion. Migration. Aggregation.

WHERE is Casas? State of Chihuahua. Basin and Range environment. Chihuahuan Desert.

Culturally, Casas lies on the northern frontier of Mesoamerica and the within the southern reaches of the Mogollon culture area.

WHAT is Casas? site of Paquimé. Paquimé is important because it 1) was the site of a large aggregation, 2) developed social complexity (social, economic hierarchies) and 3) extensive trade networks. Was it a regional center for trade? It has over 2000 habitation rooms. Public architecture includes effigy mounds, ballcourts, a possible market area, a walk-in well, a reservoir, and an extensive covered water and/or drain system. Multistoried structures were built with squared timbers and coursed adobe.

WHEN? Casas reaches its maximum population in the En Medio Period ca. AD 1200-1450 (the same time as Pueblo III and IV in the Anasazi area, the late Mogollon Western Pueblo sites, and the Classic Period Hohokam.

WHO: Charles di Peso excavated Casas Grandes and published an 8 volume report (di Peso thought En Medio was 1060 to about 1340, so don't cite the time frames in this book. BUT the overall SEQUENCE is probably correct, and the detailed illustrations are phenomemal). John Ravesloot re-examined the evidence and wrote a book with a new chronology.

Viejo: Casas was first organized as clusters of houses. Viejo period sites show us what came before Paquime: Pithouses and community structures a lot like Mogollon country to the north. Convento site 700-900--pithouses and "community house." DiPeso's graphic presentation of what "compounds" looked like across the Southwest at AD 1000 is terrific.

En Medio period--growth, complexity, 1200-1450. Valuable graphics include an aerial view, Ravesloot's map, and pictures of what the stabilized site looks like today.

What was going on there? Very large and complex. Planned. Architecture and burials suggest a high degree of social control. Trade center? Evidence for raising macaws. Labor intensive polychrome pots (Ramos Polychrome). Turquoise, shell (4 million pieces), copper (cold-hammered and lost-wax cast). Craft specialization.

Was it a religious center? lots of religious structures. Dismembered skeletons--human sacrifice?

necklaces of human bones-see photo in John Ravesloot's book.

Has surrounding community, like Chaco, but core site is much bigger than the Chaco core.

Like Chaco, Casas Grandes has roads, signaling stations, water-control.

Abandoned by about 1450.