NUMBER 9 OF THE AMERIND FOUNDATION, INC., SERIES W yy THIS THREE-VOLUME SET CASAS GRANDES: A Fallen Trading Center of the Gran Chichimeca comprises the narrative description of the Casas Grandes project. Reference volumes 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 are cited in the Notes and Index of volumes 1, 2 and 3, and contain the detailed source material and basic scientific data upon which the evaluations and conclusions in the first three volumes are based. Copyright © 1974 by The Amerind Foundation, Ine. All Rights Reserved First EDITION ren 0-87358-056-7 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 74-82018 ‘Composed and Printed in the United States of AmericaCASAS GRANDES A Fallen Trading Center of the Gran Chichimeca by Charles C. Di Peso Edited by Gloria J. Fenner / Illustrated by Alice Wesche THE AMERIND FOUNDATION, INC. / DRAGOON NORTHLAND PRESS / FLAGSTAFF@ see ‘cee REGIONAL Be cman To William Shirley and Rose Fulton and the people of MexicoTABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION “The Casas Grandes Archaeological Zone. The Borders. The Valleys. Human Utilization ‘The Joint Casas Grandes Expedition - Reconnaissance Field Operations Laboratory in Dragoon ‘The Publication . Dating, ‘Spanish History and Parral Archives Dendrochronology Carbon-14 Obsidian Hydration Dating | Palynology . ‘Material Culture Change Terminology, Approach, and Definitions Gran Chichimeca Chichimecan . ‘The Puchteca Concept CHAPTER 1: The Preceramic Horizon ‘The Time of the Wanderers, 1t0 AD. x (= 150) Paleo-Indian . Malpais Site . Language Desert Culture Modern Comparisons Mesoamerica . Subsistence. . Settlement Pattern . CHAPTER 2: The Plaimare Period The Time of the First Frontier Farming Villages, AD. (© 150) AD. 700 (= 50) Preceramic Villages Plainware Villages Modern Comparisons “The Challenge of Agriculture ‘Mesoamerica . The Puchteca . The Chichimec 5 6 88 CHAPTER 3: The Viejo Period ‘The Time of First Puchteca Contacts, ADD. 700 (# 50) to A.D.,1060 . ‘A Time of Awakening: Convento Phase Carbon-14 Contemporary Mesoamerican History Puchteca Activity 5 Gran Chichimecan Hi Village Interpretations Home and Community Houses of the People Community House Village Plan Valley Settlement. Area Settlement Social Organization People and Their Possessions Phase Associations ‘Appearance and Adornment Food Habits... Burial Customs The Time of Tezcatlipoca: Pilon Phase . Contemporary Mesoamerican History Gran Chichimecan History : Home and Community Houses of the People Community House Village Plan. Valley Settlement - Area Settlement Social Organization People and Their Possessions ‘Appearance and Adornment Builders’ Tools. : Potters’ Tools. Weavers! Tools. Socio-teligious Paraphernalia Food Preparation Tools Warfare and Hunting Burial Customs. ‘A Time of Coming Together: Perros Bravos Phase Contemporary Mesoamerican History Gran Chichimecan History 95 102 104 105 106 107 107 110 114 117 07 118 320 322 123 124 132 134 140 140 142 142 147 152 155 155 156 158 160 165 166 166 168 a71 174 176 179 180 182Home and Community - 184 28 Houses of the People. + 184 220 Community House. + 188 Food Habits... 226 Village Plan... +190 Warfare and Hunting... 240 Valley Settlement 1 196 Subsistence and Commerce Area Settlement... . 196 ofthe Times . . . . «244 Salieri aon Subsistence . |. . 24g People and Their Possessions . 198 Commerce . 5. 246 apmenace tall cea = Burial Customs. |. 252 Builders’ Tools... =. . 214 NOTES. ees 257 Potters’ Took . . . . a6 MAP . . + +. «Back Cover ‘The numbering for illustrations in each volume is bipar- tite, The first number refers to the figure number, while the digit following the hyphen indicates the volume. E.., Fg. 3-7 i the third figure in Vol. 7.Preceramic, Plainware, and Viejo Periods1-1, Snows come to Paquimé. INTRODUCTION ... northwest Mexico remains the terra incognita between our Southwest and central Mexico. It is for this great area that connecting and comparative studies are most needed. . . = Sauer, A.D. 1954 Perhaps no region of North America is so little known to the anthropologist as northern Mexico between the American border and a line drawn from the mouth of the Rio Panuco to the south- ern boundary of Jalisco . . . [and until more is known about this area]... . the bases for the entire historical structure for the whole of North America must remain conjectural. —Beals, A.D. 1932" The archaeological zone of Casas Grandes lies within this un- known expanse. Its cultural core is that prehistoric metropolis of which Bandelier counseled: Talso venture to suggest, that at the earliest possible date the ruins of Casas Grandes be thoroughly investigated, since ex- cavations, if systematically conducted, cannot fail to produce valuable results. —Bandelier, A.D. 1892°Fig. 2-1. John Russell Bort- lett sketched the Casa Grande ruins in 1852 (Bartlett, 1854, Vol. 2, opp p. 274) CASA GRANDE, Arizona Comments such as these kindled the flame of curiosity and directed The Amerind Foundation, Inc., to turn its energies to this unstudied land. This was not a precipitous decision but rather one made after years spent piecing together the frag- ments of history pertaining to the south central portion of Arizona.* In part, these earlier studies were initiated by first excavating a series of historic native villages visited by the Jesuit missionaries between A.D. 1687 and 1767. This provided archaeological flesh for the historical skeletons of such Ootam groups as the Sobaipuri of the San Pedro and their kin, the Upper Pima, of the Santa Cruz drainages. Such historical knowl- edge permitted one to step down the ladder of time to that rung which marked the era which preceded Iberian contacts. The 15thCASAS GRANDES, Chihuahua and x6th centuries were of prime importance in the annals of these desert lands. And, as is so often the case, they were intri- cately involved with cultural interplay. It was a time when the native Ootam were developing their various provincialisms. The Western Pueblo people moved from the north’ and others came and built such villages as Casa Grande, Pueblo Grande, and Los Muertos.* The latter were marked by multistoried puddled adobe structures, truncated mounds, and other complexes which appear to be neither Western Pueblo nor indigenous. Such fea- tures led to the speculation that they may have been related to the area of Casas Grandes.’ Consequently, in 1958, Amerind began a search in northwestern Chihuahua in hopes of making a contribution to knowledge and to a further understanding of human activities in arid zones. Fig. 3-1. The same year Barilett did a rendering of Casas Grandes. (Bartlet, 1854, Vol. 2, Frontispiece)24 Ww 97° W 38°N THE GRAN CHICHIMECA TROPIC OF CANCER 23° 27° N Several small sites in the Casas Grandes Zone stigated by The Joint Casas Grandes Expedition. 1. The Tardio Period Casa 2. Viejo and Medio Period del Robles, Site 2 Reyes Site 2 Fi Be 3. The Convento Site 4. The Viejo and Medio Pe- (CHIH:G:2:3) (ctor) Vigo and) (CHUHDS:14) Tes we Espaiioles periods. (CHIE:D.9:13).MEDANOS DE SAMALAYUCA cHmrE:D:9:14 CHIK:D 9:13, CHIN:D:9:2 CHID9:1 PAPAGOCHIC DRAINAGE. LAGUNA DE BABICORA THE CASAS GRANDES ARCHAEOLOGICAL ZONE’ Research headquarters were established in the Casas Grandes River drainage which flows along the eastern flank of the Sierra Madre Occidental. From this center, a survey fanned out through this archaeological zone* from Sonora on the west to the desert lands of the Médanos de Samalayuca on the east, and the inter~ national border on the north to the Papagochic River on the ig. 51. Rivers within the south. This is the expanse through which evidence of Casas Cos Tee eae Grandes material culture is found.THE BORDERS NORTHERN BORDER The northern edge of the Casas Grandes zone is difficult to assess on both cultural and natural criteria. The archaeological defini tion will be determined only after the history of this area is clearly defined. Present evidence suggests a population shift from south to north of this boundary after A.D. 1340. In general, Brand? would inchide Cochise County, Arizona, and Hidalgo and Luna counties, New Mexico.* Excavators such as Kidder and the Cosgroves* Lambert and Ambler,’ and McCluney* have noted the affiliation between their Animas Phase sites and the more heavily populated areas of the zone. The realization that the Basin and Range topography” extends unbroken into south- ern Arizona and New Mexico is essential to an understanding, of the Casas Grandes archaeological zone. EASTERN BORDER ‘The eastern border is marked by a drastic shift in biotic zones. The dunes of Samalayuca east of the Carmen River drainage and west of the Rio Grande" are desolate and dry. This region is not conducive to sedentary productivity, and evidence of villages of the Casas Grandes culture is sparse. Borgia Codex (1963, Vol. 3, Pl 50) Fig. 6-1. The Llano de Carretas les toward the northwestern border (left), while northeastward are the wastelands of the Médanos (right).SOUTHERN BORDER The southern border consists of high, mountainous country, not unlike that of the western border. The Aros (Papagochic) River” can perhaps be best utilized as the southern terminus of the area. Surface surveys indicate that there is little Casas Grandes material culture south of this valley.’ It was in the high grassy flatland of the Babicora Plains that Carey"? and Kidder"* excavated. WESTERN BORDER The rough, jagged face of the Sonoran slopes drain into the Bavispe Basin which forms the western margin of the zone." The northern spine of the Sierra Madre Occidental makes up some 80 per cent of the Casas Grandes archaeological district and rises to an average elevation of some 1,900 m., while some of its peaks tower over 2,700 m. above MSL." These are the mother mountains which give source to the Bavispe in the vicinity of ‘Tres Rios. Its waters travel northward to a narrow mountain valley past the town of Bavispe, to Colonia Oaxaca, where the river makes a great bend to the west. At the town of Batepito, its flow is increased by the San Bernardino, which joins it from the north. The stream then turns south and flows along the steep-sloped western face of the Sierra Madre.” Borgia Codex Fig. 7-1. The Babicora Plains extend to- ‘ward the southern border (left) and the Sierra Madre Occidental fall soithin the western limits (right) (2963, Vol. 3, Pl. 52)THE VALLEYS ‘The mountains form a great curved rim which feeds water to three major river valleys located on its eastern flanks.” These nourish the greater portion of the province included in the Casas Grandes district. The valleys, set in a great cuplike de- pression, are separated by rugged volcanic mountains. The rivers flow from south to north and drain into three shallow, landlocked reservoirs. The largest valley — the Casas Grandes" —lies closest to the mother mountains at an average elevation of 1,500 m. It receives the drainage from 18,100 sq. km. during its 350 km. course to Laguna de Guzmén.” The stream begins as the San Miguel in the Sierra de La Culebra just north of the Hacienda de Babicora and winds northward through the ‘municipios of Temésachic, Zaragoza, and Namiquipa. From the junction of the Arroyo Tres Treinta through the town of EI Rusio, through Mata Ortiz, and on to San Diego, it is called the Palanganas. At this point, it receives the combined waters of the Piedras Verdes and Tapiecitas and is called the Casas Grandes. The main portion of the valley continues through a 50 km. course" to the Boquillas de Corralitos near Janos. Here, the Rio San Pedro (Janos) debouches and the increased stream flow waters the fertile Ascensién district for some 67 km. to Boca Grande. At this point the waters are diverted to an easterly direction by the Sierra de los Moscos. The stream finally turns south and settles in the barren Laguna de Guzmén Basin. In the 19405, before the advent of deep well irrigation, 3,959 families” Fig. 8-1. The Casas Grandes Valley stretches below the Cerro de Moctezuoma,lived in this drainage and each required 33.79 sq. km. of land to sustain themselves.” In addition to water flow, the valley re- ceives from 25 to 50 cm. of precipitation per year.** Throughout the arable sections of this drainage, Medio Period ruins can be found almost every kilometer.” The Santa Marfa flows some 50 km. to the east of and parallel to the Casas Grandes. Like its sister stream it begins high in the Babicora Plains and drops down the sharp northern scarp of the sierra into the same great basin and courses 320 km., draining some 12,800 sq. km. of land before it debouches into the Laguna de Santa Marfa.”* Some 14,569 people or 2,452 families lived in this area in 1940” and each individual utilized 1.26 sq. km. of farmland. The valley, which averages 1,200 to 1,600 m. in height above MSL, receives some 20 to 25 cm. of rain per year. ‘Though smaller than the Casas Grandes, it was once thought of as the breadbasket of the entire district. Prehistoric settlements are to be found throughout its course, particularly around the perimeter of the ciénaga of Navacoyan near Galeana. The smaller Carmen Valley lies 45 km. east of the Santa Maria. It, too, starts on the Babicora Plains and cuts sharply down the northern scarp of the sierras to parallel the latter river. This drainage settles its waters, gathered from a watershed of 13,200 sq. km., after a 250 km. course, into the Laguna de Patos.® This valley marks the eastern border of the archae- ological zone. Due to the fact that it watered a limited amount of arable land, there was a smaller prehistoric population, Fig. 9-1, The Carmen Val- ley Ties farthest to the east.HUMAN UTILIZATION The indigenes who intensively occupied this region utilized five broad environments." From the high mountains to the desert flats there was abundant evidence of human occupation which implied not only that man was able to tolerate these various climatic aspects, but that he took a great deal more from his surroundings than mere subsistence. It was only after three un- interrupted years of living in the area that the staff came to realize the environmental problems which the people being studied had to face. One could not help but be amazed at the level of comfort they attained in the process of adaptation. They were able to meet the need for shelter from the harassing winds; the snow and rain, and the blazing summer sun, not to mention the extreme range of daily temperatures. After A.D. 1060 the need of an increasing population for a more dependable water supply led to the development of an ex tensive conservation system which controlled and used the rain which fell in the “Top of the Mountain’ country,"* while at the same time preserving the topsoil from erosion, increasing the arable land, and reducing disastrous flooding. Fig. 10-1, The Paquimians made full use of their var- ied surroundings UThe larders of the city dwellers were supplied through the efforts of farmers. Hundreds of smaller satellite villages were clustered along the banks of the main river drainages and wher- ever arable land was available throughout the zone. The basic provisions were undoubtedly supplemented with wild flora and fauna gleaned from the total environment. Beyond this use in the food quest, these soil parasites exploited their surroundings for many other purposes. Miners took various minerals from the ground: red sandstone from the Arroyo de Tapiecitas and the Pajarito Mountains, quartz. crystals from the west slopes of the Asitas Huecas east of Bacerac, white kaolin for pottery from the Dos Cabezas range in the headwaters of the Rio San Pedro, and copper for glaze** and casting 10 km. northwest of Huachinera. Woodcutters felled trees for fuel and dwelling purposes. In addition, hunters captured wildlife such as turkey and military macaw to be penned for domestic use. Most certainly, deer and other mammals were hunted for their protein value as well as a source of bone and hide. Fish were taken from the streams. Nature also supplied many medicines which were found in the earth and among the flora and fauna, Fig. 11-1. The Casas Grandes area included five environmental zones.ees HUDSONIAN ZONE Peres CANADIAN COs TRANSITION ZONE Gs UPPER SONORAN ZONE Eas Pe: : eo The City of Paquime . this large city .. . contains buildings that seemed to have been constructed the ancient Romans. It is marvelous to look upon . There are many houses of great size, strength, and height. They are of six and seven stories, with towers and walls like fortresses for protection and defense against the enemies toho undoubtedly used to make war on its inhabitants. Thehouses contain large and magnificent patios paved with enormous and beautiful nes resembling jasper. There were knife-sha wonderful and big pillars of heavy timbers brought from far away. The walls of the houses were whitewashed and painted in many colors and shades with pic tures of the building. —Obregén, A.D. 1584 (Hammond and Rey, 1928, pp. 205Later it was called CASAS GRANDES Ruins at Casas Grandes, Chihuahua,se ep 5, ae / in So 7; 1887-88, PL. VIII: 2 2 ipped Paquimé in 1884. (Ban ig. 5 lier, 1892, P ‘No. 247)+ Ti 1922 Eagar Lee tewere visited Paquimé and wrote, I can think of but one region that answers fairly well to the conditions of the Aztec legend. It is improbable that the tradition can ever be positively verified, but I should offer no objection if the people of the Casas Grandes region should name their charming basin the Vale of Aztlan. (Hewett, +923, p. 30) Fig. 15-1. (Courtesy of The Museum of New Mexico)Tin 1958 tthe ruin was designated as CHIH:D:9:1 by The Joint Casas Grandes Expedition. Some of the tumbled walls of the city had been built up for reoccupation in recent times, as seen in this aerial view toward the south.THE JOINT CASAS GRANDES EXPEDITION Though the ruins of Casas Grandes were not discovered by The Amerind,* The Joint Casas Grandes Expedition was the first to carry on extensive excavations at this national monument.’ Or- ganizing a large-scale expedition which is to operate in a foreign country for three years is at best a decided headache. In 1958, a preliminary plan was presented to the Foundation’s Board of Directors, which at the time consisted of Incorporators Dr. and Mrs. William S. Fulton and Mrs. Elizabeth Fulton Gunter, and Directors Messrs. George W. Chambers, Charles C. Di Peso, Clay Lockett, and Frank M. Votaw. The former granted financial backing for the field work and for final publication, after the latter voted in favor of the project. Legal counsel was sought through Malcolm C. Little, attorney, of Tucson, Arizona, and Gerome Hess, Esq., of Mexico City, both of whom gave freely of their services in formulating an acceptable contract between the Instituto Nacional de Antro- pologia e Historia, as representative of the Mexican Department of Public Education, and The Amerind Foundation, Inc. During this phase, Drs. Walter W. Taylor, Jr. Eusebio Davalos Hurtado, and Ignacio Bernal acted on behalf of Lic. Jose Angel Ceniceros, Secretary of Public Education, and a final agreement was signed ‘on May 29, 1958. Soon after, Drs. Taylor, Bernal, and Di Peso met in Casas Grandes to inspect the ruins, to solicit the aid of the townspeople, the military and the political leaders in the area, and at the same time to search for staff, laboratory, and headquarters housing. Various plans were studied. The thought of a common staff dining room and dormitory housing was re- jected, for it was felt that, for a three-year period, individual housing of staff scattered among the townspeople would be more advisable to safeguard against “campitis.” During this preparation, which necessitated a number of trips to the area, contact was made with the United States Bureau ofCustoms; Messrs. Joseph M. Smith, W. W. Follett, J. A. Mc- Gimsey, Arthur Mettle, and Dr. George O’Sullivan of that de- partment gave excellent advice and alerted the border station at El Paso with regard to the anticipated plans. Lists of material which would cross the international border were to be checked. Wood, earth, and bone specimens to be returned to the United States for study were to be cleared in accordance with strict regu- lations. Packing methods were studied and approved by the cus- toms people. Several export-import firms in the El Paso-Judrez area gave freely of their advice regarding procedures. Dr. Bernal cleared the plan through the Hacienda Federal department of the Republic of Mexico. In addition, Mr. Henry Myers, then in the employ of Amerind, acted as buyer of materials which could not be obtained in Casas Grandes and which were vital to the success of the expedition. Messrs. George and William Scott of Benson, ‘Arizona, designed the truck needs, and the International Har- vester Co., through the offices of its treasurer, Mr. William R. Odell, sold three trucks to the expedition at factory cost. One of the board members, George W. Chambers, persuaded the M. M. Sundt Construction Co. of Tucson to contribute a Mich- igan 75 front-end loader. This piece of equipment did yeoman service and easily tripled dirt-moving capacity, increased the angles of photographic coverage, and helped with the con- struction of roads and dikes, and performed a multitude of tasks. It was indispensable to this particular type of archae- ological expedition. A “Trailorafna,” manufactured by Ferrera & Calde of Gardena, California, was purchased at factory cost through Desert Trailer Sales, Inc., of Tucson, to aid in the housing problem. Fig. 17-1 (left). Amerind board members admire the copper turtle found at Pa- ‘quimé. Left to right: Charles Di Peso, Rose Fulton, Elizabeth Gunter Husband, William Fulton, Clay Lock- ett, George Chambers. inspect the Charles Di Peso,Fig. 19-1, When the expe- dition crossed the border at Gindad Jutrez (left), En- rique Ballesteros gave gen erously of his help (right). Tt was a windy, gray Tuesday morning of August 29, 1958, when the expedition, formed at the Dragoon headquarters, moved eastward to El Paso. Here it almost met a premature death. Despite the file of communications brought to bear by the Foundation, as well as the I.N.A.H., the Mexican border was closed to the expedition! Eighteen days were spent in clearing personnel and equipment across the line through Ciudad Juérez, During this dark period, there were several bright and cheery notes. Sr. Enrique R. Ballesteros, Mexican Consul General in El Paso, Mr. Louis M. Drury of the American Consulate in Ciudad Juarez, as well as Srs. Valverde and Caldron of the Mexi- can customs department, made the setbacks bearable. With the assistance of Bailey-Mora Company, Inc., customs brokers, and Mr. Dorrance Roderick, an El Paso newspaper publisher who acted as bondsman, the expedition was able to literally steal across the international line after sunset of a Saturday night ‘on September 13, 1958. The original driving crew had long since dispersed and Messrs. Donald Knoles and Rex E. Gerald of El Paso aided in this chore, as did other members of the expe- dition, The latter and his wife, Virginia Gould Gerald, opened their house to the staff during the prolonged stay in El Paso. It was headquarters and a haven from the many daily frustrations. Those who were in that caravan will not readily forget the all-night drive from Ciudad Judrez to Casas Grandes. The latter was a sea of mud, a disaster area at the mercy of the fall rains. The townspeople helped the exhausted group settle in for thethree-year stay. The housing problem was not easily solved as the town was without a newspaper, a real estate office, or a tele- phone. However, the radio station informed the community of these vexing requirements and the people came with the news: “There is an apartment available here, a house there . . .” and so everyone was taken in, The house trailer was set up in the yard of Mr. and Mrs. Loren Taylor of Colonia Dublin. An empty store in Nuevo Casas Grandes was rented from Sra. Luz A. de Nufiez. Carpenters, electricians, and other craftsmen worked to convert the store into a darkroom, sherd-washing lab, cataloguing area, and general headquarters. Spanish-English dictionaries were used overtime in search of such words as hinge, doorknob, light bulb, water valve — and a thousand other every- day items all too often ignored in Spanish classes. The women learned to market and became conversant in “kitchen” Spanish and acclimated themselves to local shopping problems, realizing that some butcher stores can strike panic in the weak of heart At the time of arrival at the Casas Grandes ruins, Sr. Marcos Galaz, guardian of the site, was the official representative of the LN.AH. During one of the many preliminary trips, arrange- ments were made to have the ruin surveyed and mapped, using a fifty-meter grid.’ This service was donated by Ing. Fausto Sanchez Blanco. His map* included those contours formed by the man-made mounds which contained the once grand architecture of the old city. The engineer took numerous astronomical bear- ings and determined the position at the main datum point as Fig, 20-1 (left). Marcos Galaz and Charles Di Peso confer on the ruin, Fig. 21-1 (tight). Housing toes arranged for etaff and labsbeing 30°22 north latitude and 107°58’ west longitude, and ran a traverse and determined that the main elevation was 1,476 m. above MSL. Prior to the arrival of the staff, Dr. Bernal, on behalf of the Mexican government, had to relocate eleven families who lived on and in the upper exposed stories of the old city. New houses, property, and water rights had to be arranged for before the expedition entered the scene as an outsider. Consequently, no stigma was cast upon this group as the cause of relocation of these people. Representing the people of “Old Town, as they prefer to be known, their presidente, Sr. Hernén Galaz, entered into a free contract with the expedition. He picked twenty good men for the crew and established their pay rate and working conditions under a Contracto Libre. In the next few months, a great deal was learned about the labor laws of the Republic of Mexico, the Dia Septimo, the official holidays and feast days, rates of pay, ete: The Syndicato de Labor was a hard taskmaster during the three years, but by no means impossible, Sr. Galaz chose our foreman, a man who could speak English as well as Spanish, a Sr. Atinacio Anchondo. The mechanic, Sr. Alfonso Sing, became a real leader among the group and not only maintained the equipment, but also learned to run the front-end loader in a most accomplished fashion. So sensitive did his feel become that he would stop the machine seemingly from intuition and call the hand crew to expose an unseen floor level or wall section.Thanks are extended to the people of Viejo Casas Grand Nuevo C randes, Colonia Dublin, Colonia Judrez, and the ranchers living in the area who took us in, made us feel at home, and made possible three very happy years. It is im- possible to name them all, but they know and the Foundation thanks them all! Fig. 22-1. Modem structures had to be removed from the site ( times utilized pre swalls (right). Fig. 23-1. The field crew.Fig. 24-1 (left). Setting da- sur points. Fig. 26-1. Unit 1 saw the first day of digging. On September 30, 1958, the first shovel was sunk into the overburden designated, on the first page of the books, as CHIH:D:9:1. For three this ancient city was constantly filled with surprises. The brunt of the excavations was carried by the usual shovel and pick work. Two low-boy International A-120 trucks, with specially designed screens, did the work of the wheelbarrow. The front- end payloader did a prodigious amount of clearing in large plazas and other areas where the heavy overburden of earth had to be removed in order to carry out the principles involved in strip excavations. It easily tripled the digging capacity andamply handled the usually expensive problem of what to do with backdirt. The work with the heavy equipment was always pre- ceded by a series of hand dug trenches which explored the area and permitted the pala grande to clear away the overburden in rapid order. After the ruin was stripped of its overburden, tests were made below the plaza floors and in other sections to as- certain what, if anything, the natives had consigned to sub- terranean areas. ‘Much of the removed earth was used to build revetments to keep sheet floods from inundating the exposed portions of the ruin; some was used to fill badly eroded areas; but a tremen- Fig. 27-1 (lef). Staff con- ferences in the field were frequent. Fig. 28-1 (right). Atinacio Anchondo (left) directing brush removal Fig. 29-1 (left). Alfonso Sing twas master of the pala grande. Fig, 30-1 (right). Villagers removed backdirt for theirFig, 31-1 (left). Progress and impressions of the ‘work were sometimes taken ‘on a tape recorder. Fig. 32-1 (right). Carlos Caraveo and Arnold With- ers removing artifacts from «shell storeroom. dous amount was simply carted away by the townspeople for use in streets, on roofs, in making bricks, and for general con- struction. In truth, Viejo Casas Grandes appeared to be in an “Age of Dirt” — not steel, bronze, or iron. It was soon obvious that the custom of earth use in all phases of building was not unique to the adobe dwellers of Old Town, but also to the prehis- toric city dwellers of Casas Grandes. They too lived in an age of soil — a warning in the interpretation of stratigraphic evidence, as trash and adobe were used over and over again when the building needs demanded, so that sherds, broken lithic equipment, and other utensil material culture were constantly being shifted hither and yon as architectural necessities arose. Incidentally, it ‘was quite a sight to note the various'vehicles used by the towns- people, Some came with baskets, others with trucks, some with horse and wagon, and a few with wooden-wheeled barrows; but all came for the same purpose — dirt for building in order to protect themselves from the elements. The digging crew was very loyal, often denying themselves the luxury of their feast days. Some were attracted to the excavation of skeletons; others became expert in floor cleaning; and still others in moving heavy top-cover. They began their training in Unit 1. Architectural features were numbered in the order of their excavation, but the men soon renamed them with titles which struck their fancy. Unit z-became their Monticulo de losHornos, because four deep pit ovens were found in association with an artificial mound. The men were proud of their work. They attached themselves to the ruin and foresaw that extra efforts would one day attract visitors and that such tourists would bring not only prestige to their town, but also money to their jeans. Furthermore, they considered that the project gave them an edge over the people of Nuevo Casas Grandes, whom they regarded as “Johnny-come-latelies.” Fig. 33-1 (left). Burials were carefully exposed by the workmen, Fig. 34-1 (righ). Payday Brought each week to a happy close. Fig. 35-1 (left). Work was according to skills Fig. 361 (right). All hands sume to lear Unit 6the calendar for 36 months, in all her, excavation was carried on using tools from a heavy front-end loader to fine dental robe the surface and occasionally hazardous subsurface features of the dead city.Fig, 38-1. Tommy Carroll found the payloader rig a useful, if precarious, perch. Photographic coverage was begun by Mr. Alfred Cohn, carried on by Mr. Tommy Carroll in the second year, and by Mr. Russell Rosene in the third. During the first year, Mr. Cohn used a 2% x 34 Linhoff, a 35-mm Exakta for color work, and a Bolex* for 16-mm movie coverage. Prompted by the high cost of film, the problems of negative cataloguing, and the greater facility of 35-mm cameras in the field, Mr. Carroll advocated a complete change to 35-mm Leicas in the second year. This shift in photo- graphic equipment proved a real advantage over the larger, bulkier, and slower apparatus which had been much more expen- sive to operate. Field photographs were catalogued by making contact print of each 35-mm roll of thirty-six exposures on a single 8-by-so print and giving each sheet a date and roll num- ber. This number, plus the frame number present in the film, formed an accession number and these, plus the 35-mm color shots, were cross-indexed in the photo field book, as well as in the artifact provenience catalogue file. The system has proved most useful and flexible, both in the field and the laboratory. The field books and operations were under the control of the archaeologists, Messrs. Boyd Wettlaufer, Robert Trujillo, and Ray Garner, his daughter, Gaylin, and Miss Beth Dickey. Dur- ing the last ‘two years, these operations were under the super- vision of Prof. Arnold M. Withers of the University of Denver,who had as his assistant Mr. Ricardo Blanco of Colonia Dublan. ‘These records consisted of the daily notes and excavation details. A number of these books were kept simultaneously and, conse- quently, had to be indexed for use when completed. In addition, a master field book was kept upon the advice of Dr. Watson Smith. He had realized after analyzing the history of long- sustained expeditions that individual personnel would be apt to come and go, and that each would record his work differently. Thus, to maintain continuity, he suggested the master field book —a daily chore. This meant that all data had to be taken from the several field books and consolidated in one complete whole with descriptions and photographs of each feature, Detailed maps and sketches, sherd counts, and catalogued artifact asso- ciations were checked and cross-checked in the field and placed in the master book. When a feature was completed, a meeting was arranged with the archaeologist-in-charge, the engineer, the cataloguer, and the photographer in order to clarify any questions which might arise. This double-check, made with the excavation personnel while in the field proved a tedious routine, but life-saving guarantee that al field data and interpretations would be in one place, compiled by a single person who would be responsible to the expedition until the final reporting was completed. Fig, 39-1, Willi Scott and Charles Di Peso in air- craft (upper) which was teed for aerial coversge Tower) Fig. 40-1. Detailed photo- sraphs were taken daily.Fig. 41-1 (left). The field lab staff had regular meet- ings. Fig. 42-1 (right). Frances Di Peso was the expedition ‘accountant. In the laboratory Miss Hattula Mohly-Nagy conducted the cataloguing the first year, and Mrs. Malcolm Withers, assisted by Srta, Mercedes Blanco, the second and third years. Not only were all artifacts catalogued, but also cleaned, marked, repaired, and packed. The catalogue system consisted of five copies of 4-by-6-inch cards for each object. As a safeguard against possi- ble loss, fire, or other mishap, one card was sent to the LN.A.H., a second to The Amerind Museum, and three copies were kept in the field — one in an accession system, the second and third in cross-indexed provenience and artifact files. Thus, one could at any time find out how many axes had been found, or what artifacts a specific room or feature contained. In addition, the provenience catalogue contained a listing of all animal bones, dendro samples, pollen and Carbon-14 specimens, uncatalogued fragments, as well as an itemized index of descriptions of each feature as it appeared in the various field books, in the master book, and in the photographic and engineering files. To obtain the catalogue photographs, a special indoor pho- tographer was hired, Mrs, Margaret Cohn shot the artifacts the first year, Mrs. Virginia Gamer the second, and Mrs. Nita Rosene the third. These women did a tremendous job keeping the num- bers correct and pasting the photos on each of the five individual cards, They trained a number of local girls to help them in analmost impossible job of cataloguing, which was the mainspring pedition y, in addition to her cataloguing duties, performed the secretarial work the first year. This proved to be too much for one person and Miss Beth Colvin joined the staff years to handle the office work and the typing of the master book. Mi Di PesoFig. 44-1. Nita Rosene shot catalogue photographs I artifacts in the fi io (left) while large cts were done outdoors banking in two monetary systems, making payrolls for th keeping tab of the innumerable loans to workers, purchasing, and maintaining the financial solvency of the expedition Engincering was the responsibility of Sr. Eduardo Contreras, who, with Sr. Raul Gardea, did admirable work throughout the three-year period. Sr. Contreras, in addition to doing a nificent job of mapping, was the official rep: Mexican government. He be ntative of the ame the pillar of the expeditionHis morale and work were always of the highest caliber. The crew loved him, as did all the staff, and the townspeople better understood the group’s problems because of his communication . with them. During the first part of the active period of field work, partial restoration of the ruin was carried on by a representative of the Instituto, Sr. César Saenz, who cemented the stone reinforcing walls of the excavated mounds. After the completion of the ex- pedition, St. Contreras returned to stabilize the exposed puddled adobe features, In 1969-1970, Sr. Contreras was responsible for the reconstruction of Unit 11." Fig. 47-1. Restoration of the mounds was a proj ect undertaken by the H. Fig. 46-1. Eduardo Con. treras mastered the chal- Tenge of mapping the ex tensive rain.Fig, 48-1. Survey work re- sulted in the recording of petroglyphs (left) as well ‘as waler control systems (right) RECONNAISSANCE* In addition to the excavation operations, the valley was surveyed and surface sherds were collected. During the summer of 1959, Mr. M. Harvey Taylor, Brigham Young University, carried out this project. These data were added to the pervious excellent work of Sayles’ and Brand.” Several reconnaissance trips were taken into the mountains, particularly in the Cave Valley and Tres Rios area. During the 1960 summer vacation period, the Withers and Di Peso families carried on an excavation in the vi- cinity of Tres Rios at the sites of CHIH:G:2:3 and CHIH. ‘A survey was also made of the complicated and widespread sur- face water control system which the early inhabitants had built throughout the mountainous portion of the Casas Grandes den- dritic pattern. This scheme has been remarked upon by several travelers, such as Lumholtz"* and Bandelier."* Professor Withers prevailed upon several geographers of the University of Denver to carry out special studies in regard to these constructions.” In addition, the Mexican Military Department permitted Amerind to obtain a series of air maps covering this area which gave further insight into the extent of water control. The Foundation is also indebted to the U.S.A.F. Arctic, Desert, Tropic Informa- tion Center, and its Director, Dr. Paul H. Nesbitt, for securing these aerial photographs. The reconnaissance, when added to the data obtained by Bandelier, Brand, Sayles, and Lister, gave a rather impressive list of sites in northwestern Chihuahua. As Bandelier noted,"* “It is not improbable that the Casas Grandesregion —in which I include the valleys of Corralitos, Janos, ‘Ascension, and the stretch as far as the Boquilla and the Piedras Verdes and Palanganas Rivers —at one time contained a popu- lation more dense than that of any other part of the Southwest inhabited by sedentary aborigines.” FIELD OPERATIONS The main ruins of Casas Grandes were the apex around which most of the activity was centered. However, the job was not only to excavate a sufficient part of the city, but also to note its place in the historical continuum of the valley. It soon became obvious that the ruins supplied only one chapter, or possibly two, of the long story. The main site produced a number of excellent den- drochronology specimens. Additional samples were desired to Fig, 49-1. Reconnaissance trips were made into Cave Valley (left) and other nearby sites (right)50-1, San An- tenio de. Padua ‘mission was part of the site of CHIE:D:9:2. bridge backward across time from the present to the period when | Casas was built. It was known that 5.2 km. north of Paquimé, on the same side of the river, there existed remains of the Fran- ciscan church of San Antonio de Padua de Casas Grandes. Burned during the revolt in 1684, it was thought that dendro specimens of charred church timbers might be found. On the cloudy Monday morning of September 21, 1959, with this purpose in mind, the focus of the excavations was shifted to the church site, CHTH:D:9:2, known locally as the Convento. y SIL. Aerial ‘San Antonio. ieEighteen charred vigas were found in the apse. Unfortunately, they did not close the dendrochonological gap. However, east of the church, along the edge of the river bank, the trenches ‘exposed the remains of pit houses which did not contain the usual polychrome pottery associated with the big city. These were similar to the domiciles of the Mogollon of the south- ‘western part of the United States. The pottery was a crude red- ‘on-brown ware which also had like affinities. By December 22, 1959, the expedition had gathered sufficient data from this ruin to give a fair picture of the history of the valley before the build- ing of Paquimé. We had literally stumbled upon 350 years of the story! Three villages were found on this one site, built one on top of the other. Additional work at two other sites," located just to the north, about 0.4 km. apart, on the same side of the river, disclosed more information. Consequently, there now were supporting data from three pit house sites upon which to base historical reconstructions."* The field expedition was terminated in September of 1961. ‘There was a certain sadness about this, for the group had become part of the Casas Grandes community. Many friends held fare- well parties; the staff went their separate ways, bearing the un- happy realization that never again would they join together under the same circumstances. The ruin —a beautiful thing — was left under the protection of the I.N.A-H. The material cul- ture gathered during the three-year field period was secure in the museum storerooms at Dragoon, to be returned to the Re- public of Mexico upon completion of the studies.Mm QT Hig. 521, The senior a- thors worked with the help of Amerind staff and stu- dent assistants 1. Charles Di Peso and Barbara Powell. 2. John Rinaldo and Michael Loftus. LABORATORY IN DRAGOON Between 1961 and 1963, a small Amerind staff of two, Misses Carol Green and Cyndi Rouan, struggled with the impossible task of working over the 800,000 sherds and the thousands of artifacts. It soon became apparent that it would take some fifteen years for the staff to condense the studies into a congruent whole for colleagues. Too long a time! With approval of the Board, a request was submitted to the National Science Foundation for salary aid and a three-year grant, GS-237, was awarded, followed by GS-1146 for two years. These permitted the assistance of Dr. John B. Rinaldo as archaeologist, 1963-1967; Miss Gloria J. Fenner as assistant archaeologist, 1963-1967; Mr. Don Perce- val, artist, 1964-1965; Mr. Charles M. Spooner, visual aids spe- cialist, 1963-1965; Mr. James L. Caywood, visual aids special- ist, 1965-1967; Mr. J. Michael McGee, visual aids specialist, 1966-1967; Mrs. Eugenia L. McGee, varitypist, 1965-1967; and Beloit College student assistants Sonja M. Jerkic, 1966, 1967, Jane C. Myers, 1966, John W. Graham and Michael K. Loftus, 1966, and Susan K. Glowski and Diana L. Mann, 1967. After the expiration of the second grant, the following staff members were supported by Amerind: Rinaldo, archaeologist, 1968-1969; Fenner, assistant archaeologist, 1968-1969, archae- ologist, 1970-1974; Mrs. Alice Wesche, artist, 1967-1974; Mr. James L. Caywood, visual aids specialist, 1968-1969; Mr. Monte L. Bingham, visual aids specialist, 1969-1970; Mr. George M. Bradt, visual aids specialist, 1971-1972; Mr. Robert F. Pierce, visual aids specialist, 1974; Mrs. Darla M. Powell,varitypist, 1967-1969; Mrs. Anne J. Sage, varitypist, 1969- 1971; Mrs. Betty J. Kelley, varitypist, 1971; Mrs. Shari Di Peso and Mrs. Delores A. Lamb, varitypists, 1972-1974; Mrs. Linda A. Stacy, laboratory assistant, 1967-1974; Miss Beth Walton, laboratory assistant, 1970-1971; Mrs. Shari Di Peso, laboratory assistant, 1969-1972; and Beloit College student assistants Lucretia $. Schryver, Joy C. Hawkins, Margaret A. Byrne, Ryntha Johnson, and Randolph R. Tully, Jr., 1968, Susan M. Eastwood, Ruth D. Easton, and Gail Brown, 1968-1969, and Carolyne J. Adams, Katherine S. Flynn, and Scott Haurberg, Work in the lab was varied mingly endless. 1. Gloria Fenner. 2. Linda Stacy sand Shari Di Peso. Fig. 54-1 (left). George Bradt and Alice Wesche confer on illustrations for the final publication Fig, 55-1 (tight). Eugenia McGee vartyping descrip- tions forthe report(After Beyer, 1965, Fig. 69, p. 167) 1969. Miss Mary Lu Moore, University of New Mexico, took on the onerous tack of checking bibliographic entries in 1973. In addition, members of the Amerind staff— Mrs. Bettina B. Smith, secretary, 1963-1970; Mrs. Barbara J. Powell, secretary, 1970— 1974; Mrs. Ruth B. Rinaldo, librarian, 1964-1969; Miss Barbara ‘A. Barth, librarian, 1970-1974 — contributed to numerous tasks associated with the project. Contributions to various fields of study have been the result of a number of manuscripts written outside the confines of the present publication, including archaeo-ornithology, malacology,? physical anthropology,* archaeology,’ and dendrochronology.* THE PUBLICATION It was quite obvious that the thousands of pages of primary data, ie,, the information pertaining to individual architectural features and artifacts, could not be published by normal means. Yet, it was felt that these should somehow be preserved as an integral part of the final report. To this end, researches were instigated into feasible methods of publication. It was revealed that many colleagues either disliked or did not have available to them the mechanics necessary to utilize such media as micro- film, microcard, and microfiche. Consequently, a determined effort was made to find an acceptable and economical format. One was designed which was executed to a camera-ready stage in the Amerind laboratory. The history, stressing use and func- tion of human technology, is contained in Volumes 1 through 3, with ample photographs, charts, and art work to permit the reader to follow the intriguing and absorbing story. The primary data are included in the remaining volumes. © © © Casas Grandes was more than just a ruin. The information derived from these excavations has made a notable impact upon the history of the Gran Chichimeca. The staff has spent a great deal of time and energy planning these volumes. It is hoped that the excitement and beauty of this metrepolis will shine through the pages of Volumes 1 through 3 and that the reader will finish this book with a love of Paquimé and a knowledge of the dra- matic story of the people, the city, and the adjoining area.DATING SPANISH HISTORY AND PARRAL ARCHIVES" ‘Work at the Franciscan church of San Antonio de Padua de Casas Grandes made obvious the lack of knowledge of the Spanish period. To strengthen this portion of the study, Mr. and Mrs. George W. Chambers, of Arizona Silhouettes, Tucson, and Samuel Freedman, Cleveland, of Micro Photo, Inc., were pre- vailed upon to make commercial microfilm copies of the famous Parral Archives.? Some 300,000 pages pertaining to the history of Nueva Vizcaya between A.D. 1631 and 1821 were photo- graphed. That connected with the Casas Grandes area was studied under N.S.F. Grant GS-5 by Drs. Edward H. Spicer and William B. Griffen at the University of Arizona. Mr. Carlos Caraveo, of Cochise College, also assisted in translations of the Parral Archives. These findings support the chapter of Iberian contacts included in this report. DENDROCHRONOLOGY* ‘As mentioned previously, a great number of the datable dendro- chronology specimens were retrieved from the ruins of Casas Grandes. The material was placed in the Christian calendrical system with the aid of N.S.F. Grant G-17471 by Drs. Bryant Bannister and Stuart D. Scott‘ of the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research at the University of Arizona, The studies resulted in the first Mexican tree-ring chronology! Needless to say, this is Fig, 56-1. The Parral Ar- chives were microfilmed ‘and studied for historical data.Hig. 57-1. Tree-ring eam- ples were collected from the nearby mountains (left) as well as from Paquimé itself (right). an extremely valuable tool to be used in recreating the history of the Gran Chichimeca and one which can be extended both in time and in space. It is hoped that one day it will be useful in dating such important ruins as La Quemada and Zape. CARBON-14° Ten samples were selected from the collections and these were submitted, under terms of a cash congract, by The Amerind Foundation, Inc., to the Carbon-14 Age Determination Labora- tory of the Geochronology Laboratories of the University of Arizona. Drs. Paul E. Damon and C. Vance Haynes were able to secure a series of significant dates* which supported and corre- lated with the dendrochronological primary dating tables estab- lished for the Medio Period and the archival data available for the Casas Grandes area, thus expanding time controls to both the earlier Viejo as well as to the later Tardio and Espafioles archaeological periods. This information was then correlated with certain other secondary modes of time sequencing, such as obsidian hydration and trade ceramic observations. Mr. Eugene McCluney,’ while with the School of American Research, permitted Amerind to make use of three of his un- published C-14 dates which were obtained from the Joyce Well Site located in southwest New Mexico. These supported the Tardio Period mid-17th century date obtained from the lateCHIH:G:2:3 excavations and afforded certain clues which suggested that some historic Jova and Jocome villages were occupied by possible remnant bearers of the pre-Hispanic Casas Grandes culture. OBSIDIAN HYDRATION DATING* In June, 1960, Dr. Clifford Evans requested that The Joint Casas Grandes Expedition submit obsidian specimens taken from their excavations to his newly-formed Smithsonian Institution Obsid- ian Hydration Dating Laboratory, which was, in part, sponsored by an N.S.F. grant.” Some 556 samples were submitted in Feb- ruary, 1962, and of this number, 98 were tested and reported on by Lynn E. Dixon,” who submitted to print the micron values and characterizations of the study sample. These micron values were then studied by Dr. Clement W. Meighan and ordered calendrically according to his newly- established west Mexican obsidian dating project," which was supported by an N.S.F, grant, GS-921. The purpose of his re- view was to test the validity of his system outside of its defined geographical area using material which was dated by other methods such as dendrochronology and C-14. In the analysis of this material at Dragoon it was noted that 30 specimens which were believed to have had confirmed archaeological associations with the Diablo Phase of the Medio Period, which had a tenta- tive end date of A.D. 1340, produced an average micron value of 2.1, the equivalent of A.D. 140452 in the west Mexican scheme or A.D. 138852 in the calendrical year average. This came fairly close to the end date for this phase and afforded additional support to this assumption and encouraged a careful expansion of the west coast dating calendar in terms other than its narrowly defined geographical area. PALYNOLOGY* During the course of excavations, Dr. Paul S. Martin, of the Geochronology Laboratories of the University of Arizona, while under cash contract to The Amerind Foundation, Inc., came to the area and collected pollen samples from various parts of the city of Paquimé as well as from the Malpais Site’ in an attempt to glean data appertaining to dating and climate in this particular area, However, the results could not be used as a dating method in the sense that dendrochronology or C-14 was. oe ee . f) ° O © OMATERIAL CULTURE CHANGE The taxonomic tool used herein to order human events on the basis of material culture shifts is neither methodologically de- vised nor scientifically rigid. The Viejo to the Medio Period ‘transition was based on ceramics and architecture. The smaller phase units were based on observed architectural developments. ‘The Casas Grandes studies have emphasized that the elements of material culture, such as ceramics and architecture, do not alter as a unit, but independently, There were apparent archi- tectural transformations without corresponding design innova- tions in the ceramic school and in other arts and crafts. More realistically, these transfigurations occurred in spurts and stops. TERMINOLOGY, APPROACH, AND DEFINITIONS GRAN CHICHIMECA" The archaeological zone of Casas Grandes, as defined earlier, is part of a larger geographical area whose delineation has been a source of considerable confusion. In 1928, Drs. Kroeber® and Wissler extended “the Southwest culture south nearly to the Tropic [of Cancer], so that half of it lies in Mexico.” They might have added that this description included more than half of the Republic of Mexico. In 1932, Dr. Beals’ commented that the entire northern Mexico portion of the “Greater Southwest” must be studied in the light of its own data and not as an appendage of some other area, In 19:4, Dr. Kirchhoff* reviewed the use of this culture-area term, “Greater Southwest,”’ and redefined it on ‘climatic and cultural grounds so as to include central, southern, and Baja California; the Great Basin; Arizona; New Mexico; west Texas; and northern Mexico south to the Sinaloa and P&nuco rivers. Apparently, his cultural base was ethnographic rather than archaeological." He proposed the use of “Arid America” and “Oasis America” to replace “Greater Southwest.’”* However, these terms lack time depth, in a historical sense, and cannot be used by archaeologists in their reconstructions. ‘The point in issue is whether or not American archaeologists can break away from the ethnocentric habit of using the term “Southwest” when referring to this larger area. This is an em- barrassment to those working in northern Mexico who expect to communicate with colleagues on both sides of the interna- tional border. To exemplify: Dr. Spicer in his study, Cycles of Conquest,’ apologized for the use of the term: “The region dealtwith, from the point of view of the Mexican reader, might be called the ‘Northwest.’ The term Southwest is used with apologies and in full awareness that for historians, like Othon de Mendizébal, the region with which we are concerned is the Northwest.” Moreover, recognition of this area is essential to any study, for as Kroeber’ stated, “it is clear that if this larger Southwest is a true cultural entity, the old Pueblo or even ‘Arizona-New Mexico Southwest is but a fragment, whose func- tioning is intelligible only in terms of the larger growth.” In 1959, Dr. Jiménez Moreno” referred to this area as “Cultura Mogollon,” using a term which has cultural connotations to most “Southwestern” archaeologists. Is there a term which, in its definition, will not necessitate reference to a political boundary, a specific environment, or a particular prehistoric culture? Long before the time of the first ‘Southwestern’ anthropolo- gist, in the historic period of the Mesoamerican cultures which began with the arrival of the hordes led by Mixcéatl, the term “Chichimec” was used" to refer to those people who belonged to the dog lineage, or more popularly “the sons of the dog” — barbarians, or warlike hunters. One must turn to the second half of the 16th century for a definition of the Chichimec. Franciscans such as Motolinfa and Sahagin, Durdn of the Dominican order, and descendants of the Indian rulers produced a number of superb documents which are indispensable to an understanding of the history of the ‘northern frontier. These savants utilized living informants who, as Sahagiin described, were old chiefs, well versed in all things, idolatrous practices as well as their government and its offices and who also were present in the war when this city (Mexico) was conquered.* In addition, they took into account the codices, those mnemonic glyphs used as an aid in training native scholars to memorize the verbal histories of their people. Sometime between 1558 and 1569, Father Sahagiin interro- gated his authorities after the fashion of a trained ethnologist, and among his queries was one pertinent to this study — Who were the Chichimecans? And they answered: These different people all called themselves Chichimeca. All boasted the Chichimeca estate, because all had gone intc the Fig, 58-1. The dog glyph. (After Beyer, 1965, p. 441)Chichimeca land where they went to live; all returned from Chichimeca land. But the name of the place is not Chichimeca land; the name of the place is only the desert lands, the house of darts, the north. It is only named Chichimeca land because there live the Chichimeca who eat (and) drink from hunting. Its said the Mexica called themselves Chichimeca (but prop- erly) it is said they called themselves Atlaca Chichimeca [i., Chichimeca who live on the water] The different Nahua peoples also are called Chichimeca, be- cause they returned from the Chichimeca land, they returned from the so-called Chicomoztoc. They are the Tepaneca, the Acolhuaque, the Chalca; the people from the hot lands, the Tlalhuica, the Couixea; those beyond (the mountains), the Uexotzinca, the Tlaxcalteca; and still other Nahua peoples. They also go bearing their equipment, the arrow, the spear. The Tolteca are also called Chichimeca; they are called Tolteca Chichimeca. The Otom{ are also called Chichimeca — Otonchichimeca. The Michoaque [Tarascans] are also called Chichimeca. The people to the east are not called Chichimeca; they are called Olmeca, Uixtotin, Nonoualca."* Similarly, the Dominican Father Diego Durin questioned his spokesmen between 1581 and 1588 and they answered: According to the natives’ histories, all these people [Chichi- mecans] were of the same origin and the only difference was that they belonged to different parties. However, other na- tions such as the Mixtecs, Zapotecs, Huastecs and the coastal peoples [east coast] were to them as the Moors, Turks, pagans, or Jews are to-us. The name “Chichimec” of which the Aztec nation was so proud, is similar to our use of the word Cas- Fig, 59-1. The Chichimee King Itil- seek! was born ithe Cave of the Bat. (After Mapa Tlozin, Kricke- ee eetilian or Goth and the above-mentioned nations did not use this title. Only those around the Popocatepetl, “Smoking Mountain,” bore it, and these people were the inhabitants of Tlaxcala, Huexotzinco, Cholula, and Tliliuhquitepec. All of them called themselves Chichimecs before they had come to possess these lands. So it was that Tlaxcala and Mexico fought in order to practice war and not because of enmity."* ‘The Jesuit Joseph de Acosta probably used Durén‘s study in his history, written around 1604.” He wrote of the Chichimecans: ‘The antient and first inhabitants of those provinces, which wee call New Spaine, were men very barbarous and savage, which lived onely by hunting, for this reason they were called Chichimecas. They did neither sowe nor till the ground, neither lived they together; for all their exercise was to hunt, wherein they were very expert. They lived in the roughest partes of the mountaines beastlike, without any pollicie, and they went all naked. They hunted wilde beasts, hares, connies, weezles, mowles, wilde cattes, and birdes, yea vncleane beasts, as snakes, lizards, locusts, and wormes, whereon they fed, with some hearbs and rootes."* Ixtlibxéchitl, a direct descendant of the last ruler of Texcoco, wrote a history of the Chichimeca which was completed around 1616. His native birth permitted him to elicit from the codices and his countrymen information which was denied to strangers."" He described “The Chichimeca lords [who] ruled in the northern regions. Their realms extended more than two thousand leagues in length and almost a thousand leagues in width.”” ‘These early ethnologists were puzzled as to the extent of the Chichimecan land. Motolinia was told that it was the land through which Alvar Niifiez Cabeza de Vaca traveled," while Durén was told that it included the land of Cibola and that part through which the Aztecs passed in the peregrinations southward.” Years later, in 1726, Philip V's historiographer, Antonio de Herrera, wrote of the Chichimecans: ‘The borders of the Country of these Chichimecas, are thirty Leagues to the Westward from the City of Mexico, and along, them are the Towns of Queutaro, Acanuara, Yurirapundaro and Sichu, as also those of St. Michael, St. Philip and Salaya, the Mines of Guanaxuato, and the Town of Leon; and pro- INAH ‘Gontro Chinual BIBLIOTECAceeding directly forward with the Course of the Sun, that Country extends many leagues to the South-Sea along which Coast lie at a greater or lesser Distance the Provinces of the New Kingdom of Galacia, Culiacan, Copala, Chiametla, and still farther on the Island of California, to which the first Marques del Valle Cortes reach’d, and gave it that Name. . . . how far this Country extends to the North, and the North ‘West, is not known. In the broad Northern Part between the ‘two Seas are the Provinces of Florida, Cibola, Quivira, Guas- teca and New Mexico, besides many others not yet known, as being too remote and difficult of Access. The nearest Places to those unknown, now inhabited by Spaniards to the West- ward, are the Mines of the Zacatecas, Panuco, el Fresnillo, St. Martin, el Sombrerete, los Nieves, and many more Mines, as also the Government of Francis de Ybarra, with its Mines of Chametla, Endehe, Santa Barbara, Guadiana, and the new mines, all enclos'd by those provinces call’d Chichimecas, under which Denomination are included many Nations that speak different languages, as the Pamies, Capuzes, Samues, Zancas, Maiolias, Guamares, Guachichiles and others, all dis- tinct Races, tho’ much alike in Manners and Behavior. What the Spaniards have discover'd of these Provinces as well to the Westward as to the Northward extends above 200 Leagues from the Towns of St. Michael and St. Philip, a very fruitful Soil and temperate Climate, rather cold than hot, and more dry than damp, for which reason it is extraordinary healthy, and the Night and Days are almost equal all the Year about, the greatest Difference between them being three Hours at the proper Seasons. There is generally but little Rain, and tho! some Years less happens to fall than usual, there is no great miss of it, because what little there is suffices, and the Good- ness of the Land supplies all Defects; so that no Famine has ever been known in all Parts hitherto discover’d to have been occasion’d by want of Rain, which commonly begins to fall in June.” Francisco Ibarra was commissioned to go into Durango and settle among the Chichimecans” and in 1581 Chamuscado de- scribed traveling north from the Guadiana Valley in Durango and going sixty leagues down the Conchos River until he entered the land of the Chichimecans, who were also called Rayados or painted ones."* AFThis northern frontier might be described as the “Gran Chichimeca’” as it was obviously thought of by the ancient peo- ple of Mesoamerica and the early Spanish chroniclers. This bar- baric land is described as being north of an imaginary line drawn between Tepic and Tampico" which approximates the southern border of the Greater Southwest, the Southwest, Arid North America, and The Greater American Southwest. Can the term Gran Chichimeca, which apparently has had an honorable history throughout the centuries, continue to be used in liew of the above labels? Would it not have been used if Mexico had been the center from which anthropological studies spread through North America? Hereinafter, Gran Chichimeca will apply to that area of the Western Hemisphere which is bounded on the east by the natural barrier of the Gulf of Mexico, along the 97th degree of west longitude; on the west by the Pacific Ocean, in the vicinity of the 124th degree of west longitude,” on the south by the Tropic of Cancer, at the latitude of 23°27’ north; and on the north in the vicinity of the 38th degree of north latitude.* This definition is at variance with the culture area concept which inferred a cultural-geographical connotation. It is sym- pathetic to Beals’s comment regarding Kirchhoff’s proposal that the term “Greater Southwest’” be abandoned: Kirchhoff has come pretty close to crossing out the culture area approach and has substituted a partially typological ~ approach. . . . with his typological approach we can really bring geography back into consideration by the anthropolo- gist. We will get away from the relatively sterile approach of attempting to put a boundary around a series of cultures and calling it an area. In its place we can set up cultural typol- ogies and analyze these according to the ecological relations between resources and technology, and the reciprocal relations between these and the organization of societies for produc- tion and consumption.” $ The Gran Chichimeca contains within its arbitrarily de- fined limits approximately 170,521,470 sq. km., of which 4,050,000 sq. km. lie in the present Republic of Mexico, and 169,471,470 in the republic of the United States. The total area is equal to 21.75 per cent of the continental United States and 85.77 per cent of the Republic of Mexico. Beginning along the northern border, the 38th parallel, in the area of the Central NsCordilleran region, the Basin and Range Province runs south- ward through southern Arizona, down into the states of Chi- huahua and Sonora, and south to the Tropic of Cancer. In the northwestern portion of the region, the Basin and Range Pro- vince is bounded on the east by the Colorado Plateau and the southern Rocky Mountains and on the west by the Sierra Nevada and California coastal ranges. Southward, the Sierra Madre Occidental divides the province in Sonora ard Chihuahua, while the Sierra Madre Oriental divides it in the states of Nuevo Leén and Coahuila. ‘This vast land of broken topography was wrinkled by the enormous Laramide thrusts which acted upon the surface of the earth as late as the Eocene.™ Their tremendous force tilted large fault blocks of Mesozoic and Paleozoic rock, which today stand exposed, though partially buried in late Cenozoic sediments. Within this province there are innumerable, small, isolated mountain ranges which tend to run northwest-southeast and which, for the most part, stand at elevations between 1,000 and 2,000 m. above MSL. These make it difficult to generalize upon the description of the area, as each range has a distinct and com- plicated geologic history.” In viewing the Gran Chichimeca in terms of interconnecting life zones, one can define, as did Dr. Carter," a corridor located along the west Mexican coast; and northward through the Basin and Range Province to the 38th parallel and beyond. A similar corridor could have existed in the “Top of the Mountain’” country which passes along the Sierra Madre Occidental from the Valley of Mexico through a district of subtropical rainy- summer (Cw) climate into northern Sonora and Chihuahua, northward to the Colorado Plateau and the Mogollon Moun- tains. Brand mapped this interconnecting belt of oak country in 1936." Drs. Kelley” and Haury” both felt thae this zone was a preferred area of travel in aboriginal times. ‘A third corridor would have permitted one to travel along the east Mexican area, through the tropical savanna lowlands (Aw), which leads into humid subtropical (Cfa) climate into the southeastern United States across the Rio Grande. Another high- land route is the one which passes through the Sierra Madre Oriental where wooded mountain valleys lead northward to the Edwards Plateau area of Texas. Within the Gran Chichimeca, the upland valleys and the coastal river streams tend to run north and south though a fewrivers, such as the Aros (Papagochic), crosscut the main water- shed flow in an east-west direction." Contrary to popular opi ion, the mountains are not a major barrier to east-west foot travel, and there are no barriers along the general north-south axis, particularly in the Savanna and Forest biochores. The Sierras de Zacatecas, located along the southern border, do not act as a wall against north-south communication since the cen- tral Basin and Range Province is generally tilted downward from south to north. With such a physical situation, one can surmise that this Northern Frontier was, in reality, a great, naturally constricted corridor by way of which people moved through time, bearing a great many varied elements of New World culture. It appears as an obligatory passageway where a maximum of culture ebb and flow, displacement, interpenetration, and blending occurred." If there are no natural barriers between the north and the south, why then is there such a noticeable difference in the physical and cultural patterns of the Gran Chichimeca and Mesoamerica? TROPIC OF CANCER ri thy nN ROAD Fig. 60-1. Corridors of ab- original travel may have coincided with the eleva- tion pattern.CHICHIMECAN ‘The definition of Chichimec which appears in Webster's “New Standard Dictionary” is “An Indian of the Nahuatalan or Pima tribes of Mexico before the Aztec invasion and loosely any Indian of the less civilized tribes of Northern Mexico.”” Dr. Hrdligka,"* among others, felt this was an expression of de- rision, or a communal surname which carried very much the same sentiment as barbaros. As such, it was applied to various tribes indiscriminately, without any intention of connecting them ethnically with the Chichimecs of Anahuac or even with each other.” Hereafter, the name Chichimecan will apply to the indigenes of the Northern Frontier. Local subdivisions, which vary in time and space, when defined by archaeological and/or ethno- graphic studies, will, or could, carry a prefix, such as Mogollon-, Ootam-, Hopi-, or Seri-. ‘A number of scholars" have remarked that Nortefios, the present-day occupants of the Mexican portion of the Gran Chi- chimeca,** carry the fire of revolution in their veins, They were bom to take risks and to struggle for a vital cause. The north- emners do not, and did not, have the patience of their neighbors south of the Tropic of Cancer. In prehistoric times, the northern cultures did not produce a single great art tradition, whereas the south produced a number. Yet, strangely, many of the high cul- tures of Mesoamerica looked northward to their origins. The barriers between the two appear to be one of a general climatic shift, which can be traced along the Tropic of Cancer, rather than one of a physical nature such as a mountain range."Kirchhoff, Beals, and others have noted that the Chichimecans made their living in various ways. At one end of the scale were the agriculturalists and at the other the nonagriculturalists. In this study, cultural entities have been defined as those clusters of items, material and nonmaterial, which were acquired by groups of men —or societies — through time, in their quest to achieve an acceptable level of gregatiousness. It is assumed that the Chichimecans are first recognized in the annals of history as a nonagricultural people who operated with equipment identified as the Desert Culture.” By various mechanisms, involving both invention and diffusion, they traveled through history achieving provincialism, which scholars can define as cultural segments. Beals,“ Sauer,“ and Hale“ discussed the languages of the Gran Chichimeca as being primarily of the Uto-Aztecan family. However, Dr. Swadish*" recognized two major language groups of considerable time depth.” Throughout the west central por- tion of the Northern Frontier and in Tamaulipas, he noted the presence of the old Macro-Nawan group. In this same region, he recorded scattered islands of the Macro-Yuman group in Coahuila, along the Sonoran coastal plains, and in upper Baja California. Dr. Taylor" suggested that this latter group, which he termed Hokaltecan, was a remnant of a very old Yuman desert pattern which once covered the entire northern zone. It is implied that the Macro-Nawan spearhead displaced the older Hokaltecan peoples at an early date. These linguistic studies give hint of cultural plurality. This factor of the occupation of a single area by several societies is important in this historical reconstruction. To date, the loosely defined Desert assemblage has been recognized by archaeologists , GL. Northern turquoise soas often for macaw feathers from the south.as the residue belonging to the sole possessors of the zone. De- finitive subdivisions will undoubtedly be proposed as more comes to be known about these early Chichimecans. Until this is done, theories dealing with diffusion or unilateral evolution cannot be thoroughly evaluated. About the time of Christ, the appearance of villages in the Northern Frontier resulted in sufficient data to permit one to speculate upon the problem of cultural development. For years, it was considered proper to infer autochthonous evolution and unscholarly to postulate change brought about by dispersal and diffusion.” With regard to the latter, the Casas Grandes study has stumbled upon evi- dence of a mechanism not previously promoted in this area although it has been proposed."* THE PUCHTECA CONCEPT Tr must be assumed from present data that a number of sophis- ticated cultures located south of the Tropic of Cancer intention- ally attempted to exploit the Gran Chichimeca at various times in their histories. The highly organized puchteca' complex of the Aztecs, with its crystallized mechanics for trading and mer- chandising, apparently had deep roots. The economic activity of these families are herein labeled “ puchteca contacts.” These con- sisted of no more than a handful of traders, or perhaps artisans,who traveled from their home base to specific points in the Gran Chichimeca without leaving en route evidence. The details of such have been best described by Dr. Foster,? and to a lesser extent by Spicer.’ The former defined this conquest culture situ- ation as follows: (2) Two complete cultural systems never come into full con- tact. There is always an initial selection that determines which parts of a donor culture will be made available to the recipient group and which parts, consciously or unconsciously, will be withheld (2) . ... the recipient culture selects, or has forced upon it, only a part of the total range of phenomena presented by the dominant group. This is largely unplanned and informal, culture ‘traits being channeled through the personal decision of individuals.” (3)... the contact situation itself not only provides the guide to choices, but also brings forth new ideas and items that are not a part of the preéxisting culture. . © At no time in the historical continuum of the Gran Chichi- meca did any one conquest culture affect all of the indigenous peoples; and it is equally apparent that not all of the conquest cultures came from the same Mesoamerican hearth.” Fig. 62-1. The results of the contact of dif ferent cultures are largely unpredictable,The Time of the Wanderers 2 to A.D. 1 (+150)PALEO-INDIAN Throughout the great expanse of the Gran Chichimeca, bits of evidence have come to light which suggest that man once roamed this frontier in the shadow of Pleistocene megafauna. When the Paleo-Indian first came to live in this part of the world, he must have existed as a simple soil member,’ in balance with nature and with life about him, not unlike the mammoth, ancient horse and other animals he hunted, or the many plants which he may have gathered for food. No one knows exactly when man first entered the valley of Casas Grandes, nor the type of culture with which he was sur- rounded. He may have arrived during an early preprojectile point cultural stage* though, at present, there is no evidence of this. Certainly, he must have hunted in the area by 10,000 B.C. as several Clovis fluted projectiles and other associated Paleo- Indian tools have been reported from the Casas Grandes basin,? particularly in the rocky terrain of the Boca Grande.* The pres~ ence of this particular killing tool design suggested that bearers of the Llano Culture were present not only in the valley during the Paleo-Indian culture stage’ but throughout the Norther Fig. 64-1. The north cave at the Vacillo Site opened onto a small sandy beach, formed when the Ca- rretas was a Pleistocene lake.@ curan Laxe \ i MINERAL CO. @ @ rONorart : @ sav joaquin Frontier where similarly designed projectiles have been found." The distribution of Clovis fluted points is known to extend far beyond the prescribed limits of the Gran Chichimeca, as far north as the Pacific Northwest,’ east to the Atlantic and south below the Tropic of Cancer —at Lake Chapala in the modern state of Jalisco,’ in Guatemala,” Costa Rica, and in Panama.”| SEVIER CO. e savers fi HOUCK Lucy COCHISE x sue TARE © swuxnay ge os i Sg | GUAYMAS TIMMY SITE SANDIA BLacKwarer @ @ suxner cave CASAS GRANDES @ buranco Mam @ LeWwsvLE @ @ scorns BERCLAIR @ CLOVIS POINT FINDS IN THE GRAN CHICHIMECA i @Fig. 66-1. Hypotheses concerning the origins of early man in the Gran Chichimeca, There is no specific existent evidence in the Northern Frontier which would permit one to say that the first man who walked on the soils of this land was a hunter, and that he evolved with time into seed gatherer and finally became a farmer. The fact remains that hunting in this area is implied by the presence of a handful of fluted projectile types, chipped choppers, scrapers, and knives; hammerstones; and several bone tools of the Llano Culture, all of which have been found in association with the bones of certain Pleistocene beasts. The Early-Transitional Des- ert Culture” is attested to by clusters of seed grinding tools sometimes found stratified beneath remains of the same type of Pleistocene fauna."* Current evidence can be variously inter- preted to suggest: (x) an occasional penetration of Paleo-Indian hunters into the homeland of an older desert culture;"* (2) that both cultures, defined as the Folsom-Clovis hunters and the Desert-Cochise gatherers, sprang from a still older and yet unde- fined culture;* or (3) that the Paleo-Indian hunter culture actually predated the Desert Culture in the Gran Chichimeca.”* Any hypothesis will not be convincing until more physical evidence is forthcoming. An accurate reconstruction in this area would be aided greatly by the resolution of the extinction date ofEy sah t go °G 59 So Sys Ss certain Pleistocene megafauna. Most authorities agree that both man and climate were factors involved in the disappearance of Pleistocene beasts and perhaps to these factors may be added Simpson's suggestion that “extinction is the usual fate of spe- cies.’ Hester,” using Carbon-14 dates, noted that the mam- moth, dire wolf, horse, camel, and bison entered the fringe of extinction some 6,000 years before Christ but were present until perhaps 1000 B.C. in certain areas in ever-decreasing numbers. Martin” visualized the larger forms as first disappearing in Mexico, then Alaska, then the Plains, and finally in Florida. This may account for the placement of Pleistocene extinction at7000 B.C. in Mesoamerica by Willey,** at 5000 B.C. for the North American Southwest by Haury, and for spreading the extinction date between 6000 and 3000 B.C. by Martin. The disappearance of these animals apparently was a gradual thing which cannot be made to figure as a single event in the Gran Chichimecan historical continuum. The dying off was more of an imperceptible trend which may well have gone unnoticed from one generation to the next. Further, the paucity of kill-sites in this area may allocate the slaying of a Columbian mammoth to the realm of the Paleo-Indian storytellers — rare adventure to be embellished upon at night around the campfire. PROBABLE EXTINCTION PATTERN OF PLEISTOCENE MAMMALS IN THE GRAN CHICHIMECAMALPAIS SITE ‘During the period of field studies, members of the Casas Grandes expedition discovered a deposit of Pleistocene animal bones, without human association, some 25 km. southwest of the main ruins. An arroyo had eroded through a stratum containing the fossilized bones of Equus and Bison. Paul S. Martin, of the Arizona Geochronology Laboratories, collected pollen from the arroyo, which came to be known as the Malpais Site. His report indicated that the fossil bearing level, which included a number of Equus skulls, contained pollen grains of hickory (Carya) and elm (Ulmus).’ By means of an admittedly debatable method of cross-correlation,* he associated these finds with those of the Cazador zone of the Cochise Culture which, in turn, has a Carbon-14 date of 6250200 B.C. which places it during Krieger's Protoarchaic Stage.‘ Martin described the climate of the valley of Casas Grandes at this time as being one of intensified monsoon rainfall with possible arid interludes and annual tem- peratures similar to those of today.° He carried his descriptions further by stating that it was a time when topsoil was being de- posited in the lower reaches of the Casas Grandes Valley.* How- ever, this surmise is not conclusive, for it has not been fully accepted by others who contend that the climate of the Cazador horizon was totally subhumid’ and not arid. The identification of horse and bison at the Malpais station added further confusion to the establishment of a terminal date for Pleistocene animals as it surely suggested that certain fauna existed in northwestern Chihuahua® which were extinct in near- wila.” The date of 6250+200 B.C. proposed by Martin created further contention inasmuch as both Reed” and Krieger’ placed the beginning of the Archaic Stage, as defined by the presence of milling stones, perhaps as early as 8000 B.C.” and certainly by 7000 B.C."* This was a time when the people south of the Tropic of Cancer were moving toward incipient ag- riculture,* and the Sulphur Spring Stage of the Cochise Culture” was coming to a close. Fig. 68-1. Stratigraphy of the Mab pais Site. Drawing lutrtes th floral remains recovered {rom th levels seen in the upper photo, ‘well as the location of the horse ja seen in situ in both photos,CHENOPODIACEAE DARK GRAY SILTY CLAY 195 TAN SILTY CLAY uumus (QUERCUS 260 6250 B.C, CLAY, SAN AND COBBLES 300 [AMARANTHACEAELANGUAGE Both Taylor’ and Swadesh* have made valid references to pos- sible lingual affiliations in the Gran Chichimeca in this time period. Taylor’ suggested that the Hokaltecan, the original bearers of the Desert Culture in the Northern Frontier, were put upon by Uto-Aztecan (Utonahwtan) highlanders sometime around 4000 to 3000 B.C.* These linguistic data (see Fig. 69-1) currently do not correlate with any known significant event in Chichimecan Cee history which may have occurred during the Archaic Stage. Hopkins® has proposed an alternate linguistic hypothesis. One day, perhaps, archaeological evidence will be forthcoming which will relate the Hokaltecan-Uto-Aztecan linguistic problem with the archaeological question of Llano-Desert Culture relationships. Six thousand years of Chichimecan history still lie hidden in the Northern Frontier, in part because many of the Chi mecans were resistant to change. They faithfully transmitted their cultural inventories from one generation to another for thousands of years. Taylor* demonstrated in his northern Coahuila studies that the Coahuiltecan sequence in Frightful Cave remained essentially the same from 6000 B.C. to Spanish The contact —a period of some 8,000 years! coming. of the UTO-AZTECANfe 4/7. Ne) orrsum caved (fs \ ome . AND) / pee ches GRANDES MIMBRES VALLEY, 1. MEXICO SANTA CRUZ VALLEY, ARIZONA 50 YEARS 41.51 GENERATIONS CONVENTO PHASE 200 YEARS 6.06 GENERATIONS ‘AD. 700 (50)c-14, nouse + ‘AD. 1340 OIESEREH] RRR 2 <3] . S CASS SS ND G LA y ZZ ZZ x <> £60 EXS PAQUIME Ll Houses x, 2, 4,6 mis PLAZA 2-6, HOUSES F, G1, KB, S | |(CLEANERS Fig. 83-1. Convento Phase cultural associations. It is fairly certain that one day other villages will be found in the valley and on the mountain slopes which will prove to be older than this particular assemblage, but for the present writing these three Convento site villages must serve as the basis for the Casas Grandes studies. The lowest level of occupation was termed the Convento Phase of the Viejo Period. It originally con- sisted of a fenced village which lay under a thousand years of accumulated debris, some nine meters above the floor of the verdant valley on the dry desert terrace of the west bank of the river. When judged within the realm of the total architéctural development of the Casas Grandes archaeological zone, it was not only the oldest, but the smallest, and perhaps the crudest, of the excavated village series. CARBON-14 Figure 82~1 demonstrates the various archaeological methods used to determine the association of the architectural sequence with the Christian calendar. Charred corneobs taken from the hearths of houses in two of the three villages were used as Carbon- 14 samples." It was assumed that these specimens, found undis- turbed in floor hearths and covered with the ashy remnants of a last fire, marked the end of occupation of the associated house. The date produced by the Convento Phase sample was signifi- cant only to the unlucky family who occupied House K, since itset apart the date that the house burned, after which a house of similar construction was built over it. The date of A.D. 8207 did not mark changes in architecture, ceramics, or any other cultural aspect. It did, however, indicate that these villagers occupied houses-in-pits before and after this date. ‘The Convento Phase produced no fragments of traded pottery vessels which could be used as aids in designating time. How- ever, the superimposed houses of the middle phase contained certain dated northern types as Kiatuthlanna-like, Mimbres Bold Face, and Mimbres Classic black-on-whites and Three Circle Red-on-white. These helped to ascertain that the Convento Phase village may have been occupied either before active trading with these other Chichimecan groups was begun, or before these pottery types were manufactured. CONTEMPORARY MESOAMERICAN HISTORY A survey of the literature which pertained to the archaeology of the Gran Chichimeca brought the date A.D. 700 (+50) into sharp focus as a time of transition when it was assumed that the Convento Phase of the Casas Grandes may have begun. Some- thing occurred which stirred some of the northern frontiersmen. Perhaps it was a motivation which emanated from the great cities located south of the Tropic of Cancer.’ Here the famed Teotihuacén culture of the Mesa Central had just come to a dis- astrous end when enemy people, bent on total destruction, put the torch to the city. The consequent collapse brought about the Interregnum Period* — that lull in Mexican history before the coming of Mixcdatl and his Toltec followers and a time when lesser towns vied for the position once held by the City of Gods. In the Tehuacan Valley, it was the time of the Venta Salada Phase,” when full-time agriculturists irrigated their fields and lived in large communities associated with separate ceremonial cities. It is thought that in certain areas south of the Tropic of Cancer, the population increased 5,000-fold over the original number. Many of these people were engaged not only in agricul- tural pursuits but in commerce, salt-making, cotton processing, and other industries which raised their living standards, Cultur- ally, there was a general shift of group emphasis from ceremoni- alism to militarism and commerce. Civilized Mexico was living through a social trauma in one of its many cycles of crisis.*Further, the frontier opportunities afforded by the earlier westward expansion from the Mesa Central to the Pacific proba- bly dissipated and may have caused the southern powers to look northward toward the land of the Chichimecans — the only re- maining exploitable area. In the 700s, it lay beyond the Tropic of Cancer where the Chalchihuites Culture held its line of for- tresses on the eastern flanks of the Sierra Madre. Though cold and windy, these lands north of Sombrerete, in modern Durango, held promise, and around A.D. 700 (50), some folk apparently left these established fortresses which contained ceremonial and religious centers, farming and mining communities, to move into the Guadiana Valley, establishing the Ayala Phase of the Chalchihuites Culture.* PUCHTECA ACTIVITY ‘At the same time there appears to have been a movement by . others who traveled along the western flanks of the Sierra Madre to Chametla’ in the southwest corner of the Gran Chichimeca. These unsung heroes perhaps were like the breed of mountain- men of another century. Leaving no records, they may have drifted northward to leave their individual marks upon frontier history. As such they would have been quite different from the later puchteca or merchants." This suggestion is not an attempt to pattern this ‘period of ‘Chichimecan history after that of the wild West of the United States of America in the late 1800s. It was based on evidence uncovered in the Medio Period which was found to contain remnants of a well-established exploitation pattern which was rooted in the Viejo Period. Furthermore, the Gran Chichimeca ‘was nature’s storehouse of the precious turquoise, native copper, salt, selenite, multicolored paints, iron crystals, and iron pyrites ‘The Gulf of California contained a great abundance of seashells. Exotic birds lived in the frontier as did furbearing animals and esoteric plants, Those who first penetrated the north may have brought back stories of exaggerated fact which stimulated the later activity of the formal Tula/Toltec merchants. The appearance of the Convento Phase village complex and other Chichimecan settlements of this time seemed somehow to be related to the arrival in the Northern Frontier of two new corn entities — an eight-row variety, which originated in South America, and Tripsacoid maize." From the Florentine Co- dex (Dibble and Ander- son, 1963)GRAN CHICHIMECAN HISTORY North of Casas Grandes, in the San Simon Valley, the people were probably developing the Dos Cabezas Phase of their cul- ture! which contained many parallels in architecture, ceramics,” tool designs, and burial customs® to the Convento Phase. These resemblances were also noted at some villages farther north, in the Mountain Mogollon and Anasazi areas.* For some yet unexplained reason the natives began to build more villages and to communicate more with one another. As Dr. Brew remarked, “Records of the Laboratory of Anthropology, the Museum of Northern Arizona, Gila Pueblo, and the Arizona State Museum would produce on a distribution map a line of sites occupied at 700 A.D. practically within rifle shot of each other stretching from Mogollon Village and Forestdale in the south to Mancos Canyon and Alkali Ridge Site 13 in the north.’”* The material culture change of these early villages reflected the varying degrees of receptivity on the part of the northern Chichimecans and perhaps demonstrated the variables of choice and motivation which were instigated by more intergroup ‘communication. VILLAGE INTERPRETATIONS Up to this point in this historical reconstruction, due primarily to the paucity of specific material cultural data, it was necessaty to reflect upon Chichimecan history in terms of food quest habits. Beginning with the oldest village in the Casas Grandes sequence, it was possible to partially recreate the lifeway of the inhabitants after the fashion recommended by Dr. Grahame Clark who stated, “It has to be remembered that buildings formed, as it were, the outer shell of the social structure, and ought to be studied as a course of information about the organization of the societies responsible for them.’HOME AND COMMUNITY HOUSES OF THE PEOPLE' They made their homes in caves, in gorges; in some places they established smalll grass huts and small cornfields. — Sahagin (A.D. 1569)? The Convento Phase village, isolated by means of two archaeo- logical techniques, trenching and area stripping, consisted of ten, possibly eleven, small houses-in-pits. Only eight of these could have been occupied contemporaneously, as some were built one over another.’ Individually, they could not have accommodated more than a primary family of four or five as the living areas averaged only 10.05 sq. m, and it has been estimated that an adult requires a minimum of 1.50 sq. m. of sleeping space? Among the present-day Navaho, who utilize earth-lodges, pri- mary families occupy hogans which have floor areas of 11 sq.m. to 12 sq. m,* several square meters larger than the Convento Phase houses. The smallest of the latter, then, could have held two individuals, and have space reserved for a hearth, while the largest could have accommodated fifteen. Like the Navaho domi- ciles, these huts were designed to keep the occupants sheltered from the persistent winds, the seasonal rains, and the occasional snow which came to the valley from the higher mountains to the west, but they afforded litele else in creature comfort. Fig. 84-1. Chichimecans left their ee ee ee a‘imposed Pit House A floor. Fig. 85-1. Co houses-in-pits. Phase 1. Pilon Phase Pit House A 1) were constructed in shallow pits which averaged less than 75 cm. in depth. Inside the pit, which was excavated into the sterile earth of the river terrace, the f which formed the framework se poles were probably arched over the center area to form a domed house frame. Upon the crude but strong framework, a wickerwork of brush and grass was laced or lashed. And, finally, an outer shell of dirt was placed over those portions of the house frame which were exposed above ground. The floors consisted of nothing more than the stony surface of the pit excavation. They were not paved with mud, smoothed,or even leveled. The only floor feature was a shallow, scooped- out hearth® generally located near the middle of the floor. The entry to these dirt huts was a mere opening in the side, ap- proached by an inward sloping walkway that averaged 62.8 cm. in width.” They were not oriented in any particular direction, neither toward the community house nor away from the pre- vailing wind nor in the direction of the rising or the setting sun. These hovels merely fulfilled essential needs of shelter, but they did have a certain degree of permanence about them, and con occasion they were rebuilt or remodeled. They were all very much alike and in this respect suggested a degree of equality among the builders.There appeared tohave been some similarity in the trite of various houses-in-pits from almost every the Northern Frontier, be it Mogollon-, Anasazi-, or aati Chichimecan.™ However, there were no one-to-one correlations. With the exception of the Gila-Salt Hohokam-Chichimecans, the earliest structures appeared to have been pit houses which were more or less circular in shape with a side-passage entrance and a post-supported roof."* The shallow house pit feature™ was common to most of the dwellings found below the Mogollon Rim in the desert areas of the American Southwest. Round structures were also built by the prehistoric Tarahumar of the Sierra Madre.” Similarities between the Convento Phase houses and those described as being western Anasazi of the Rosa Phase in the Gobernador area were striking," while other domiciles buile around A.D. 700 (+50) took on individual styles. Still, there was a commonness to these Gran Chichimecan domestic struc- tures which lacked aesthetic beauty when compared to the sophisticated ceremonial architecture of Mesoamerica. COMMUNITY HOUSE' The Convento Phase village, though simple in concept, was not completely devoid of ceremonial architecture, as House I (see Figs. 86- and 87-1) stood out as being larger and more elaborately constructed. Because of this, it was felt that it was built as a group effort—hence the term community house. Similar structures have been reported from the villages of the Mountain Mogollon people,” which were probably used as the ‘one in the Jemez Pueblo of New Mexico where the Eagle and Arrow societies gather when they want ““a meeting place without the religious aura and restrictions of the Kiva.”* CONSTRUCTION The Convento Phase structure contained 45.25 sq. m. of living space, almost twice as much as the largest of the domestic houses and was four and one-half times the size of the average domicile. Its construction demanded many more man-hours of labor than was needed for at least half of all the domestic buildings. It differed from those in roof and side wall construction, and in its plastered hearth.Fig. 86-1. Reconstruction of Convento’ Phase Community House I. The villagers first excavated a circular pit of 8.60 m. in diam- eter 55 cm. to 65 cm. into the sterile earth of the terrace. Into this they built a roundish structure which consisted of a frame- work of two rows of poles* placed around the circumference of the floor excavation. These formed the core of the wall screen which rose two meters above the pit floor and was interlaced with brush or grass, and perhaps plastered. A sloping roof frame was built from this mud and wattle wall to the center section of the house circle where the builders had placed six large upright posts. That portion of the roof area which was bounded by the central post pattern may have been either flat or cone-shaped.*2, The remodeled Pilon Phase hearth was partly built ‘ver the earlier Convento Phase hearth 3. One of the Convento Phase ‘wall postholes. sealed by the Pilon Phase flor. Fig, 87-1. Convento Phase Community House 1. 1. After exeavation Within the area confined by the central posts, the people built in the floor a neat adobe-lined hearth’ which measured 42 cm. in diameter and was considerably larger than any of the unlined domicile hearths. USE . What prompted the Convento Phase villagers to construct the large house? Was it meant to be a community house as is generally believed, a god-house,’ or the domicile of a pretentious personage?* This question could not be satisfactorily answered by the excavation of the Convento Phase structure because the natives had destroyed or removed pertinent evidence when they remodeled it in the Pilon Phase. However, no remains of domicil- iary activities were encountered in the other community houses which the natives left undisturbed.* Further, there was an equality reflected in the commonness of the burials. These factors suggested a lack of class structuring which would have been necessary to foster a chief's house.TIME LAG ‘There was an apparent time lag wherein these large houses tended to retain older architectural features. The community house of the Perros Bravos Phase more closely resembled the domestic houses of the earlier Pilon Phase rather than the con- temporary domiciles, which suggested a retention factor in ceremonial architecture. COMPARISONS Similar structures, often called Great Kivas or community houses, were also built in the northern portion of the Gran Chi- chimeca by Anasazi-Chichimecans,” the Mountain Mogollon,** their neighbors in the Mimbres,”* and perhaps in the Gila and Salt valleys. It may be assumed that distribution throughout this portion of the Gran Chichimeca, though spotty, was consistent from the 38th to at least the 31st parallel. It is the consensus that the trait of great kiva use extended back into the Basket Maker times, over an extended area, and its history is the history of a single cultural form, or manifestation, expressed through a period of at least 600 to 700 years or longer. Its gradual development toward the final form continued for at Teast 300 years, then once established, it continued in this form for another 200 to 300 years, during which it was elaborated but not basically changed. These structures can be summarized as .. . being quite variable as a group, having side entries, a variable number of roof supports, lacking benches, and distinguished from other dwellings primarily by their larger size. . . . In regard to their use, . . . what ever ceremonies were conducted in them, either in the beginning, or as late as A.D. 1000, did not require a set stage — the accoutrements of ritual— that appear as consistent form, raised fireboxes, benches, paired vaults, etc., in the more formalized Anasazi structures."* South, among the present-day Huichol,"* god-houses have close physical resemblances to the Casas Grandes community houses, and are used as village gathering places for secular and religious ceremonies, to lodge the god icons and, on occasion, as guest quarters for visiting dignitaries. North, the Jemez Pueb- loans also gather for village activities in similar structures.”Fig. 88-1, Remains of the Convento Phase village fence. VILLAGE PLAN* The Convento Phase village was built in a nondefensive posi- tion on the western bank of the river, 3.0 km. east of the Ojo de Varelefio. The features which gave identity to the village (see Fig. 89-1) were: (1) the boundary fence, which enclosed 2,700 sq. m.; (2) the north plaza area; (3) ten houses-in-pits, of which two, possibly three, had been rebuilt. These were spaced an average of 15.2 m. from one another and 14.7 m. from Community House I. (4) One community house; (5) twelve cairn burials which lacked nonperishable funeral offerings;* and (6) four unlined outdoor pits which were filled with trash. VILLAGE FENCE The fence, which was probably made of perishable materials, did not appear to have been built as a protection against human enemies as the natives did not choose a naturally defensive position for the village site. It would seem more reasonable that the fence was constructed to keep out wandering animals or perhaps to satisfy some inner need of the people to separate the limits of their village from the expanse of the sloping river terrace which stretched monotonously for miles. Fig. 89-1. The Convento Phase vil- lage plan and reconstructed com- utyGRAN CHICHIMECAN SIMILARITIES The village enclosure was not unique in this area, for it has been reported in the Gobernador villages of the Rosa Phase;? among the Ootam-Chichimecans of southern Arizona, who occu- pied the banks of the San Pedro River at Tres Alamos; and at the Bidegain site.* The Rosa Phase was probably contempo- rary with the Convento Phase, while the Tres Alamos Phase" and the Bidegain site’ were a little later, perhaps equivalent to the Pilon Phase. The use of a boundary fence is a common architectural feature of many present-day native villages in the Sierra Madre. They can be found among the Guaraheo, the Yaqui, and the Hiuichol.* These in no way form a defense, but merely define the village. e e CONTINENTAL @ DIVIDE e CAVE VALLEY "ARCH CAVE STEP CAVEVALLEY SETTLEMENT Only one village was encountered which contained the Con vento Phase complex, and consequently little can be said about the population distribution in the Casas Grandes Valley. In all probability there were other settlements in the area as it is hard to conceive of this small cluster of ten houses and a population of pethaps 20 to 40 souls as being the only concentration in the Casas Grandes drainage during the 8th century. Unfortu- nately, no horizon markers, such as a particular ceramic type, were identified as belonging soley to this phase, and because of this, surface surveys proved useless in detecting the presence of other Convento Phase villages AREA SETTLEMENT" As in the case of the valley, little can be said about the area set- tlement pattern within this archaeological zone. Lister’ excavated a number of cave sites located along the western mountain bor- ders which produced Viejo Period pottery. In addition, it was thought that people occupied small campsites in the Médanos dune country at this time.’ MOUNTAIN VILLAGES e CASAS gy GRANDES e = e RIO / SANTA MARIA 7 VALLEY MEDANOS CAMPS VILLAGESFig. 91-1. Convento Phase social activities. SOCIAL ORGANIZATION ‘The Convento Phase villagers may have been seasonal gardeners who had recently become acquainted with flour corn,’ or pethaps they were a semipermanent sedentary group, the members of which may have formed “a community which can be identified with a settlement, that established itself in successive locations, occupying each for a period of years.”” The population would, in a sense, have been stable and, in actuality, continuously seden- tary. It could have remained so only if the group moved period- ically. The village may have been abandoned for an interval between A.D. 700 and 900, during which time the occupants farmed land somewhere else in the valley. They may have re- tumed and constructed the Pilon Phase community on the site after leveling the old houses, which would have accounted for both the architectural and ceramic shifts. The Convento Phase may mark that period in the historical continuum of the Casas Grandes Valley when there was a low population density with individuals concentrated in a few inde-pendent, self-sufficient villages which had some social contact with one another. Each group might have had a right to certain farmlands which were village property.‘ The women may have attended to the crops and to food preparation, while the men hunted and, in season, prepared fields for planting. Individual hunters and gleaners, who accu- mulated surplus food might have gained prestige by giving it to others or perhaps by publicly destroying it. The distribution of food and group ceremonies were probably held in the com- munity house where masked dances, folk dramas, and fertility rites for rain and game may have been enacted with a chief, shaman, or headman supervising.” The Convento Phase village society may have been built upon the foundation of the primary or biological family joined together in an extended kin* group as there was no suggestion of either clan division or moiety dichotomy in architecture.’ The villagers might have been controlled by a single individual or a small group by virtue of personality, age, or perhaps experience.PEOPLE AND THEIR POSSESSIONS Those man-devised items, other than architecture, which did not perish with time are herein considered under the category of material culture, These tangibles are strongly affected by “soil, climate, vegetation, and fauna [which] are no mere back- ground to human cultures, but the very seed-bed in which they grow and which in turn they have helped form.” These tools, ceramics, ornaments, religious articles, art objects, and other appurtenances in themselves were incomplete and soulless. They indicated, in part, man’s basic struggle for existence, a few of his thoughts and perhaps some of his goals, but by no means were they a mirror of life. The term “tool” can be used to mean a product which is made and used in accordance with a preconceived design or established art form.’ Primitive people, such as the Casas Grandes Chichimecans, produced a number of primary tools which were used in the food quest and in the preparation of foods. Many of these were simply natural objects, such as antler tine and conveniently shaped stone and shell, which bore wear facets on their surfaces — those marks and bruises left by man while plying the object to his own advantage. Often a single object bore a number of wear marks caused by multiple use which reflected the nonspecialized technological aspects of prim- itive cultures. Fig. 92-1. The many and ‘varied uses of the Seri hupf.To illustrate such a simple, multiple use tool, McGee published a surprising record of a two-pound Seri hsp’ a rubbing stone in modern archaeological terminology. This naturally shaped quartzite beach pebble had battering marks about its edges, smooth rubbed surfaces on its flat planes, fire-blackening on both sides, and flecks of red pigment on its surface. In the course of a six-day period of observation, it was noted that the stone was used (1) to skin the leg of a horse, (2) to sever the tendons of the leg, (3) to knock off the parboiled hoof of a horse, (4) to crush and splinter the leg bone for marrow, (5) to grind mesquite beans, (6) to pound shelled com, (7) to chop a small tree, (8) to break up branches for firewood, (9) to dethorn ocotillo stems, (20) to sever a strong hair-cord, (x1) to support the bottom of a kettle while cooking over an open fire, (<2) to pulverize red face-paint, and (23) occasionally to throw at troops of dogs which entered the living area. In each of these uses the tool was held in different positions, as a hand hammer, a chopper, a grind- ing stone, an axe, aplane, a saw, a firedog, and even as a missile. Other artifactual aids, such as a hammerstone, contained wear marks caused by short term use. These hastily selected objects fulfilled an urgency of the moment and often were discarded after a single usage. It is apparent that primary tool producing societies obtain their raw material from local supplies and that there is a cor- relation between the degree of technical specialization and theFig. 93-1. Convento Phase artifacts. GWoOPD Hematite pigment. Two-hand mano. Unshaped rubbing stone. Proto-palete. 5. Sherd spoon, Sherd spindle whorl amount of foreign or rare materials used by a people. As a cul- ture becomes more specialized, they generally search out a wider variety of nonlocal or scarce substances for use in the manu- facture of both tools and commodities, which can be defined as elements of wealth or convenience. PHASE ASSOCIATIONS In a ruin such as the Convento site, where several villages were constructed one over the other, the association of artifacts within each stratigraphic level is of utmost importance. How- ever, the mixing of cultural debris was common whenever the natives rebuilt. To minimize the dangers of faulty artifact-phase association, only those items found directly on or sealed by the floors of domiciles or in burials or pits were assumed to belong to a particular occupation phase. This assumption was necessary to ascertain the shifts in artifact forms through time. In observing this tenet, it was noted that less than 1 per cent of the artifacts (Fig. 398-8) of the Viejo Period was found on the floors of Convento Phase houses and none in burials. Red paint, a stone proto-palette, a sherd spindle whorl, a rubbing stone, a mano, a sherd spoon, and a few pottery fragments constituted the entire inventory.*APPEARANCE AND ADORNMENT* These folk artificially flattened the backs of their heads.” They were short — the men averaged 167.7 cm. (5°6.0”) and the fe- males 155.6 cm. (5’1.4”). Their features were very interesting, with a tendency toward high foreheads and rather wide cheek- bones with large eyes, broad noses, and prominent lower faces. They were small of hand, short of leg, and their frames, though not robust, were certainly strong, as are the present-day natives of the Sierra Madre. Little can be said about the personal aspect of the Convento Phase occupants of Casas Grandes as they did not bury jewelry or other nonperishable adornments with their dead. Nor was much found in their houses save a single clump of red pigment and a slate proto-palette. The former, after being ground, may have brightened the face or body of some dandy with barbaric enhancement. Corresponding forms of body decoration are known to have been used throughout the Northern Frontier at this time. Globs of color have been reported from contemporary Chichimecan and Hohokam’ sites in the American Southwest’ and as far south as Guatemala.* The proto-palette' design is thought to be similar to the type used by the Anasazi-' and Mogollon-Chichimecans,* the occupants of the Gila-Salt drainage,’ by the Ootam-Chichi- mecans,” and certain of the folk living along the west coast of Mesoamerica.”FOOD HABITS CERAMIC COOKING TOOLS" Pottery was the only nonperisable product which occurred with significant frequency in all phases of the Viejo Period. As such, it permitted a study of correlations between architecture and ceramics. In this capacity, it was an excellent aid because of certain inherent characteristics. It was easily broken® and consequently had a rather short use period. Once broken, the pieces were generally small and of little importance to the owners, so they were often left on the house floors where they were trampled into the dirt or mud paving. Thus they became directly associated with architecture. Forty per cent of the ten Convento Phase houses did not contain a single ceramic fragment, either on the floors or in the house debris that accumulated over the floors after the structure collapsed. Three others* contained sherds on the floors but none in the overlying burden. This was a very important obser vation as it was assumed that the dome-shaped houses were covered with village topsoil which would have contained broken pieces of pottery. The houses-in-pits? which lacked direct floor sherd materials may have been constructed before pottery was much used by the villagers; or pethaps they were not used as domiciles. Then too, the Convento Phase housewives might have been much more industrious than their children or their chil- deen’s children and meticulously swept all of their houses clean before abandoning them. The Convento Phase floor sherds represented only 31, or 1.4 per cent of the period count." It was obvious that there was a gradual increase in the use and elaboration of pottery through time. This phenomenon was common to most of the Chichimecan cultures as a review of pottery-architecture counts from the more northerly portions of the frontier indicated.” One of the puzzling aspects of this phase was the absence of a plainware sherd count.’ One might expect that a primitive group of potters would first make a crude undecorated pottery and that, through time, their ceramic art tradition would grow and flower. But was this always the case? Is it not possible that sometimes a contact was made between a primitive people and an advanced culture which might result in the primitive people’s bypassing certain expected evolutionary stages? Perhaps in this case it was a coincidence.FORM® Very little data appertaining to ceramic forms were recovered in the Convento Phase as no restorable vessels were found either ‘on the house floors or in the graves. The only knowledge of ceramic shapes came from the handful of sherds. Eighteen of these were parts of small globular jars which had large mouths and recurved rims, and thirteen were from hemispherical bowls. There was no evidence that the Convento Phase potters made globular jars with lateral spouts, duck-shaped vessels, trilobe- based bottles, or stirrup-spouted vessels of the types made by some of the Anasazi-Chichimecans at this time." CONTEMPORARY ECCENTRIC CERAMIC FORMS NOT USED BY CASAS GRANDES CHICHIMECS Sa TROPIC OF CANCERPAINTED TEXTURED © & PAINTED TEXTURED DECORATION” A ceramic study, if detailed enough, often permits one to com- pare the technical and artistic abilities of schools of potters and perhaps to check the spread of ideas which may have passed in time from one group to another. The small number of Convento Phase pottery fragments unfortunately ‘limited this comparison as only four of the eleven textured varieties and five of the eight painted types” associated with the Viejo Period were found. Fig. 95-1. Proportions of Convento Phase pottery types.Brromatnterias) I is thought that sometime around A.D. 700 (+50), the idea of decorating pottery spread northward through the Gran Chichimeca from the lands south of the Tropic of Cancer. The potters of the Convento Phase produced not one, but several styles," each of which had a surprising amount of latitude — not as much as was demonstrated by the later potters of the Viejo Period, but, nevertheless, considerable when compared to the work of contemporary potters in the Gran Chichimeca. On the one hand, pottery was embellished with textured designs, whereby the plastic surfaces of the vessels were modified to create a pleasing “contoured effect”; on the other, pottery was enhanced by painting geometric designs on the vessel surfaces with red pigment. As might be expected, both of these styles were combined into a third, that of decorating by texturing and painting on the same surface. Simple corrugation, whereby the coiled fillets of the vessels were left exposed on the necks of jars, was a common deco- ration, and sometimes these coils were rubbed but not obliter- ated. At other times the potters scratched the neck surfaces of vessels with a nonyielding tool—a comb or a brush of bast material — in order to create a scored surface."* On occasion, designs of a geometric nature were incised into the wet clay of the vessel and sometimes partially obliterated by rubbing. + Rarely, a reed tip or other hard tool point, or even a fingernail, was used to decorate the neck areas of vessels with repeated impressions by a technique termed “tool punching.” The sherd count indicated that 51 per cent of the Convento Phase pottery was so embellished.” This figure made the Casas Grandes material unique, for nowhere has it been reported that other TExTURED & frontier potters used texturing to the extent that these pot- ued Fig. 96-1. Convento Phase ce ramic decorative techniques.1 DISTRIBUTION To the west of Casas Grandes, similar textured pottery was made in the Cave Valley area of the Sierra Madre," in the upper Sonora and Bavispe drainages,** and in the Huatabampo region of southern Sonora.” North of the Casas Grandes Valley, in the southwestern United States, the technique of neck corrugation was occasionally used by potters who lived in contemporary villages in the Black River, Mimbres, and Pine Lawn subareas of the Mogollon Culture,” but these textured decorations, though present, were not as popular as they were in the Casas Grandes area. East of the Gran Chichimeca the potters who lived in areas such as present-day eastern Texas" and Illinois decorated their wares by scoring. This particular technique appeared to be older in the east but various others of the texturing designs may have been transmitted northward from the Casas Grandes school to the Mogollon-Chichimecans who received them with lukewarm acceptance. The desert ceramists, on the other hand, almost totally disregarded this mode of decoration, with the exception ‘of those who lived in the Gila-Salt drainage.” The Casas Grandes potters, in turn, may have acquired their knowledge from the western coastal area of Mesoamerica, where potters living as far south as the site of La Victoria on the Pacific coast ‘of Guatemala™ employed plastic treatments. Thanks should be given to those Chichimecan potters of Casas Grandes who, in the 700s, decided to decorate their pottery by combining painted and textured designs.”* When Dr. Ekholm examined a group of the Viejo Period textured and painted sherds and compared them to his collections from areas south of the Tropic of Cancer, he was struck by their resemblance to Apatzingin Red-on-brown Incised from Michoacan. The air distance between these two points is over 1,350 km., yet there was an undeniable similarity in the method of decoration.” Here hung a thread of continuity — the possibility of a tie with the south, ‘Another style of decoration, a red painted geometric design ‘on a field of brown, was noted on Anchondo, Leal, and Pilon red-on-browns. These designs were executed quite differently from the textured decoration, though similar to the painting in the combined forms. For example, Anchondo Red-on-brown, designed in a broad-line geometric style with an allover surfaceDISTRIBUTION OF CONVENTO CERAMIC DECORATIVE TECHNIQUES IN OTHER AREAS Nat GRANDES Ponto) & Textured @ Painted 8 Textured & painted — — — Tropic of CancerFig. 98-1. Anchondo Red-on-brown bowls. polish, was typologically similar to Dos Cabezas Red-on- brown,” Estrella Red-on-grey,” and San Lorenzo Red-on- brown," —all of which belong to the earliest Mogollon- and Ootam-Chichimecan painted potteries.”* A preference for broad- line designs was noted in the Convento Phase as Anchondo Red-on-brown represented 35 per cent of the painted pottery and Victoria Red-on-brown Textured, another broad-line type, increased this to 65 per cent. This trichotomy of style was also characteristic of the ceramic schools located along the coastal area in western Mexico where a widespread tradition of prefired polishing of red paint on a brown, cream, or buff background" occurred in association with + textured and painted-textured wares. Similar polished and red paint techniques were used during the 8th century by the Chalchihuites people who occupied the southern border of the Gran Chichimeca. In southern Durango these techniques were reflected in Gualterio Red-on-cream’ and Suchil Red-on- brown.** This second tradition may have moved northward from either here or the Apatzingén area to the Casas Grandes Valley and hence into the American Southwest during the 700s.USE The potters may have used textured designs on cooking vessels and red paint on personal eating dishes or allocated certain de- signs for mundane, and others for ritualistic purposes, as do the Zuiii. However, sooting — greasy evidence of caking or burn- ing caused by cooking — was present on 30 per cent of the jars of textured variants, and on 75 per cent of the bow! sherds."*Fig. 99-1. Convento Phase Burial 17, an adult, had a seal of rocks over his remains. BURIAL CUSTOMS" These Chichimecans buried their dead in shallow, unlined pits* scattered about the village.’ Single individuals were placed into these pits and covered with large rocks, broken metates, or manos, which, in turn, were covered with dirt to the level of the plaza surface. The Convento Phase villagers buried at least ten adults, a child, and an infant in flexed or semiflexed positions — with their knees drawn up toward the chin and the arms hugging the knees. Two were discovered lying on their right sides, and two on their left. One other was interred in a flexed-supine position. Most of the dead were placed in the pits so that they faced in an easterly direction in final repose.’ This burial pattern has survived through time® and is still used in the area with slight variations." These Chichimecans apparently buried their dead only once and never a second time, nor did they place more than one body in the same grave, nor give offerings as was done later. If these burial customs revealed beliefs about an afterlife, the Convento Phase people gave little thought to preparing the dead to meet contingencies in the next world. All in all, these death practices reflected a simplicity quite unlike those of contemporary Meso- * but very similar to neighboring areas of the American Southwest." Northern frontiersmen generally flexed their dead and placed them in simple pits.” The burials manifested equality, as there was a sameness about them. In this small village individuals were probably re- garded alike in matters pertaining to social status, age group- ing, and political influence.[ cussax \ BASIN TRADE POTTERY FROM THE NORTH COMES TO CASAS GRANDES IN THE PILON PHASE GRANDES TEZCATLIPOCA. CULT INFLUENCE MOVES NORTH INTO THE GRAN CHICHIMECA @ rr saons CREMATION BURIALS ‘ NS SHELL. BIRD-SERPENT Borgia Codex (1963, Vol. 3, Pl. 21)We may never know the true nature of those historical events which motivated the Chichimecans of Casas Grandes to rebuild their village at the Convento site in the A.D. 900s.’ That they did was certainly evidenced by the architectural changes which marked the beginning of the Pilon Phase — the middle segment of the Viejo Period. This phase can be defined as that time in the history of CHIH:D:9:2 when the inhabitants increased the size of their settlement by tearing down the old Convento Phase village fence, by remodeling and enlarging the community house, and by building a number of new pit houses which were different in construction from the older and larger houses-in-pits. The archaeological evidence suggested that these changes may have been wrought by the demanding pressures of an in- creased village population, for, in addition to more housing facilities, the people utilized a greater number of outdoor pits and fire pits, they scattered more rubbish about the village than did the earlier occupants, and they buried more people.” Other pit houses of similar design were present in half of the villages excavated by The Joint Casas Grandes Expedition,’ whereas the older houses-in-pits were encountered in only one. Itis inferred that the people who constructed the Pilon Phase village were members of the same Chichimecan society which inhabited the older Convento Phase village as they retained certain ceremonial architectural details in the remodeled com- munity house, the potters continued to produce the same types of pottery, and they possessed the same tool design inventory. After building their new village, the indigenes increased their trade relationships with people from quite distant areas. For the first time in this sequence, identifiable trade potteries* appeared which were made by the northern Anasazi-, Mogollon-, and Ootam-Chichimecans between A.D. 800 and 1000." There may have been a relationship between the appearance of this trade pottery and the architectural changes which marked this phase. Hig. 103-1.Fig. 104-1. Pilon Phase stra- tigraphy (CHIH:D:9:2). Certain pertinent questions regarding motivation came to the fore: Could it be assumed that all of these houses were built at the same time? Did it come to pass a) That one day a headman or a council of leaders stood up in the gloom of the community house and announced that the old house-in-pits must be torn down and new pit houses built? b) Or, that one progressive family decided of its own voli- tion to build a new type of house and thus inspired the others, in time, to follow suit? ©) Or, that the Convento Phase village was abandoned, and later reoccupied by the Pilon Phase villagers? The lack of a complete series of Carbon-14 or tree-ring dates from each of the Pilon Phase houses — clues which would help answer the above questions — necessitated speculative use of the existing physical evidence. It was assumed that the second village was built by people of the same culture who remodeled and enlarged the old community house. They constructed twelve new pit houses, nine of which were located north of Community House I, in contrast to seven of the ten Convento houses-in-pits located south of it.° This might suggest that those north of Com- munity House I were built while the older houses-in-pits were still standing to the south. However, Pilon Phase House A was built over two houses of this older group, and the floor of HouseC covered the Convento Phase Pit 2. Further, north of the community house, Pilon Phase House Y was built over Convento House T, and Pilon Phase Burial 32 was interred in the fill of Convento Phase House S. All of these clues indicated that some of the earlier houses — both north and south of the community house — were probably abandoned and leveled before or at the time the Pilon Phase village was constructed. Was there a period of abandonment between the two occupa- tions? If the Convento settlement was semipermanent,’ then the first villagers may have occupied the location until the sur- rounding farmland became nonproductive, necessitating their moving to another spot until such time as the land was regener- ated. Temporary abandonment could also have resulted from other causes, such as the treachery of the mountain stream. Then, as now, the river diabolically proves its ability to cut new channels, to swallow up rich bottomlands, or to cover them with worthless sand and boulders. If the village was temporarily abandoned between the Con- vento and Pilon phases, then the return to the site and the building of the Pilon Phase village would most certainly mark a memorable event in the history of the people. It would have been a time of return — the time when the people came back and built on the older settlement and incorporated new ideas of house building.CONTEMPORARY MESOAMERICAN HISTORY It was during this time that the Nahua barbarian, Mixcéatl, Ied his Chichimecan hordes into the Valley of Mexico and ush- ered in “The Epoch of the Fifth Sun’*—that heroic “Age of Man” when documentary history first began in Mesoamerica. Before his rise to power there came to be a great cultural sickness which struck at the very vitals of southern society. Nurtured by constant wars, plagues, droughts, and earthquakes, this malady of the ethos, like a social cancer, ate deeply into the people, and they unconsciously bowed their heads and awaited the coming of a conqueror. The military and priestly leaders of the time lost the ability to ignite their followers and to lead them to greatness.” This was the stage setting against which Mixcéatl played. ‘As a warrior he fought under the banner of the god, Tezcatli- poca. As he marched under the symbol of the shiny black mitror,* many sophisticated Nonohualcas and Amantecas, and Mercia! (Mesliabesch Codex, Bev. other unhappy artists and citizens of the various Classic Period earners cities joined the barbarians and together they settled at Cul- huacén,* where this symbiosis sparked a new chapter in Meso- american history. From the caves of his capital, Mixcéatl led his warriors forth to conquer Toluca, Teotlalpan, and Morelos.” It was while he was crushing the latter that he met and wedded Chimalman,* a sophisticated girl from Tepoztlan.’ Their issue, born in either A.D. 935 or 947, became the greatest of all Mesoamerican heroes — Ce Acatl Topiltzin,” the famed Quetzalosatl." The boy Topiltzin knew neither his mother nor his father, since Mixcéatl was assassinated by one of his own war captains, Atecpanecatl,"* a few months after his marriage and Chimalman died in childbirth. In those few months which passed between her husband’s death and her own, the lady “Shield Hand” lived in constant fear of her life, even though under the protection of her parents at Tepoztlin.” Tt was they who raised their grand- son in the religion of the plumed serpent, Quetzalcéatl, and not in the cult of the warrior sun god, Tezcatlipoca, the Chichimecan religion of his father, Mixedatl.** GRAN CHICHIMECAN HISTORY It would appear as though the short-lived Pilon Phase’ could be equated with the time of Mixcéatl. The arrival of these Fig. 105-1. Change also came to the Hohokam of Snaketowy seen by several new abit and moti incuding Jove: Upper ight) carved shell birds, ceramic human figurine, Mat fae) cved jis paso ok ret Sa twalled ceramic efiy veseels, human efigies carved in stone, Vater Gladtoin er al. 1997, PeinToltec-Chichimecans caused a widespread rearrangement of Mesoamericans. This, in turn, may have affected some of the arbaric Northern Frontier cultures, particularly those located along the southern margin at places such as Guasave. It is believed that a group of Mixtec migrated some 1,700 km. to settle here along the western coastal region of modern Sinaloa.” In the Casas Grandes Valley the people changed their house design from houses-in-pits to pit houses and became familiar with such artifact designs as three-quarter-grooved dacite axe- heads, polychrome and red-rimmed pottery, figure-eight shell beads, and ceramic hand drums. ‘Another hint to this population disturbance may be found in the Gila and Salt River valleys of central Arizona." Here, certain changes apparently occurred in the Chichimecan cultural matrix.’ The host of elements which appeared included long, narrow, gable-roofed houses;* a new type of red-on-buff pottery em- bellished with a light colored wash, exterior painted-textured design,* and such decorations as the interlocking scroll’ and the negative conventionalized flying bird;? novel ceramic forms such as tripod, tetrapod, pedestal base,’ heavy-walled vessels,"” and modeled animals;"* handled ceramic colanders; human fig- ure scoops;"* solid human and animal figures;** perhaps effigy vessels;** and two-piece figurines."® The lapidary art also changed as the artisans began to use diorites and other hard stones'* which they fashioned into de- signs such as stone dippers;" carved human effigies;"* mono- lithic knives; medicine stones” or small pestle-like rods of coarse lava; slender rods of polished slate; polished stone dis- coidals* channeled, raised, three-quarter-grooved axes;” raised ridged palettes** stone balls;** reaming tools;** whetstones;” anvils;** polishing stones; and rectanguloid manos.” ‘The art of shell carving expanded to include bracelets" and pendants in the form of birds. This new cultural expression was also marked by the presence of pyrite mirrors designed after the fashion of those associated with the Mesoamerican Tezcatlipoca cult. The bulk of these have been found in association with the dead — cremations in the Gila-Salt drainage” and an inhumation in the Casas GrandesValley. There is a possible explanation for this association inas- much as southern warriors wearing similar mirrors were an- nually sacrificed to Tezcatlipoca.** The Snaketown-type ball court also appeared as part of this complex,”* and it, too, may be further evidence of the presence of the Tezcatlipoca cult, for “the Mexican ball game may be thought of as symbolic of the eternal struggle between light and dark, as represented by Quetzaledatl and Tezcatlipoca.’”" Farther north in the frontier at such villages as Kiatuthlanna, Toltec influence was felt to be present in certain ceramic designs.” These bits of evidence indicated that sometime between A.D. goo and 950" the Northern Frontier was penetrated by small groups of southern warriors or traders of the Tezcatlipoca cult. Such may have left their Mesoamerican homelands and moved northward even as Mixcéatl moved eastward onto the ‘Mesa Central."® The spotty distribution of these cults throughout the frontier may be a reflection of various indigenous reactions to foreign interference." HOME AND COMMUNITY HOUSES OF THE PEOPLE* Sometime around A. D. 900, while the great boiling cauldron of southern cultures bubbled over, some twelve Pilon Phase hovels were constructed at the Convento site, of which at least three were abandoned before the end of this particular occupa- tion, These were shallow semisubterranean structures with the major portion of the buildings exposed above ground; they tended to be roundish and dome-shaped and were entered by low doorways located in the sides. Fig. 106-1. Adobe wall chunks from the fill of Pit House B contained impressions of the pole and grass framework.The pit houses of this village were smaller* and quite different in construction from the houses-in-pits of the older Convento Phase. The builders first dug pits* and then, outside the excava- tions, placed post and branch superstructures.' The villagers often made one side of their houses straight as two-thirds were of “D-shaped” construction. The flattened sides generally ac- commodated short symmetrical passageways,* half of which faced eastward toward the rising sun. The jacal superstructures were constructed in much the same manner as before, but now the Chichimecans plastered both the interiors and exteriors of the bast frameworks with mud which made them more durable." The builders, perhaps at the insistence of their womenfolk, also plastered the pit walls and the dish- shaped floors. Fig. 108-1. The entryway of Pit House C. Fig, 109-1. Pit House A twall construction, Hig. 107-1. The framework ofa Pilon Phase pit house was set outside the pit excavation and the floor and in- terior walls were plastered with adobe.2, Pit Houses X and W. Note fire hearth. Fig. 110-1. Pilon Phase pit houses. 1. Pit House U, In the middle of the plastered concave floors, generally near the center point, the builders constructed plastered fire hearths.” Now, every housewife had the latest in deep plaster hearths, a real improvement over the sloppy depressions with which they hhad to contend in the older dwellings The domestic abodes uncovered from the other Pilon Phase occupations* were of a slightly different construction than the domed structures of the Convento site,’ as the former used central post roof supports. This pattern was similar to the roof construction used in the earliest Mogollon-Chichimecan houses of the Mimbres and San Simon regions.” These changes par- alleled those which were made by other Chichimecans who occupied the American Southwest. At this time, these northern frontiersmen also began to construct pit houses rather than 3, Pit House Y.4, Pit House P. 5. Pit House B, houses-in-pits. These were further similar in the flattening of one side of the house, the trend toward short side-entries, the use of more plaster in house construction, and the shift from simple basin types to more sophisticated plaster heart The construction of circular houses with a conical roof sup- ported by a single central post apparently began earlier, after A.D. 400, in the northern reaches of the Gran Chichimeca." At this same time, archaeologists recognize other specialized architectural features in each village The dendro-dates from Pueblo Bonito indicated that it was during this time that the Old Bonitians constructed their po reinforced “‘crecent-shaped Pueblo II village of single-coursed masonry’ in the Chaco Canyon. The building of contiguous surface rooms in the Anasazi-Chichimecan district apparently 5. Pit House C. 7. Pit Houses D and E.Fig. 111-1, Pilon Phase Pit Fig. 112-1, Pit House 3 at CHIH:D:9:14, House 1 at CHIH:D:9:13 was, superimposed by Medio Pe- riod rectangular Room 1. preceded the construction of the rectangular surface rooms of the later Perros Bravos Phase in the Casas Grandes Valley. Dr. Judd felt that the architectural ideas of the Old Bonitians were “born somewhere among the sage-covered mesas and valleys of southeastern Utah and southwestern Colorado’”"* Dr. Dutton, on the other hand, felt that this architectural shift was introduced from Mexico and that the route of dissemination was from the Valley of Mexico to the Four Corners area of the American Southwest."* Another frontier development, not yet clearly defined, oc- curred in the Gila-Salt drainage when the folk began to construct individual houses with gabled roofs during the Snaketown Phase, around A.D. 900." This architectural concept of roof construction may have spread southeastward from this area to the San Pedro Valley, where it was reported at Tres Alamos" and Gleeson, and to the San Simon Valley, where it was reported in the Galiuro and Cerros phases." If these were steep roofs” there may be a similarity between these and the houses of the pre-Conquest Chichimecan-Jonaz people of northern Guanajuato™ and the present-day Huichol, Cora, Tepehuén, and. Tarahumar groups.* Architectural comparisons cannot be made between the Gran Chichimeca and Mesoamerica in the oth century because of the unfortunate lack of these data in the latter area. Big. 113-1, Community House I was rebuilt and enlarged ia Pilon Phase. The hatched area suggests the size during the ceding phase. The postholes from both of these structures clearly evident (photo left}. Adobe coal collapse was found of floor of the later building (ghow right).COMMUNITY HOUSE* XX (eSScono longer be used. In either event, the natives constructed the new building in the same house pit, which they enlarged to a di- ameter of 9.70 m., thus increasing the floor space by 23.12 sq. m, This increased size may well reflect the need to accommodate more individuals. They obliterated most of the older architec- tural details. They placed six new posts in the center of the room, did away with a probable banquette, and changed the orientation of the doorway. They also replastered the floor and rebuilt the fire hearth. The lightweight wall screen (see Fig. 113~2), which originally stood 4.65 m. to 3.75 m. in height, was constructed of jacal some 18 cm. thick and was built into the floor of the pit excava- tion after the fashion of the Convento Phase houses-in-pits. A central rectangular pattern of six posts supported the roof Within the floor confines of these posts and toward the east comer, a plastered hearth was built over the older Convento Fig, 114-1. The excavation of Viejo and Medio Period structures at Reyes Site 2 (CHIH:D:9:14). Com- munity House 5 in foreground.hearth, The simple ramped entry, located on the west, led down into the floor area. In the center section of the large room the collapsed material contained evidence of roof thatch but no heavy adobe.* The absence of this type of collapse suggested that the center posts held up a steeply pitched lightweight thatched roof.* Nowhere in the Chichimecan area was this central post cluster, a pattern of posts located in the center of the room well away from the walls, used before or during this time block save in the Pioneer Period at Snaketown' where the pattern has been lik: ened to that of the Caddoan and Mandan structures in the Great Plains area.” The Vahki Phase structures, however, contained thick lenses of fallen caliche mud roof debris.* Throughout Mesoamerica, ceremonial architecture was so sophisticated that comparisons with it and the simple Chichi- mecan community house would be ludicrous. Fig. 115-1. Pilon Phase Community House 5 was superimposed by Medio PeriodBut some modern groups, such as the Huichol, still build a similar type of round community house which has a steeply pitched, thatched roof. Like the Pilon structure, these use a self- supporting umbrella roof construction which does not depend cn the wall screen for stress. The two forms, though separated by many miles and a thou- sand years, were similar in that both appeared as the most im- pressive structure in the midst of a village of hovels. Perhaps the old Pilon Phase community house would have presented a picture not unlike that described by Lumholtz as he entered the Huichol village of Santa Catarina in 1893.’ Deep in the Sierra ‘Madre of Nayarit, in the homeland of the Huichol — in fact, in the center of their universe — stood the round temple dedicated to the God of Fire. The plastered stone walls, some thirty-five feet in diameter, were two feet thick and stood some seven feet above the depressed earthen floor. Windowless, the only light came through the eastern doorway, which was open to the ceiling. Two steps led from the outside into the darkened recess where the people sat on a stone and mud bench located around the eastern half of the room. An adobe-lined hearth in the center of the room contained the holy fire. Hanging at the height of a man’s head on the two central posts was a ring of deer antler, the tines of which supported such personal equipment as pouches and tobacco gourds. These uprights were of the “male” pine stripped of its bark, and in the dim light appeared black and glossy. The exposed thatch roof consisted of a latticework of boughs which supported bundles of grass. High in the roof were holy bundles which represented the opossums who once stole fire from the gods and brought it to the Huichol. Stringers of bark fiber, which ran underneath the roof toward the four cardinal points and crossed in the center of the room, protected the house from both wind and lightning. Two large bundles of leaves which rustled with the slightest breeze hung from the steep ceiling to ward off any evil which might have threatened. ‘All was festooned with soot strings, for the roof lacked a smoke- hole. Irregularly spaced in the stone walls were niches like “large pigeon holes” which contained flowers, idols, and other belong- ings of the gods. The earthen floor was sprinkled with water each time the house was used for feasts, dances, or the hikuli (peyote)* ceremonies, and through the years had become level and hard-packed by the feet of many dancers.”Fig. 116-1. A modern Huichol god-house is compared with Community House I of the Pilon Phase, Fig. 117-1. Reconstruction of Com- munity House 5 at CHIH:D:9:14, The community house of the Pilon Phase Chichimecans, like the god-houses of the present-day Huichol, may have been not only the focal point for similar group activities but may also have served as a guesthouse" for passing strangers and as. a place to settle judicial matters."*Fig. 11-1. The Convento site Pi nt Phase village and recon- siructed community. VILLAGE PLAN* The unfenced Pilon village, as mentioned previously, consisted of a group of twelve unsophisticated mud-domed dwellings and one large circular community house after the fashion of a modern Huichol rancheria? It was located slightly to the north of and over the older fenced Convento Phase settlement and covered an area of 3,116 sq. m., some 416 sq. m. more than the latter. The community house was bounded on the north by a hard- packed plaza.” Six outdoor pits’ marked the north, east, and ‘west limits of this activity area while ten® of the twenty-two irregularly shaped pits’ and twenty-two plus two questionable burials" were located on or under its floor. House B was rebuilt, while Houses E, W, and P were aban- doned sometime during the life of the village. The latter house, located under the plaza floor, had in its fill a Pilon Phase burial, suggesting that the house had been built early and was later razed to make space for the plaza. Nine of the twelve houses were constructed north of the community house in a roughly circular pattern’ around the plaza. In this, the Pilon Phase village differed from the earlier Convento Phase village, in which the community house was the central unit.” As in the case of community house forms, certain settlement pattern parallels could be drawn between the villages of thePilon Phase, the Mogollon-Chichimecans,"* and the present-day Huichol,"* who may have retained the older pattern. There was a similarity in the related positions of houses, plaza, and com- munity structure, Huichol community clusters are generally located on a flat- tened hilltop or other eminence near running water and are generally graced by an enhancing vista. The domestic struc- tures, which are either circular or rectangular, are constructed of such materials as poles, rocks and mud, and are roofed with a gable of either palm or grass thatch. The fenced area may contain from eight to eleven houses plus a large, dominating, circular temple structure, all built around a plaza. The latter is usually bounded on the south by the temple, and on the north and the east by fire hearths.” The ancestors of the Jemez, Pucbloans, who live far to the north of the Huichol, in the Rio Grande Valley, had a similar organization." In both, the caretaker of the group fetish and 20 to 40 members of his extended family occupied a “god- village.”*" These elected officers and their families were responsi- ble for the group fetishes and the maintenance of the settlement. The men supervised ceremonial activities and prepared and maintained ceremonial paraphernalia, while the women cleaned the main houses and plaza areas and prepared food for group gatherings." It is suspected that this is ati old pattern and that the Gallina complex of pit houses, surface structures, towers,and large community houses located in north central New Mex- ico was ancestral to the Jemez model." These “god-villages” were the social centers of the people who lived in satellite rancherias. It was the place where the fetishes lived — a sacred place — and perhaps thought of as the center of the universe. If these comparisons are valid, it may be inferred that the Pilon Phase inhabitants of the Casas Grandes Valley were oriented to a rancherfa way of life and supported a similar social center. VALLEY SETTLEMENT The three excavated villages containing Pilon Phase occupation were located along the west bank of the Casas Grandes River.” Two of these contained remnants of community houses.* AREA SETTLEMENT* Ceramic evidence suggested that villages of this time period were located not only in the Casas Grandes Valley but also on the eastern flanks of the Sierra Madre. If the Huichol area settle- ment pattern can be used to mirror the Pilon Phase, then land was held in common and use determined by the leaders of each subdivision of the tribe. Individuals using land changed fields every few years and had widely scattered holdings.” Harvests were distributed within each related group.®SOCIAL ORGANIZATION Like the Huichol the individual Pilon Phase Chichimecan fam- ilies may have occupied small clusters of houses located near their farmlands. Occasional polygamy may have been practiced, but in general most families were probably monogamous. The men might have married between the ages of 18 and 22 while the women took the marriage vows between the ages of 13 and 18." These small clanless entities would have a close identification with the home rancheria and still would have maintained a degree of adhesion to related rancherias.? The family groups would have constituted the culture core, which was strengthened by the lack of fraternal secrecy o:enforced leadership by virtue of the absence of secret organi- zations. The shamans may have been elected by common con- sent while the people paid individually for their services. On occasion, one man or perhaps a rancherfa group, for social or religious reasons, would have financed a feast to which all were invited. On such an occasion, the host would pay a shaman to gather and prepare the food, to arrange religious paraphernalia, and to lead the group in singing and dancing. These folk may have had a ceremonial calendar which cycled around the oc- casions of planting, harvesting, hunting, and gathering, and like the Huichol they might have razed and reconstructed their houses every five years when they refurbished their ceremonial structures.10, UL 2 2B. 4 Fs |. Anchondo Red-on-brow Pilon Red-on-brown bowl. -on-brown bol. Convento Pattern Incised Ci rugated jar Comvento Plainwoare jar. Disk-shaped rubbing stone. Two-hand marco, sped pestle. fa” slab metate grooved axehead. Stone dish Anchondo Red-on-brown bool Ceramic hand drums One-hand mano. One-hand mano. Fig. 120-1. Pilon Phase stone and ceramic artifacts PEOPLE AND THEIR POSSESSIONS The bits and pieces of Pilon Phase material culture found on the floors of the houses and plazas, in sealed pits, and in graves, were partial evidence of the local Chichimecan technological history. The comparative study of these artifact designs, when made in the context of Gran Chichimecan geography, clarified a number of problems which dealt with their origins and history. The artifact inventory, which increased with time," showed a four and a half per cent rise during this time block. This, inBg. 121-1 shell, sto Pilon Phase artifacts of bbone, and elay. part, may be accounted for by the fact that Pilon Phase people were the first to bury nonperishable things with the dead? Fig. 399-8 was an attempt to categorize the Pilon Phase arti- facts into use-groups” in an effort to emphasize the relationships between use and design. In this study, element count was em- ployed because it was found to be more useful than the item count* as it best revealed (1) the relationship of one artifact group to another,’ (2) the variation of designs within a particular artifact group, (3) the preference among diverse raw materials, and (4) detailed design changes in time 7. Sherd scraper. 1. Shell Unfinished sherd spindle whorl Olivella whole s Vermetid tubs Pink shell perAPPEARANCE AND ADORNMENT Two adult female burials were sufficiently preserved to permit cranial measurements.” Their skulls were found to be artificially shaped as the occipital bone was deformed. This practice was similar to that employed in the earlier Convento Phase? PERSONAL ADORNMENT Many of them die soon after birth because they not only pierce the ears and nasal septum of their new born babies, but they also sharply slash their faces about the eyes and mouth with thorns, so that after the wounds have ceased to bleed little black dots or flecks remain from the scars, which are their most beautiful adornment. In their pierced ears and noses, they put either a precious stone or a pretty little piece of shell, but adults, instead of that, stick a skewer under the nose. The young boys up to their sixteenth year, and also the old men, go around naked; although the former wear a many colored girdle made of childish gewgaws about their loins, nevertheless the privy parts of both are uncovered so that one often has to see that which is not permissible to look at. The young Seri are good hu- mored, cheerful, have a good memory, but are fickle and vain; they decorate and adorn the otherwise naked body with all sorts of colored feathers and childish trash. The more ridiculously a young man primps, the more beautiful and notable he is among his own kind. — Adamo Gilg (A.D. 1692)" The Pilon Phase Chichimecans, like many of their kin, past and present, were fond of personal adornment, as better than half of the element count was of this use category.SHELL ORNAMENTS* Thirty-eight’ objects were manufactured of shell. These fell into two main groups — whole shell beads" and cut shell* beads and pendants. The former consisted of nine Olivella’ and the latter of unidentified disk beads," two Vermetid tubes," and a pink shell pendant. The appearance of shell ornaments at this time was of special significance as it implied the beginning of shell traffic from the Gulf of California to the Casas Grandes Valley. The first of these commodities appeared to be unidentified disk beads which were thought to have been made of Glycymeris or Cardium.® This was a time-honored Chichimecan design prior to A.D. 900. These were accompanied by whole Olivella shell beads which have also been described as an old Desert Dweller trait.* A single rubbed and perforated Chama or Spondylus (?) pendant made from an umbo" and the Vermetid tubes** completed the Pilon Phase list, but other frontier villages included other species of Gastropoda and Pelecypoda in their inventories. Along the west coast of Mesoamerica, the indigenes had long before engaged in the manufacture of sophisticated shellSNAKETOWN DISTRIBUTION OF CARVED SHELL FIGURINES cameos | TROPIC OF CANCER APATZINGAN ornaments as was indicated at Apatzingén.”” If the dating used by Jiménez Moreno and Kelly" is correct, it would then appear that some of these southern pieces found their way into the Gran Chichimeca as there was a striking parallel in certain forms. One, in particular — a human figurine cut in a standing position with arms to the side —has been reported in a relatively early Apatzingan context and from such Northern Frontier sites as Snaketown,” the NAN Ranch Ruin near Swarts,” at San Cayetano,” and at the Citrus Site in the Gila Bend area. (See Fig. 122-1.) The Pilon artifacts, on the other hand, may have come not from the southern center but from the more northerly Boquillas site* which was ideally located in the northern Sonoran coastal area. Here, surface evidence suggested a thriving industry which also may have supplied such other northern frontiersmen as Fig. 122-1. Human those living in the Gila-Salt drainage ca, A.D. 950. figurine from Sen Cayetano.BUILDERS’ TOOLS WOODWORKERS’ TOOLS* A single three-quarter, raised grooved, channeled axehead was found in the fill of the Convento Phase House $ and sealed by the floor of the Perros Bravos Phase Room 12.” The pecked and polished three-quarter-grooved design has been found along the eastern seaboard in Late Archaic sites* in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina.‘ ‘Griffin,’ Deuel,* Quimby,’ and Winters® felt that these grooved axes were developed from the chipped and notched axe. How- ever, it may have been a Circum-Boreal trait, as Wissler’ re- ported a similar form in a collection gathered in Shantung, China. This suggested that the design was transferred to eastern America and then spread westward to the Ohio and Tennessee valleys and on into Wisconsin, where it has been reported in Effigy Mound collections,"” and then into the Great Plains," in Kansas City Hopewell context. More recently, however, Grif- fin’* proposed that the design developed in the Ohio Valley 4000 years B.C. and subsequently spread to the east coast and to the Great Plains. In either case, the design may have been carried southward to the Tropic of Cancer for it appears at the ruin of Calichal, Zacatecas, during the Calichal and Canutillo phases, or between A.D. 500 and 700." When these folk moved north- ward to the Guadiana Valley of Durango, they used the three- quarter-grooved axeheads to construct the Schroeder Site during the Ayala Phase.” It was also used in the coastal area of ae ete fea Be Phase association, ©) SO@) he EOP EEK KODEPOSTULATED : DISPERSION HOODLAND PATTERN OF THE Fig. 124-1, Michoacén during the Apatzingén Phase,“*and perhaps in Jalisco during the Tuxcacuesco Phase." Tt would seem that the three-quarter-grooved axe design was also popular in the southwest comer of the Gran Chichimeca, at Guasave, after A.D. 950,"* from whence it was adopted by fron- tiersmen who occupied such villages as San Simon,” Snake- town, and other communities located in southern Arizona.** (See Fig. 124-1.) It never was a favored tool of the Mogollon- ichimecans for only an occasional axe has been reported."* Dacite tools of this design, which included axes, hammers, mauls, and picks, may have been produced at the shell manu- factory center of Boquillas.” Trade from here may have helped to popularize the three-quarter-grooved design in the northern reaches of the Gran Chichimeca,FaTa AS Yds POTTERS’ TOOLS A single artifact fell into the category of potters’ tools.’ On occasion, the potter utilized smooth stones, shell, gourd, wood, or ceramic aids. One such object, a plainware sherd scraper, was found in the fill of a Pilon Phase pit. It was of simple design, having a beveled scraping edge created by abrasion. Tools of this type were quite common throughout the Gran Chichimeca WEAVERS’ TOOLS The history of the art of weaving is confused by speculation. The chroniclers mentioned only the wearing of skins and said little of basket weaving, sandal construction, and the presence of other such paraphernalia which could be made by primitive techniques. The following objects cast into this category’ were divided into two groups — basket weaving tools, which were believed to have been part of the old Chichimecan traditions, and cloth weaving artifacts which may have been introduced into the Northern Frontier in this phase. BASKET WEAVERS’ TOOLS* A splinter awl was found with adult Burial 54. It had a delicate shaft and a small tip diameter. The wear facets on this point suggested that it might have been employed in the manufacture of close-coiled baskets.” Fig. 125-1. An al was found with adult Burial 54.CKOTH WEAVERS’ TOOLS Five objects — three sherd spindle whorls and two crude stone dishes — represented 83.33 per cent of the weavers’ tools, and suggested that the inhabitants spun yarn and perhaps wove.* The sherd whorls,* so-called because they were made from pottery fragments, were shaped in the form of a disk and then centrally perforated. Objects such as these were common throughout the Gran Chichimeca. Two of these particular ex- amples were manufactured from plainware sherds and one of a painted sherd and were first encountered in this village. They ‘became more abundant from Perros Bravos times on. Two stone dishes,’ which may have functioned as base con- tainers for the spindle," were made of pebbles. The socket de- pression may have been used as an ash container into which spinners inserted the base of their spindle sticks to facilitate their task. The Zoque of Chiapas, Mexico," still use these weav- ing tools, and objects of similar design have been found through- out the Gran Chichimeca as well as in Mesoamerica” in sites con- temporary with the Pilon Phase village. nana Fig, 126-1. Cloth weavers’ tools.Dresden Codex (1930, p. 34) SOCIO-RELIGIOUS PARAPHERNALIA The Chichimecans who occupied the three excavated Pilon Phase villages directed a considerable portion of their technological efforts toward the manufacture of objects which had special esoteric meaning," MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS* ‘These were a most significant find as they’ simulated, in aspects of finish and form, the tall cylindrical drums found at the Barton Ramie Site* in British Honduras and at Uaxactin in Guatemala,® where they were made as early as A.D. 650. A second and later form of funnel-like design found at Nebaj, Guatemala,* paral- leled the cylindrical drums made at the above sites. Vaillant thought the former to be part of the ““Q Complex." It is of additional interest to note that the funnel-like drums of Nebaj were found in tombs associated with mosaic plaques* which were akin to those used by the Gila Butte Phase folk who occupied the Gila-Salt drainage of the Northern Frontier.” Fig. 127-1, Suggested reconstruction of @ ceramic hhand drum from Reyes Site 1 (CHIH:D:9:13),Unless the cylindrical Pilon Phase hand drums were a case of independent invention, they are a clue suggesting a direct contact with cultures far to the south of the Casas Grandes Valley. Were these paraphernalia part of the Tezcatlipoca cult? ‘The Dresden Codex" depicted a white figure playing a drum and xa black figure playing a flute in what appeared to be a scene of human sacrifice which utilized, as part of the ceremony, turkey heads. Many of the Medio Period funnel-like drums were associated with the headless carcasses of this bird which inti- mated a kindred ceremony. wd Gila-Salt ‘She ve (CASAS GRANDES CONTEMPORARY DISTRIBUTION CREMATIONS & PYRITE MIRRORS Fig. 128-1,A single plainware sherd disk" of questionable use was found with adult Burial x5. These have appeared singly or tied in parts as a feature in the inventories of most northern Chi- chimecan cultures in the American Southwest, where they are described as game counters." Similar objects have been reported from as far south as British Honduras."* MAGIC AND CURING Attractive natural concretions and stones of peculiar form,* such as the fragment of reniform hematite, apparently were held in awe by some of the ancient Chichimecans. They have been reported from such contemporaneous villages as Tseh So" in the Anasazi-Chichimecan country, at the Harris Village" in the Mogollon-Chichimecan mountain country, and at Los Tules."* This rather restricted distribution is of considerable interest in that similar objects first appeared in the roth century in the above-mentioned villages but became popular in the rest of the American Southwest after the 12005.”” Two human figurine fragments” were located in the fills of Pilon Phase pits. Their flat slab forms vaguely resembled figurines located at certain Mogollon-Chichimecan villages and at the Ootam village of San Simon.* Morss™ suggested that these hand-modeled clay figures may have been made by womenfolk who wished for babies, as symbols of an agricultural goddess, or perhaps as objects of witchcraft. They first ap- peared in the northern reaches of the Gran Chichimeca around A.D. 700 (+50) when agriculture was first accepted, and went out of fashion after A.D. 1250. It was quite obvious that the use of human figurines was never as important in the Casas Grandes Valley as it was in the Gila and Salt drainages where the Hohokam are thought to have used figurines in fertility rites after the custom of certain Mesoamerican groups. MISCELLANEOUS ‘An object manufactured by notching a plainware sherd®* was found in the fill of a Pilon Phase pit. The function of such artifacts remained unknown. Fig. 129-1. Pilon Phase socio-religious artifacts.FOOD PREPARATION TOOLS A pestle, a slab metate, three manos, a rubbing stone, two jars, four bowls, the Pilon Phase sherds, and a sherd spoon fell within a group" categorized as tools which may have been used for preparing wild? and cultivated’ food, and for cooking.‘ They represented one-fifth’ of the artifacts and were second only to personal ornamentation. TOOLS FOR WILD FOOD PREPARATION The pestle," like most of the wild food preparation tools, was an age-old design used by many of the Chichimecans both past and present. TOOLS FOR CULTIVATED FOODS One heavy slab metate,’ designed with a “Utah” type of mano rest,’ was located on the floor of House C. This coarse-textured felsite food grinder had rounded contours comparable to those basin-like short shelf trough metates which have been reported from the Anasazi-Chichimecan portion of the American South- west and as far south as Kaminaljuyat in Guatemala* Three hand stones" which were designed for use in conjunc- tion with metates were found in a single pit."* Two of these were simple one-hand, bifacial, basin manos while the other was a two-hand, unifacial, block trough form. Similar types have been reported in various parts of the Gran Chichimeca in the American Southwest, in the state of Sonora, and southward along the west coast of Mexico. Like the slab metate, these two designs were part of the indigenous technological complex and, as such, may have been an integral part of the cultural heritage of the Pilon Phase. The addition of trough type metates and manos appeared to have occurred here after A.D. 950 as seemed to be the case throughout the American Southwest."= The single-hand rubbing stone“ did not demand a great deal of shaping. It was intermediate in size between the smaller one- hand manos and the larger polishing stones. It may have been used by potters to shape sun-dried pottery or perhaps to prepare both wild and cultivated foods. Like the one-hand manos, this design was widely used throughout the northern portion of the Gran Chichimecan area long before A.D. 900 and may have been part of the indigenous cultural matrix."*Fig. 131-1. Proportions of Pilon Phase pottery types. PAINTED § TEXTURED SHERDS SHERDS, eoccee PLAIN SHERDS DISTRIBUTION OF POLYCHROME AND RED RIM POTTERY CA. A.D. 900 | e s s---PF"*5, * x. 035 GRANDES”, couricvano o APATAINGANCERAMIC COOKING TOOLS This entire collection"* was marked by its similarity to the earlier Convento Phase complex (see pp. 124-130). The potters of this phase continued to make small vessels,"* and added rubbed scor- ing, pattern incised corrugation, and incising to the growing list of decorative techniques. The ceramists now began rather clever experiments with polychrome painting and simple red rim deco- rations which were a popular fad along the west coast of Meso- america in Jalisco and Michoacén. Although the people used almost 15 per cent more pottery in this phase, some seven structures were excavated which contained no floor sherds."* In the A.D. 900s the idea of polychrome decoration became widely diffused in the Gran Chichimeca (see Fig. 132-1). In the ‘Anasazi-Chichimecan villages of Alkali Ridge™ the potters be- gan to produce Abajo Polychrome. The Mogollon-Chichimecan ceramists of the Mattocks Ruin experimented with Mimbres Polychrome, while certain Snaketown® potters introduced ‘Sweetwater Polychrome. In the Casas Grandes area, Mata Poly- chrome was probably part of this expression which came to dominate various Chichimecan ceramic schools after A.D. 1060. The Pilon Phase potters, unlike their northern neighbors, com- bined a textured band and a painted polychrome band on some of their vessels. Red rim decoration was certainly not invented by the Casas Grandes potters but rather borrowed from some southern school located on the west coast either south* or north of the Tropic of Cancer, as it was produced in that area long before A.D. 900. This simple but attractive pottery was made by applying a cream-colored slip to completely cover the brown clay of the vessels. For this they used special clays, which, once dis- covered, became a favored raw material for vessel construction. As far as is known, only the Pilon and later Perros Bravos Phase potters produced this form in the Casas Grandes Valley as it was not made after A.D. 1060. A sherd spoon* made of a Convento Plainware sherd was un- covered on the floor of a community house.” It had been crudely abraded into the general shape of a tool which could be used for stirring or dipping foods during cooking. A similar form is still used by the present-day Western Pueblo housewives.WARFARE AND HUNTING Evidence of warfare and hunting tools' was scarce. A projectile point fragment and a flake knife were taken from house floors.” These paltry finds were a poor adjunct to the very important question of the origin of the bow and arrow and of its relation- \ ship to an older killing tool design — the atlatl. Their presence in this phase did indicate that these Chichimecans probably knew of the bow and arrow by A.D. 900 to 950.° Haury! felt that the bow and arrow was first used in the northern portion of the Gran Chichimeca around the time of Christ, while Jennings* suggested that it may have been brought into the western hemisphere by the Athapascans around AD. 450. In the Northern Frontier, the earliest evidence of this killing tool was found in Basketmaker II context uncovered in © Block and Obelisk caves.* Yet it apparently did not become popular until ca. A.D. 700" as Martin’s* work at Tularosa Cave in the ‘Mogollon-Chichimecan area indicated. This date also marked such historical Chichimecan events as the appearance of new corn types and painted pottery. This killing tool design may have been introduced into the Great Plains and Woodland? areas from the north (see Fig. 134-1) and subsequently into the northeastern portion of the Gran Chichimeca, in the area of the Trans-Pecos where the people of the Chisos and Livermore foci used the bow and arrow ca. A.D. 900.” Whether or not all of the northern barbarians A NEW KILLING TOOL CHANGES THE CHICHIMECAN WAY OF LIFE Fig. 134.1. raves mcr BEFORE A.D. 900 oT Three A. 900accepted the new tool by A.D. 900 is open to question, as Mrs, Lambert" has recently reported the finding of atlatls in a cave located in the Casas Grandes zone in post-A.D. 900 associations. With this invention in their hands, certain of the northern \ barbarians must have become a distinct threat to the Meso- american cities whose soldiers were armed with the older atlatl, for it is known that “. . . Xolot! as well as Mixcéat! were the first to use the bow and arrow in Middle America, a much more efficient weapon than the atlatl of the old sedentary peoples.’"* If Mixcdatl and his hordes of bowmen came from the west coast area below the Tropic of Cancer, then it stands to reason that the bow and arrow must have been introduced sometime before the time of his conquest, Yet, at Apatzingin, Michoacan, arrow- points were reported only after A.D. 1000, while to the south, in Guatemala, stemless triangular, tapered stem, and expanding stem points have been reported at Zaculeu'* and at nearby Nebaj,"* in A.D. 925 and 1125 context at a time when the Mayan cultures were influenced by the Toltec"*— sometime after Mixcéat’s appearance in the Valley of Mexico! Matritense Codes (Beyer, 1965, Fig. 8) Fig, 136-1. A Tarahwmar Indian from Guachochi demonstrates the | se of a bow and hardwood arrow. (Photo by George and Sis Bradt) | Fig. 135-1. Pilon Phase obsidian | flake knife and projectile point.Fig. 137-1, Pilon Phase burials 1, Adule female Burial 15, BURIAL CUSTOMS* It was during this phase that the natives of the Convento site began to place offerings with their dead? There was an increase in the number of burials and apparently more of the young died.’ The people continued the practice of digging grave pits about the village at random but grouping was noted, par- ticularly around the periphery of the plaza and south of the community house. These pits were similar to those of the previ- ous phase.‘ Seventy-five per cent of the bodies were laid out in a semiflexed or flexed position facing an easterly direction. Burial 62 was a child.3 wus that of a child while Burial 54 was an adult male Ten of the deceased were laid on their right sides, five on their left, four supine, and the remainder were placed in questionable positions. They were covered with hard-packed earth rather than rock fill, and all but three graves contained a single body. The interring of the dead in flexed positions in shallow pi was an old and common custom throughout much of the Gran Chichimeca of the Ootam,’ most of the Mountain Mogollon, and the Anasazi. These northern frontiersmen, unlike the Hoho- kam, did not practice cremation. 5. Burial 1 was an adult female.A Time of Coming Together PERROS BRAVOS PHASE 7. Dee soe OS Ps cEAround A.D. 950, some of the Chichimecans of the Casas Grandes Valley razed the Pilon Phase pit houses, tore down the community house, and started afresh with surprisingly new and different architectural ideas. No longer was an individual pit house the main construction theme, but rather clusters of rec- tangular surface rooms built around plazas which were clearly defined by wing walls. This plan gave visual form to these ex- terior living areas and related them to the contiguous domicili- ary structures.” Yet, with all of these new ideas in domestic construction, the frontiersmen held doggedly to the traditional circular form when they built their community house. These changes may have had a meridional inspiration as suggested by the concurrent appearance of southern pottery, copper objects, pyrite plaques, figure eight-shaped beads, and individuals marked by artificial fronto-occipital head shapes.* CONTEMPORARY MESOAMERICAN HISTORY In the lands of the Tula-Chichimecans, the boy, Topiltzin, who, it will be remembered, was the son of the Chichimecan, Mixcdatl, had grown to manhood in the shadow of his maternal grand- parents who dwelt in the town of Tepoztlin. He grew in the lore of the Plumed Serpent cult, They groomed him to be a leader of men and marked his soul with thoughts of vengeance — hemust one day destroy his father’s murderer and vanquish the cult of Tezcatlipoca! In A.D. 980 the young Topiltzin, fresh in his manhood, searched out his father’s resting place and moved it to the Hill of the Star.’ Here, while preparing a commemorative shrine, he was set upon by his uncle, Atecpanecatl.? The victorious Topiltzin fulfilled his vow of revenge and, with his uncle’s blood still red on his hands, took command of the Toltecs. He assumed the name Quetzalcéatl, the Bird Snake, and taught his father’s people the cult of the Plumed Serpent which pursued the philosophy of life’s duality. Its very symbolism included a double animal — a dual personality — like the Star Venus which is both morning and evening star, a celestial twin.* Under his guidance the Toltec-Chichimecans left their old capital of Culhuacén and after several false stops settled down to build the city of Tula, located on what was then considered the frontier of Mesoamerica.* Quetzalcéatl instructed his people in the ways of his mother’s religion and for a time these be- lievers of Tezcatlipoca accepted this new doctrine and they pros- pered. It was to this center that Quetzalcdatl brought artisans and scholars from all of Mesoamerica, and thus the Toltec came to excel in the very arts which under their old leader, Mixcéatl, they had attempted to destroy. For in those years, between A.D. 980 and 999, the people aspired to a rare greatness because of Topiltzin’s subtle mixing of Chichimecan vitality and Meso- american know-how." But this social experiment, though temporarily successful, was not enduring, as its leaders were fraught with intrigue. For like oil and water, the various components of this cultural brew could not be mixed, His people were not ready to abandon the warrior cult of Tezcatlipoca, god of the black shiny mirror who glorified in human sactifice, for they would not accept the mild monotheism of Quetzalcéatl, the plumed serpent who re- jected human blood and thrived on animal and flower sacrifice.Fig, 138-1, Cult priests of Quetzalobatl and Tezcatlipoca vied for influence. (After Borgia’ Codex, 1963, Vol. 3, fed 35, 27) For 19 years Topiltzin tried valiantly to convert his father’s peo- ple, but in A.D. 999 he was dethroned and forced out of Tula By A.D. 1000 the Toltec capital was again in the hands of the priests of Tezcatlipoca who, it is believed, merged with the existing warrior class and formed a military priesthood.® This combined power channeled the people's energies in an expansive military and economic drive which was ultimately felt through- out Mesoamerica and the Gran Chichimeca.’ Their cultural influence, though widely disseminated by subtle treaties, force- ful conquest, and fear, did not by any means dominate.* GRAN CHICHIMECAN HISTORY It is thought that certain peoples migrated from the Mesa Central into the southwest portion of the Gran Chichimeca around A.D. 1000. These folk may have traveled past Guadala- jara, down the barranca country of Ixtlan and Tepic, and onto the coastal plains of Nayarit, where they turned northward to settle at Guasave, in Sinaloa. These immigrants are believed to have carried elements of the Mixteca-Pueblo culture. The amalgamation process, involving this culture and that of the indigenous Chichimecans, is thought to have resulted in the ‘Aztatlin complex.’ This amalgam’ produced, among other things, a pottery type designed in a central Mexican style, known as Aguaruto Exterior Incised* It was traded to the Chalchihuites people who lived at the Schroeder Site located in the state of Durango during the Las Joyas Phase,‘ and to the indigenes of the Perros Bravos Phase in Casas Grandes.* Coupled with the appearance of this southern trade ware in the latter area, there was a drastic change in the architectural pattern, identified by rectangular surface rooms. These wattleand daub structures were built contiguously around well-defined plazas. North of Casas Grandes, the Old Bonitians were con- structing their pueblo using load-bearing walls and flat roofs.” ‘These Anasazi-Chichimecans, like the people of Casas Grandes, employed mud and wattle techniques in some of their exterior and interior walls." ‘The architectural history of the Northern Frontier was quite confused at this time. Various Chichimecan groups became cognizant of such new ideas as multistory construction, load- bearing walls, the ball court, and the compound design, which necessitated indigenous action as to approval or rejection. A study of the contemporary architecture clearly demonstrated the complicated attitudes of the frontiersmen to new concepts. ‘At Casas Grandes the people began to experiment with surface structures built in a compound pattern. The idea may have emanated from Durango, Mexico,’ where small rectangular raised house platforms were built around depressed plazas. The Chalchihuites people also constructed ball courts during the Las Joyas Phase. These were in many ways comparable to the Gila Butte-Santa Cruz Phase structures located in the Gila-Salt and associated drainages” This was the time when most Chichimecans changed the form of their semisubterranean houses to rectanguloid surface structures. Some also modified their roofs, forsaking pitched thatch for flat, dirt-covered roofs. These developments were not unique to the Gran Chichimeca, as similar architectural shifts are recorded in the neighboring eastern area of the Mississippi Valley.” DISTRIBUTION OF AGUARUTO EXTERIOR INCISED IN PERROS BRAVOS Fig. 139-1.Fig 10-1. The rectangular jacal rooms of the Perros Bravos Phase had pitched roofs and rectangular doorways. Some rooms also had a comer bin ducg into the floor. HOME AND COMMUNITY HOUSES OF THE PEOPLE? The average Perros Bravos Phase surface room was found to contain 19.37 sq. m.,’ an average increase of 10.92 sq. m. per room over the earlier Pilon Phase pit houses. The people now plastered adobe on both the floors* and the straight walls of their domiciles, which gave the interiors a clean, spacious appearance when compared to the older domed Chichimecan structures. Only four of the thirteen dwellings contained fire hearths,‘ and all of these were encountered in the North House-cluster. This apparent absence of uniform heating and cooking system in all of the rooms suggested that some were utilized for storage Yet, if this be the case, and if it is assumed that each hearth represented a family, then four families utilized some 280 sq. m. of roofed area for combined storage and living! As this did not seem reasonable in the face of the amount of rubbish and num- ber of burials associated with this phase, it might, in turn, be suggested that this was a summer camp which was used primarily during the growing season when indoor heat was not necessary, and cooking could have been carried on out-of-doors in the plazas.Fig, 141-1 Atchitectural details of Perros Bravos Phase Room 30. 1. After excavation. Three rooms had built-in corner bins, an architectural inno- vation which first appeared in this phase.* Only one room* had a centrally located posthole of a sort which could have contained an upright post for roof support The walls of these houses were obviously of mud and wattle design, often referred to as jacal. This type of construction con- sisted of an upright frame strengthened by an interlocking 3. Lined fre hearth. Fig. 142-1, Perros Bravos Phase wall con- struction was characterized by the use of in- tramural posts based in an adobe footing (Room 7)Fig. 143-1, Peros Bravos Phase rooms. 1, Rooms 12 and 15. pattern of horizontal crosspieces plastered with mud. It was not an unfamiliar building technique, for the earlier inhabitants had employed it in the walls of their Community House I. Similar jacal structures are still utilized by the present-day natives in many of the warm areas of the Gran Chichimeca, as among the ‘Yaqui of Sonora and the Papago of Papagueria. The roofs, which may have been slightly pitched, were probably constructed of some lightweight bast material which would turn the rain. The roof weight was apparently supported by the intramural posts." Evidence of doorways was all but lacking, save in two rooms* where there was a suggestion of rectangular door openings. Throughout Mesoamerica, the Archaic villages, occupied hundreds of years before the Perros Bravos Phase, contained rectangular houses which had walls “made with the wattle and daub system, still used in Indian villages. It consists of sticks 3. Rooms 7 and 84, Room 28, 16. Room 29, and branches covered over with mud, which, when dry, turns into a rather strong kind of mortar.” By A.D. 950, the various architectural devices known to the people south of the Tropic of Cancer far exceeded, in number and in sophistication, those of the humble jacal wall screen, although the latter continued to be used by the simple and poor folk throughout time. Jacal construction was widespread through the Northern Frontier in both time and space and certainly preceded the date of A.D. 950. The peoples of the Aztatlin Culture in the southwestern portion of the Gran Chichimeca used it in single unit structures by at least A.D. 1000." Further north, this technique was used by the Mountain Mogollon in the Reserve Phase, while others in this area began building multiroom stone houses with stress-bearing walls around A.D. 950." 7. Rooms 17 and 2;COMMUNITY HOUSE" Although it stood apart from the other rooms, Community House R was obviously constructed as part of the East Plaza house-cluster. I alone of all the rooms in this village retained the older circular form, reflecting the natives’ reluctance to change their traditional ceremonial concepts. This phenomenon of retention was perhaps similar to that of the present-day Huichol, Tarahumar, and Cora. These natives, despite the many inroads of modern technology, cling to the ancient form and design of their god-houses, though they may be built in the shadow of a modern Christian church.? Community House R* was only half the size of the earlier Pilon Phase group structure.‘ The interiors of both were much the same in regard to the positions of the central posts, the adobe-lined fire hearth,’ and the doorway. ‘The small doorway of the former opened onto the East Plaza. One stepped down from the plaza some 18 cm., through thefeet had entered this Four supported the thatched roof, and the holes for these were stone-lined.’ Two shallow, plastered floor pits were located in the eastern half of the room." 1. Wall and floor plaster.VILLAGE PLAN* The northern part of this village had been destroyed by a mod- ern roadbed while other sections were done away with by the Spanish, who settled on the site in the mid-17th century. Although it was not completely stripped of its overburden, it could be determined that it was built to the north and partially cover the earlier Pilon Phase settlement. It was 818.58 sq. m. larger than the Convento Phase village and 402.58 sq. m. larger than that of the Pilon Phase? The house-clusters, the plazas, and the community house (see Fig. 146~1) were bound together as an integral unitSOUTH HOUSE-CLUSTER. LMA Fig. 147-1. Stratigraphy of the Perros Bravos Phase village at CHIH:D:9:2. Fig. 147-1 indicates the various phase shifts in village plan- ning at the site of CHIH:D:9:2. The oldest was the fenced Con- vento Phase settlement which contained, in a space of 2,700 sq. m.,a loose group of houses-in-pits built at random around a large community house, The middle phase Pilon village, a number of unfenced pit houses, covered an area of 3,116 sq. m. The houses were oriented around a new feature, an open plaza, which spatially dominated the community house. The Perros Bravos Phase complex was the uppermost. The domiciles of this group were built in contiguous units around formally fenced plazas. This occupation zone covered an expanse of 3,518.5 sq. m. The community house was now allocated a position within a house-cluster and, as in the previous phase, emphasis was placed on the open plaza living areas. ‘Adler’s* aphorism that organic architectural form is deter- mined by both function and environment held for the shift from semipermanent dwellings which lacked social centralization and emphasized the primary family to a centralized village group. All Viejo Period structures were constructed of the same basici NORTH HOUSE-CLUSTER natural materials — brush, grass, mud, and poles. These were variously combined by sundry man-devised principles which changed in time, as shown by shifts from the arched or domed roof and the lightweight conical roof to the shed roof. As far as is now known the environment did not change drastically in this time nor did the basic function of the houses, yet form obviously did, The engineering principle incorporating stress-bearing, posts (see Fig. 144-1) was employed throughout this period in the fab- rication of community house roofs. The transfer of this concept to that of stress-bearing wall posts was understandable, but the shift to surface house-clusters was not. The Perros Bravos Phase square-cornered houses, even when protected by outer limit wing walls, were more exposed to wind and rain, which in- creased the maintenance problems. What cultural mechanisms — conscious or unconscious — functioned during the time of these changes? Were the village plans changed in recognition of the real needs of the people? Or were they due, in part, to changes in the religious concepts of the people wrought by Mesoameri- can influence?*DISTRIBUTION OF COMPOUNDS IN THE GRAN CHICHIMECA CA. A.D. 1000 Fig. 148-1. DISTRIBUTION Compounds became a popular form of village design in the Gran Chichimeca after A.D. 1060, Consequently, the question of origin was of utmost importance to this study. In 1952, Smith’ very briefly but completely reviewed those concepts which pre- vailed among anthropologists of the American Southwest. Col- lectively, it was felt that the design originally came from the south and was first used by such Sedentary Period Hohokam. people in the Gila-Salt drainage as those who occupied Sacaton:- 9:6.° Others, such as those reported at Casa Grande in the mid- dle Gila drainage;* near Luna, New Mexico, on the upper Gila; and at Tres Alamos" on the San Pedro River, may be considered as post-A.D. 1060. The evidence uncovered in the Casas Grandes Valley demonstrated that the concept of the compound pattern was utilized prior to this date — pethaps as early as A.D. 900. The question of origin might be answered when the relationship of the Perros Bravos village to the Pueblo III settlements of the Mimbres" and units excavated by Kelley in the Suchil Valley of Durango® is known. An inquiry should be made as to whether or not this idea generated from this latter area to the Guadiana Valley of Durango during the Ayala Phase and was then carried northward during the Las Joyas Phase, along with metal and other Tula-Mazapan traits.ele \VALLEY SETTLEMENT Tt was impossible to ascertain the number of similar sites which were occupied during this phase solely by means of surface ceramic evidence because of the similarity of pottery throughout the Viejo Period. AREA SETTLEMENT As in the case of valley settlement, the areal extent of the Perros Bravos compound villages can only be derived by fur- ther intensive excavation. It is hoped that others will be stimu- lated to search the area for answers to some of these intriguing problems. CONTINENTAL @ DIVIDESOCIAL ORGANIZATION There was some question as to whether or not this village was completely contained within walls, although such would seem to be the case as was suggested by the alignment of the houses Certainly the three enclosed plaza areas were important in the daily lives of the people. The various house-clusters and the single community house allowed for the speculation that the extended family unit crystallized in these times into larger unit blocks which were identified by a solidarity which lacked clan or fraternal structuring. SETTLEMENT PATTERN PERROS BRAVOS PHASE Fig. 149-1,Fig. 150-1. Perros Bravos stone artifacts PEOPLE AND THEIR POSSESSIONS Fig. 400-8 indicates that a sum of 1,747 elements or 404 items constituted the material culture inventory of the Viejo Period A proportion of 84.49 per cent of the total element count and 52.92 per cent of the total item count were phase-associated.* The remainder constituted those bits of material culture which were found in general trash, in the fill of houses, in the test trenches, and on the surface, and consequently could not be One-hand disk basin mano, Twoo-hand loaf slab mano. One-hand taper trough mano, One-hand convex suface maro. Two-hand taper trough mano. Two-hand loaf trough mano, Two-hand petaloid mano. Two-hand oval basin mano. Shaped rubbing stone, Two-hand thin block trough mano, |. One-hand mano with two flat faces Two-hand taper trough mano. Trwo-hand loaf trough mano, Two-hand loaf trough mano, Trough metat. “Utah trough metateBip. 151-1. Perros Bravos stone artifacts assigned to a specific phase. Forty-one hundredths per cent of the elements were associated with the earlier Convento Phase, 4.81 per cent with the Pilon, and 94.78 per cent with the Perros Bravos. Alll of the Convento Phase materials were found in arch- itectural associations, as were 36.62 per cent of the Pilon and 3 per cent of the Perros Bravos. Burial associations were rep- resented by the reverse of these figures. Most of the latter were associated with children in the Pilon Phase and with adults in the Perros Bravos. Shalloso-srooved axehead. Full-groaved cobble axehead. Fragmentary stone dish Full-srooved maul-pestle, Hammerstones. Boulder mortar. Boulder mortar.tela ae Pomme at San = as aes oe ite alin Fig. 195-1. Perros Bravos Phase shell jewelry Olivella bead necklace, Vermetid and disk bead necklace ig. 157-1. Perros Bravos Phase shell ied Oliva ear pendants, idints made of reworked Glycymeris br Aig, 158.APPEARANCE AND ADORNMENT* These [were] without their hair cut. The men wore the hair covering them, parted in the middle, hanging long; likewise the women... And the array, the clothing of the ruler [con- sisted of] his cape, perhaps of lynx skins, or wild animal skins, or ocelot skins, or wolf, or puma skins, and what was called his squirrel skin head piece, and his circular fan device of yellow parrot feathers. And his wife also had her skin skirt, her skin shift — likewise all the women. [The men] always carried their bows. They left them nowhere; when they wandered they went carrying them. When they ate, [their bows] stood nearby; when they slept, they rested at their heads. It is said they called them their guardians; they considered them [such]. And their sandals were of yucca or plain [leaves]. . .. Also likewise were arrayed all the {Teo} chichimeca, only they took not the wild animal skins, the wild animal seats — they did not belong to them: only small deer skins, small coyote skins, small grey fox skins, grey fox skins [sic], squirrel skins, etc. —Sahagiin (A.D. 1569)* APPEARANCE Fray Sahagtin’s informants added that due to the hardy frontier life of the Chichimecans “they were strong, lean, hard and very wiry, sinewy, powerful . .. they had no folds of fat. . . .”° Both ‘Sahagiin and Duran‘ described the Chichimecan custom of using cradleboards which sometimes caused the back of the infants’ skulls to become flat. Dr. Thomas W. McKern’s study® of the Viejo Period skeletal material substantiated and added to this report. Nudity, according to Motolinia,* was the fashion among many of the northern Chichimecans, and Las Casas’ remarked on the male custom of going nude into battle. Archaeological evidence has tended to substantiate these descriptions, as mummies found in caves occupied by the Basketmaker-Chichimecans,* the desert-dwelling Ootam,* and the Sierra Madre Chichimecans,"" lacked clothing. Other frontiersmen dressed in deerskins when the weather demanded, or like the Seri, in rabbit fur cloaks" with leather tiestraps."* However, these folk and other historic groups such as the Opata, Piro, Lower Pima, Sinaloa, Jumano, Tamaulipeco, and Lagunero™ preferred to remain unclothed. Most protected their feet with some sort of sandal. Ixtlil- xéchit!" claimed that most of the frontiersmen of his day woreyucca or hide" sandals similar in design to those found through- out the Gran Chichimeca from Basketmaker caves in the north”* to Jalisco in the south."* The old chroniclers such as Sahagin and Ixtlilxdchit!* de- scribed the Chichimecans as wearing their hair long, to the shoulders or below, parted in the middle, and cut short in the front. This generalized description was typical of most of the folk from the northern Basketmaker area” south to Nuevo Leén® and from California to Texas. PERSONAL ADORNMENT FACE AND BODY PAINT™ They frequently paint themselves, smearing on red ocher and other minerals of black, yellow, and all colors. — Las Casas (A.D. 1574)" When Chamuscado traveled northward from Santa Barbara in the Guadiana Valley of Durango in the direction of New Mexico in A.D. 1581, he skirted the banks of the Conchos River and after a trek of 60 leagues claimed that he had entered into the land of the Chichimecans or Rayados — the painted ones.” This term was also applied to the Sobaipuri-Chichimecans who occupied the San Pedro River valley in southeastern Arizona.** Body decoration continues to be practiced among certain present-day groups such as the Seri,* the Tarahumar,” and the Huichol.*” Pigments of three colors"*— yellow, green, and red — were found. A fragment of red was in direct association with the Convento Phase and the remainder in general Viejo Period as- sociation, which suggested that this custom was an old Chi- chimecan mode of adornment In addition to these paints, a single proto-palette, which may have been designed as a paint grinder,” was uncovered in o isJEWELRY MATERIALS And they [worked, they abraded the] turquoise, the fine tur- quoise, [for] their necklaces, their ear rings, their pendants. — Sahagan (A.D. 1569)" It seemed fairly certain that one of the earliest means of per- sonal adornment used by the Chichimecans of Casas Grandes was body painting. However, by the Pilon Phase they appar- ently began to use Gulf of California shells” as ornaments, and during Perros Bravos times they not only increased the trade in shell, but also added such items as copper and turquoise.”* Eins VIEJO PERIOD SHELL TRADE IN THE GRAN CHICHIMECA WM swarts Ruin CONVENTO SITE SHELL +. Olivella cf. dame 2. Serpulorbis cf. oryzata ‘k/or 3. Tripsycha tripsycha 4 Spondylus princeps Chama echinata 5. Conus cf. gladiator 6. Nassarius moestis 7. Glyeymeris gigantee 8. Oliva 9. Aequipecten circularsSHELL™ In the middle phase three or four genera of Gulf of California shell" were bartered. After A.D. 950, at least five new types"” were introduced into the trade. Shell accounted for 98.44 per cent of the raw material used to manufacture ornaments during the Viejo Period. These may have been trafficked some 500 km or 300 air miles over the Sierra Madre from the Sonoran coast in the vicinity of the Altar drainage. From here an eastern trade route may have led through this valley eastward to the Bavispe River and then either across the Sierra Madre by way of the Fuste Pass onto the Llanos de Carretas,* or via Nacori Chico and across the mountains by way of the Tres Rios~Gavildn route. STONE” It seemed strange that foreign shell rather than local stone was preferred as a raw material in the production of personal orna- ments, but such was the case, as only two objects were made of local materials — slate and shale." The remaining three were manufactured of imported sandstone and turquoise. Like gold and silver, which haunted the trail-dreams of the Spanish conquistadors, the fine blue turquoise, found primarily in the Gran Chichimeca, caught the fancy of the Mesoamerican folk after A.D. 950. It became the symbol of the Toltecan gods — more valuable than all else because of its rarity. Consequently, their puchteca found it worthwhile to search the arid lands of the American Southwest where it lay hidden.XIUITL LAND OF TURQUOISE WW suanw’sscure BEFORE A.D. 1000 "VY CATIONE CANYON ‘y SITES REPORTING TURQUOISE MATUMEANNA YW susie ¥ SNAKETOWN YY tunery roor Roce Vanes vittace ¥ atano mvtco acts TROPIC OF CANCER Sahagiin’s informants mentioned that there was a mine ‘of fine turquoise (in xiuitl)’ which the Toltecs mined in the Xiuhtzone Mountains located near Tepoztlén. Raw material from here was taken to Xippacoia (located near Tula, Hidalgo) and washed. Next it was sent to the Toltec capital of Tula to be cut and polished. However, many authorities believe that the bulk of this gemstone came from the American Southwest, and perhaps from the Los Cerrillos mines of New Mexico. Others, such as Saville, suggested that turquoise eventually’ “will be found at more than one site in Mexico. . . .[It is not] necessary to assume that the source of supply of both the Toltecs and the Aztecs, as well as of other tribes, such as the Tarasco, Mixtec and Zapotec was the far-distant region of New Mexico.’* In either case, Father Sahagun stressed the fact that the Toltec were the first to go to the turquoise lands for the fine stone” in the reign of the second ruler, Tlacateotl. He in- stalled two principal merchants, Cozmatzin and Tzompantzin,"LAND OF TURQUOISE AFTER A.D. 1000 X suave visrecrs ©) processic centers Oe LYNN > meme mon OR Es Teanvnae >X saexstpa canis case X SMALL SURFACE DEPOSITS unscous 9X X wa X woxe co. SH (ga moos x SNAKETOWN x XIG ene Xiao ers Wee 0)FORM NECKLACES® A single Olivella” shell necklace was found about the neck of a Perros Bravos adult. It was of a design which was quite com- monly used by such frontiersmen as occupied the Anchita Canyon, some 12 mi. above the Swarts Ruin in southwestern New Mexico the San Juan drainage;" Canyon del Muerto; Marsh Pass; and the El Paso, Texas, area in time blocks either earlier than or equivalent to this phase. Disk beads, another old jewelry design, first appeared in the Casas Grandes Valley during the Pilon Phase. Three Perros Bravos Phase necklaces" of a single strand design were com- posed of disk beads embellished with bead pendants." Similar necklaces have been found in many contemporary villages in both the frontier" and western Mesoamerica." BRACELETS” Two types of bracelets were encountered in Perros Bravos Phase burials. One form consisted of a solid ring produced by grinding out the center of such large shells as the Glycymeris gigantea (Reeve, 1843). In other areas these were sometimes further en- hanced when the jewelers embellished the remaining lip and the umbo sections with carving. ‘A second or composite form was of the same design as the necklaces and differed only in strand length. These utilized elements such as disk beads and a bilobed-shaped bead pendant,"* Nassarius moestus (Hinds, 1844) whole shells, and Vermetid tubes. Fig, 164-1. Shell necklace with multiple Burial 43. A-B. Fig, 165-1. Shell bracelets with child Burial 44,who introduced “the green stones (in chalchivitl), fine tur- quoise (in teuxivitl), and [common] turquoise (in xivitl)" to the Mesoamerican marketplaces." This stone was used by the frontiersmen to manufacture a few omaments such as disk beads and pendants" in pre-Toltec times — between A.D. 700 and goo. However, between the years of A.D. 900 and 1060, the Anasazi, Mountain Mogollon, Hoha- kam, and Ootam® all began to use more turquoise. By so doing they aroused interest in the treasure which lay hidden in these turquoise lands. After A.D. 1060 mining activity may have been instigated by the Toltec to supply a large market bounded by the West Indies and Yucatén on the south, Ontario on the north, California on the west, and the present states of Missis- sippi and Arkansas on the east." Ball suggested that “the Aztecs and their predecessors, the Toltecs, probably got their turquoise largely from New Mexico and Arizona but in part from local sources now undiscovered or exhausted. It appears to have been available in smaller pieces to the Aztecs than to the Pueblos and particularly was used as thin plates in mosaic work. Its treat- ment suggests its high value and possibly its foreign source.’® ‘Common ornaments appeared to have been in greater abun- dance on the south coast of Mexico while formalized mosaics were more frequently found in the Mesa Central region. The art of stone incrustation, which incorporated turquoise tesserae, was practiced occasionally by the northern Chichimecans during, Pueblo I times" and became popular in the last half of the saath century at such northern cities as Pueblo Bonito and Snake- town," as well as south in Mesoamerica.” Fig. 163-1. Lord of the Tur- ‘quoise (Xiuhtecutli) and the Turquoise Serpent (Xiuhcéat)) (Borgia Codex, 1963, Vol. 3, Pl, 14; Beyer, 1965, Fig. 202,Fig. 166-1. So ta carerao PENDANTS” Sixteen pendants were reported in Viejo Period associations. Eighty-one and one-quarter per cent were made of shell, 12.50 per cent of stone, and 6.25 per cent of sherd. Nine pendants were parts of composite necklaces and the remainder were not functionally associated. Three of the latter were Glycymeris bracelet fragments, thought to have been used as pendants, found with a Perros Bravos child burial. And also they understood very well about mirrors, for all used mirrors. They always bore them on the small of their backs. And when they went somewhere, as they made their way, following a single leader, in order, in line, there they went looking into the mirror which [the one ahead] went bearing in the middle of his back, — Sahagiin (A.D. 1569)" A plaque," often described as a mirror back, was one of the two stone pendant designs uncovered in direct burial associ- ation. This particular form was found with the only secondary burial encountered in the Viejo Period. Plaques of similar design have been found in the Gran Chichimeca at the Anasazi ruin of Pueblo Bonito™ in New Mexico; the Hohokam sites of Snaketown, Grewe, and San Cayetano; and the Ootam site of Valshni Village. The design ‘was much more common at such west coast sites as Apatzingan in Michoacan, south of the Tropic of Cancer, and Kaminaljuyt, Nebaj, and Zaculen in Guatemala. The Casas Grandes plaque, with its central converging perforation design and beveled face, was similar to a type which was associated with Tohil plum- bate” in the Nebaj sequence. A tubular-shaped piece of turquoise, found in general Viejo Period association, could have served as a pendant bead element KNOWN DISTRIBUTION OF STONE PLAQUES-MIRROR BACKS IN PERROS BRAVOS TIMES A.D. 950 to A.D. 1060 © ararznchywhen strung as a composite bracelet or necklace, an ear orna- ment, or perhaps as a simple drop pendant." Similar designs have been recorded at various sites scattered throughout the Gran Chichimeca, from the land of the Anasazi-Chichimecans in the north to Guasave in the south," and from California on the west to Texas on the east. This form was not always produced in turquoise, but often in media such as other stone and shell. Broken Glycymeris shell bracelets were sometimes used as pendants. The umbo sections made particularly nice orna- ments when refinished and strung as part of composite necklaces or bracelets. A cut shell pendant” made of pink Chama echinata Broderip, 1835 or Spondylus princeps Broderip, 1833 was first noted in Pilon Phase associations (see p. 161). This design, with a single suspension perforation, like the tabular pattern, was an age-old form used throughout the Gran Chichimeca A single perforated oval-shaped sherd was believed to have been used as a suspension ornament." The material, which con- sisted of a fragment of an Anchondo Red-on-brown jar, in all probability was locally made. Similar designs using sherds, though not common, have been found throughout a greater part of the Gran Chichimeca, UNIDENTIFIED METAL OBJECT” A small piece of sheet copper” was found on the foot of a Perros Bravos Phase adult burial. This uncast fragment indi- cated that copper was first used by the indigenes of Casas Grandes between A.D. 950 and 1060. A sandstone plaque woas th Perros Bravos Phase ‘adult Burial 50, Fig. 168-1. A piece of copper sheet- ing was found on the foot of adult female Burial 48,Fig. 169-1. Copper tinkler with Burial 47 indicated by pencil, TINKLERS" Four tinklers were found in Viejo Period associations. These were thought to have been designed as drop pendants which could be suspended as a fringe on clothing, producing a jingling sound when moved; the natural shapes of many Gulf of California shells lend themselves to this particular use The Conus shell was used in great abundance in the Medio Period. Only one of this type of shell was represented in general Viejo Period associations and it was probably C. gladiator Broderip, 1833." Conus has not been reported at sites in the Gran Chichimeca which were occupied much before A.D. 1060," save for a single Estrella Phase specimen uncovered at Snaketown.§* On the other hand, this shell was popular as a raw material for tinklers before this date south of the Tropic of Cancer, as the people of Tuxcacuesco and Apatzingin, Michoacén, and Kaminaljuya in Guatemala used them A pair of Oliva incrassata (Solander, 1786) shell tinklers™ was found at the side of the head of a Perros Bravos Phase child burial. These large pendants may have been a parting gift from a sorrowing parent or relative. They had been designed as a pair and, after a fashion, were reminiscent of certain groups of tinklers associated with the Medio Period. A piece of native copper bent to the shape of a cone" was found in association with a shell disk necklace which had been placed about the neck of a Perros Bravos child burial. Its presence suggested that the Chichimecans of the Convento site first came to use native sheet copper in this phase," before the large city of Casas Grandes came to figure as a copper manu- facturing center. A cone tinkler design executed in metal was first reported by Sayles," but this specimen may have been produced during the Medio Period when they were much more common. The form appeared to be unique to the Casas Grandes. Fig, 170-1. Oliva ear tinklers with Burial 55.area as Pendergast did not include it in his useful classification of Mesoamerican metal forms.” BEAD DESIGNS" Four bead designs were encountered in the Viejo Period ma- terials. Vermetid” tubes were produced by simply cutting the worm casings into small sections and then rubbing them until verano they took on the appearance of old ivory. This smoothing process enhanced the beauty of the bead, but destroyed the identification marks. Three of these were found in two Perros Bravos Phase burials, and two were associated with a number of Nassarius shells. The Olivella”® bead was one of the first forms used by Chi- chimecan artisans. The shell was cut and rubbed so that the body formed a small tube which could be strung. Nine of these were found scattered in two Perros Bravos Phase burials. The whole shell® beads, another widespread design, were used during the Pilon and subsequent phases in the Casas Grandes Valley. These were simply suspended from a crude perforation located near the aperture or were drilled. assanus Disk beads,” another old Chichimecan form, were produced by smoothing and drilling shell, stone, bone, and wood. A single turquoise disk bead” was found with Perros Bravos Phase adult Burial 7, in association with a strand of Olfvella beads. ‘A single red slate tube" completed this inventory. BEAD PENDANTS" Three forms — stemmed ovoid," dentate,” and bilobed"* — were associated with composite necklaces and bracelets. Psu) STDs Fig, 171-1. Bilobe form d bution in the Gran Chichi- ‘mect, A.0. 900-1060.Fig. 172-1. Reconstructed axe helve BUILDERS’ TOOLS ‘Those artifacts which were thought to have been designed pri- marily as hafted implements to cut wooden beams and to aid in general construction have been categorized into the special groups of wood and stone workers’ tools.* These included such patterns as hafted or handled axeheads, mauls, hammers, and adzes; and such unhafted forms as abraders, which may have been used as planers. WOODWORKERS’ TOOLS AXEHEADS* Eight of the fourteen hafted tools were of a basic axchead design, The group contained seven slight modifications which were described here as type variations. The time-space distri- bution of the three-quarter-grooved axehead model has been briefly discussed under the general Pilon Phase artifact groups (pp. 163-164) when it first appeared in the Casas Grandes se- quence. Sometime between A.D. 950 and 1060, certain innova- tions such as the full-grooved, wedge-shaped cobble axe, and the simpler shallow-grooved forms appeared.’ Most of these required the use of a hard nonfracturing raw material such as dacite, a fine- grained igneous rock, which could be shaped readily by pecking and polishing. In most of these variations the manner of grooving used in hafting fluctuated only slightly, whereas the treatment of the poll, the shape of the bit and the tool weight varied considerably. These latter characteristics were adaptive factors which the natives manipulated to their personal satis- faction or need Big. 1 Types I, Il, Ul, IVA IVB, V, and VI (top to bottom) Viejo Period axeheads,MAULS* Three* of the Viejo Period builders’ tools were hafted mauls. Like the axeheads, these required the strength and physical prop- erties common to many hard igneous stones. These apparently did not demand the over-all shaping of the axeheads as there were large untouched areas on the bodies of these objects. This par- ticular design may have been multifunctional.’ The hafted maul has been reported from contemporaneous Chichimecan villages located in the American Southwest, but not from Mesoamerica. CHIPPED NOTCHED ADZES* Two" of the Viejo Period builders’ tools were of the adze design. The position of the haft and the wear facets on them suggested that they were used either in wood-shaping or as a kind of hoe or mattock for digging. A rhyolite adze of this pattern was uncovered along the southem border of the Gran Chichi- meca in the state of Zacatecas at the site of Calichal in the Rio Colorado drainage,” a second appeared ca. A.D. 950 at the Convento site, and others in Mogollon-Chichimecan context in northern and eastern Arizona. ABRADING STONE” A single abrader,* found in general Viejo Period context, was made of a rectangular block of coarse-grained sandstone which would have worked nicely as a wood rasp and as a shaper of soft stone. Wear facets left on the working surfaces of this object were present along its central axis. The design was very reminiscent of one used in historic times by the Western Pueblo Hopi prayer stick makers! and appeared in such Anasazi- Chichimecan villages as Alkali Ridge and in some Mogollon- Chichimecan villages at this time. The tool was simplicity itself, for it merely required a conveniently shaped natural stone of a hardness which would suffice in the shaping of softer materials. STONE WORKERS’ TOOLS DOUBLE-BITTED PICK” A very battered double-bitted hafted tool" designed in tuff was found. It compared with similarly shaped objects found in the Anasazi-Chichimecan area." Implements of this pattern, but fashioned of harder igneous material, became common in the Casas Grandes Valley after A.D. 1060.METATE WATER BOWL POTTERS’ TOOLS The Viejo Period potters increased production during the Perros Bravos Phase to some 83 per cent.' This growth was accom- panied by additional decorative techniques and the presence of more trade pottery. Only one tool connected with the industry of clay receptacle production was found in specific association —a sherd scraper from Pilon Phase context. The quantity of nonperishable imple- ments should have increased with this growing industry. May- hap the potters preferred perishable instruments made of sub- stances such as gourd or wood. In any case, only eight objects* were found in the trash areas of the Viejo Period villages. POLISHING STONES* Twot natural pebbles of dense igneous stone may have been POLISHING PEBBLESused for polishing. These could have been picked up from any one of a number of nearby arroyos and immediately em- ployed as they required no shaping. The wear facets indicated that the potters may have manipulated them as polishers when smoothing the unfired walls of clay vessels. Similar objects have been noted at many contemporary ruins in both the Gran Chichimeca and in Mesoamerica.” SHERD SCRAPERS" Six scrapers made of ceramic fragments were found in Viejo Period associations; one of these was in Pilon Phase context.” One or more edges were beveled, perhaps to aid in the process of scraping and thinning the walls of unfired pottery. Tools of similar design have been described as a part of many ancient and present-day Gran Chichimecan potters’ kits.* Fig. 17441. A Tare umar twoman adds 1 coil of clay to the vessel she is building sp (left) and scrapes it with @ piece of ‘gourd rind (tight). Photos by George and Sis Brads) SCRAPERFig. 175-1. A Guaraheo hat weaver. (Photo by Ray and Virginia Gamer) WEAVERS’ TOOLS Artifacts which were thought to have been intended for use in the weavers’ trade were divided into two broad categories — basket weaving and cloth weaving implements. Both types were found in association with the Pilon Phase.’ Nine* objects of the cloth weaving category were found in Perros Bravos Phase context, while a total of sixty-nine’ belonged to the Viejo Period inventory. BASKET WEAVERS’ TOOLS AWLS* A total of four" of the Viejo Period weaving implements were awls. Only one of these was found in specific phase association, and that item was used during the Pilon Phase. This category consisted of articles manufactured from the long bones of deer and other animals. Two basic designs were employed in their manufacture. Three were mere splinters, while a fourth was made of a whole bone. An analysis of the awl tip wear facets suggested that three may have been used as punches, after the fashion of the present-day Seri who employ these when manu- facturing fine-coiled baskets and sewing skin clothing.” Another, a flat-pointed splinter specimen, may have served as a plaiting tool in the manufacture of sleeping mats. ‘Awls, sometimes decorated with carving or painting, were widely used in Chichimecan and Mesoamerican cultures for centuries Fig, 176-1. Viejo Period basket weaving tools.mar rug weaver, ie oto by George CLOTH WEAVERS’ TOOLS SHERD SPINDLE WHORLS" Of the fifty-nine* sherd spindle whorls, eight’ were found in the Perros Bravos Phase and three in Pilon Phase context. To manufacture this artifact, one merely chose a likely fragment of a vessel, broke it to rough shape, ground it to the desired circular form, and then drilled a central perforation to accom- modate the spindle shaft.” This design was widespread through- out the northern portion of the Gran Chichimeca’ and in certain Archaic sites in the Valley of Mexico." These imperishable sherd disks probably served as the weight portion of a spindle, which was used in the production of yarn, and are not to be confused with certain button ot bead forms." Various types of weights were used in the Gran Chichimeca. Some were manufactured of modeled clay, stone, shell, bone, wood, or even gourd rind. STONE DISHES (SPINDLE BASES)" There were six™ fragmentary tuff and felsite dishes, one" of which was associated with the Perros Bravos Phase. The simple dish design undoubtedly had many uses. Some, such as those found at the Upper Pima Indian village of San Cayetano in southern Arizona,” may have been used as stone spindle bases after the fashion of the modern Zoque of Chiapas, Mexico."* These folk insert the wooden shaft into the ash-filled depression of such a dish and by so doing create a holder for the distal end of the finger-manipulated spindle. This artifact form was used by many Chichimecans who lived north of Casas Grandes and by the southern folk who ‘occupied such locations as Tlamimilolpa and Kaminaljuyti Vienna Codex (1963, PI. 9) Matritense Codex (Palencia in Noriega etal, 1959, Fig, 13a)Fig. 178-1. Tarahumar Indians at tesgiiino party. (Photo by George and Sis Brads) SOCIO-RELIGIOUS PARAPHERNALIA And they kr the essence, of herbs, of roots. The so-called peyote was their discovery. These, u y ate peyote, esteemed it above wine or mushrooms. They assembled together somewhere on the desert; they came together; there they danced, they sang all night, all day. gin (A.D. 1569)" Certain of the old Chichimecans, like many of the present-day inhabitants, were strongly given to the peyote cult. It is only in the southeastern portion of the Northern Frontier that the hikuli or Lophophora williamsii grows.* During the historic period many of the indigenes used this narcotic and various Fig. 179-1. A varie plants used for in cating beverages hallucinogens was il trated in the Flo Codex (Dibble and derson, 1963}alcoholic beverages made from cacti, agave, and mesquite’ in their religious ceremonies. Many activities revolved about the collecting, preparation, and consumption of these stimulants, and entire categories of paraphernalia were designed as symbolic representations of native concepts regarding the use of these. Most of the nonperishable articles of this category were “one of a kind” and few could be combined into groups. This was also true of a host of items which were employed in various idolatrous depictions of the sun, moon, animals, trees, and other natural forms.* Add to this the accoutrements used in ritual bloodletting and witchcraft,’ and the category of ceremonial objects becomes unwieldly because many of these items were manufactured by one individual in accordance with his own ideas and without the conformity of group concepts. This was the main difficulty in studying the Viejo Period artifacts which were felt to have been produced for these purposes." MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS CERAMIC DRUMS’ Ceramic drums of the Pilon Phase (see pp. 168-169) were the only nonperishable musical instruments found in Viejo Period association. The early chroniclers mentioned that the Chichi- mecans were familiar with the gourd drum, the hollow log drum. or teponaztli, and the bone or wood musical rasp.* Fig. 180-1: Tarahumar so- ciovrligious gathering (Photo by George and Sis Bradt)Fig. 181-1. Tarahuumar In- dians. gathered for an in- tervillage kick-ball game (Photo by George and Sis Hil Brads) = GAMES STONE BALLS* Eight” globular stones manufactured from basalt, tuff, and sandstone were found in general Viejo Period trash. Similar objects, which range in size from a tennis ball to a softball, are made by present-day Tarahumar for use in a kick-ball game." Variations of this sport are to be found among the folk who occupy the Fuerte and Sinaloa river-lands/* the American Southwest; and eastward beyond the Gran Chichimeca, in the country of the Natchez."* The northern frontiersmen appeared to have been devotees of some sort of a kick-ball game throughout much of their history. ‘These artifacts have been reported from many locations north of the Casas Grandes Valley and to the south at Tuxcacuesco, in Michoacdn, and at Tlamimilolpa and Xolalpén on the Mesa Central. QA rey SHERD DISKS" Thirty-two" sherd disks were scattered about the Convento site. One specimen was associated with the Pilon and four with the Perros Bravos Phase. Ceramic fragments of this circular design have been recorded as multipurpose tallies used in certain games among the Pima of south-central Arizona’ and the Zufi of ‘western New Mexico.”* Numbers of these perforated disks have been found sepa- rately or tied in pairs! in many ruins throughout the Gran Chichimeca. Pe SaoFig. 182-1. Tarahumar med- icine man. (Photo by George and Sis Bradt) MAGIC AND CURING No other segment of material culture better reflects man’s never-ending ability to innovate than do objects designed for use in magic and curing. Generally, form was not restricted by custom, but rather by the shaman’s own imagination, dreams, and trances, which ruled when he created a magical entity or evaluated the god-powers of such natural forms as a concretion, a pinch of colored sand, or a deer bezoar. Shamanism, with its aspects of conjuring, fortune-telling, and black and white magic, prevailed throughout the Gran Chichimeca.”* The frontier shaman was quite different from the highly sophisticated Meso- american priest who operated in the context of a formalized religion. Such hierarchy did not become a real part of Chichi- mecan activities much before A.D. 1060, when a certain styli- zation of religious arts and crafts appeared at such centers as Pueblo Bonito in the Chaco Canyon of New Mexico, and Casas Grandes. However, both frontier-style shamanism and city- style priesthood were involved in the theories of disease, mete- orology, agriculture, botany, and zoology. There were certain parallels in the patterns of these two closely related organi- SSSzations inasmuch as they serviced the same group of human needs. Both used the prayer stick, food offerings, child sacrifice, and certain cannibalistic rituals. In the history of the Casas Grandes Valley it can be inferred that masked dancers; the keeping of birds such as the eagle, parrot, and macaw;* the use of the coiled snake symbol; and perhaps the sweat bath appeared as part of a Mesoamerican priestly culture pattern after A.D. 1060. On the other hand, the drinking of intoxicating liquors with associated ceremonial drunkenness patterns and the ceremonial use of narcotics, may have been part of the old Chichimecan shaman’s lifeway. Dr. Beals felt that the highly polytheistic priestly cults of the south penetrated the Gran Chichimeca and became mixed with the indigenous shamanistic religions of the frontier, be- ginning at a time equivalent to the Perros Bravos Phase. The Northern Frontier acceptance and rejection patterns noted in the spatial distribution of such southern traits as idols, altars, temples, pyramidal mounds, and the perpetual fire concept," as well as such indigenous traits as fetishes, community houses, kivas, and shrines, indicated a crude east-west division.” QUARTZ CRYSTALS* Four™ crystals were associated with the Viejo Period, of which three (one worked and two unworked) were found in Perros Bravos Phase context.” The present-day Ootam of southem Arizona retain a strong respect for these clear hexagonal forms, and the medicine men still use them in curing ceremonies.” Other groups like the potters of Tzintzuntzan attach no magical properties to such objects and use them to burnish pottery.** one ees Similar items have been reported from ruins located north of have magic properties the Casas Grandes Valley, in,the American Southwest, in Cali- fornia, and on the Texas plains. NATURAL CONCRETIONS AND ODD-SHAPED STONES" Twelve natural concretions and odd-shaped stones were asso- ciated with the Viejo Period. Two were found in direct Pilon Phase context (seep. 170) and another in the Perros Bravos Phase.* It is thought that many of the Chichimecans collected these items for their magical properties.” Objects of similar form have been reported from contemporary villages as far north of Casas Grandes as Tseh So. PomonaCERAMIC FIGURINES* Two" Viejo Period figurine fragments, possibly modeled in the human form, were found in Pilon Phase association. Dr. Morss,"" who made a most enlightening study of American Southwestern figurine types, has suggested that these solid clay dolls were used in both the New and Old Worlds as fertility or increase symbols. These were rare in the Viejo Period and virtually ab- sent from the Medio Period inventories but were abundantly used by the peoples who dwelt in the Gila-Salt drainage. Their presence here suggested that a Mesoamerican fertility cult” may have been brought into the Gila-Salt area by the Hohokam. This cult may have spread from here to various Chichimecans who occupied California,” west Texas,” and the Plains." STONE RING (DOUGHNUT-SHAPED)* A single® doughnut-shaped ring of vesicular basalt was found in the fill of Community House I. Objects of similar design have been reported in Santa Cruz-Sacaton Phase associations in the Gila-Salt drainage in central Arizona,“* the Santa Cruz Valley of southern Arizona," and in the San Simon, Harris, and Nan- tack villages of the Mogollon-Chichimecans. South of the Tropic of Cancer, these have been reported at Portrero de las Pilas, Michoacén, in the Cofradia Phase," and at Kaminaljuyt during the Esperanza Phase. It has been suggested from evidence in the Gila-Salt drainage, where phallic-like stones have been found in direct association with these rings,"" that these were featured in rites which revolved about Hohokam field fertilization. MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS Six objects — a stone disk,“” a grooved piece of tuff," and four notched sherds" — were found, only two of which were in direct Petros Bravos Phase association. The use of all these objects remained unknown Fig. 184-1. “Doughnut shaped” stone ring. Fig. 185-1. A Tarahumar sha: rman blesses agricultural fields, (Photo, George and Sis Bradt)FOOD HABITS The food habits of northern frontiersmen have been variously studied through surveys of 6th and x7th century documentary sources. From these early reports a subsistence spectrum was designed which began with nonagricultural nomadism and ended with sedentary agriculture.’ Various ethnologists such as Dr. Beals? recognized the inherent problems of time depth in this approach and recommended the need for more ethnohistorical studies. He questioned the validity of any hypothetical recon- struction which assumed, without adequate proof, that cultural degeneration or climatic shifts caused basic subsistence changes.’ A general examination of the larger ruins of the Northern Frontier revealed that their culture residues were mixed with Mesoamerican traits. This phenomenon was part of the over-all Chichimecan historical continuum, Consequently, the answer to the problem of indigenous subsistence patterns through time will be understood only when this facet of New World history is utilized,TOOLS FOR WILD FOOD PREPARATION The Teochichimeca, that is to say, the real Chichimeca, or ex- treme Chichimeca, and also those named Cacachichimeca, that is to say, those who lived on the grassy plains, in the forests — these were the ones who lived far away; they lived in the forests, the grassy plains, the deserts, among the crags. These had their homes nowhere, .. . The following is the food of the Chichimeca: nopal, tuna, roots of the cimatl herb, tziuactli cactus, honey, maguey, yucca flowers, yucca sap, maguey sap, bee honey, wild bees, wild honey; and the roots of which they had knowledge, which were in the ground; and all the meats — rabbit, snake, deer, wild ani- mals; and all [things] which flew. —Sahagiin (A.D. 1569)* Sahagtin's list of Chichimecan wild foods was augmented by Dr. Beals who added mesquite, pitahaya, and agave.’ The Drivers* increased this list with such items as yucca hearts, wild fruits, seeds, acorns, and agave manna, while Pennington’ added pifion nuts, berries, walnuts, and the hackberry. It was apparent that for several millenia,’ the frontiersmen utilized whatever edibles nature afforded in their specific areas. This subsistence pattern was basic to the history of the frontier. Before A.D. 700 (+50) most of the northern frontiersmen were presumably nomadic nonagriculturists — seasonal wander- ers.” After this time, agriculture appeared in certain limited areas of the vast, sparsely settled Northern Frontier. Perhaps it first began in certain select valleys when small concentrations of people took on various aspects of sedentary agriculture. If the present-day population densities can be used as a reckoningdevice, it can then be assumed that small agricultural islands involved a considerable portion of the total population, while vast areas were utilized by a few food gatherers. ‘Twenty-two tools thought to have been used primarily in the preparation of wild foods may belong to this old indigenous pattern, Tools such as slab and basin grinders, associated with the earlier milling stone cultures of the Gran Chichimeca, con- tinued to be used by both gatherers and agriculturists but for different purposes. These long-lived designs were sometimgs modified to accommodate the processing of new cultivated foods. For example, the Tarahumar and other groups such as the Seri currently use the metate and mano of both the slab and trough form to prepare both wild and tilled plants," fish, turtle meat, pigment,” ceramic lay," or anything else which needs grinding. In the time of the Viejo Period, food preparation implements were probably used for any and all foods which required mash- ing or grinding to make them palatable. These tools were easily manufactured from local materials. Many, like the hammerstone, may have been used but once. The Tarahumar stone plowshares are an example of such a single use tool — made while tilling the soil and immediately cast aside when broken. As a consequence, these are seldom found in a village, and their absence creates a distorted picture of any tool design inventory. STONE MORTARS” Seven" of the wild food preparation implements included four boulder and three cobble mortars. They were originally designed to reduce edibles to a more palatable food or drink by means of pulverization. The cup-like form contained a depression deep enough to hold the materials to be reduced and to permit suf- ficient guide to control the rotary grinding motion or piston action of the pestle, The thick walls were designed to withstand the force of impact. This age-old pattern was used by the north- er frontiersmen from the time of the Sulphur Springs Stage of the Cochise Culture" to the present day by seed gatherers and farmers alike throughout the Gran Chichimeca. Among the present-day Pima and Papago, Seri," and Tara- humar7” the larger boulder, the smaller cobble mortars, or a simple hole in bedrock" or soil are used to mill such foods as agave hearts, mesquite beans, acorns, and a great number of other wild foods.PESTLES* Four™ companion tools designed for use with the mortar were found in the Viejo Period villages. These, like the mortars, were simple before A.D. 1060 and resembled the nonspecialized pestle forms employed by such Chichimecans as the Mogollon and Ootam, the folk of California and of Texas, and the occupants of Guasave. MAUL-PESTLES* Three™ tools designed as hafted pestles were thought to have been used as food pounders and/or for mashing items such as stalks to extract juices.” One of these had a decorated poll fashioned after an animal's head. Both the form and elaboration were very unusual as the natives seldom produced such imple- ments at this time. HAMMERSTONES™ Eight” hand stones were found in Viejo Period context and two of these were listed in the Perros Bravos Phase inventory.”* This implement was easily manufactured and required only a conveniently shaped hard stone which could be used as a hammer, perhaps to shape other rocks by pounding, pecking or battering. Artifacts such as these are present at most camp- sites, villages, and towns located throughout the frontier. The inhabitants apparently transmitted this very simple but effective design from one generation to another for several millenia.TOOLS FOR CULTIVATED FOODS This name Tamin means “shooter of arrows.’ And these Tamime were only an offshoot, a branch, of the Teochichimeca, although they were somewhat settled. They made their homes in caves, in gorges; in some places they established small grass huts and small corn fields: —Sahagin (AD. 1569)" Most of the early chroniclers defined the northern Chichimecan as nonagricultural. Perhaps many farming groups were reported as nonfarmers simply because the Spanish happened to visit them during that part of year when they were not devoting their time to agricultural pursuits.” In this respect the archaeologist can come to the aid of the ethnohistorian, as excavations in certain presumed nonagricultural areas may produce evidence of farming. The history of the acceptances, rejections, and innovations which revolved about agriculture is both complicated and fasci- nating because of the commingling of native subsistence pat- terns." The economics of the Northern Frontier cannot be cate- gorized easily. This harsh country gives no quarter to those who live in it, and food production technologies — even those of our modern 2oth century — sometimes are not sufficient to cope with the natural deterrents. It is true that in this land of low population, there live islands of people who settled in those mk areas which are conducive to agricultural pursuits. However, YN Sack Aye and in the main, even these require a basic knowledge of EY G irrigation in order to offset the natural dryness and fluctuating bs rainfall pattern’of the country. Si The Viejo Period villages produced a total of 92" tools be- lieved to have been used for the preparation of cultivated foods This was a considerably greater number than wild food prep- aration implements.METATES™ A total of seven” specimens used in preparing cultivated foods were metates, the lower portion of a set of tools upon which certain foodstuffs were ground. Six™ of these were of a trough design. In one, the Casas Grandes natives pecked a depression on the upper side at the closed end of the trough shelf, which was large enough to hold either a hand grinding stone (mano) or some other piece of equipment.” A single” slab metate, simi- larly modified, was found in association with the Pilon Phase. Two" of the trough fragments directly connected with the Perros Bravos Phase were of a design still used by the present- day Tarahumar. It is known that the legless closed-end trough, the slab, and the basin metate designs were used by natives throughout the Gran Chichimeca, while a legged form was preferred south of the Tropic of Cancer. Still, there was an apparent distribu- tional overlap between these types. An occasional legged model was used in the southwest corner of the Gran Chichimeca during the Viejo Period and at Casas Grandes in the Medio Period. Leg- less patterns were widely manufactured in Mesoamerica during the early Archaic and after A.D. 700 in a more restricted zone which included such areas as Apatzingan and Tuxcacuesco in Mi- choacén, Chametla in Sinaloa, and Kaminaljuyd in Guatemala. If tool design reflects use, then one might speculate upon this in regard to metates. The simple basin and the slab styles which have been reported from the preceramic and preagricul- tural horizons, such as the Cochise Culture, imply the prep- aration of wild foodstuffs. These are the shapes which gathering cultures such as the Seri“ still use to process such foods as turtle meat and mesquite beans. On the other hand, the trough forms are used by many to prepare corn. The Tarahumar, among others, process several kinds of com of the hard or flint and soft flour varieties, as well as green corn, on this type of grinder.**Fig. 186-1. Tarahumar woman preparing corn parching it before grinding for pinole (upper) and grinding wet corn (lower). (Photos, George and Sis Bradt) One of the maize dishes prepared by the natives of the Sierra Madre is pinole, for which any hybrid corn can be used. The Tarahumar prefer the soft varieties for this drink because the kernels burst more readily than do those of the hard flint types First, the full cobs are rubbed against one another in order to remove the seeds. These are then placed in a ceramic jar which contains sand. The vessel is heated until the grains burst. Theclay container is removed from the fire, and the corn is care- fully separated from the sand. The exposed meat is ground twice with a two-hand mano on a metate, often designed as a closed end trough with a “Utah” mano rest. The first grinding is gentle and breaks up the cereal while the second is more vigorous and powders it.” During this process, the native cook sometimes adds various plants—pods of Gossypium mexicanum, dried vegetable gums, squash, fresh flowers, chili pepper, orange peels cactus seeds, or other condiments — as flavoring. Sometimes dried beans" are substituted for corn and the resulting powder is mixed with either milk or water for immediate consumption. ‘A mush known as esquiate is prepared by making a meal from the unpopped grains of a hard variety of corn. These are crushed on a metate by holding the mano at an acute angle in the grinding trough and applying considerable strength on the downstroke. During the second milling, the kernels are pow- dered and water is added to make a dough which is kneaded with the mano. The desired seasonings are added, such as those used to flavor pinole."* During this entire operation the hand stone is held so that its long axis is at right angle to that of the nether stone. Atole, a gruel of boiled hominy, is prepared with either hard- or soft-shelled corn. This is mashed twice in the metate trough with a dragging action using the mano as a pestle." The result- ing paste is patted into cakes and made into tortillas.” Bennett and Zingg suggested that it is interesting to note that this boiling of the corn with lye, an attenuated form of the tortilla complex, is an essential corn-preparation technique which has followed corn in its migration northward. Leaving metate behind, as though it were too heavy to carry, this technique carried as far north as New England, resulting in the typical American Indian corn food “hominy.’’™* Sometimes green corn is prepared to make tortillas. The kernels are stripped from the cob with a knife or other sharp- edged instrument. The grains are placed in a metate trough and ground at least three times while water is constantly added. The cook will also use the same grinding tools to pulp the green leaves of tuna or nopal cactus and add the resulting liquid to either corn or bean paste for flavoring.**‘TROUGH TYPE Cm aan za, |. Trough type manos. MANOs™ Sixty-six" manos, used primarily for the preparation of culti- vated foods during the Viejo Period, constituted a mano-metate ratio of 9.43 to 1.00." The mano, in its various functions as the upper portion of the grinding set —a pestle, rolling pin, and a pulverizer — received more wear and consequently was more easily broken than the nether stone. Frailty was increased by the thin cross sectional design. Fifteen" of these implements were found in Perros Bravos Phase context while three’ were associated with the Pilon and only one" with the Convento. The two-hand trough mano, which weighed an average of 4,646 gr., was numerically the most popular design in the tool inventories of the Casas Grandes Chichimeca."" It was first used with the legless trough and shaped slab metates and with certain com types" which were introduced ca. A.D. 700 (<=50)." This combination was absent from the northwestern corner of the frontier, in California,* and appeared late, i.e., post-A.D. 900, during the Mesilla Phase, in the eastern portions, including the Trans-Pecos," the central Texas district,** and the area occupied in historic times by such groups as the Jumano, Coahuilteco, Athapascan, and Tanoan."Fig. 189-1. Slab type manos. RUBBING STONES” This tool design closely paralleled the one-hand mano but was smaller in size, averaging 138 gr. in weight as compared to 335 gr. Eight" of these were found in Viejo Period context. Two were found in Perros Bravos Phase” associations and one each with the Convento and Pilon materials. This simple form dates back several thousand years to the time of the Cochise seed gatherers and their contemporaries in the Gran Chichimeca. CYLINDER STONES” Eleven’: of these were found in general Viejo Period associa- tions. They were produced of tuff, felsite, and vesicular basalt. Implements of like design have been reported from a few con- temporary villages, such as Turkey Foot Ridge,” in the area north of the Casas Grandes Valley. Small pestles of kindred shape are used throughout modern Mexico with the legged stone moleajetes for crushing certain condiments such as chili peppers. This design is believed to have first appeared in western Mexico ca. A.D. 900 as part of the Toltec trait cluster.” Similar pestle- like forms were used in Jalisco at such villages as Potrero de las Pilas in the Tuxcacuesco area," and at Autlén in the Toli- man complex.”Fig. 190-1 Viejo Period TOOLS FOR COOKING RAMIC ESSE! Pottery takes on a different aspect when viewed through the e of a native as a fired clay container used in daily competition with gourds, basketry, skin, stone, and/or wood receptacles Ceramic vessel: over an open fire or for cooling water. Raw material was gen- erally easy to obtain and processin, were no more difficult than the preparation of hides or may have been equivalent to or perhaps easier than stone vessel shaping. It couldsnot be made as quickly as a gourd container, though more rapidly than a woven bask However, pottery was easily broken, took time to construct, and was heavy and bullA recognizable time interval of gradual acceptance of clay receptacles was demonstrable during the Viejo Period of the Convento site." The potters constituted a local ceramic school which may have been inspired by another located somewhere along the western coast of Mexico near Apatzingin, Michoacén (see p. 128). The Convento Phase ceramists did not invent their own techniques of pottery design.” The process of manu- facture and the vessel shapes, however, were, in all likelihood, a manifestation of an older indigenous tradition. The Viejo Period utensils were not large; an average jar held about two U.S. quarts while bowls were designed to contain about one half this amount."* Throughout the Viejo Period there was an increase in jar production.” Three out of four restorables were sooted, and better than 60 per cent of the broken pieces were stained by fire sooting and food.” Unsooted receptacles" were definitely in the minority, and these for the most part consisted of small eating and serving bowls."* Further, it was suggested by the minimal sherd material taken from the excavated Viejo Period sites that these northerners did not surround themselves with many vessels. When it was con- sidered that the life of a ceramic piece" is approximately one year, and if these sporadic village occupations spanned some 360 years, it became quite clear that pottery could not have ranked high in the native value system in the Casas Grandes Valley.Big. 1924. Vio Pro cerumic 1 Mata Red-on-brown Textured s Convento Paimoare jer. Convento Patter nceed Cor- Saas Clinvenfo Broad Coil jar. Convento Vertical Corrgated fer 5, Anchondo Red-on-brown bowl Pilon Red-on-brown bowl. Convento Putten Incised Corvegned jr 9, Convento Paicare bowl 10. Pilon Red-on-brown bowl. Th, Ma Ret-on-brown Textured jar. WIA NSWV“H”_SSWVH™S™_SS@ The following discussion concerns 53% cooking implements. JARS* Thirty of the objects assigned to the Viejo Period cooking category were restorable pottery vessels (see Fig. 192-1). Four- teen" of these were jars™ which were similar in shape to those currently produced by the Tarahumar who use “pots with flared rims [which] range from tiny vessels used for storage of seeds to very large pots used in preparing tesgiiino.” Cooking bowls have flaring rims so that, when hot, they can be taken from the fire using “two sticks held tightly against the contracted portion of the pot’s rim.’ Some of these may have served as water coolers and carriers, although there was no detectable speciali- zation in their production as was noted among the Ootam peoples of the San Cayetano village of southern Arizona” or among the present-day Seri. The latter produce a special type of vessel to serve their need for a water container, and each woman has the care and responsibility of one."* Globular jars of similar design were common throughout the Gran Chichimeca wherever the natives utilized fired clay receptacles. Only along the Gila-Salt drainage, occasionally in the Anasazi district,” and in the southern margin of the Gran Chichimeca in Durango, Zacatecas, and Sinaloa, did the potters produce highly specialized forms at this time. For the pres- ent, it appears as though the Chichimecan ceramic industries were involved in producing this simple culinary form before AD. 1060. And even after this date, 80 per cent or more of CESSthe production at most frontier settlements was devoted to this primary purpose. BOWLS” Sixteen” of the restorable vessels were bowls."* This form was used both as a cooking utensil and as a serving or personal eating dish,” perhaps after the fashion of the modern Tara- humar.”" These were more popular in the Convento Phase than in either the Pilon or Perros Bravos phases." The entire Viejo Period sherd count revealed that only 9.42 per cent of the sherds were from bowls, However, they accounted for more than 50 per cent of the restorable vessels. These were simple hemispherical shapes associated primarily with burials. This bowl profile and its companion, the globular jar, were part of an older Chichimecan plainware tradition, It remained a mystery why the Casas Grandes potters did not accept new forms along with decoration from the south. Perhaps these two venerable contours better served the simple needs and production capabilities of these frontiersmen. MINIATURE VESSELS” Fivel® miniature plainware vessels were included in the Viejo Period cooking tool inventory. Two were small jars while three were miniature bowls." Similar objects have been found wher- ever potters produced their wares. It has been suggested that these were the toys of children and perhaps even their own handiwork."* However, among the modern Tarahumar, small vessels of this size are used as receptacles to hold special seeds and condiments." SHERD SPOONS** Sixteen" of the cooking utensils were broken pieces of pottery which were fashioned into mixing or serving spoons.” One of these was found in Convento Phase, and another in Pilon asso- ciation. Similar tool designs have been reported from a number of contemporary Mogollon- and Anasazi-Chichimecan villages. CERAMIC DIPPERS*” Two™ of the cooking tools were small, incomplete, bowl-like objects constructed with solid rod handles. Similar items have been reported from a number of contemporary villages in the Mogollon-Chichimecan district.WARFARE AND HUNTING When they kill a captive, they dance around him and also make the prisoner dance. ... They are not horrified at the death of men, but kill them for pleasure and pastime, just as one kills a hare or deer. They are extremely cruel and brutal. To a person they cap- ture, whether man or woman, the first thing they do is to scalp him, leaving the entire crown bare, like the tonsure of a friar. I saw a Spaniard whom they had scalped, and also a Copuz woman who had lived without her scalp for many days and who, I believe, is still alive today. They also remove the sinews, which they use to tie the flints to their arrows. They take out the long bones of the arms and legs, while the victim is still alive, and also sometimes even the ribs, and perform a hundred other tortures until the victim finally dies. They wear, hanging at their backs, the scalp which they have taken, and some of these are from beautiful women with long blond locks; they also wear arm and leg bones as trophies. They show no mercy even to the corpses, on which they inflict every imaginable torture, hanging them from trees. They use them as targets, shooting arrows into their eyes, ears, tongue, and even genitals. A few days ago a captain whom I sent out found a corpse hang- ing from an oak tree, tortured in this manner and lacking one arm. .... They fight nude, with bow and arrow, very skillfully and boldly; if they happen to be wearing clothes they undress for fighting. They always wear their quivers full of arrows, and carry four or five arrows in the bow hand to supply them- selves more quickly. .. . As I have said, they are cruel to the utmost in war, without regard for sex or age, killing and scalping both mother and child... . Although they take a few children and women as captives and make use of them, they never spare the life of a man. Their women seem to be more merciful, and have been known to give food to captives and weep over them, which the men never do. They use no arms but the bow and arrow. With these they are so quick that one has been seen to shoot an arrow through both hands of a soldier holding an arquebus in his face, before the soldier could disarm him... . They shoot with such force that when they shot at the head of the horseof one soldier .. . the arrow passed through the horse's crown- piece, made of a double thickness of cowhide and a sheet of metal, and through the head and chest of the horse... Many people have seen them perform such feats. —Las Casas (A.D. 1574)" Beals* traced the wide distribution of these and other brutal customs among the northern frontiersmen and emphasized such traits as headhunting, organized warfare, victory dancing around a scalp pole, ceremonial cannibalism, scalping, torture, mutilation, and acquisition of enemy body parts. The bow and arrow, a frontier weapon, was the tool which gave the Chichimecans a distinct advantage over their more sophisticated southern neighbors who used the atlatl? In the Sierra Madre, small mulberry wood* bows, which ranged from 89 cm. to 135 cm. in length and averaged about 122 cm., were used. These were circular in cross section and were both single and double string nocked. The arrows were nocked and the trifeathering was held in place by sinew wrapping. The shafts, made of Phragmites com- ‘munis (Trin.), were often painted and measured between 26 cm. and 61 cm. in length. Hardwood foreshafts, which averaged 16 cm. in length, were inserted into the anterior end of the shafts and held in place with sinew wrapping, and only occasionally were small obsidian points used.* The bow and arrow was to a Chichimecan like his arm, for: They were called Tarnime, that is to say, “shooters of arrows,’’ for they went bearing their bows; everywhere they went out hunting, shooting arrows. These were the vassals of some ruler, some nobleman, to whom belonged the land, the city, where they dwelt. ++.That which they caught — were it a wild beast, or bobcat; perchance somewhere they shot an ocelot, a wolf, a mountain lion — they gave its hide and its flesh [to the leader]; and a little additional meat, either rabbit meat or venison. . And they cured skins; they were tanners; for all the clothing of the Chichimeca twas of skins. . . . . . these Chichimeca saw very far, and they took very care- ful aim. That at which they loosed an arrow, not twice, not thrice did they shoot it; [but] only once. Even if [the target Bee: oeFig. 193-1. A Tarahu- mar setting his Hzard trap. (Photo by George and Sis Brads) were] very small, they did not miss it; even if it also were far away; they could hit it with an arrow. They did not miss it, nor did they shoot at it many times. And if their child which was born were . . . a boy, when he became one year old, then they gave him a bow; then he went about practising the shooting of arrows. The Chichimeca taught him no play, only the shooting of arrows. . they were stone cutters: very well did they work the flint, the obsidian. They set it, they placed it as the tip on the reed, which is called the arrow. —Sahagiin (A.D. 1569)*TOOLS FOR KILLING With this killing tool and such other devices as nets," snares, traps, blowguns,* wooden lances,” slings," and poison, the Chichimecans would take any fauna such as lizards, turtles, birds, mountain lions, and the peccary." To assure himself game, many a Chichimecan hunter placed ceremonial arrows and sometimes miniature bows and arrows in caves and crevices.” ‘The Tarahumar, who presently occupy portions of the archae- ological zone of Casas Grandes, probably fall into the general Chichimecan hunting pattern." They have community hunts, use large nets, traps, snares, pitfalls, drives, and poison." This tool category was represented by only thirteen’ objects, two of which were in Perros Bravos Phase context." However, this figure may well be distorted as many of these objects — such as wooden bows, arrows, lances, shields, clubs, bowstrings, snares, nets, and traps — were perishable. PROJECTILE POINTS" The six" projectile points associated with the Viejo Period would not have sufficed a single hunter. Similar tips have been found at villages of the same time period in a number of locations north of the Casas Grandes Valley as well as south of the Tropic of Cancer. Their fragmentary condition did not permit a definite compari- son of design details; it can only be stated that chert, agate, chalcedony, jasper, and obsidian were used as raw materials. SCRAPERS® Five” of the hunting tools were scrapers. Four were designed with a combination side-end working edge and another with a serrated side. These may have been used for fleshing hides or shaping wooden objects such as arrowshafts.* The side and end designs were ubiquitous, while the serrated side form is now known from some eight locations north of the Casas Grandes Valley. KNIVES* A single chert fragment, pethaps a knife, was found in the fill of a house at the village of CHIH:D:9:14. This was an uncom- mon design in the frontier during this time as only one other such tool has been reported and that from the Gila-Salt drainage at Snaketown.™ A second knife,” a flake of obsidian, came from a Pilon Phase house floor.SUBSISTENCE* 7 » > These Casas Grandian frontiersmen, like their Otomi-Chichi- > mecan’ kin, apparently possessed gardens near their small valley settlements wherein they raised such staples as maize, squash, and perhaps beans,’ as suggested by both their food preparation ss <_ 00] inventory and the remains cast away in their trash. These cultivated flora were no doubt supplemented by a great many wild foods which the folk gleaned from their environs, including meat from the black-tailed jackrabbit and the Mexican duck* It can also be surmised that they ate domesticated dogs of vari- ous sizes," a custom which may have led to their being called “Sons of the Dog.” Further, the villagers are known to have kept such birds as the turkey," whose eggs they may have eaten, and the macaw." However, they were primarily dependent upon two Gran Chichimecan mammals, the pronghorn antelope and the Jarge American bison,’ which then roamed their valley in ap- parent plenty. The presence of these two was enlightening not only in terms of the local diet but particularly as evidence that the bison actually ranged west and south of the Rio Grande in northwestern Chihuahua during this period, contrary to the opinion of the savants who have denied such a distribution. Yet, there is sufficient archaeological and historical evidence to sub- stantiate the fact that the American bison was a full-fledged and important native food source not only in the Viejo and Medio periods, but also for the missionized Suma and Iberian colonists who occupied the frontier convento of San Antonio de Padua de Casas Grandes.’ The very lack of food remains in the sparse trash of these small villages indicated that those portions normally discarded were utilized to the fullest. Corncobs, stalks, etc., were used as (Top to bottom) From Fewkes, 1914; Cosgrove and Cosgrove, 1932; Fawkes, 1924; Cosgrove and Cosgrove, 1932; Lambert, 1957afuel, animal bones for tools, hides for clothing, and what few meat products were left over were probably found by the dogs and scavenging wild creatures who availed themselves of such food sources. Perhaps people carried their discards to their fields or to other areas located away from the living site. In any event, it was evident there was little trash left about the Viejo Period villages. (Clockwise) From Winship, 1896; ibid.; ibid.; Oviedo y Valdés, 1944-45, Vol. 3; Cosgrove, 1947Fig, 194-1, Tarahum: traders on the tra (Photo by George an: Sis Bradt) COMMERCE The vanguard merchant is a merchant, a traveler, a transporter of wares, a wayfarer, a man who travels with his wares. The good vanguard merchant [is] observing, discerning. He knows the road, recognizes the road; he seeks out the various places for resting, he searches for the places for sleeping, the places for eating, the places of breaking one’s fast, He looks to, prepares, finds his travel rations. The bad vanguard merchant [is] uncouth, crude, rude, dull. He goes to no purpose when he goes; he travels the road to no purpose. Obstinate, impetuous, blind, ignorant of the road, he is unobserving, careless. He encounters the gorges, the cliffs; he leads people into the forests, the grass lands; he plunges them into thickets. —Sahagin (A.D. 1569)" Sahagtin’s informants further described several classes of mer- chants, such as those who lived in outposts, or operated in dis- guise, or as spies.* These puchteca differed from those who lived at home as principals or as slave dealers. The latter two were in charge of the Mesoamerican town markets. The traveling merchants, a special breed, entered into strange lands and often lived in disguise among hostile peoples.* They were the men who brought home information about previously unknown areas, such as foreign customs, the location of trails, and the Tocal raw materials. Ie was their duty to work in secret and to arrange alliances. These puchteca may have been the first to formally penetrate the Gran Chichimeca. In the northern coastalareas they would have learned about the wonderful marine shell; in the far north they would have located turquoise; in the central portions the narcotic peyote; and throughout the frontier they discovered the abundance of native animals and plants. This was the nature of the vital information which they were en- trusted to bring home to their mercantile families and their gov- ernment.* These government emissaries were empowered to negotiate trade treaties or, if necessary, to guide conquering armies into new lands. It is quite apparent that these various merchant classes, with their well-defined political, religious, and social positions, did not spring into existence with Aztec ascendency. Their roots must have been buried deep in Mesoamerican history. Their lineages survived a great many early political shifts to become a strong social force by A.D. goo when the Historic Period began. There was sufficient hint in the archaeology of the Casas Grandes area to suggest that some puchteca were active in the Northern Frontier during the Viejo Period. Nor would it be out of the realm of reason, as the Medio Period was so obviously trade-motivated. Perhaps the definition of various modes of trade contact, types of transportation, routes, commodity ex- change lists, and the impact of these donor cultures upon the frontiersmen is the real grist for future archaeohistorical studies in the Gran Chichimeca. A better understanding of such eco- nomic facets would certainly give New World history a fresh approach. When lists of native goods can be compiled and divided into categories of commercial drift and transfrontier trade, then the history of certain folk-disturbances will become clear. Perhaps Sahagiin’s works will one day be interpreted after the fashion of the Greek merchant's handbook, The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea,* and be used as a guide to commodity exchange. ‘At the expense of being criticized for seeing history “through a shop window,” this study emphasizes the appearance of spe- cific foreign objects and, where possible, reflects upon the impact of these and of their relationship to new ideas, such as were noted in pattems of changing architecture, tool designs, utiliza- tion of raw materials, and burial customs. In northern Mexico this historical approach is still in its infancy, and many problems remain. For example: How will the archaeologist know when a disguised merchant was present when the very people under study may not have been conscious of his influence? How canTRADE CERAMICS INTO CASAS GRANDES IN THE VIEJO PERIOD these subtleties be exposed in a study of technology, for what would a Mesoamerican spying puchteca leave behind as a clue of his contact in a frontier village? The products of the indigenous ceramic school may subtly reflect foreign influence. A more direct analytical tool is the study of actual trade pieces. Unfortuntely, at Casas Grandes, this proved to be only 50 per cent efficient,’ as this proportion of the material was unidentifiable. Recognized trade sherds taken from the house floors were more abundant with each succeeding phase.” The amazing fact was that as much trade in clay receptacles was carried on as the evidence exhibited. The excavated Viejo Period villages were of no particular size or importance, yet the inhabitants employed a broad range of recognized trade wares from places as far distant as Culiacén in the south and the Chaco Canyon to the north — a north-south distance of approxi- mately 1,334 air kilometers. Here, for the first time, it was possible to study recognized pottery types which came from both the American Southwest and Mesoamerica. This study was aided by the associated architectural stratigraphy, the in- digenous ceramic sequence, and controlled Carbon-24 and den- drochronological dating. TRADE CERAMICS' THE CONVENTO PHASE (A.D. 700-900) The local ceramists produced a red-on-brown pottery which had affinities with other Chichimecan schools as operated during the Dos Cabezas Phase at the Ootam village of San Simon and the Estrella Phase in the Gila-Salt drainage. In addition, they decorated some of their vessels using certain texturing-painting embellishments unique in the Northern Frontier, but also em- ployed in the western coastal area of Mesoamerica at Apat- zingén.’ It is implied that there was an exchange of ideas between these two widely separated ceramic schools and that the direction of contact must have been from south to north as the decorative techniques in question were first used below theTropic of Cancer. However, not one southern trade sherd was recognized, but this might have been due to the fact that there ‘were some close parallels between the clay products of the two areas. THE PILON PHASE (A.D. 900-950) During this phase, the potters carried on the local tradition and added simple red rim and polychrome decorations. Like the painted-textured style, the former’ was an old established Meso- american painting technique which has not been reported in the Gran Chichimeca except from its southern border and in the Casas Grandes Valley, and then in the latter area only during the Pilon and Perros Bravos phases. Yet a study of the trade sherds still did not reveal this contact with Mesoamerica but rather with villages which lay in the Mimbres Valley north of Casas Grandes.' However, these styles apparently did not in- fluence the Pilon potters. THE PERROS BRAVOS PHASE (A.D. 950-1060) During this phase, pottery trade with the Mimbres Valley in- creased,* while the Little Colorado area was dropped, and per- haps replaced by pottery from the upper Gila area. The San Pedro and Santa Cruz River valleys of southeastern Arizona took on a position of secondary importance, and pottery from ‘Mesoamerica was first recognized. One form, Aguaruto Exterior Incised," from Culiacan, was quite widely traded as it also was used by the Chalchihuites people during the Las Joyas Phase in Durango.’ The presence of Guasave-like polychrome” brought about a degree of correlation to the total ceramic picture of the Gran Chichimeca which had heretofore not been possible. THE VIEJO PERIOD [A.D. 700 (+50)-1060] Fig. 195-1 presents all of the nonlocal potteries found in Viejo Period association,” and it correlates fairly well with the phase charts. The nearby Mimbres Valley supplied the bulk of this com- modity.” Lesser amounts were forthcoming from the Tularosa basin, located east of the Rio Grande in New Mexico," and the Ootam area" located north and west of the Casas Grandes Valley. Trade pottery from Mesoamerica was recognized as coming from Totoate and the Rio Bolafios” of Jalisco. The bulk of this trade pottery was in the form of unsooted bowls."* Some of thesemay have been containers used to hold foods traded from one {group to another, as is customary among the historic Kwahadk’ and the Papago Ootam of southern Arizona."* When the product was used up, the receptacles — as in the case of the modern tin can — were utilized for any number of secondary purposes. During the time encompassed by the Viejo Period, tremendous shifts of Mesoamerican political power were being enacted. The empire builders, sometimes recognized as the Toltec, were force- fully imposing themselves upon the southern economy through fear of military strength or actual conquest. As a result, alliances. were formed which brought about a strong merchant program. The priest-kings instigated a great commercial expansion and inaugurated a new value system among the neighboring popu- lations. After A.D. 950, results of this economic impact in the south apparently were felt in the Gran Chichimeca. The people of CHIH:D:9:2 changed their house types and tool designs, acquired such southern trade goods as pottery and copper, and accepted strangers into their village who practiced frontal- occipital head deformation, It would seem that these residents were receptive to some of the southern influences which in turn may have stimulated local trade. The question which imme- diately comes to mind is whether or not Toltecan puchteca were present in the frontier during this time. Were they one of the motivating causes of Chichimecan culture change, and did they encourage the natives to seek turquoise and other frontier treasures which were desired in Mesoamerican markets? Fig. 196-1. These bowls were traded | into the Convento site during the Perros Bravos Phase. In the fore- ‘ground is a probable Totoate Black- on-white bowl, while the bow! be- hhind it is Three Rivers Red-on- | terracotta lhBURIAL CUSTOMS They became very old; they died only at an advanced age; they went on to be white-haired, white-headed. And if sickness settled upon someone, twhen after two days — three days — four days — he recovered not, then the Chichimeca assembled to- gether; they slew him. They inserted a bird arrow into his throat, whereof he died. And they likewise slew those who became very old men [or] very old women. As for their killing the sick, the aged, it was said that thus they showed him mercy; it is said [that it was] im order that he would not suffer on earth, and so they would not feel sorry for him. And when they buried him, they paid him great honor; two days, three days, they mourned; there was dancing, there was singing. —Sahagiin (A.D. 1569)" Sahagiin’s native informants described the Chichimecans as practitioners of mercy killings, a custom recorded for the Upper Pima, the Seri, and other present-day groups of the northern area who either abandoned the infirm or used “the arrow of death.” ‘The northern frontiersmen generally practiced earth burial rather than cremation, and upon interment they fed the dead, mourned the departed by cropping their own hair and blacken- ing their faces and bodies, and gathered toa ceremonial feast and bath at the end of the mourning period.* Certain 26th century informants have mentioned the burning of enemy bodies or of keeping the ashes of relatives.’ This has been attested to by archaeological evidence recorded in certain areas of the Gran Chichimeca such as the Gila and Salt drainages where the Hoho- kam practiced various forms of cremation,’ and at Burnet Cave in Hueco Basketmaker association where burned bone was found in twined-woven bags.* Dr. S. Linné* felt that cremation entered into the lands south of the Tropic of Cancer by way of South America sometime during the Toltec Period’ and was then trans- mitted into the Northern Frontier, after which time some Chi chimecans would “‘burn them [their dead] and save the remains or ashes in small bags which they carry with them. The ashes of enemies they scatter to the winds.’PERROS BRAVOS PHASE BURIALS* Fifty-one" per cent of the Viejo Period burials were assigned to this phase. Most of these were located under the West Plaza paving in the underlying fill of older houses. Of this number, 26 per cent were infants, and 50 per cent of these were buried with grave goods; 21 per cent were older subadults and 63 per cent were buried with offerings; 53 per cent of the remaining adult burials contained funeral furniture. As in the case of the Pilon Phase, these grave pits averaged 91 cm. in length, 53 cm. in width, and 83 cm. in depth; this permitted the skulls to be Fig. 197-1. Perro Bravos Phase Burial 50, an adult male, was the only secondary interment found in. Viejo Period excavations and 10 were individual internents of adult feFig. 199-1, Perros Bravos Phase burials. placed on an average of 75 cm. below the plaza floor. The grave fill consisted of soft trash. The bodies were placed in various positions: 52 per cent were found to be on their right sides and per cent on the left in flexed or semiflexed positions; 12 per nt were placed in a supine position; and 4 per cent were prone. Five of the burials were multiple, and only one was recorded as being secondary.oO ha 2 5 6. Burial 45 was an adult male, questionable Perros Bravos interment In reviewing the 76 Viejo Period burials, it was noted that all but 12 were placed in definite phas jations."" There was a percentile decrease in adult interment in time and an increase in both child and infant burials. Nonperishable funeral furniture first appeared in the Pilon Phase. The presence of ceramic suggested the practice of placing food with the de- 9, Burial 40 A-B, an adult female and an infant. 10. Burial 46 was a child. 7. Child Busial 27NOTES TO VOLUME ONE INTRODUCTION 1. 1954, p. 554. 2. 1932, p.93. 3. 1892, p.575. 4. This area lies roughly between the 31st and 34th paral- lels north and the 109th and 115th meridians west and includes the drainages of the Gila-Salt, Santa Cruz, San Pedro, and San Simon rivers. 5. Di Peso, 1958, 6. Haury, 1945a 7. Di Peso, 1951, pp. 233-238; also see Steen, 1965. ‘THE CASAS GRANDES ARCHAEOLOGICAL ZONE 1. See Vol. 2, p. 328-335. 2. The area includes some 87,750 sq. km, oF 32,000 59, rmi,, of which 25,000 sq. mi. are within the confines of ‘Chihuahua (Brand, 1937, p. 8; ee Fig, 284-5). 3. Ibid, 1943, p. 117. 4, This would make the northern boundary approximately the 32°19" north latitude between 110°30’ and 106°30° west longitude. 5. 1949, pp. 147-148, 6, 1961, pp. 83-86. 7. 1965, pp. 23-24, 40. 8. Geographers have dissenting opinions in regard to the northem extension of the Mexican Basin and Range Prov- ince. See Brand, 1937, p. 13, who quotes Hill, 1907, p. 633. Also sce Schwennesen, 1918, pp. 11-13. 9. About 106°30/ west longitude. 10, This drainage cuts haphazardly from east to west and joins the Yaqui system in Sonora U1. Brand in Brand and Harvey, 1939, pp. 75-105; Brand, 1943, pp. 148-149, Lice material culture has been re- ported from the area which lis between the Aros River andthe site of Zape, located inthe state of Durango (Brand in Brand and Harvey, 1939, pp. 90-104). 12, 1931 13. Brand and Harvey, 1939, pp. 21-230. ‘U4. The Bavispe parallels the 109°30 west longitude, 15, Brand, 1937, p.29. 16, Near the area of Monte Cristo, the Bavispe joins the ‘Aros (Papagochic), and the two form the greater volume of the waters which flow into the Yaqui drainage. oem woicnat For easy reference the numbers in the margins refer tothe pages in Volume One on which the notes are cited. o# cutwuanv 117. ‘The physical characteristics of the northern sierra are best described by Brand (1936, 1937), Goldman (1951, pp. 119-125, 421-425), Lister (1958, pp. 3-7), and Herold (1965). 18. Almada, 1945, p. 70. These three drainages include 44,100 sq. kin. and have 920 km. of valley lands, 19, Brand, 1937, pp. 64-71. 20. Almada, 1945, p.70. 21. In this stretch the valley averages 13 to 16 km. in width (Brand, 1937, p. 66). 22, Almada (1945, pp. 395, 433, 497, 557) reported the census as 10,004 males and 9,833 females, or 19,837 inhabitants. 23. One person for every 0.907 sq, km. 24, Ibid, p. 558. 25. See Vol. 4, pp. 6-7, Fig. 284-5, 26. Ibid, p. 70. 27. Ibid., pp. 419, 420, 457; 6,994 men and 7,635 women. 28. Ibid, p.70. 29. This river, perhaps more than either the Casas Grandes fo the Santa Maria, has more recent alteration in the form of recoursing ofits waters. 30. See Vol. 4, pp. 1-2. The Hudsonian, Canadian, Tran- sitional, Upper Sonoran, and Desert zones. 31. Herold, 1965. 132, Brand in Brand and Harvey, 1939, p. 103. THE JOINT CASAS GRANDES EXPEDITION 1. See Vol. 4, pp. 2-6. 2. It was set aside by the Republic of Mexico as a na- tional monument in the 1930s. 3. Ing. Fausto Sanchez Blanco and Sr. Higuera Perez, a college representative of the state of Chihuahua, made cement posts with reinforced steel cores. These were set in the grid pattern 4. Fig. 330-4 5. Viejo Casas Grandes. 6. This piece of equipment was rented to the expedition by Me. George W. Chambers. 7. See Contreras, 1970. 8. See Vol. 4, pp. 6-7. 9. 1936. 10, 1943. 8 an 2 20 23 24 32 37 384u 44 45 47 48 11. 1902, Vol. 1, pp. 45, 73-74; see Fig, p. 73. ‘12, 1892, pp. 502-504, 508, 512, Fn. 3, 558 13, See Herold, 1965. 14, 1892, pp. 569-570. 15, CHIH:D.9:13 and CHIH:D:9:14. 16. In addition, pit house structures were located at the ‘main site of CHIH:D.9:1 below the floor of Plaza 2~6.Un- fortunately, these were terribly mixed and did not afford sufficient data needed for this historical reconstruction. LABORATORY IN DRAGOON 1, Hargrave, 1970, 2. Coan and Rath, 1965, 3. Woodall, 1968; Benfer, Ms., 1968; Butler, Ms., 1971; Scott and Harris, Ms, 1971 4. Di Peso in Noriega et al, 1959, pp. 671-686; Di Peso, 1960; Di Peso in Meggers and Evans, 1963, pp. 1-15; Di Peso, 1965; Di Peso in Wauchope, 1966, pp. 3-25; Di Peso, 1968a, 1968b, 19684, 1971a, 1971b, 1971¢, 1972, 1973; Willey, 1966, p. 238, Figs, 4-58-61, 63 5. Scott, 1966, DATING 1. See Vol. 3, Ch. 6; Vol. 4, pp. 37-120. 2. Anderson, 1962. 3, See Vol. 4, pp. 9-24. 4. Ms, 1963; 1966, 5, See Vol. 4, pp. 24-25, 6, See Damon et al, (1963, pp. 283-285, and 1966) for published dates. 7. Personal communication, June 5, 1967. 8, See Vol. 4, pp. 25-29. 9. See Dixon (1969, p. 1) and Evans and Meggers (1960) for details pertaining to this particular project. 10. 1969, pp. 10-18. 11. See Meighan et al. (1968) and Meighan (Ms., 19684; 1970) on micron value/ calendrical date lists. 12. See Vol. 4, pp. 33-36. 13, See Martin et al., 1961, pp. 17, 60-61, Figs. 3,23. ‘TERMINOLOGY, APPROACH, AND DEFINITIONS 1. See Fig. 41. 2, 1928, p. 376. 3. 1932, p. 146, 4. 1954, pp. 531-533. 5. Ibid, p. 545, 6. Ibid, p. 550. 7. "The Southwest is the name suggested by Charles F. Lummis to cover the area occupied by the Pueblo Indians. This includes all of Arizona and New Mexico, the southern part of Utah and Colorado, and an, as yet, undefined sec- tion of Northern Mexico" (Gladwin and Gladwin, 1929, P.3) 8. 1962, p. viii 9. 1928, p.376, 49 10. Jiménez Moreno in Noriega et al., 1959, Vol. 2, Map No. 6, opp. p. 1094. 11. Covarrubias, 1957, p. 264 12, Bandelier, 1932, p. 11. 13. Dibble and Anderson, 1961, pp. 196-197 50 14, Heyden and Horcasitas, 1968, p. 238 51 15, See Bernal, ibid, pp. xxi, xxv. 16, Acosta, 1880, Vol. 2, pp. 449-450. 17. See Driver and Driver, 1963, p. 9 18, Steck, 1951, p. 25. 19, Heyden and Horcasitas, 1964, p. 15. 20. Herrera y Tordesillas, 1726, Vol. 6, pp. 304-306. 52 21, Ibid, p. 397. 22, Hammond and Rey, 1928, p. 273. 23, Heyden and Horeasitas, 1964, p. 332, Fn. 9. 53 24, Sauer, 1954, p. 553. 25, See Kroeber, 1925, pp. 913-915, Fig. 74; 1962a, pp. 112-114, Map 9; Heizer, 1948, pp. 20-22. 26. This northern border isthe most arbitrary and was set by a Southwestern Seminar in Archaeology (Jennings et al. in Wauchope, 1956, p. 63). The other boundaries set by the seminar were somewhat strange. They included the Pacific Ocean to within five degrees of the Hawaiian Is- lands; ignored that part of New Mexico east of Albuquer- que; and placed the southern border at approximately the international boundary between the United States and Mexico, 27. Kirchhoff, 1954, pp. 552-553. 28, Dunbar, 1956, pp. 416-429, Fig. 267. 54 29. Danson, 1957, p.9. 30, 1945, pp. 105-106. 31“... agriculture could come up the west coast, pro- ceeding from tropical savanna climate in Sinaloa (Av), to subtropical rainy-summer climate in southern Sonora (Cw), to steppe (BS) in northem Sonora, and finally into the desert (BW) in southern Arizona.” See Carter, 1945,