Christine S. VanPool

The shaman-priests of the Casas Grandes region, Chihuahua, Mexico

The Casas Grandes culture flourished between two well-known regions: Mesoamerica and the North American Southwest. An analysis of Medio period (A.D. 1200-1450) pottery suggests that Paquimé, the center of the Casas Grandes world, was dominated by shaman-priests. The pottery includes images that document a “classic shamanic journey” between this world and the spirit world. These images can be connected to the leaders of Paquimé and to valuable objects from West Mexico, indicating that the Casas Grandes leadership had more in common with the Mesoamerican system of shaman-leaders than with the political system of the Pueblo world of the North American Southwest.

Gender in Middle Range Societies: A Case Study in Casas Grandes Iconography

Gender analyses have provided useful insights into the social organization of the people anthropologists study. Here we demonstrate how Casas Grandes gender roles influenced other aspects of Casas Grandes worldview and social life. Medio period (A.D. 1200–1450) iconography depicts differences between males and females. Gender roles were not only defined by their proximity to males and females but to birds and serpents. Furthermore, Casas Grandes cosmology was based on gender complementarity that combined the productive, reproductive, and ritual activities of men and women within a single system. The development of social differentiation was tied to this system, indicating that gender complementarity and the accumulation of productive and ritual power into a limited group of women and men may have been an important factor in the development of social hierarchies in many Middle Range societies.

The Spirit in the Material: A Case Study of Animism in the American Southwest

Abstract People often imbue their surroundings, including tools, with a “life essence” that makes them active objects. A growing number of archaeologists are beginning to study how such “living” beings impact human behavior. These archaeologists use the term “object agency,” but employ many different ontologicai approaches. We explore this variation, and present a framework comparing different ontologicai models archaeologists use. We adopt an animistic perspective, and evaluate its applicability to the Southwest using ethnographic and archaeological data. We further propose that it is applicable throughout the New World. Puebloan potters consider pots living beings with a spiritual essence that is affected by and that impacts humans. Pottery manufacture is a mutual negotiation between the potter and the clay to create a “Made Being” with its own spiritual and material aspects. We conclude that a similar ontology is reflected in effigy pots and globular jars from the Casas Grandes region. Ultimately we conclude that this perspective provides useful insights into the placement, decoration, and discard of many vessels that have puzzled Southwestern archaeologists for decades.

Flaked Stone and Social Interaction in the Casas Grandes Region, Chihuahua, Mexico

This analysis usesflaked stone artifacts to gain insight into the social and economic structure of the Casas Grandes region, northern Chihuahua, Mexico. It begins by considering the intrasite variation in flaked stone reduction at Galeana, a large site near the modern town of Galeana. The analysis of debitage and cores from Galeana indicates that the assemblage is primarily the product of hard hammer, generalized reduction of locally available materials. Differences within the assemblage indicate the presence of spatially distinct reduction areas, with initial core reduction occurring in open areas, and then continuing in room blocks. We then compare the Galeana assemblage with the flaked stone assemblage from the site of Paquime" (Casas Grandes), Chihuahua. The analysis indicates that the reduction technique employed at both sites is similar, but that the PaquEme" assemblage is characterized by a greater proportion of cryptocrystaline silicates and obsidian than the Galeana assemblage. Furthermore, much of the raw material from Paquime" does not appear to be locally available. We conclude that the prehistoric inhabitants of Paquime" had greater access to cryptocrystaline silicates and obsidian acquired through trade than did the inhabitants of Galeana. This evidence indicates that the economic pattern evident at Paquime" did not extend to Galeana and supports the idea that Paquimes economic and political influence over other Casas Grandes sites was limited beyond a 30-km radius.

Social Interaction, Social Status, and the Organization of Medio Period Craft Production as Evidenced in Ground Stone Artifacts from 76 Draw

ABSTRACT The analysis of ground stone artifacts is a productive avenue for gaining useful information regarding the past societies of the North American Southwest. Here we present the results of the analysis of 255 ground stone items recovered from 76 Draw, a Medio period (AD 1200 to 1450) settlement in New Mexico. We find that locally available stone was used to make a variety of utilitarian items. We then compare the assemblage to previously reported ground stone assemblages from Paquimé (the economic and political center of the Medio period world) and nearby sites in northern Chihuahua, Mexico. We find that our assemblage is very similar to those from the smaller Medio period settlements but quite distinct when compared to Paquimé’s assemblage. Paquimé’s ground stone reflects an emphasis on non-utilitarian ornaments, religiously significant items such as effigies, and distinct utilitarian items such as well-formed metates produced by specialists. In contrast, the 76 Draw and other assemblages reflect an emphasis on utilitarian items produced at the household level. From this, we conclude that the social differentiation evident at Paquimé and reflected in its ground stone assemblage did not extend across the entire Casas Grandes region, even though utilitarian ground stone tools reflect the same technological system.

DRESSING THE PERSON: CLOTHING AND IDENTITY IN THE CASAS GRANDES WORLD

Casas Grandes Medio–period (A.D. 1200–1450) human effigies are unique in the North American Southwest in that they depict primary and secondary sexual traits, making determination of sex and gender roles possible. Here, we build on previous discussions by considering the importance of depictions of clothing (e.g., belts and sashes), personal adornments (e.g., necklaces and bracelets), facial decorations, and other aspects of dress. We find that Medio-period symbolism for males and females was based on gender complementary that combined the productive, reproductive, and ritual activities of men and women within a single symbolic and ritual system. Some clothing styles are found on both males and females (e.g., arm bands), but there are also sex-based differences. Women wear low horizontal belts across their hips, whereas men primarily wear sandals and elaborate headbands. Aspects of dress also appear to be continued from previous cultures such as the Classic Mimbres (A.D. 1000–1150) and continued into historic northern Mexican and southwestern groups (e.g., headgear and some sandal types). Ultimately, we find that males have more elaborate dress and are associated with a specific set of ritually important symbols. Females are associated with cloud/fertility symbolism, sternal decorations, and birds. La cultura de Paquimé (Casas Grandes) floreció durante el periodo medio (1200--1450 d.C.). Sus artesanos fabricaron efigies humanas únicas en el Suroeste norteamericano. Estas figuras presentan rasgos sexuales primarios y secundarios, facilitando la determinación del sexo y de los papeles de género. Con base en debates anteriores, en este trabajo consideramos la importancia de las descripciones de las prendas de ropa (por ejemplo, cinturones y fajas), adornos personales (por ejemplo, collares y pulseras), decoraciones faciales y otros aspectos del vestuario. Observamos que el simbolismo del periodo medio estuvo basado en la complementariedad de género que combinaba actividades productivas, reproductivas y rituales de mujeres y varones dentro de un solo sistema simbólico y ritual. Algunos estilos de ropa se encuentran en mujeres y varones (por ejemplo, brazaletes de brazo), pero también hay diferencias basadas en el sexo. Las mujeres usan correas horizontales en las caderas, mientras que los varones usan principalmente sandalias y cintas para el cabello. Algunos aspectos del vestuario también parecen ser una continuación de culturas anteriores, como los mimbres del periodo clásico (1000–1150 d.C.), y persistieron hasta el periodo histórico en el norte de México y el suroeste de Norteamérica (por ejemplo, las cintas de cabello y algunos tipos de sandalias). Por ultimo, observamos que los varones usan vestidos más elaborados y están asociados a un conjunto específico de símbolos ritualmente importantes. Las mujeres están asociadas a simbolismo de nubes y fertilidad, decoraciones esternales y aves.

Animating Architecture and the Assembly of an Elite City: Birth and Dedication of Nonhuman Persons at Paquimé, Chihuahua, Mexico

We discuss the role of dedication ceremonies at Paquimé, Chihuahua, Mexico, using an animistic perspective involving other-than-human, spiritually potent agents who influence and are influenced by humans. Animated agents can include artifacts and architecture, which humans create through negotiating with other agents (e.g., the potter negotiates with the clay, kiln, and fire to make pottery). Dedication ceremonies in such cases help bring active agents to life and imbue them with the specific characteristics that humans want them to have. We illustrate this process using Puebloan ethnology from the North American Southwest and then explore three cases of architectural dedication at Paquimé: the Mound of the Serpent, a pot under a water reservoir, and a central support post within the structure. These cases reflect the use of the architecture to help ensure access to water, which in turn helped Paquimé’s elites establish their city as preeminent in the region.

Visiting the horned serpent’s home: A relational analysis of Paquimé as a pilgrimage site in the North American Southwest

Paquimé, Chihuahua, was the ceremonial center of the Medio period (AD 1200 to 1450) Casas Grandes world, and the focus of regional pilgrimages. We use a relational perspective to explore the connections that were created and expressed during the pilgrimage. We propose that Paquimé was considered a living city, and that pilgrims actively supported its vitality through offerings of marine shells and other symbolically important goods. A region-wide network of signal fires centered on Cerro de Moctezuma, a hill directly overlooking Paquimé, summoned pilgrims. Ritual negotiations also focused on the dead and may have included at least occasional human sacrifice. While the pilgrimages focused on water-related ritual, they also included community and elite competition as reflected in architectural features such as the ball courts. Central to the pilgrimage was negotiation with the horned serpent, a deity that controlled water and was associated with leadership throughout Mesoamerica and the Southwest. The horned serpent is the primary supernatural entity reflected at the site and in the pottery pilgrims took with them back to their communities. Thus, the pilgrimages were times when the Casas Grandes people created and transformed their relationships with each other, religious elites, the dead, the landscape, and the horned serpent. These relationships in turn are reflected across the region (e.g., the broad distribution of Ramos Polychrome). This case study consequently demonstrates the potential that the relational perspective presented throughout this issue has for providing insight into the archaeological record and the past social structures it reflects.