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The Local and the Distant in the Origin of Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Michael E. Whalen  and
Paul E. Minnis
Michael E. Whalen
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK 74104
Paul E. Minnis
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019
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Abstract

Casas Grandes (or Paquimé), in northwestern Chihuahua, Mexico, is the largest and possibly the most complex community in the prehistoric Pueblo world. The literature is, and always has been, dominated by models that attribute the origin of this center to impulses coming from outside of the region. These arguments rest on the assumptions that the Casas Grandes area was underpopulated before the development of the center, and that there was little cultural continuity between Casas Grandes and its local predecessors. We use old and new data to argue against both of these ideas and in favor of in situ development of the center of Casas Grandes.

Résumé

Résumé

El sitio de Casas Grandes (o Paquimé), en el noroeste del estado de Chihuahua, México, es el más grande y posiblemente el más complejo del mundo Pueblo. La literatura arqueológica siempre ha sido dominada por modelos que enfatizan la importancia de estímulos externos en el desarrollo del centro. Estos modelos suponen que la á rea de Casas Grandes tenía poca población humana antes del desarrollo del centro y que existía poca continuidad cultural entre Casas Grandes y sus predecesores locales. Usamos datos existentes y nuevos para argumentar en contra de estas ideas y en favor del desarrollo in situ del centro de Casas Grandes.

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American Antiquity , Volume 68 , Issue 2 , April 2003 , pp. 314 - 332
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2003

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