Casas Grandes (Mogollon)

The Mogollon culture extended southward into the Mexican states of Chihuahua and northeastern Sonora.  In Chihuahua, in the Casas Grandes valley of the northern Sierra, are ruins of an administrative and trading center that flourished from about 1150 to 1350 CE, after which the abandoned valley lands were occupied by the Suma Indians who who had migrated in from the east. Casas Grandes is Spanish for "great houses" and refers to the extensive, multi-storied ruins nearby.

Called Paquimé by a 16th-century Spanish explorer, the site has provided evidence of being an important contact in trade with Southwestern peoples to the north and Mesoamerican peoples to the south. Turquoise, marine shells, exotic birds, copper bells, and decorative pottery figured in the extensive trade of this center, which may have been founded by Aztec merchant groups from Mesoamerica. Casas Grandes polychrome vessels were traded as far as Mexico City and Colorado. Much like the Mogollon peoples to the north and east, the early Paquimé people probably constructed a cluster of pithouses around an open plaza, raising corn, beans, and squash on the flood plain of the Casas Grandes river immediately east of their village. They manufactured simple brown pottery, hunted wild game, and collected wild plants to supplement their agricultural production. 

apply to objects where number equals 1986.167

apply to objects where number equals 1990.213.FA

apply to objects where number equals 1991.351.FA