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Di Peso’s Concept of the Northern Sierra: Evidence from the Upper Bavispe Valley, Sonora, Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

John E. Douglas  and
César A. Quijada
John E. Douglas
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana, 59812 ([email protected])
César A. Quijada
Affiliation:
Sección de Arqueologia, Centro INAH Sonora, Apartado Postal 1664 C.P. 83000, Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. ([email protected])
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Abstract

Often the late prehistoric period of northeast Sonora is portrayed as the product of a migration from, or closely associated with, the peoples of Casas Grandes Valley in northwest Chihuahua. That migration is believed to have occurred around A.D. 1300–1500, either at the zenith or during the decline of the Casas Grandes culture. However, recent excavations along the Río Bavispe in northeast Sonora show that developments in polychrome pottery, domestic architecture, and possibly community architecture parallel the pattern found in northwest Chihuahua during the A.D. 1000–1200 period, before the type site of the Casas Grandes culture, Paquimé, was founded. This surprising result demonstrates that the role of long-term regional interaction needs to be considered in shaping both areas. To conceptualize this process, we suggest revitalizing Di Peso’s 1966 concept of the “Northern Sierra” as an important step in the foundational shifts required to build more cogent explanations.

El período prehispánico tardío en el noreste de Sonora se explica a menudo como producto de -o estrechamente asociado auna migración de pueblos procedentes del Valle de Casas Grandes en Chihuahua. Se cree que esta migración ocurre cerca del 1300–1500 DC, ya sea durante la plenitud o ya iniciada la declinación de la cultura Casas Grandes. Sin embargo, excavaciones recientes en la región del Río Bavispe en el noreste de Sonora muestran desarrollos en la cerámica policroma, la arquitectura doméstica y posiblemente la arquitectura pública semejantes a los patrones encontrados en el noroeste de Chihuahua entre 1000 y 1200 años DC; antes de que Paquimé, el sitio tipo de la cultura de Casas Grandes, fuera fundado. Estos rasgos sugieren que debemos tener en cuenta el rol que jugó la interacción regional a largo plazo en modelar ambas áreas. Para reconceptualizar este proceso de integración regional a largo plazo sugerimos que es importante revitalizar el concepto de Di Peso (1966) de “Sierra Norteña” como un importante paso en los cambios iniciales necesarios para construir explicaciones más convincentes.

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , September 2005 , pp. 275 - 291
Copyright
Copyright © 2005 by the Society for American Archaeology.

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