Greater Mesoamerica The Archaeology of West and Northwest Mexico

325 Pages·2016·49.45 MB·English

by  Edited by Michael S. Foster and Shirley Gorenstein

Greater Mesoameric
The Archaeology of
West and Northwest Mexico
EDITED BY
MICHAEL S. FOSTER
AND SHIRLEY GORENSTEIN
“This volume is the first comprehensive, serious look at the west
and north in decades. . . . [It] challenges some old paradigms that
have stunted research and proposes some exciting new ideas.”
—Robert Pickering, Denver Museum of Natural History
The University of Utah Press
GREATER MESOAMERICA

GREATER
MESOAMERICA
The Archaeology of West and Northwest Mexico
EDITED BY
MICHAEL S. FOSTER AND SHIRLEY GORENSTEIN
The University of Utah Press
Salt Lake City
(c) 2000 by The University of Utah Press
All rights reserved
Partial funding for this volume provided by
the Center for Indigenous Studies in the Americas (CISA), Phoenix, Arizona
2000 01 02 03 04 05 06
5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Greater Mesoamerica : the archaeology of West and Northwest Mexico
/ edited by Michael S. Foster and Shirley Gorenstein.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-87480-655-0
1. Indians of Mexico—Antiquities. 2. Indians of Mexico—Mexico,
North—Antiquities. 3. Mexico—Antiquities. I. Foster, Michael S., 1947- .
II. Gorenstein, Shirley.
F1219. G738 2000
972'.01—dc21 00-012315
In memory of J. Charles Kelley,
student, teacher, and friend

CONTENTS
Figures and Tables ix
Foreword xiii
Preface xv
ONE
West and Northwest Mexico: The Ins and Outs of Mesoamerica
Shirley Gorenstein and Michael S. Foster 3
TWO
The Late and Terminal Preclassic in Southeastern Guanajuato:
Heartland or Periphery?
Charles A. Florance 21
THREE
A Summary of the Archaeology of North-Central Mesoamerica:
Guanajuato, Querétaro, and San Luis Potosí
Beatriz Braniff C. 35
FOUR
The Evolution and Decline of a Core of Civilization:
The Teuchitlán Tradition and the Archaeology of Jalisco
Phil C. Weigand 43
FIVE
Tarascans and Their Ancestors: Prehistory of Michoacán
Helen Perlstein Pollard 59
vii
CONTENTS
SIX
Tarascan External Relationships
Helen Perlstein Pollard 71
SEVEN
Prehispanic Cultural Development along the Southern Coast of West Mexico
Joseph B. Mountjoy 81
EIGHT
The Prehistory of Mexico’s Northwest Coast:
A View from the Marismas Nacionales of Sinaloa and Nayarit
Stuart D. Scott and Michael S. Foster 107
NINE
The Aztatlán Mercantile System: Mobile Traders and the Northwestward
Expansion of Mesoamerican Civilization
J. Charles Kelley 137
TEN
Archaeology of Southern Zacatecas:
The Malpaso, Juchipila, and Valparaiso-Bolaños Valleys
Peter F. Jiménez Betts and J. Andrew Darling 155
ELEVEN
The Archaeoastronomical System in the Río Colorado Chalchihuites Polity,
Zacatecas: An Interpretation of the Chapín 1 Pecked Cross-Circle
J. Charles Kelley and Ellen Abbott Kelley 181
TWELVE
The Archaeology of Durango
Michael S. Foster 197
THIRTEEN
Recent Advances in Chihuahuan Archaeology
Ronna Jane Bradley 221
FOURTEEN
The Archaeological Traditions of Sonora
María Elisa Villalpando 241
FIFTEEN
From Tzintzuntzan to Paquimé: Peers or Peripheries in Greater Mesoamerica?
Michael W. Spence 255
References 263
Contributors 297
Index 301
viii