Marine Shell Exchange in Northwest Mexico and the Southwest

Abstract

Casas Grandes, or Paquimé, is located in the northwestern portion of Chihuahua, approximately 150 km south of the border between the United States and Mexico (Figure 1). Paquimé is the largest site within a vast region that contained a substantial number of people prehistorically. Early explorers were intrigued with the grandiose nature of the site (Bandelier 1892:575; Bartlett 1854, Vol. 2; Hammond and Rey 1928:205–206), and modern excavation has shown it to be one of the most complex sites within far northwestern Mesoamerica or the Southwest (Di Peso 1974). The architectural features and artifacts recovered from Casas Grandes are very impressive and represent a level of social sophistication that is unsurpassed.KeywordsLuxury GoodElite IndividualMarine ShellPrestige GoodShell ExchangeThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.