Michael S. Foster, Shirley Gorenstein, eds.. Greater : The Archaeology of West and Northwest . Salt Lake City: Utah State University Press, 2000. xvi + 307 pp. $65.00, cloth, ISBN 978-0-87480-655-7.

Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb

Published on H-LatAm (August, 2001)

Greater Mesoamerica: Between the Mexican Acambaro: Frontier Settlement on the Tarascan- Central Plateau and the American Southwest Aztec Border (Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt Universi‐ [Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein ty, Publications in Anthropology, 1985) and Taras‐ are those of the reviewer and not of his employer can Civilization: A Late Prehispanic Cultural Sys‐ or any other federal agency.] tem, co-author with Helen Pollard (Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, Publications in An‐ The editors of this volume and their col‐ thropology, 1983). She was the supervising editor leagues are well known to scholars of Mesoameri‐ of the textbook, Prehispanic America (New York: can archaeology, particularly to researchers who St. Martin's Press, 1974; London: Thames and work in Central Plateau (Meseta Central) and en‐ Hudson, 1974), and a companion archaeological virons as well as west and northwest Mexico. synthesis entitled North America (New York: St. Michael Foster is project director for the cultural Martin's Press, 1975). There is no doubt as to the resources program at the Gila River Indian Com‐ editors' skills and excellent credentials. munity and resides in Phoenix, Arizona. Foster co- edited, with Phil Weigand's, a volume entitled The The editors and contributors assert and docu‐ Archaeology of West and Northwest Mesoamerica ment with their collective feld research and the (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1985). Shirley syntheses provided in this volume that the term Gorenstein is professor emerita of anthropology, "Greater Mesoamerica" expands the traditional Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute. She is the au‐ defnition of what is normally perceived to be the thor of a brief general textbook, Introduction to culture area of "Mesoamerica." In the initial chap‐ Archaeology (New York: Basic Books, 1965), and ter, the editors discuss the background of this cul‐ notable monographs on west Mexico. Among the ture area, the early exclusion of West and North‐ latter are Tepexi el Viejo: A Postclassic Fortifed west Mexico, chronological systems, and geo‐ Site in the Mixteca-Puebla Region of Mexico (Phil‐ graphic and ecological factors. It is worth review‐ adelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1973), ing some of their introductory remarks. In 1943 H-Net Reviews

Paul Kirchhof in his classic article "Mesoamerica: Meighan, and published in 1971 covering Nayarit, Sus limites geografcas, composition etnica y car‐ , , , Michoacan, , Za‐ acteres culturales" (Acta Americana 1:92-107) de‐ catecas, and Durango provided a baseline for re‐ fned the area, refning a paradigm devised by search north and west of the Mesoamerican cul‐ William H. Holmes in 1914. Using cultural traits ture area frontier.[2] However, there has been a plotted geographically, the regions of west and virtual explosion of interest, feld research, and northwest Mexico on the northern Mesoamerican publication on the archaeological cultures and re‐ periphery were excluded from Mesoamerica and gions of west and northwest Mexico during the were also separate from another culture area, the past three decades, particularly during the past American Southwest. For the frst 60 years of the dozen years. 20th century, a handful of individuals conducted The book's dust jacket blurb asserts that this research in these two regions--Alfred V. Kidder, Is‐ volume constitutes "the frst comprehensive over‐ abel Kelly, Carl Sauer, Donald Brand, Gordon view of both regions [west and northwest Mexico] Ekholm, J. Charles Kelley, Betty Bell, Clement since the Handbook of Middle American Indians Meighan, Charles Di Peso, Eduardo Noguera, and was published in the early 1970s." This isn't quite Carroll Riley, among others. true. Betty Bell's edited synthesis, The Archaeolo‐ Eric Wolf examined the history of the north‐ gy of West Mexico (Ajijic, Jalisco: Sociedad de Es‐ ern boundary of Mesoamerica subsequently in his tudios Advanzados del Occidente de Mexico, 1974) delightful, thought-provoking Sons of the Shaping and the Michael Foster and Phil Weigand edited Earth (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1959). volume The Archaeology of West and Northwest With revisions (notably by Pedro Armillas in Mesoamerica (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1985) 1964), the Mesoamerican boundaries have been were among earlier serious attempts at synthesiz‐ published on maps in major textbooks written by ing these regions. A Spanish-language scholarly Gordon R. Willey (1966) and Muriel Porter treatment edited by B. Bohem de Lameiras and Weaver (1972, with more recent editions in 1981 Weigand, entitled Origin y desarrollo de la civi‐ and 1993).[1] Interestingly, Foster and Gorenstein lizacion en el occidente de Mexico (Zamora: El do not mention Section X on Mexico in Alfred L. Colegio de Michoacan, 1992), is a signifcant re‐ Kroeber's ecologically oriented Cultural and Nat‐ source. Likewise, Jonathan Reyman's edited The ural Areas of Native North America (Berkeley: Gran : Essays on the Archaeology and University of California, Publications in American Ethnohistory of Northern Mesoamerica (Alder‐ Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 38, 1939), which shot, UK: Avebury, 1995), developed from a 1985 also considers boundaries. Society for American Archaeology symposium is A volume entitled El occidente de Mexico another notable contribution. (Mexico: Sociedad Mexicana de Antropologia, The chapters that comprise Foster and Goren‐ 1947), was an initial attempt to collect informa‐ stein's volume are revised from papers originally tion on the western regions. But with the publica‐ presented at the frst roundtable meeting of the tion of the Handbook of Middle American Indians Center for Indigenous Studies in the Americas (HMAI) in the 1960s and 1970s, archaeological re‐ (CISA) which was entitled "Cultural Dynamics of search in Mesoamerica expanded dramatically Precolumbian West and Northwest Mexico," held thereafter, particularly in the Meseta Central, the over three-day period in Phoenix in February Maya Highlands, the Valley of Oaxaca, and the 1992. The Wenner-Gren Foundation provided con‐ Gulf Coast. Individual chapters in the Handbook ference support for Anthropological Research and authored by Bell, Chadwick, Kelley, Lister, and the CISA, a non-proft branch of Soil Systems, Inc.,

2 H-Net Reviews a cultural resource management frm. The discus‐ Chupicuaro, and Mixtlan phases. His conclusion is sants for the papers were Jefrey Dean and E. that there was a population movement from the Charles Adams. Collectively the published volume west of Mexico along the Rio Lerma during the has a Forward, Preface and 15 numbered chap‐ Early Chupicuaro phase. The new settlements be‐ ters. A total of 135 fgures, 52 endnotes (from only ing established, he contends, are peripheral to four chapters), three tables, and a seven-page con‐ those located in the Jalisco highland lake area fated double-column index of proper nouns and during Early Chupicuaro. However, in the subse‐ topical terms emend the essays. A particular quent Chupicuaro phase evidence of inter-region‐ strength of the book is its compilation of 971 ref‐ al exchange with sites in the Basin of Mexico is ev‐ erences (pp. 263-296), essential for any future idenced and he postulates that Cuicuilco, a major scholarship. I shall summarize briefy the individ‐ settlement in the southern Basin of Mexico, pro‐ ual chapters and provide some comments prior to moted this activity. The evaluation is based on the an overall assessment of the book. study of ceramics and fgurines. However, the As noted, in "Chapter One: West and North‐ eruption of the volcano Xitle terminated Cuilcuil‐ west Mexico: The Ins and Outs of Mesoamerica" co's hegemony in the Basin and interrupted the (pp. 3-19, 5 fgures) editors Gorenstein and Foster economic connections with Guanajuato. Clearly consider the perceptions of Mesoamerica as a cul‐ the interpretation of the Chupicuaro site is a key ture area with emphasis on the northern and to understanding the Basin of Mexico-Guanjuato western frontiers, but they also assess the chrono‐ connection. Florance presents new arguments logical systems used by various authors and pro‐ about local developments and interrelationships vide succinct summaries of the subsequent chap‐ that do not rely on the Cuicuilco model, hence, ters. This essay is compelling and essential to the southeastern Guanajuato may be seen as a pe‐ reader's comprehension of the chapters that fol‐ riphery or as a heartland as spatial and temporal low since it places the issue of frontiers in con‐ scales change. tent, and shows how the individual contributions With "Chapter Three: A Summary of the Ar‐ relate to the greater whole. Maps of the archaeo‐ chaeology of North-Central Mesoamerica: Guana‐ logical sites, natural ecological regions, climate, juato, Queretaro, and San Luis Potosi" (pp. 35-42, 7 and mean annual precipitation derive from chap‐ fgures) by Beatriz Branif C. (Institute Nacional de ters in the initial volume of the Handbook of Mid‐ Antropologia e Historia, Centro Colima), the read‐ dle American Indians (1964) are adequate, al‐ er is exposed to an evaluation of the area north of though this reader believes that more up-to-date the Rio Lerma, particularly to localities--Bajio and sources might have been used. Although each Tunal Grande. Her analysis raises questions about chapter is characterized, there is no overall edito‐ the current beliefs about relationships between rial summary or assessment. Mike Spence does the Chupicuaro phase and subsequent Mixtlan provide something of that in the penultimate phase chronology. By employing fnite local chapter. chronologies based upon ceramic analysis, she "Chapter Two: The Late Terminal Preclassic in provides clearer evidence of the relationships of Southeastern Guanajuato: Heartland or Periph‐ archaeological phases across a number of regions ery?" (pp. 21-33, 9 fgures) by Charles A. Florance in Guanajuato, Zacatecas, Michoacan, Quetetaro, (Clifton Park, NY) is an evaluation of 43 archaeo‐ and highland Jalisco. This "north-central" regional logical sites from the Puroaguita area and a re‐ tradition is widely distributed by BCE/CE and by fnement of the chronology based on his study of CE 250 the Bajio region has a well-defned settle‐ 7,000+ potsherds dating to the Early Chupicuaro, ment pattern with cities, town, and satellite settle‐ ments. Notably, there are cultural contacts with

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Teotihuacan, a dominant polity located in the "Chapter Five: Tarascans and Their Ancestors: northeastern Basin of Mexico, and with the Teu‐ Prehistory of Michoacan" (pp. 59-70, 7 fgures, 1 chitlan tradition of highland Jalisco. A cul‐ table) by Helen Perlstein Pollard (Michigan State tural tradition deriving from the region of Tula, University) is the frst of two chapters by Pollard. Estado de Hidago is evidenced between CE 600 to She begins with an assessment of the evidence of 850, overlapping the period of the demise of Teoti‐ human occupation from the Paleoindian and Ar‐ huacan hegemony and the infux of Toltec culture chaic periods (both not well represented in Mi‐ into that region from the northwest. Changes in choacan) through the Preclassic with shaft tomb the horticultural subsistence patterns ca. CE 900 construction and maize domestication BCE 1500, are refected in settlement, demographic, and so‐ and the development of Chupicuaro culture in the cietal manifestations, although a Toltec revival is Rio Lerma Valley. Rapid demographic expansion discerned ca. CE 1000 to 1200. and, the emergence of elite classes, the construc‐ Phil C. Weigand (Colegio de Michoacan and tion of ceremonial centers, and cultural contacts Museum of Northern Arizona) is the author of with in the Basin of Mexico are dis‐ Chapter Four: The Evolution and Decline of a Core tinctive traits of the Classic period. In the Postclas‐ of Civilization: The Teuchitlan Tradition and the sic, demographic nucleation in defensible loca‐ Archaeology of Jalisco" (pp. 43-58, 7 fgures). His tions in several lake basins accompanies a trend evaluation of the highland lake districts of west‐ toward the formation of regional cultures, and a ern Jalisco emends and expands greatly his earli‐ radical diminution of contact with the Basin of er research in this area, and he devises a chronol‐ Mexico. Pollard next considers the development ogy that begins with the Paleoindian period and of Tarascan culture in the late Postclassic and the extends into the Postclassic. Weigand considers emergence of the in the Patzcuaro diferential sociocultural development and core- Basin, which expanded during the Protohistoric periphery relationships in the 1,000-year Teuchit‐ period into all of Michoacan and into Jalisco and lan tradition leading to a probable state-level soci‐ Guerrero. Well known are Tarascan disputes with ety. Among the characteristics are the concept of the along the eastern frontier of the Taras‐ circularity in architecture, societal intensifcation, can polity. In "Chapter Six: Tarascan External Re‐ intense pressures on land and natural resources, lationships" (pp. 71-80, 3 fgures, 2 tables) Pollard the construction of terraces and to expands our understanding of the Tarascan-Aztec maximize maize cultivation, and the erection of territorial confict by examining social, economic, fortifcations in the core area. He provides evi‐ political, and military factors. The use of state dence that Teuchtitlan was an urban state-level merchants, control of obsidian resources, absorb‐ society not unlike those of the Lowland Maya ing small states, and success in locating important (rather than like the polities in the Basin of Mexi‐ raw materials are assessed. Pollard elaborates the co), but it began a sociopolitical decline in the late distinctiveness of Tarascan culture versus the Classic period. Weigand considers the Classic peri‐ Aztec and also summarizes the 17 Tarascan-Aztec od collapse and societal reorganization during the military engagements from CE 1430 to 1521 in Postclassic, and ofers three scenarios for the de‐ west Mexico. These chapters update materials cline of the Teuchitlan tradition. The evidence for from her own book Tariacuri's Legacy: The Pre‐ the Postclassic period is not entirely secure for the hispanic Tarascan State (Norman: University of region but he had presented a compelling assess‐ Oklahoma Press, 1993). ment updating his own prior interpretations. Missing from the citations is Pollard's own "Recent Research in West Mexican Archaeology" Journal of Archaeological Research 5:345-384,

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1997) which has 14-pages of bibliography includ‐ elry, pottery, and obsidian (especially at the Ama‐ ing items on the Tarascans not cited in this chap‐ pa site). Aztatlan ceramics with iconographic mo‐ ter. Christopher T. Fisher, Helen P. Pollard, and tifs were distributed northward into the Mexican Charles Frederick are the authors of "Intensive states of Durango and Chihuahua, and into New Agriculture and Socio-political Development in Mexico, while Toltec plumbate ceramics and the Lake Patzcuaro Basin, Michoacan, Mexico" Mazapan-style fgurines entered Aztatlan from Antiquity 73(271): 642-649 (September 1999), cited central Mexico. Subsequent local cultural develop‐ as a conference paper in Foster and Gorenstein's ments, demographic expansion, and sociopolitical Bibliography (p. 272) but since published. Readers fragmentation into small chiefdoms characterize may wish to know that Tricia Gabany-Guerrero the region prior to Spanish contact. This contribu‐ and Christine Hernandez are organizing a sympo‐ tion updates Mountjoy's "Some Important Re‐ sium entitled "Revising Tarascan Studies: Archae‐ sources for Prehispanic Cultures on the Coast of ological and Ethnohistorical Challenges for Late West Mexico" (pp. 61-87) in The Gran Chichimeca: Post Classic and Early Colonial Research" for the Essays on the Archaeology and Ethnohistory of 100th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropo‐ Northern Mesoamerica, edited by Jonathan Rey‐ logical Association in Washington DC, to be held man (Avebury, UK: Aldershot, 1995), which has 14-18 November 2001. additional salient information on resources in‐ Joseph B. Mountjoy (University of North Car‐ cluding salt, marine shell, cotton, and exotic olina at Greensboro) wrote "Chapter Seven: Pre‐ stones. hispanic Cultural Development along the South‐ "Chapter Eight: The Prehistory of Mexico's ern Coast of West Mexico" (pp. 81-106, 14 fgures), Northwest Coast: A View from the Marismas Na‐ an assessment of a unique ecological region cionales of Sinaloa and Nayarit" (pp. 107-135, 22 whose inhabitants exploited maritime resources, fgures) is written by Stuart D. Scott (professor developed slash-and-burn maize horticulture, and emeritus, State University of New York at Bufalo) had access to valuable mineral resources. The and Michael S. Foster (Phoenix, AZ). The coastal Preclassic tradition is related to El Openo plain Marismas is a vast system of estuaries and in Michoacan, San Blas culture in Nayrit, and lagoons that has been studied by Scott and his as‐ in the southern Basin of Mexico--the latter sociates over a ten-year feld project. Tectonic and seen in ceramics and fgurines. Subsequent to CE ecological factors afected the nature and extent 300, Mountjoy discerns the Shaft Tomb and Tux‐ of prehistoric occupation of the area. Understand‐ cacuesco traditions, which he considers in terms ing these factors is essential to interpreting the of site distributions, sociopolitical features, econo‐ prehistory of this complex area and the adaptive my, and external relations, including the ex‐ strategies used by the inhabitants. A unique shell change of coastal marine shell for highland obsid‐ mound, El Calon, a probable Formative (e.g. Pre‐ ian (volcanic glass, an essential cutting tool). He classic) ceremonial center dated to about 3,700 also defnes a Red-on-Buf ceramic tradition and years ago, which has a temple-like structure fash‐ the late Classic/Postclassic Aztatlan tradition with ioned from the articulated shells of a large ribbed civic-ceremonial centers located in every large clam. There are two major ceramic period phases river valley in Jalisco and southern Sinaloa, and that defne the period CE 400 to Spanish contact, in the highlands along major commercial routes but with a hiatus CE 900 to 1200. Most of the deco‐ leading to central Mexico. He also notes that the rated pottery found at 500 shell middens associat‐ origin and development of metalworking in this ed with villages and hamlets is afliated with cul‐ region is associated with the Aztatlan tradition, tures from Amapa, Nayarit and Chametla, Culia‐ and the production and distribution of shell jew‐ can. There are detailed illustrations and explana‐

5 H-Net Reviews tions of Chametla, Aztatlan, and Early and Late enized these cultures into a singular pan-Chalchi‐ Culiacan polychrome ceramics. The authors also huites cultural tradition that encompasses the La consider interactions between the West Coast cul‐ Quemada (Malpaso Valley), Chalchihuites, and tures and Chalchihuites, Durango and what is Juchipila cultures of the region. Jemenez and Dar‐ termed the Aztatlan Mercantile System. ling argue strenuously against this paradigm con‐ In Chapter Nine the late J. Charles Kelley tending that this view ignores local archaeological writes extensively about a long distance trading sequences. The authors next discuss recent re‐ model, "The Aztatlan Mercantile System: Mobile search in three valleys, emphasizing ceramics-de‐ Traders and the Northwestward Expansion of rived chronologies: 1) Malpaso Valley dominated Mesoamerican Civilization" (pp. 137-154, 4 fgures, by the extensive site of La Quemada (ball court, 11 endnotes). Using a mobile trader paradigm columnar hall, plaza complexes, road systems, from ethnohistoric sources and new data from his and domination of lesser communities); 2) Juchip‐ excavations at the Schroeder site in Durango and ila Valley sites linking southern Zacatecas and from Canon del Molino, Durango, Kelley assesses west Mexico; and 3) Valparaiso Valley (the La Flor‐ the evidence for a distribution network for Aztat‐ ida site and Bolanos culture, and the site of lan materials (turquoise, marine shell, cotton, etc.) Tonoate). Their assessment resolves problems in in west and northwest Mexico, and links to cen‐ earlier research (Hrdlicka versus Kelley), suggests tral Mexico and the Mixteca-Puebla region. He an obsidian procurement system, and refnes presents evidence for the system operating from chronologies. There are 25 raw material obsidian CE 900/950 to 1350/1400, and associates the devel‐ sources used in the production of prismatic opment of the Paquime site (the more appropriate blades for distribution throughout Zacatecas and name for Casas Grandes which has Mogollon cul‐ adjacent areas. The authors pose new questions tural roots) as a Mesoamerican "gateway" and about the development of the large sites, nearly part of a central place system or socioeconomic simultaneous forescence for all major sites (CE interaction sphere that brought Mesoamerican 650 to 800), and the mechanisms for the spread of characteristics into the American Southwest and cultural traits during the Epi-Classic period. Dar‐ west Texas, but collapsed with Tarascan state ex‐ ling is opposed to a thesis Turner and Turner pos‐ pansion ca. CE 1450 to 1500. The distinction be‐ tulated in Man Corn: Cannibalism and Violence in tween the early (CE 950-1300) and late (1250-1400) the American Southwest (1999) that involves Mex‐ systems is notable. ican Toltec incursions into the Southwest. [3] With "Chapter Ten: Archaeology of Southern "Chapter Eleven: The Archaeoastronomical Zacatecas: The Malpaso, Juchipila, and Valparaiso- System in the Rio Colorado Chalchihuites Polity, Bolanos Valleys" (pp. 155-180, 22 fgures, 18 end‐ Zacatecas: An Interpretation of the Chapin I notes) by Peter F. Jimenez Betts (Instituto Nacional Pecked Cross-Circle" (pp. 181-195, 12 fgures, 11 de Antropologia e Historia, Centro Zacatecas) and endnotes) is by J. Charles and Ellen Abbott Kelley J. Andrew Darling (Mexico-North Research Net‐ (Sul Ross State University). This essay ofers a work, Chihuahua, Mexico), the focus of the essays provocative interpretation of archaeoastronomi‐ changes to Zacatecas and the La Quemada and cal features at the sites of Alta Vista and Cerro Chalchihuites areas. They summarize past re‐ Chapin, and emphasizes a pecked cross-circle at search, and argue that the La Quemada and the latter ceremonial site that is nearly situated Chalchihuites cultures were initially similar but on the Tropic of Cancer. Similar cross-circles are that these cultural traditions diverged signifcant‐ found at Teotihuacan in the Basin of Mexico, and ly through time. Some recent thinking has homog‐ the Kelleys argue that Teotihuacan established Alta Vista. The "Labyrinth," a structure at Alta

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Vista, is also reported and associated with Ronna Jane Bradley (University of New Mexico at equinox sunrises and the peak of Picacho Pelon in Valencia) begins with a review of past archaeolog‐ the Cerro de Chalchihuites. They also determined ical investigations and initial interpretations of that other peaks and cross-circles at Alta Vista Chihuahuan prehistory. The modern era of re‐ marked the summer and winter solstice sunrises. search begins with Charles C. Di Peso's Joint Casas In addition, the Cerro Chapin I petroglyph is seen Grandes Expedition at Paquime and in four other as related to the summer solstice. Each circle- sites that led to the postulate of a six phase Casas cross is perceived to be unique and the authors Grandes chronology phase from Preceramic invite a rigorous assessment of their paradigm. through Espanoles. Di Peso argued for a mer‐ Anthony Aveni and John Carlson, leading scholars chant-trader (pochteca) model with Paquime as a of archaeoastronomy, read or commented on the trading outpost and craft production center. manuscript. Bradley uses new dendrochronological (tree ring Michael Foster's "Chapter Twelve: The Ar‐ chronology) data to refne the culture periods and chaeology of Durango" (pp. 197-210, 13 fgures) she reevaluates Chihuahuan social complexity, commences with a review of previous research, craft production systems, and water control sys‐ including early Spanish explorer accounts, and tems. She concludes by discussing Paquime's role the beginning of systematic research by J. Charles in the Aztatlan Mercantile System as well as other Kelley in the 1950s. Foster begins with the Pale‐ paradigms: prestige goods exchange, the oindian and Archaic evidence (both meager), and Mesoamerican world system, and peer-polity the development and spread of the Loma San model.. Readers will fnd a diferent evaluation of Gabriel horticultural and pottery-making tradi‐ Di Peso's paradigms in Culture and Contact: tion from the Archaic Los Caracoles complex. The Charles C. Di Peso's Gran Chichimeca edited by Loma San Gabriel is determined to be a non- Anne I. Woosley and John C. Ravensloot (Dragoon, Mesoamerican culture located in western Zacate‐ AZ: Amerind Foundation Publication, and Albu‐ cas and eastern Durango, 300 BCE to CE 1450. Set‐ querque: University of New Mexico Press, 1993). tlement pattern and ceramic data are employed in Separate contributions by Carroll Riley, Randall the lack of systematic stratigraphic excavations, McGuire, Ben Nelson, Phil Weigand, and Linda and much of what is reported about Chalchihuites Cordell are especially illuminating. culture is based on excavations at the Schroeder With "Chapter Fourteen: The Archaeological site. He considers that Loma may have given rise Traditions of Sinaloa" (pp. 241-253, 6 fgures, 12 to the Canutillo phase in western Zacatecas but endnotes), Maria Elisa Villalpando (Instituto Na‐ that expanding Chalchihuites culture in Durango cional de Antropologia e Historia, Centro Sonora) displaced Loma. Aztatlan cultures penetrate the examines the cultural history of the Estado de Durango highlands ca. CE 600 and the region is in‐ Sonora, which is based heavily upon ceramic corporated into the Aztatlan Mercantile System, data. The lowlands had three cultural traditions: so that west Mexican characteristics dominate 1) Trincheras (CE 750-1450, concentrated in three from CE 950 to 1400. Foster's discussion of sites, river valleys but extending north to the Gulf of burials, and pottery for the Preclassic phase California; 2) Huatabampo (which disappears ca, through the prehistoric to historic transition is es‐ CE 1000, and is associated with a distinctive red sential to comprehending Durango's long and pottery in sites long extinct lagoons, estuaries, complex culture history. and river valleys); and 3) and Central Coast In "Chapter Thirteen: Recent Advances in Chi‐ (viewed as the prehistoric manifestation of the huahuan Archaeology" (pp. 221-239, 4 fgures), ethnographic Seri). In the uplands, the Casas Grandes tradition is discerned, centered at

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Paquime, and the Rio Sonora culture in the area tions with cultures in the Basin of Mexico, the in‐ between the international border and northern terrelationships between northwest Mexico and Sinaloa, ending ca. CE 1300. The author empha‐ the American Southwest are not adequately dis‐ sizes the sociocultural and economic diferences cussed. between the lowland and upland cultural tradi‐ The peoples of the Central Plateau, west and tions, the efect of drought and desertifcation by northwest Mexico, the Valley of Oaxaca, highland mid CE 1400s, and subsequent establishment of Guatemala, the lowlands of the Yucatan Peninsu‐ the Spanish mission system. la, and the Mexican Gulf Coast had more culture The fnal essay, "Chapter Fifteen: From Tz‐ contact than we have been able to discern archae‐ intzuntzan to Paquime: Peers or Peripheries in ologically. Therefore, this book illuminates the Greater Mesoamerica?" by Michael W. Spence fact that Mexican peoples since the Preclassic pe‐ (University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, riod have been migrating, communicating, and Canada) a central Mexican specialist who also conducting commerce for a very long time. The knows the archaeology of north and west Mexico, volume is comparable in importance to Stark and summarizes some of the authors' signifcant Arnold's Olmec to Aztec: Settlement Patterns in points and arguments. Spence considers the role the Ancient Gulf Lowlands (1997) [4], and is an‐ of Teotihuacan in obsidian control, marine shell other example of a regional assessment that is the exchange, the distribution of talud and tablero ar‐ result of a conference that engages current schol‐ chitectural traits, the probable Michoacano en‐ arship and a fne editorial hand. Foster and clave at the Teotihuacan urban center, and the na‐ Gorenstein and their colleagues have provided ture of the Aztatlan complex. He evaluates the compelling essays with descriptions, interpreta‐ narrowness of the defnition of Mesoamerica, and tions, and paradigms of trade and center-periph‐ ofers important suggestions for future research, ery. There is a great deal yet to learn about west beginning with extensive regional surveys, select‐ and northwest Mexico, but these contributions ed stratigraphic excavations, and technical analy‐ provide a signifcant baseline for further research ses of artifacts. in these areas of "Greater Mesoamerica." This volume is a signifcant contribution to A few minor errors appear in the citations, our understanding of west and northwest Mexico for example: Federick = Frederick (p. 272) and and the relationships with central Mexico, partic‐ Glaascock = Glascock (p. 274). The reference to ularly the Basin of Mexico and environs where Bell 1971 in Handbook of Middle American Indi‐ Preclassic Cuicuilco, Classic period Teotihuacan, ans should be to Vol. 11 rather than Vol. 10 (p. and the Postclassic Toltec and Aztec (Mexica) cul‐ 265). tures fourished. Foster and Gorenstein have as‐ Notes sembled a group of compelling essays derived [1]. Gordon R. Willey, Introduction to Ameri‐ from the 1992 conference, admirably edited the can Archaeology, Vol. 1: North and Middle Ameri‐ revised and emended contributions, and present‐ ca (Englewood Clifs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1966) and ed the reader with a current and salient synthesis Muriel Porter Weaver, The Aztecs, Maya and of extremely complex areas at the so-called Their Predecessors: Archaeology of Mesoamerica Mesoamerican western and northwestern fron‐ (New York: Academic Press, 1993). tier. The authors make persuasive arguments for the inclusion of parts of west and northwest Mexi‐ [2]. Betty B. Bell, "Archaeology of Nayarit, co in the "Greater Mesoamerican" culture area. Jalisco, and Colima," in Handbook of Middle While much of the discussion focuses on connec‐ American Indians, Vol. 11, Archaeology of North‐ ern Mesoamerica Part 2, edited by Gordon F.

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Ekholm and Ignacio Bernal, general editor Robert Wauchope, pp. 694-753 (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1971). Robert Chadwick, "Archaeolog‐ ical Synthesis of Michoacan and Adjacent Areas," in Handbook of Middle American Indians, Vol. 11, Archaeology of Northern Mesoamerica Part 2, edited by Gordon F. Ekholm and Ignacio Bernal, general editor Robert Wauchope, pp. 657-693 (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1971). J. Charles Kelley, "Archaeology of the Northern Frontier: Za‐ catecas and Durango," in Handbook of Middle American Indians, Vol. 11, Archaeology of North‐ ern Mesoamerica Part 2, edited by Gordon F. Ekholm and Ignacio Bernal, general editor Robert Wauchope, pp. 768-801 (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1971). Robert H. Lister, "Archaeologi‐ cal Synthesis of Guerrero," in Handbook of Middle American Indians, Vol. 11, Archaeology of North‐ ern Mesoamerica Part 2, edited by Gordon F. Ekholm and Ignacio Bernal, general editor Robert Wauchope, pp. 619-631 (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1971). Clement W. Meighan, "Archeol‐ ogy of Sinaloa," in Handbook of Middle American Indians, Vol. 11, Archaeology of Northern Mesoamerica Part 2, edited by Gordon F. Ekholm and Ignacio Bernal, general editor Robert Wau‐ chope, pp. 754-763 (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1971). [3]. Christy G. Turner and Jacqueline A. Turn‐ er Man Corn: Cannibalism and Violence in the Prehistoric American Southwest (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1999). H-NET Review: http://www.h-net.msu.edu/reviews/showrev.cgi? path=12807942422197 (October 1999, H-NEXA). [4]. Barbara L. Stark and Philip J. Arnold III, editors, Olmec to Aztec: Settlement Patterns in the Ancient Gulf Lowlands (Tucson: University of Ari‐ zona Press, 1997).

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Citation: Charles C. Kolb. Review of Foster, Michael S.; Gorenstein, Shirley, eds. Greater Mesoamerica: The Archaeology of West and Northwest Mexico. H-LatAm, H-Net Reviews. August, 2001.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=5403

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

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