Chihuahuan Frontier

The Casas Grandes or “Paquimé” Archaeology Zone in northwest Chihuahua is the most important archaeological site discovered so far in North Mexico.

Isolated from the powerful prehispanic indian peoples of Central Mexico, Paquimé developed a distinctive culture coalescing elements of Mesoamerica and the Pueblo cultures of Southwest United States, becoming the largest and most culturally complex settlement in the northern region.

Paquimé reached its apogee in the 14th and 15th centuries and stood out for its elaborate adobe arquitecture and its city water system.

It was declared a World Heritage site by Unesco in 1997.

The Casas Grandes culture, whose economic and cultural center was the ancient city of Paquimé, attained a high degree of development reflected in their architecture, manufacture of sumptuous ornaments and, most important, in their refined and complex pottery.

Paquimé pottery has been widely admired since Norwegian explorer Carl Lumholtz traveled accross the Northern region of Mexico at the turn of the XIX Century.

In a wonderful work, The Unknown Mexico, he showed the world the elaborate ornamentation found in this pottery through a series of incredibly realistic prints.

Among the clay pieces, some with very thin walls, the most significant are the narrow-mouthed and globe-shaped pots, the double, interconnected pots, and pots painted with zoomorphic and anthropomorphic figures.

The latter are the most attractive and best finished of the lot, with faces that depict the same style of face makeup worn by the indians of North Mexico.

These master works of art can be seen at the Museo de las Culturas del Norte (Museum of Northern Cultures) in Paquimé.