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Wealth, Status, Ritual, and Marine Shell at Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Michael E. Whalen
Michael E. Whalen*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Harwell Hall, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK 74104-3189 (michael-whalen@utulsa.edu)
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Abstract

The center of Casas Grandes (or Paquimé) in northwest Chihuahua, Mexico, long has been famous for the large quantities of imported and exotic materials found there. It contains the largest cache of marine shell ever found at an inland site in prehistoric North America or Mesoamerica. Several explanations have been offered for this phenomenon, including amassing of personal wealth, stockpiling for mercantile exchange, and accumulation for use in a prestige goods context. The present paper argues that extant data do not conclusively support any of these explanations, and it offers a new interpretation of the community’s vast shell hoards. They are seen within the materialist perspective as "animate objects," forming a vast repository of supernatural power that was a central part of the community’s ritual system. This argument is extended to other features of Casas Grandes, including its reservoirs, water shrine, and bird burials.

Resumen

Resumen

El centro de casas Grandes (o Paquimé) en el noroeste de Chihuahua, México, desde hace mucho tiempo ha sido famoso por las cantidades grandes de materia exótica e importada que se encontró allί. El sitio contiene la reserva más grande de concha del mar que ha sido encontrada en un sitio de Norteamérica o de Mesoamérica. Existen varias explicaciones de este fenómeno incluso acumulación de riqueza personal, surtido para intercambio mercantil y acumulación para usar en un contexto de mercancίas prestigiosas. Este ensayo sostiene que los datos existentes no apoyan conclusivamente ninguno de estas modelos y se ofrece una interpretación nueva de las reservas enormes de concha. Se sostiene que las conchas puedan ser entendidas como “obyectos ánimos” que formaban una reserva vasta de fuerza sobrenatural que fuera una parte central del sistema ritual de la comunidad. Este argumento se extiende a otros elementos de Casas Grandes incluso sus aljibes, su altar subterráneo de agua y los cientos de entierros de pájaros.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 78 , Issue 4 , October 2013 , pp. 624 - 639
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2014

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