Zone archéologique de Paquimé, Casas Grandes

Brève description

© UNESCO

Justification d'inscription

Critère iii : Paquimé Casas Grandes constitue un témoignage riche et significatif d’un aspect primordial de l’évolution culturelle de l’Amérique du Nord, notamment des relations préhispaniques en matière de commerce et de culture. Critère iv : les nombreux vestiges retrouvés sur le site archéologique de Paquimé Casas Grandes apportent une preuve exceptionnelle du développement de l’architecture d’adobe en Amérique du Nord et surtout de la combinaison de ce type d’architecture avec les techniques plus avancées de Mésoamérique.

Description longue

Paquimé Casas Grandes bears eloquent and abundant witness to an important element in the cultural evolution of North America, and in particular to pre-Hispanic commercial and cultural links. The extensive remains illustrate the development of adobe architecture in North America, and in particular the blending of this with the more advanced techniques of Mesoamerica.

The so-called Pueblo Culture of the south-west United States, based on agriculture, spread slowly southwards during the 1st millennium AD. A village of pit houses was founded at the site of Casas Grandes, in north-western Chihuahua, during the 8th century by Mogollon people from New Mexico. It developed slowly until the mid-12th century, when it underwent a dramatic expansion and cultural shift. The pit dwellings were replaced by more elaborate above-ground adobe structures on a complex layout. The presence of features such as platform mounds, ball courts, a sophisticated water-distribution system, and specialized storage buildings for exotic products such as macaws and turkeys, shell and copper artefacts, and agave indicates influence from the more advanced civilizations of Mesoamerica. It is uncertain whether this represents an invasion from the south or an indigenous expansion to handle a greatly increased volume of trade. Paquimé became a major mercantile centre, linked with a large number of smaller settlements around it. It has been estimated that the population during its peak period of prosperity, in the 14th and early 15th centuries, was of the order of 10,000, making it one of the largest proto-urban agglomerations in northern America.

Following the Spanish conquest of Mexico, a new social and economic structure on the European model was imposed upon the region, in which Paquimé played no part. It rapidly declined, and early Spanish explorers reported only small farming communities living in north-western Chihuahua. The final break-up came in the later 17th century, when intensive Spanish colonization of the area resulted in the displacement of the surviving inhabitants.

The archaeological site is located at the foot of the Sierra Madre Occidental range near the headwaters of the Casas Grandes River. It is estimated to contain the remains of some 2,000 rooms in clusters of living rooms, workshops and stores, with patios. The predominant building material is unfired clay (adobe); stone is used for specific purposes, such as the lining of pits, a technique from central Mexico. Typical of these is the House of the Ovens, a block made up of a single-storey room and four stone-lined pits, with a mound of burnt rocks alongside. It forms part of a larger complex consisting of nine rooms and two small plazas. The pits were used for baking agave or sotal, using heated stones. The House of the Serpent consisted originally of 26 rooms and three plazas. It was later extended and adapted to provide enlarged facilities for raising macaws and turkeys, which seems to have been its primary function. A similar sequence can be observed in the House of the Macaws, so named because 122 birds were buried beneath its floors.

The Mound of the Cross, close to the House of the Ovens, consists of five low stone-lined and earth-filled mounds. The central mound is in the shape of an uneven cross, the arms of which roughly correspond with the cardinal points, which suggests that it played a role in celebrations to mark the equinoxes and solstices. The function of the Mound of the Offerings is less clear. It consists of a multilevel structure of rammed rubble, a puddle adobe precinct, and a ramp leading to one of the water-storage cisterns. The central portion contains seven rooms containing altar stones, statues and secondary burials. The Mound of the Bird takes its name from its outline, which resembles a headless bird facing east. No structures were found within it.

The water system consists of reservoirs linked by channels which distributed water to each of the room-blocks. The House of the Wells takes its name from the large storage cistern in one of its plazas that was fed from the common network. The sophistication of the system is shown by the presence of silting ponds at the entrance to each reservoir.

Description historique

La culture Pueblo du sud-ouest des Etats-Unis, fondée sur l'agriculture, s'est lentement propagée vers le sud pendant le premier millénaire après J.-C. Au huitième siècle, les Mogollons du Nouveau-Mexique construisent un village d'habitations à demi enfouies sur le site de Casas Grandes, dans le nord-ouest de Chihuahua. Après une lente évolution jusqu'au milieu du douzième siècle, cette culture connaît un essor considérable et un véritable bouleversement culturel.

Les habitations à demi enfouies sont remplacées par des structures en adobe plus élaborées réalisées en surface selon un plan complexe. L'influence des civilisations plus avancées de Mésoamérique se traduit par des caractéristiques telles que des tertres en plateforme, des jeux de balle, un système sophistiqué de distribution d'eau et des bâtiments réservés au stockage de produits exotiques comme les aras et les dindes, d'objets en coquillage et en cuivre et d'agaves. Les archéologues se demandent toujours si cette mutation est due à une invasion du sud ou à une expansion indigène destinée à organiser un volume commercial grandement accru.

Paquimé devient une place marchande de première importance entourée de nombreux petits hameaux. Pendant cette période de prospérité (XIVe et début du XVe siècle), on a estimé la population à 10 000 personnes environ, soit l'une des agglomérations proto-urbaines les plus importantes d'Amérique du Nord.

Après la conquête du Mexique par les Espagnols, la région se voit imposer une structure sociale et économique nouvelle élaborée sur le modèle européen, dans laquelle Paquimé ne joue aucun rôle. Cette structure ayant rapidement décliné, les premiers explorateurs espagnols rapportent l'existence de quelques petites communautés agricoles seulement dans le nord-ouest de Chihuahua. La rupture sera définitive au XVIIe siècle avec la colonisation espagnole intensive qui entraîne l'exode des derniers habitants.