Constructing the Pre-Hispanic Landscape in the Santiago Bayacora Basin, Durango
Constructing the Pre-Hispanic Landscape in the Santiago Bayacora Basin, Durango
This chapter presents a critical review of the settlement patterns recognized to date in relation to the occupation of Pre-Hispanic groups in the central–west region of the modern state of Durango in northwestern Mexico. It also proposes visualizing settlement patterns in the region through the perspective of landscape archaeology, in which distribution over a given landscape may be viewed as part of a society’s power strategies. To that end, it employs spatial analysis to critically examine a series of settlements that pertain to the Chalchihuites culture between AD 550–1250 in the Santiago Bayacora River Basin. Results suggest that Chalchihuites groups may have shared a system of knowledge–power with the rest of Mesoamerica, but that their physical landscape was distinct, and therefore the ways in which these groups appropriated the landscape differed. The chapter concludes by suggesting that the logic that dominates our interpretations of Mesoamerican settlements needs rethinking in northwestern Mexico.
Keywords: Landscape archaeology, Pre-Hispanic, Durango, Settlement patterns, Power strategies, Spatial analysis, Chalchihuites, Santiago Bayacora River Basin
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