This article is about the archaeological site in Sonora, Mexico. For the location in Colombia, see La Pintada, Colombia. For the location in Panama, see La Pintada, Panama.
Seris, Pimas & Yaqui Cultures – Archaeological Site
La Pintada is an archaeological site located some 60 kilometers south of the city of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, within the "La Pintada" canyon, part of the "Sierra Libre", a small mountain massif of the coastal plains that extends throughout the Sonoran Desert.[1]
La Pintada, a forgotten archaeological treasure,[2] is an important archaeological zone of its kind in the state of Sonora. It offers visitors a glimpse of the ancestral cultural legacy as well as an extraordinary natural view of its flora, fauna and its orography.
The groups that lived here depended for survival on both; their knowledge of the territory and the availability of resources, and especially water. Their scarcity in a desert environment makes the places where water abounds in nodal points of territory. Hence, the "Sierra Libre"stands as an authentic oasis, it contains many natural water deposits, and the liquid abundance is reflected in the quantity and quality of available resources. Several containers in the La Pintada Canyon are filled during the summer rains and refilled with winter rains.[1]
It was a spot where, according to some experts, native groups, such as Seris, Pimas or Yaquis, during their last years would hide from the Spaniards conquering weapons. It is also known as "Macizo del Cerro Prieto", "Sierra Libre" or "Sierra Prieta". Caves, hollows and rocks from this area were used by ancient natives as dwellings, funerary events and sanctuaries.
The site is located within regional areas defined as Aridoamerica[3][4] and Oasisamerica.[5] Both are defined as independent of Mesoamerica and in turn are apparently differentiated from one another by cultural traits. One group is said to be composed of hunter-gatherers and the other to be in possession of agricultural techniques.
No information is available as to what the chronological periods are for each "region" was, as both cover about the same territories, nor their relation with other Mesoamerican native cultures in Mexico.
Background
Evidence of human existence in the state dates back over 10,000 years, with some of the best known remains at the San Dieguito complex in the El Pinacate Desert. The first humans were nomadic hunter gatherers and used stone, seashell and wooden tools.[6][7] In much of the prehistoric period, the environmental conditions were less severe than they are today. Vegetation was similar, but its distribution was wider and denser.[8]
Agriculture first appears around 400 BCE and 200 CE in the river valleys. Ceramics developed after 750 CE and would diversity between 800 and 1350.[7] Between 1100 and 1350, the region had small but somewhat socially complex villages, which were involved in well-developed trade networks. One exception to this was the lowland central coast which never truly adopted agriculture.[8] As noted, Sonora and much of the northwest is not considered to be part of Mesoamerica, with Guasave in Sinaloa the most northwestern Mesoamerican settlement known, but there is evidence of trade between the peoples of Sonora and Mesoamerica.[9]
The Trincheras tradition is dated to between 750 and 1450 CE and mostly known from sites in the Altar, Magdalena and Concepción valleys, but their range extended from the Gulf of California into northern Sonora.
The tradition is named after trenches found in a number of sites, the best known of which is the Cerro de Trincheras.
The Huatabampo tradition is centered south of the Trincheras on the coast, with sites along extinct lagoons, estuaries and river valleys. The pottery is distinctive. The culture shows similarities with the Chametla to the south and the Hohokam to the north. It probably disappeared around 1000 CE. Unlike the other two tradition, the Central Coast remained a hunter-gatherer culture, as the area lacks the resources for agriculture.[10]
The higher elevations of the state were dominated by the Río Sonora and Casas Grandes traditions. The Río Sonora culture is located in central Sonora from the border area to modern Sinaloa. A beginning date for this culture has not been determined but it probably disappeared by the early 1300s. The Casas Grandes tradition in Sonora was an extension of that based in the modern state of Chihuahua, and these people exerted their influence down to parts of the Sonoran coast.[11][12]
Climatic changes in the middle of the 15th century resulted in the increased desertification of Sonora and northwest Mexico in general. This is the probable cause for the drastic decrease in the number and size of settlements starting around this time. Those peoples who remained in the area reverted to a less complex social organization and lifestyle.[13] Whatever socially complex organization which existed in Sonora before the Spanish, was long gone by the 16th century.[12]
The story of the origins of the cultural super area of Mesoamerica takes place some 2000 years after the separation of Mesoamerica and Aridoamerica. Some of the Aridoamerican communities farmed as a complement to their hunter-gatherer economy. Those communities, among whom one finds adherents to the Desert Tradition, later would become more truly agricultural and form Oasisamerica. The process of introducing agriculture in the desert-like land of northern Mexico and the southern United States was gradual and extensive: by the year 600 AD (a time which coincides with the twilight of Teotihuacan), several groups had already acquired agricultural techniques.
Ancient Cultural Groups
Ancient native cultural groups inhabiting the region are the Mayos, the Yaquis and the Seris; however there are a number of other groups which have maintained much of their way of life in territory in which they have lived for centuries.[14]
The Mayos, also called the Yoreme, are descendants from the ancient Huatabampo culture. They call themselves "people of the riverbank" as they are concentrated along the Mayo River.
The Yaquis are the ancestral cultural group mostly associated with the state of Sonora.[15]
The Seris call themselves the Conca'ac, which means "the people" in the Seri language. The name Seri comes from the Opata language and means "men of sand."[16]
Generally, the Seris are the tallest of the indigenous peoples of the region, and the first Spanish to encounter them described them as "giants."[16][17]
The Tohono O'odham, still referred to as the Pápago, inhabited the most arid areas of the state, mostly in Caborca, Puerto Peñasco, Sáric, Altar and Plutarco Elías Calles in the north of the state. This group had ethnic relations with groups in Arizona. The Tohono O'odham have as a principle deity the "Older Brother," who dominates the forces of nature.[18][19]
The Opatas inhabited regions in the center and northwest of the state. This group name means "hostile people" and was given to them by the Pimas, as the Opatas were generally in conflict with their neighbors. They were especially hostile to the Tohono O'odham, who they depreciatingly refer to as the Papawi O'otham, or "bean people."[20][21]
The Pimas occupy the mountains of the Sierra Madre Occidental in eastern Sonora and western Chihuahua state. The Pimas call themselves the O'oh, which means "the people." The name Pima was given to them by Spaniards because the word "pima" would be said in response to most questions asked to them in Spanish. This word roughly means "I don't know" or "I don't understand." The traditional territory of this ethnicity is known as the Pimería, and it is divided into two regions: the Pimería Alta and the Pimería Baja.[20][22]
The Guarijíos are one of the least understood groups in the state, and are mostly restricted to an area called the Mesa del Matapaco in the southeast. The Guarijíos are related to the Tarahumaras and the Cáhitas.[20][23]
The Cocopah is the smallest native indigenous group to Sonora with only about 170 members, who live mostly in San Luis Río Colorado, along the U.S. border. Their original name Kuapak, means "which comes" and possibly refers to the frequent changes in the course of the Colorado River. There have been efforts to preserve what is left of the Cocopah culture, but only 47 individuals speak the Cocopah language.[24][25]
The Kickapoos are not native to Sonora, but migrated here from the United States over a century ago. Today, they are found in the communities of El Nacimiento, Coahuila and Tamichopa in the municipality of Bacerac. Their ancestral language was part of the Algonquin family.[24][26]
The Anasazi culture flourished in the region currently known as the Four Corners. The territory was covered by juniper forests which the ancient peoples learned to exploit for their own needs. The Anasazi society is one of the most complex to be found in Oasisamerica, and they are assumed to be the ancestors of the modern Pueblo people (including the Zuñi and Hopi). (The word "Anasazi" is a Navajo term meaning "enemy ancestors"; its neutrality should thus not be blindly assumed.) In contrast to their Anasazi neighbors to the north, the nomadic communities of the Hohokam culture are poorly understood. They occupied the desert-like lands of Arizona and Sonora. The Hohokam territory is bounded by two large rivers, the Colorado and Gila Rivers, that outline the heart of the Sonora Desert. The principal settlements of the Hohokam culture were Snaketown, Casa Grande, Red Mountain, and Pueblo de los Muertos, all of which are to be found in modern-day Arizona. A slightly different branch of the Hohokam people is known as the Trincheras, named after their most well-known site in the Sonora Desert. The Hohokam lived in small communities of several hundred people.
The development of the Hohokam culture is divided into four periods: Pioneer (300 BC - 550 AD), Colonial (550-900 AD), Sedentary (900-1100 AD), and Classical (1100-1450 AD). The Pioneer period commenced with the construction of the canal works, and the Hohokam constructed semi subterranean dwellings in order to protect themselves from the blistering heat of the Sonoran Desert. In the Colonial period, ties were strengthened with Mesoamerica. Proof of this can be found in the recovery of copper bells, pyrite mirrors, and the construction of ballgame courts juego de pelota, all of which display a very Hohokam touch. The relations with Mesoamerica and the presence of such traded goods indicate that by the Colonial period the Hohokam had already become organized into chiefdoms and centers of power. Relations with Mesoamerica would diminish in the following period, and the Hohokam turned to construct multi-story buildings like Casa Grande, which had four levels.
By the time the Europeans arrived in the Arizona and Sonora Deserts, a region which they named Pimería Alta, the urban centers of the Hohokam had already become abandoned presumably due to the health and ecological disasters that befell the indigenous social system. The inhabitants of the region were called Pápagos, a group which spoke an Uto-Aztecan language.
The Mogollon was a cultural area of Mesoamerica that extended from the foothills of the Sierra Madre Occidental, northward to Arizona and New Mexico in the southwestern United States. Some scholars prefer to distinguish between two broad cultural traditions in this area: the Mogollon itself and the Paquime culture that were derived from it. Either way, the peoples who inhabited the area in question adapted well to a landscape that was marked by the presence of pine forests and steep mountains and ravines.
The Region
The region has been widely studied by archeologists, anthropologists and historians, who have worked on ruins and fossilized bones.[27] However, much of the research in this area is still in its initial descriptive stage with many basic questions still unanswered. As previously noted Sonora is considered to be a cultural zone separate from Mesoamerica, although there may have been some Mesoamerican influence. The major differences between Sonoran cultures and Mesoamerica include dry climate farming, although the same basics of corn, squash and beans are produced. There is also a heavier reliance on wild resources. More important was the lack of true cities during this area's prehispanic history, with small settlements clustered around water sources and weak hierarchical systems. These cultures share some traits with those of the U.S. Southwest, however distinct.[28]
The Cerro de Trincheras is an archeological site, with petroglyphs, plazas and astronomical observatories. The exact purpose of the area has been disputed, but the area reached its height between 1300 and 1450 CE, when it had population of about 1,000, which made its living growing corn, squash, cotton and agave. Its largest structure is called "La Cancha" (The Ballcourt), which is at the base of the north side of the hill. It is a rectangular patio marked by rocks piled on its edges, measuring 51 by 13 metres (167 by 43ft). Some researchers believe it was some kind of ball court and others believe it was a kind of open air theater. On the hill itself is an observatory, which gives views of the area. Most of the area's artifacts of stone and shell were found here. The Plaza de Caracol is marked by a meter and a half high stone wall in an open spiral, most likely used for ceremonies.[29]
The site
La Pintada comprises two different archaeological components; within the Canyon are cave paintings and rock engravings, while outside, on the alluvial plain of the Canyon are vestiges of various seasonal camping grounds in an extensive area, characterized by a concentration of archaeological material: ceramic, stone tools, sea shells and grinding artifacts.[1]
Camping Grounds
Most of the archaeological materials found in these grounds, are within the archaeological tradition known as Central Coast, and are particularly similar to those found by Edward Mosler and Thomas Bowen at sites in the region of Tastiota and Punta San Antonio in the southern part of the Central Coast area. So far, La Pintada is the site associated with that archaeological tradition farther away from the coastline.[1]
Occupation of the camping grounds reached its peak between 700 and 1600 CE, judging from the abundance of ceramic smooth shark type; the presence of this ceramic as well other corresponding to historical and modern Seri types shows a cultural continuity which allows to infer the presence of Central Coast tradition groups as well as historical seris or concaác, without implying that they were the only inhabitants of the place or the cave painting component being their exclusive art work.[1]
Cave Paintings
The place is considered a ceremonial center, and one of the most important cave painting areas in the northwest of the country. There are no buildings or structures.[30]
The Sonora and La Pintada archaeological wealth are characterized basically by the painting designs, and archaeological vestiges related to occasional settlements. The paintings depict over 400 different style or design types, that were drawn by different ethnical groups at different times, and was probably used as a ceremonial center.[30]
It is believed to have been an open camping place, where people gathered as part of a collectors and hunters group circuit.[30]
During 1960-1970 the first meticulous investigation work was made, since then there has been a few incidental works but not any more formal investigation.[30]
The paintings are an artistic manifestation of what was around; describes the native view of the environment back then, their thought, as well as the way and forms of life.[30]
The site was occupied by several groups in diverse times; in addition it was maintained as a sacred place, ceremonial and emblematic.[30]
It is estimated that in the site there are over 2,500 of these graphical manifestations, of which around 70 percent has been digitally registered.[31]
The paintings are distributed in a natural canyon as part of the Archaeological Zone. These designs are believed to be cosmo-vision representations of the ancient groups that occupied this area about 1,200 years ago, as well as during the Spanish invasion.[31]
Since 2007, a group of technicians performs the meticulous analysis and digital registry of these ancient manifestations, distributed in 33 hectares. This work has provided knowledge of the fact that La Pintada was an important space for diverse human groups, as much for hunting-collector groups that inhabited it during the 12th and 13th centuries, as well as for native seris, yaquis and pimas that probably used it as a ritual center between the 17th and 18th centuries.[31]
The rock represented images; made 1,200 years ago, represent local fauna such as deer, reptiles and birds, depicted by the first hunting-collector groups, when shaping them in stone, possibly as part of ancient rituals.[31]
La Pintada Archaeological Zone emblematic representation is the painting called "the deer", it is one of the largest of the site, measuring 1 by 1.20 meters high, in which a native boy mounting a deer is depicted, and this scene matches the seri myth of the powerful boy.[31]
La Pintada Friends
There are independent voices interested, although are not absolutely in agreement with available information.[30]
Héctor Domínguez, president of the Association "Amigos de la Pintada", indicated that the resource talked about for site restoration, 1.5 million is insufficient. He talked about what has been done and of what remains to be done, for the sake of the patrimony.[30]
The idea to integrate the Association was made on March 21, 2000. Formed by friends of ecology, meditation and nature contact, willing to work a little bit "more consciously".[30]
INAH believes that the work has been affected by political problems, reflected by two very abrupt director changes, it is difficult to consider that a director confronts power struggle situations, that "are embarrassing"; apparently caused by a highway location disagreements.[30]
↑ "La Pintada, tesoro arqueológico olvidado"[La Pintada, forgotten archaeological treasure]. Sonora - Arizona Education Institute (in Spanish). Hermosillo, Sonora. Archived from the original on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 25 February 2011.
↑ Aridoamerica is also known as the Gran Chichimeca. Gran Chichimeca is a term used by Mexican archaeologists to describe a region of the southwestern United States and the northern and central regions of Mexico, in contrast to Mesoamerica, which lies to the south and east. Some archaeologists even delineate a third buffer zone, Oasisamerica.
↑ Oasisamerica was a broad cultural area in pre-Columbian southwestern North America. It extended from modern-day Utah down to southern Chihuahua, and from the coast on the Gulf of California eastward to the Río Bravo river valley. Its name comes from its position in relationship with the similar regions of Mesoamerica and nomadic Aridoamerica.
↑ "Yaquis"[Yaqui people] (in Spanish). Sonora Mexico: Government of Sonora. Archived from the original on October 20, 2010. Retrieved February 15, 2011.
1 2 "Seris"[Seri people] (in Spanish). Sonora Mexico: Government of Sonora. Archived from the original on June 5, 2011. Retrieved February 15, 2011.
↑ "Opatas"[Opata people] (in Spanish). Sonora Mexico: Government of Sonora. Archived from the original on October 20, 2010. Retrieved February 15, 2011.
↑ "Pimas"[Pima people] (in Spanish). Sonora Mexico: Government of Sonora. Archived from the original on October 20, 2010. Retrieved February 15, 2011.
↑ "Guarijíos"[Guarijío people] (in Spanish). Sonora Mexico: Government of Sonora. Archived from the original on May 14, 2011. Retrieved February 15, 2011.
↑ "Cucapá"[Cocopah people] (in Spanish). Sonora Mexico: Government of Sonora. Archived from the original on October 20, 2010. Retrieved February 15, 2011.
↑ "Kikapú"[Kickapoo people] (in Spanish). Sonora Mexico: Government of Sonora. Archived from the original on October 20, 2010. Retrieved February 15, 2011.
↑ "Historia de Sonora"[History of Sonora] (in Spanish). Sonora Mexico: Government of Sonora. Archived from the original on February 2, 2011. Retrieved February 15, 2011.
↑ Quintanar Hinojosa, Beatriz, ed. (March 2010). "La Trinchera de los Dioses" [The Trench of the Gods]. Mexico Desconocido (in Spanish). Mexico City: Impresiones Aereas SA de CV. pp.82–87. ISSN1870-9397.
Sonora, officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city of which being Hermosillo, located in the center of the state. Other large cities include Ciudad Obregón, Nogales, San Luis Río Colorado, and Navojoa.
Hohokam was a culture in the North American Southwest in what is now part of Arizona, United States, and Sonora, Mexico. It existed between 300 and 1500 CE, with cultural precursors possibly as early as 300 BCE. Archaeologists disagree about whether communities that practiced the culture were related or politically united. According to local oral tradition, Hohokam societies may be the ancestors of the historic Akimel and Tohono Oʼodham in Southern Arizona.
The Pimería Alta was an area of the 18th century Sonora y Sinaloa Province in the Viceroyalty of New Spain, that encompassed parts of what are today southern Arizona in the United States and northern Sonora in Mexico.
Indigenous peoples of Arizona are the Native American people who currently live or have historically lived in what is now the state of Arizona. There are 22 federally recognized tribes in Arizona, including 17 with reservations that lie entirely within its borders. Reservations make up over a quarter of the state's land area. Arizona has the third largest Native American population of any U.S. state.
The Opata are an indigenous people in Mexico. Opata territory, the "Opatería" in Spanish, encompasses the mountainous northeast and central part of the state of Sonora, extending to near the border with the United States. Historically, they included several subtribes, including the Eudeve, Teguima, and Jova peoples.
The Seri or Comcaac people are an indigenous group of the Mexican state of Sonora. The majority reside on the Seri communal property, in the towns of Punta Chueca and El Desemboque on the mainland coast of the Gulf of California. Tiburón Island (Tahejöc) and San Esteban Island were also part of their traditional territory. They maintain an intimate relationship with both the sea and the land. They are one of the ethnic groups of Mexico that has most strongly maintained their language and culture throughout the years after contact with Spanish and Mexican cultures.
The Spanish missions in the Sonoran Desert are a series of Jesuit Catholic religious outposts established by the Spanish Catholic Jesuits and other orders for religious conversions of the Pima and Tohono O'odham indigenous peoples residing in the Sonoran Desert. An added goal was giving Spain a colonial presence in their frontier territory of the Sonora y Sinaloa Province in the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and relocating by Indian Reductions settlements and encomiendas for agricultural, ranching, and mining labor.
Aridoamerica denotes an ecological region spanning Northern Mexico and the Southwestern United States, defined by the presence of the culturally significant staple foodstuff Phaseolus acutifolius, a drought-resistant bean. Its dry, arid climate and geography stand in contrast to the verdant Mesoamerica of present-day central Mexico into Central America to the south and east, and the higher, milder "island" of Oasisamerica to the north. Aridoamerica overlaps with both.
Oasisamerica is a cultural region of Indigenous peoples in North America. Their precontact cultures were predominantly agrarian, in contrast with neighboring tribes to the south in Aridoamerica. The region spans parts of Northwestern Mexico and Southwestern United States and can include most of Arizona and New Mexico; southern parts of Utah and Colorado; and northern parts of Sonora and Chihuahua. During some historical periods, it might have included parts of California and Texas as well.
Southwestern archaeology is a branch of archaeology concerned with the Southwestern United States and Northwestern Mexico. This region was first occupied by hunter-gatherers, and thousands of years later by advanced civilizations, such as the Ancestral Puebloans, the Hohokam, and the Mogollon.
The Sobaipuri were one of many indigenous groups occupying Sonora and what is now Arizona at the time Europeans first entered the American Southwest. They were a Piman or O'odham group who occupied southern Arizona and northern Sonora in the 15th–19th centuries. They were a subgroup of the O'odham or Pima, surviving members of which include the residents of San Xavier del Bac which is now part of the Tohono O'odham Nation and the Akimel O'odham.
La Proveedora is an archeological site located some 15 kilometers west of the city of Caborca, Sonora, México, on the “La Proveedora” and “San José” hills within the “Rancho Puerto Blanco” Ejido, where most of these petroglyphs are located.
Cueva de la Olla is an archaeological site, located in the Valle de las Cuevas in the northwest of the Mexican state of Chihuahua, some 47 km southwest of Nuevo Casas Grandes near the Ignacio Zaragoza Ejido.
Cueva de la Ranchería is an archaeological site located south of Ciudad Madera, in the Sirupa Canyon region, northwest of the Mexican state of Chihuahua.
Huápoca is an archaeological site located 36 kilometers west of Ciudad Madera, in the Huápoca Canyon region, northwest of the Mexican state of Chihuahua.
La Ferrería is an archaeological site located 7 kilometers south of the city of Durango, in the Mexican state of Durango, at the “Cerro de La Ferrería”, on the side of the Tunal River.
This article details the history of Sonora. The Free and Sovereign State of Sonora is one of 31 states that, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city is Hermosillo. Sonora is located in Northwest Mexico, bordered by the states of Chihuahua to the east, Baja California to the northwest and Sinaloa to the south. To the north, it shares the U.S.–Mexico border with the states of Arizona and New Mexico, and on the west has a significant share of the coastline of the Gulf of California.
The agricultural practices of the Native Americans inhabiting the American Southwest, which includes the states of Arizona and New Mexico plus portions of surrounding states and neighboring Mexico, are influenced by the low levels of precipitation in the region. Irrigation and several techniques of water harvesting and conservation were essential for successful agriculture. To take advantage of limited water, the southwestern Native Americans utilized irrigation canals, terraces (trincheras), rock mulches, and floodplain cultivation. Success in agriculture enabled some Native Americans to live in communities which numbered in the thousands as compared to their former lives as hunter-gatherers in which their bands numbered only a few dozen.
The Indigenous peoples of the North American Southwest are those in the current states of Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Nevada in the western United States, and the states of Sonora and Chihuahua in northern Mexico. An often quoted statement from Erik Reed (1666) defined the Greater Southwest culture area as extending north to south from Durango, Mexico to Durango, Colorado and east to west from Las Vegas, Nevada to Las Vegas, New Mexico. Other names sometimes used to define the region include "American Southwest", "Northern Mexico", "Chichimeca", and "Oasisamerica/Aridoamerica". This region has long been occupied by hunter-gatherers and agricultural people.
The Mescal Wash Site is an archaeological site in Pima County, Southeastern Arizona in the United States. It is located near Cienega Creek, situated in where the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Desert meet. Its environment consists of upland hills and grassland in the desert.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Mexico 
