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Beginnings: The Viejo Period, Jane H. Kelley, Michael T. Searcy

Faculty Publications

he history of the Medio Period is marked by population growth, aggregation, ideological shifts, and the building of the large, central polity of Paquimé (Casas Grandes). But before this colossal social transformation took place, people in northwest Chihuahua lived a lifestyle that had persisted for at least 400 years, which is known as the Viejo Period. his period is far from the beginning of human occupation in this area; Paleo points, extensive Archaic remains, the early agricultural site of Cerro Juanaqueña (Hard and Roney 1998), and an early pithouse period preceded Paquimé and can be seen as more distant precursors …