In Search of a Borderland: Material Culture Patterns on the Southern Limits of the North American Southwest

ABSTRACT

Recent research conducted in southern Sonora, Mexico provides an opportunity to revisit debates about interaction between Mesoamerica and the North American Southwest (NAS). In the borderland between these traditions, communities show few signs of cultural amalgamation, instead exhibiting either an avoidance of overt identity markers or an emphasis on more local connections. This pattern contrasts with most discussions of Mesoamerican influence on the NAS that focus on regionally atypical centers of foreign goods consumption or evidence of foreign religious traditions in distant localities. By recentering on local contexts where cultural amalgamation is expected but minimal, we raise important questions about why more distant groups found Mesoamerican societies to be worthy of emulation. The results suggest researchers should devote equal attention to cases in which distinct identities are erased or suppressed as they do to cases in which social boundaries are maintained or created anew.

KEYWORDS:

• Borderlands
• social boundaries
• cultural amalgamation
• Mesoamerica
• North American Southwest
• Rio Sonora
• Serrana

Acknowledgements

We extend our profound appreciation to the communities that hosted this research, including Rosario de Tesopaco, Nuri, Quiriego, Sahuaripa, Tacupeto, Onapa, Choix, and Mochicahui. We are further indebted to other regional scholars whose data sharing made this research possible, especially Cristina García-Moreno, Emilliano Gallaga, and the late Richard Pailes.

Disclosure Statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Notes

1 From provided figures, three of these appear to be “Santa Ana” described above, which are likely not from the core Casas Grandes region.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported in large part by National Science Foundation Grant BCS 1724445, with supplemental funding by a University of Oklahoma Junior Faculty Fellowship, a Rust Family Foundation Grant, and the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.

Notes on contributors

John Philip Carpenter

John Philip Carpenter (Ph.D. 1996, University of Arizona) is a researcher at the Instituto Nacional de Antropología and Historia, Sonora. His interests include ethnohistory and social organization.

Guadalupe Sánchez

Guadalupe Sanchez Miranda (Ph.D. 2010, University of Arizona) is a researcher at the Instituto Nacional de Antropología and Historia, Sonora who specializes in hunters and gatherers of the Sonoran Desert.

Rommel Tapia-Carrasco

Rommel Tapia-Carrasco is a licenciatura student (Pasante) at the Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia affiliated with the Instituto Nacional de Antropología and Historia, with research interests that span from the Mayan region to the Sonoran Desert.

Andrew R. Krug

Andrew R. Krug (M.A. 2018, University of Missouri) is a Ph.D. student at the University of Oklahoma who focuses on theories of exchange and sourcing methodologies.

Edson Cupa

Edson Cupa is a licenciatura student (Pasante) at the Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia, with research interests in Mesoamerica and northwestern Mexico.

Dakota Larrick

Dakota Larrick (M.A. 2021, University of Oklahoma) is a graduate student at the University of Arizona with interests in dendrochronology/climatology and human-environmental interactions.

Carlos Eduardo Hernández

Carlos Eduardo Hernández is a licenciatura student (Pasante) at the Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia, with research interests in Mesoamerica and northwestern Mexico.

Robin R. Singleton

Robin R. Singleton (B.S. 2015, Hiram College) is a Ph.D. student at the University of Oklahoma with research interests in molecular anthropology and a focus on human/animal interactions.

Matthew C. Pailes

Matthew Pailes (Ph.D. 2015, University of Arizona) is an Associate Professor at the University of Oklahoma. His research interests include resilience theory and agricultural societies. Orcid 0000-0001-9045-5671.