Yuchi
The Yuchi people, spelled Euchee and Uchee, are people of a Native American tribe who lived in the eastern Tennessee River valley in Tennessee in the 16th century. The Yuchi built monumental earthworks. In the late 17th century, they moved south to Alabama and South Carolina; some migrated to the panhandle of Florida. After suffering many fatalities from epidemic disease and warfare in the 18th century, several surviving Yuchi were removed to Indian Territory in the 1830s, together with their allies the Muscogee Creek. Today, the Yuchi live in the northeastern Oklahoma area, where many are enrolled as citizens in the federally recognized Muscogee Nation; some Yuchi are enrolled as members of other federally recognized tribes, such as the Absentee Shawnee Tribe and the Cherokee Nation originally from the Southeast. The term Yuchi is interpreted to mean "over there sit/live" or "situated yonder." Their autonym, or name for themselves, Tsoyaha or Coyaha, means "Children of the Sun." The Shawnee called them Tahokale, the Cherokee call them Aniyutsi.
At the time of first European contract, the Yuchi people lived in. In 1541, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto described them as a powerful tribe known as the as Uchi, that were associated with the Chisca tribe. Both historical and archaeological evidence exists documenting several Yuchi towns of the 18th century. Among these was Chestowee in southeastern Tennessee. In 1714, instigated by two English fur traders from South Carolina, the Cherokee attacked and destroyed Chestowee; the Cherokee were prepared to carry their attacks further to Yuchi settlements on the Savannah River, but the colonial government of South Carolina did not condone the attacks. The Cherokee held back; the Cherokee destruction of Chestowee marked their emergence as a major power in the Southeast. Yuchi towns were documented in Georgia and South Carolina, where the tribe had migrated to escape pressure from the Cherokee. "Mount Pleasant" was noted as being on the Savannah River in present-day Effingham County, from about 1722 to about 1750.
To take advantage of trade, the British established a trading post and small military garrison there, which they called Mount Pleasant."Euchee Town", a large settlement on the Chattahoochee River, was documented from the middle to late 18th century. It was located near Euchee Creek, about ten miles downriver from the Muscogee Creek settlement of Coweta Old Town; the naturalist William Bartram visited Euchee Town in 1778. In his letters he ranked it as the largest and most compact Indian town he had encountered, with large, well-built houses. US Indian agent Benjamin Hawkins visited the town and described the Yuchi as "more orderly and industrious" than the other tribes of the Creek Confederacy; the Yuchi began to move on, some into the Florida panhandle. During the Creek War of 1813–1814, which overlapped the War of 1812, many Yuchi joined the Red Sticks party, traditionalists opposed to the Muscogee people of the Lower Towns, who had adopted more European ways. Euchee Town decayed; the tribe became one of the poorest of the Creek communities, at the same time gaining a bad reputation.
The archaeological site of the town, designated a National Historic Landmark, is within the boundaries of present-day Fort Benning, Georgia. Colonists noted a settlement on the Flint River, in the late 18th century. Other Yuchi settlements may have been those villages noted on the Oconee River near Uchee Creek in Wilkinson County, on Brier Creek in Burke County, Georgia or Screven County, Georgia. A Yuchi town was sited at present-day Silver Bluff in Aiken County, South Carolina from 1746 to 1751. During the 18th century, the Yuchi allied with the British, with whom they traded deer hides and Indian slaves. Yuchi population plummeted in the 18th century due to Eurasian infectious diseases, to which they had no immunity, to war with the Cherokee, who were moving into their territory. After the American Revolution, Yuchi people maintained close relations with the Muscogee Creek Confederacy; some Yuchi migrated south to Florida along with the Creek, where they became part of the newly formed Seminole people.
In the 1830s, the US government forcibly removed the Yuchi, along with the Muscogee Creek, from Alabama and Georgia to Indian Territory, west of the Mississippi River. The Yuchi settled in the northwestern parts of the Creek Nation. Three towns which the Yuchi established in the 19th century continue today: Duck Creek and Sand Creek; some Yuchi moved to near Lake Miccosukee in northern Florida prior to 1818. Andrew Jackson's invasion of the area during the First Seminole War caused the Yuchi to move to eastern Florida, they fought along side the Seminoles during the Second Seminole War under their chief Uchee Billy. He was captured in 1837 with his brother Jack by General Joseph Marion Hernandez, who captured Osceola, they were imprisoned for years in Fort Marion in Florida. While Yuchi people are enrolled in federally recognized tribes, they have been trying to gain federal recognition as an independent tribe for more than 20 years. While the Yuchi have not been federally recognized, they have made some progress.
They seek federal recognition as an individual tribe to ensure they could exercise self governance, have the ability to set up gaming casinos and other engines for economic development, as well as protect tribal customs and the unique Yuchi language. As most descendants are enrolled in other federally recognized tribes they have not been successful; the unrecognized Euchee Tribe of Indians is headquartered in Oklahoma. Their tribal chairmen are co-chairs Felix Brown Jr. a
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago, although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is the subject of active research. They became the dominant terrestrial vertebrates after the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event 201 million years ago. Reverse genetic engineering and the fossil record both demonstrate that birds are modern feathered dinosaurs, having evolved from earlier theropods during the late Jurassic Period; as such, birds were the only dinosaur lineage to survive the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event 66 million years ago. Dinosaurs can therefore be divided into birds; this article deals with non-avian dinosaurs. Dinosaurs are a varied group of animals from taxonomic and ecological standpoints. Birds, at over 10,000 living species, are the most diverse group of vertebrates besides perciform fish. Using fossil evidence, paleontologists have identified over 500 distinct genera and more than 1,000 different species of non-avian dinosaurs.
Dinosaurs are represented on every continent by fossil remains. Through the first half of the 20th century, before birds were recognized to be dinosaurs, most of the scientific community believed dinosaurs to have been sluggish and cold-blooded. Most research conducted since the 1970s, has indicated that all dinosaurs were active animals with elevated metabolisms and numerous adaptations for social interaction; some were herbivorous, others carnivorous. Evidence suggests that egg-laying and nest-building are additional traits shared by all dinosaurs and non-avian alike. While dinosaurs were ancestrally bipedal, many extinct groups included quadrupedal species, some were able to shift between these stances. Elaborate display structures such as horns or crests are common to all dinosaur groups, some extinct groups developed skeletal modifications such as bony armor and spines. While the dinosaurs' modern-day surviving avian lineage are small due to the constraints of flight, many prehistoric dinosaurs were large-bodied—the largest sauropod dinosaurs are estimated to have reached lengths of 39.7 meters and heights of 18 meters and were the largest land animals of all time.
Still, the idea that non-avian dinosaurs were uniformly gigantic is a misconception based in part on preservation bias, as large, sturdy bones are more to last until they are fossilized. Many dinosaurs were quite small: Xixianykus, for example, was only about 50 cm long. Since the first dinosaur fossils were recognized in the early 19th century, mounted fossil dinosaur skeletons have been major attractions at museums around the world, dinosaurs have become an enduring part of world culture; the large sizes of some dinosaur groups, as well as their monstrous and fantastic nature, have ensured dinosaurs' regular appearance in best-selling books and films, such as Jurassic Park. Persistent public enthusiasm for the animals has resulted in significant funding for dinosaur science, new discoveries are covered by the media; the taxon'Dinosauria' was formally named in 1841 by paleontologist Sir Richard Owen, who used it to refer to the "distinct tribe or sub-order of Saurian Reptiles" that were being recognized in England and around the world.
The term is derived from Ancient Greek δεινός, meaning'terrible, potent or fearfully great', σαῦρος, meaning'lizard or reptile'. Though the taxonomic name has been interpreted as a reference to dinosaurs' teeth and other fearsome characteristics, Owen intended it to evoke their size and majesty. Other prehistoric animals, including pterosaurs, ichthyosaurs and Dimetrodon, while popularly conceived of as dinosaurs, are not taxonomically classified as dinosaurs. Pterosaurs are distantly related to dinosaurs; the other groups mentioned are, like dinosaurs and pterosaurs, members of Sauropsida, except Dimetrodon. Under phylogenetic nomenclature, dinosaurs are defined as the group consisting of the most recent common ancestor of Triceratops and Neornithes, all its descendants, it has been suggested that Dinosauria be defined with respect to the MRCA of Megalosaurus and Iguanodon, because these were two of the three genera cited by Richard Owen when he recognized the Dinosauria. Both definitions result in the same set of animals being defined as dinosaurs: "Dinosauria = Ornithischia + Saurischia", encompassing ankylosaurians, ceratopsians, ornithopods and sauropodomorphs.
Birds are now recognized as being the sole surviving lineage of theropod dinosaurs. In traditional taxonomy, birds were considered a separate class that had evolved from dinosaurs, a distinct superorder. However, a majority of contemporary paleontologists concerned with dinosaurs reject the traditional style of classification in favor of phylogenetic taxonomy. Birds are thus considered to be dinosaurs and dinosaurs are, not extinct. Birds are classified as belonging to the subgroup M
Lindworm
The Lindworm is either a dragon-like creature or serpent monster. In British heraldry, lindworm is a technical term for a wingless serpentine monster with two clawed arms in the upper body. In Norwegian heraldry a lindorm is the same as the wyvern in British heraldry. A lindworm's appearance can vary from country to country and from tale to tale, but the most common depiction of lindworm is a wingless creature with a serpentine body, a dragon-like head, scaled or reptilian skin and two clawed arms in the upper body; the most common depiction of them implies that such lindworms do not walk on their two limbs like a wyvern, but move like a mole lizard: they slither like a snake but they use their arms to move themselves. The head of a 1590 lindworm statue in Klagenfurt is modeled on the skull of a woolly rhinoceros found in a nearby quarry in 1335, it has been cited as the earliest reconstruction of an extinct animal. In modern Scandinavian languages, the cognate lindorm can refer to any'serpent' or monstrous snake, but in Norwegian heraldry, it is a technical term for a'sea serpent', although it may stand for a'lindworm' in British heraldry.
In Norse mythology, the dwarf Fafnir from the Norse Völsunga saga is turned into a lindworm. In Grímnismál, Odin tells of several lindworms gnawing on Yggdrasil from below, "more than a unlearned fool would know". Odin names these lindworms as Níðhöggr, Grábakr, Grafvölluðr, Svafnir and his sons Góinn and Móinn. Grafvitni is used as a kenning for "serpent" in Krákumál; the lindworm originates from Norse mythology and lindworms such as Fafnir. In the High Middle Ages, the lindworm myth spread throughout Europe north western Europe. Fafnir appears in the German Nibelungenlied as a lindwurm. Saxo Grammaticus begins his story of Ragnar Loðbrók, a semi-legendary king of Denmark and Sweden, by telling that a certain Þóra Borgarhjörtr receives a baby lindworm as a gift from her father Herrauðr, the Earl of Götaland; as the lindworm grows, it takes Þóra hostage, demanding to be supplied with no less than one ox a day, until she is freed by a young man in fur-trousers named Ragnar, who thus obtains the byname of Loðbrók and becomes Þóra's husband.
Some depictions of lindworms feature a lindworm with poisonous breath like Fafnir, while others don't. Another German tale from the 13th century tells of a lindworm. Flooding threatened travelers along the river, the presence of a dragon was blamed, when it was a lindworm; the story tells. The shed skin of a lindworm was believed to increase a person's knowledge about nature and medicine. A serpentine monster with the head of a "salamander" features in the legend of the Lambton Worm, a serpent caught in the River Wear and dropped in a well, which after 3–4 years terrorized the countryside of Durham while the nobleman who caught it was at the Crusades. Upon return, he received spiked armour and instructions to kill the serpent, but thereafter to kill the next living thing he saw, his father arranged that after the lindworm was killed, a dog would be released and the son would kill that. Bram Stoker used this legend in his short story Lair of the White Worm; the sighting of a "whiteworm" once was thought to be an exceptional sign of good luck.
The knucker or the Tatzelwurm is a wingless biped, identified as a lindworm. In legends, lindworms are very large and eat cattle and bodies, sometimes invading churchyards and eating the dead from cemeteries. In the 19th-century tale of "Prince Lindworm", from Scandinavian folklore, a "half-man half-snake" lindworm is born, as one of twins, to a queen, who, in an effort to overcome her childless situation, has followed the advice of an old crone, who tells her to eat two onions, she did not peel the first onion. The second twin is perfect in every way; when he grows up and sets off to find a bride, the lindworm insists that a bride be found for him before his younger brother can marry. Because none of the chosen maidens are pleased by him, he eats each until a shepherd's daughter who spoke to the same crone is brought to marry him, wearing every dress she owns; the lindworm tells her to take off her dress, but she insists he shed a skin for each dress she removes. His human form is revealed beneath the last skin.
Some versions of the story omit the lindworm's twin, the gender of the soothsayer varies. A similar tale occurs in C. S. Lewis' novel The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; the belief in the reality of a lindorm, a giant limbless serpent, persisted well into the 19th century in some parts. The Swedish folklorist Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius collected in the mid 19th century stories of legendary creatures in Sweden, he met several people in Småland, Sweden that said they had encountered giant snakes, sometimes equipped with a long mane. He gathered around 50 eyewitness reports, in 1884 he set up a big reward for a captured specimen, dead or alive. Hyltén-Cavallius was ridiculed by Swedish scholars, since nobody managed to claim the reward it resulted in a cryptozoological defeat. Rumours about lindworms as actual animals in Småland died out. Little Wildrose T
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes called the Laurentian Great Lakes and the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of interconnected freshwater lakes in the upper mid-east region of North America, on the Canada–United States border, which connect to the Atlantic Ocean through the Saint Lawrence River. They consist of Lakes Superior, Huron and Ontario, although hydrologically, there are four lakes, Erie and Michigan-Huron; the connected lakes form the Great Lakes Waterway. The Great Lakes are the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total area, second-largest by total volume, containing 21% of the world's surface fresh water by volume; the total surface is 94,250 square miles, the total volume is 5,439 cubic miles less than the volume of Lake Baikal. Due to their sea-like characteristics the five Great Lakes have long been referred to as inland seas. Lake Superior is the second largest lake in the world by area, the largest freshwater lake by area. Lake Michigan is the largest lake, within one country.
The Great Lakes began to form at the end of the last glacial period around 14,000 years ago, as retreating ice sheets exposed the basins they had carved into the land which filled with meltwater. The lakes have been a major source for transportation, migration and fishing, serving as a habitat to a large number of aquatic species in a region with much biodiversity; the surrounding region is called the Great Lakes region. Though the five lakes lie in separate basins, they form a single interconnected body of fresh water, within the Great Lakes Basin, they form a chain connecting the east-central interior of North America to the Atlantic Ocean. From the interior to the outlet at the Saint Lawrence River, water flows from Superior to Huron and Michigan, southward to Erie, northward to Lake Ontario; the lakes drain a large watershed via many rivers, are studded with 35,000 islands. There are several thousand smaller lakes called "inland lakes," within the basin; the surface area of the five primary lakes combined is equal to the size of the United Kingdom, while the surface area of the entire basin is about the size of the UK and France combined.
Lake Michigan is the only one of the Great Lakes, within the United States. The lakes are divided among the jurisdictions of the Canadian province of Ontario and the U. S. states of Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio and New York. Both Ontario and Michigan include in their boundaries portions of four of the lakes: Ontario does not border Lake Michigan, Michigan does not border Lake Ontario. New York and Wisconsin's jurisdictions extend into two lakes, each of the remaining states into one of the lakes; as the surfaces of Lakes Superior, Huron and Erie are all the same elevation above sea level, while Lake Ontario is lower, because the Niagara Escarpment precludes all natural navigation, the four upper lakes are called the "upper great lakes". This designation, however, is not universal; those living on the shore of Lake Superior refer to all the other lakes as "the lower lakes", because they are farther south. Sailors of bulk freighters transferring cargoes from Lake Superior and northern Lake Michigan and Lake Huron to ports on Lake Erie or Ontario refer to the latter as the lower lakes and Lakes Michigan and Superior as the upper lakes.
This corresponds to thinking of Lakes Erie and Ontario as "down south" and the others as "up north". Vessels sailing north on Lake Michigan are considered "upbound" though they are sailing toward its effluent current; the Chicago River and Calumet River systems connect the Great Lakes Basin to the Mississippi River System through man-made alterations and canals. The St. Marys River, including the Soo Locks, connects Lake Superior to Lake Huron; the Straits of Mackinac connect Lake Michigan to Lake Huron. The St. Clair River connects Lake Huron to Lake St. Clair; the Detroit River connects Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie; the Niagara River, including Niagara Falls, connects Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. The Welland Canal, bypassing the Falls, connects Lake Erie to Lake Ontario; the Saint Lawrence River and the Saint Lawrence Seaway connect Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which connects to the Atlantic Ocean. Lakes Huron and Michigan are sometimes considered a single lake, called Lake Michigan–Huron, because they are one hydrological body of water connected by the Straits of Mackinac.
The straits are 120 feet deep. Lake Nipigon, connected to Lake Superior by the Nipigon River, is surrounded by sill-like formations of mafic and ultramafic igneous rock hundreds of meters high; the lake lies in the Nipigon Embayment, a failed arm of the triple junction in the Midcontinent Rift System event, estimated at 1,109 million years ago. Green Bay is an arm of Lake Michigan, along the south coast of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and the east coast of Wisconsin, it is separated from the rest of the lake by the Door Peninsula in Wisconsin, the Garden Peninsula in Michigan, the chain of islands between
Val Camonica
Val Camonica is one of the largest valleys of the central Alps, in eastern Lombardy, Italy. It extends about 90 kilometres from the Tonale Pass to Corna Trentapassi, in the commune of Pisogne near Lake Iseo, it has an area of 118,323 inhabitants. The River Oglio runs through its full length, rising at Ponte di Legno and flowing into Lake Iseo between Pisogne and Costa Volpino. All of the valley is included in the administrative territory of the province of Brescia, except for Lovere, Costa Volpino and the Val di Scalve, which belong to the province of Bergamo. Val Camonica is derived from the Latin Vallis Camunnorum, "Valley of the Camunni." Val Camonica can be divided into three main areas: Lower Val Camonica: a flat area of meadows and fields, starting from the shores of Lake Iseo and extending to the transverse ridge of Bienno, sometimes referred to as the Breno Threshold. Middle Val Camonica: extending from the Breno Threshold to the municipality of Sonico – Edolo; the lower middle valley extends from Breno to Sellero, while the upper middle valley starts at the narrow gorge at Cedegolo and extends to Sonico – Edolo.
High Val Camonica: This part of the valley follows the Periadriatic Seam, is oriented from east to west. Starting in the Val di Corteno, it continues as to the town of Ponte di Legno at the top of the valley, its climate is similar to that of central Valtellina. The valley is bounded by these borders: Val Camonica is traversed by the River Oglio, the fifth longest river in Italy, which rises at Ponte di Legno from the confluence of the Frigidolfo and Narcanello rivers, it flows into Lake Iseo between the municipalities of Costa Volpino. Numerous streams, some of them seasonal, flow into the Oglio. At high altitude there are many alpine lakes, including Lago Moro, as well as many artificial reservoirs, such as the Lago d'Arno. Val Camonica became habitable only around 15,000 years ago, at the end of last Ice Age, with the melting of the glacier that first carved out the valley, it is that the first humans visited the valley in epipaleolithic times, appear to have settled by the Neolithic period.
When the Ancient Romans extended their dominions north of the River Po, they encountered a people called the Camunni, of unknown origin, populating the valley. About 300,000 petroglyphs survive from this period. By the end of the first century BC, the Valle Camonica was ruled by Ancient Rome, which established the city of Cividate Camuno, with baths, an amphitheater and a large temple dedicated to Minerva. During the Middle Ages, numerous clashes between the Guelphs and Ghibellines took place in this region; the Guelphs supported the power of the Bishop of Brescia and the papacy, while the Ghibellines sided with the Holy Roman Emperor. In 1287 the Val Camonica rebelled against control by Brescia and sided with the Visconti, lords of Milan, who extended their control over the area during the 14th century. From 1427 to 1454 there were numerous battles between Milan and the Republic of Venice for the control of the valley; the valley came under the control of Venice. During the following centuries, the civilian population engaged in the iron trade.
Val Camonica was separated from Venice after Venice was conquered by Napoleon in 1797. After the deposition of Napoleon, the area was controlled by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1859, Val Camonica was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy. During World War I battle lines stretched across the Adamello Group; the battles fought in this area are known as the White War in the Adamello. In 1955, the National Park of Naquane stone carvings at Capo di Ponte was created by the Archaeological Administration of Lombardy. Val Camonica is home to the greatest complex of rock drawings in Europe, containing 300,000 petroglyphs from the epipaleolithic era to the middle ages. Parco nazionale delle incisioni rupestri di Naquane in Capo di Ponte Parco archeologico nazionale dei massi di Cemmo Parco archeologico comunale di Seradina-Bedolina in Capo di Ponte Parco archeologico di Asinino-Anvòia in Ossimo Parco archeologico comunale di Luine in Darfo Boario Terme Parco archeologico comunale di Sellero Parco archeologico comunale di Sonico Riserva naturale Incisioni rupestri di Ceto, Cimbergo e Paspardo in NadroCamonica was the first site in Italy included in UNESCO’s World Heritage list in 1979 because of its unique symbols more than 140,000 and 8000 years old figures carved on rocks.
Bienno, recognised as one of the Most Beautiful Villages of Italy Lovere recognised as one of the Most Beautiful Villages of Italy Pescarzo, a characteristic small town. Castle of Breno, the largest castle in Val Camonica Castle of Gorzone, home of the Federici family, standing on a small hill next to the Dezzo torrent Castle of Cimbergo, in the valley of the Re, dominates the middle Valley Castle of Lozio, the fortress where the Lozio Massacre occurred Castle of Mù, the Federici bastion in the upper valley, of which only the foundations remain Theatre and Anphitheater at Cividate Camuno Temple of Minerva at Breno CAI paths in the Parco dell'Adamello First World War trench at Vezza d'Oglio Boario Terme Angolo Terme Parco tematico Archeopark, Darfo Boario Terme Museo etnografico del ferro, delle arti e tradizioni popolari, Bienno Museo Civico Camuno, Breno Museo didattico di arte e vita preistorica, Capo di Ponte Museo didattico della riserva, Nadro Museo archeologico di Valle Camonica, Cividate Camuno Mostra museo Camillo Golgi, Corteno Golgi Museo etnografico, Ossimo Museo parrocchiale d'arte sacra, Ponte di Legno Museo della Guerra Bianca in Adamello, Temù Chiesa di Santa Mar
Tewa
The Tewa are a linguistic group of Pueblo Native Americans who speak the Tewa language and share the Pueblo culture. Their homelands are near the Rio Grande in New Mexico north of Santa Fe, they comprise the following communities: Nambé Pueblo Pojoaque Pueblo San Ildefonso Pueblo Ohkay Owingeh Santa Clara Pueblo Tesuque PuebloThe Hopi Tewa, descendants of those who fled the Second Pueblo Revolt of 1680-1692, live on the Hopi Reservation in Arizona in Tewa Village and Polacca on the First Mesa. Tewa is one of five Tanoan languages spoken by the Pueblo people of New Mexico. Though these five languages are related, speakers of one cannot understand speakers of another; the six Tewa-speaking pueblos are Nambe, San Ildefonso, Ohkay Owingeh, Santa Clara, Tesuque. As with speakers of Tiwa and Keres, there is some disagreement among the Tewa people as to whether Tewa should be a written language or not; some Pueblo elders feel. However, many Tewa speakers have decided that Tewa literacy is important for passing the language on to the children.
The Tewa pueblos developed their own orthography for their language, Ohkay Owingeh has published a dictionary of Tewa, today most of the Tewa-speaking pueblos have established Tewa-language programs to teach children to read and write in this language. Maria Martinez, a famous potter known for black on black ware Popé, pueblo revolt leader Esther Martinez, a Tewa linguist Jody Naranjo, potter Rose Gonzales, potter Ortman, Scott G. Winds from the North: Tewa Origins and Historical Anthropology. ISBN 978-1-60781-172-5. Collection of Turn of the Century Photographs of Tewa Indians indigenouslanguage.org
Casas Grandes
Casas Grandes is a prehistoric archaeological site in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua. Construction of the site is attributed to the Mogollon culture. Casas Grandes has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is under the purview of INAH. Casas Grandes is one of the most complex Mogollon culture sites in the region. Settlement began after 1130 CE, the larger buildings developed into multi-storied dwellings after 1350 CE; the community was abandoned 1450 CE. Casas Grandes is regarded as one of the most significant Mogollon archaeological zones in the northwestern Mexico region, linking it to other sites in Arizona and New Mexico in the United States, exhibiting the expanse of the Mogollon sphere of influence. Casas Grandes complex is located in a wide, fertile valley on the Casas Grandes or San Miguel River, 35 miles south of Janos and 150 miles northwest of the state capital, the city of Chihuahua; the settlement relied on irrigation to support its agriculture. The archaeological zone is contained within the eponymous modern municipio of Casas Grandes.
The valley and region have been inhabited by indigenous groups for thousands of years. Between CE 1130 and 1300, the area's inhabitants began to congregate in small settlements in this wide fertile valley; the largest identified settlement is known today as Casas Grandes. It began as a group of 20 or more house clusters, each with a enclosing wall; these single-story adobe dwellings shared a common water system. Evidence shows that Paquimé had a complex water control system that included underground drain systems, channels for water to get to the homes, a sewage system. After being burned about 1340, Casas Grandes was rebuilt with multi-story apartment buildings to replace the small buildings. Casas Grandes consisted of about 2,000 adjoining rooms built of adobe, I-shaped Mesoamerican ballcourts, stone-faced platforms, effigy mounds, a market area. About 350 other, smaller settlement sites have been found in the Casas Grandes area, some as far as 70 kilometers away. Archaeologists believe that the area directly controlled by Casas Grandes was small, extending out about 30 kilometres from the city.
The population may have been about 2,500 in Casas Grandes with 10,000 people living within its area of control. Specialized craft activities included the production of copper bells and ornaments, extensive pottery, beads from marine molluscs; these crafts were distributed by an extensive trading network. Casas Grandes pottery has a white or reddish surface, with ornamentation in blue, brown, or black, it is sometimes considered to be of better manufacture than the modern pottery in the area. Effigy bowls and vessels were formed in the shape of a painted human figure. Casas Grandes pottery was traded among prehistoric peoples as far north as present-day New Mexico and Arizona and throughout northern Mexico; the archaeologist Stephen Lekson has noted that Paquimé is aligned on the same longitudinal axis as Chaco Canyon and Aztec Ruins, with an error of only a few miles. Chaco reached its cultural peak first Aztec and Paquimé; the similarities among these sites may indicate that their ruling elites had a ceremonial connection.
Lekson proposed that ruling elites, once removed from their prior positions at Chaco, re-established their hegemony over the area at Aztec and Paquime. This idea, remains controversial and is not as accepted as reported, it has been proposed, more accepted, that the origins of Paquime can be found in its connection with the Mogollon culture. At the time of the Spanish Conquest, the district of Casas Grandes was studded with artificial mounds, from which looters took numerous stone axes, metates or corn-grinders, earthenware pottery vessels of various kinds. Before significant archaeological investigation, sizable portions of buildings from pre-Columbian times were extant about half a mile from the modern community; the ruins were built of sun-dried blocks of mud and gravel, about 22 inches thick, of irregular length about 3 feet formed and dried in place. The thick walls seem to have been plastered both outside. A principal structure extended 800 feet from north to south, 250 feet east to west.
It was rectangular, appears to have consisted of three separate units joined by galleries or lines of lower buildings. The eastern and western halves of the city are divided by reservoirs; the monuments on the east are rectilinear, puddled adobe structures used for domestic and manufacturing purposes. The buildings on the west, on the other hand, are open earth mounds lined in stone for public displays; this visual structure defines the eastern side as lending toward the Puebloan peoples of North America and the west as referencing the cultures to the south in Mesoamerica. This visual motif is prevalent throughout the other sites sharing the same longitudinal line, indicating that they were built by a common group; the homes at Paquimé were circular and semi-circular pit houses and coursed-adobe room blocks built around plazas. The living spaces varied in size from closet-sized to extensive courtyards. Walls at many of the angles stand 40 to 50 feet high, indicate an original elevation of up to six or seven stories.
Ruins about 450 feet from the main grouping consist of a series of rooms ranged round a square court, seven rooms to each side with a larger apartment at each corner. The settlement featured T-shaped doorways and stone disks at the bottom of ceiling support columns, both d
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