The region of Northeastern Mexico includes the states of Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosi, Queretaro, Guanajuato and part of Zacatecas. This area is traditionally considered one of the northern frontier of Mesoamerica.
Northeast Mexico Cultural Development
Hunter-gatherer tribes characterized Northeast Mexico before AD 200 and after the first millennium AD. Within this time span, this area shared a Mesoamerican tradition of monumental architecture, social organization and economic connections.
Archaeological sites with elaborated architecture, such as residential complexes, ball courts, plazas, and pyramids suggest that for a long period this region was occupied by sedentary societies, and that the limit of Mesoamerica was probably farther north. After the mid –first millennium AD, and during the Postclassic, there was a return to more nomadic way of living.
When the Spaniard arrived, this area was occupied by nomadic and semi sedentary groups, who were called by the other Mesoamerican groups Chichimec. Some of these groups had pacific and often trading relation with southern Mesoamerican people. However, few studies have been carried out about their complex cultures.
Origins of Agriculture
The Sierra de Tamaulipas (Tamaulipas Highlands) is one of the first area in Mesoamerica where plant domestication developed. Research by Richard MacNeish at Ocampo and other caves in the Sierra Madre produced the first known examples of plant domestication in Mexico, around 4000 BC.
Northeast Mexico Subareas
- Sierra de Tamaulipas (Tamaulipas Highlands): During the Classic period, especially between AD 300 – 550, the Sierra de Tamaulipas underwent a complex cultural development, with the introduction of southern Mesoamerican traits from the Huastec region of northern Veracruz. Some sites, like Vista Hermosa, became real Huastec outposts. This influence starts to wane at the end of the Classic period. Other important sites in Tamaulipas are: Balcon de Moctezuma, El Sabinito, San Antonio Nogalar.
- Rio Verde region, San Luis Potosí: In the Rio Verde area, southern San Luis Potosi, archaeologists recorded numerous sites of different hierarchical levels. Among these, the site of Rio Verde which flourished around AD 250 and had its maximum demographic and cultural development between AD 500 and 750. It was abandoned around AD 1000
- Sierra Gorda, Queretaro: This area seems to have been subjected to a colonization from Central Mexico and the Gulf coast, whose populations were interested in its numerous mines. Important sites of this area are Ranas and Toluquilla.
In Northeast Mexico, the retraction of the North frontier of Mesoamerica has been traditionally attributed to climatic events, like droughts. However, recent research has shown how other zones, not under climatic stress, seem to have been depopulated even earlier. It is probable, therefore, that a combination of environmental and social concurred in the return to a mobile social organization.
Northeast Mexico Sites
Other important sites in Northeast Mexico are: Balcón de Montezuma, San Antonio Nogalar, El Sabinito, Vista Hermosa, El Peñasco, Ranas, Toluquilla, El Cerrito.
Sources
This glossary entry is a part of the About.com guide to the Ancient Mesoamerica
MacNeish, Richard, 1958, Preliminary Archaeological Investigations in the Sierra de Tamaulipas, Mexico, American Anthropological Society, Philadelphia. Transactions, new series, vol. 48, part 6.
Micheler Dominique, 2001, Northeastern Mexico, in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures, edited by David Carrasco, pp: 377-378