The culture region of Northwest Mexico extends from the eastern portion of the Sierra Madre Occidental to the Pacific Ocean, from the river Lerma-Santiago to the border with the United States. It includes the Mexican states of Zacatecas, Durango, Chihuahua, Sonora, Sinaloa, Nayarit and Northern Jalisco.
In the early 16th century, Spanish explorers recorded the presence of mainly foragers (nomadic) groups, but the widespread distribution of ruins attested that sedentary groups occupied much of the region in pre-Hispanic times.
Some of the major contemporary groups in the region are: Caxcan, Cora, Huichol, Tepehuan, and Tarahumara.
Anthropologists, historians and linguistics agree that the Aztecs/Mexica originally came from Northwest Mexico. In later times these groups were called Chichimecas by the people of Central Mexico, which means barbarous and warlike.
Geography
The region has an arid climate, with pocket of subtropical vegetation. Geographically, it is characterized by a coastal fringe with seasonal rivers running east-west from the mountains to the coast, and a central sector occupied by the mountains of the Sierra Madre with its internal valleys.
It is possible to recognize two main cultural sub-areas: the Coast and the Sierra Madre. These two areas were the center of the two mains cultures of Northwestern Mexico: the Chalchihuites (pronounced chal-chee-wee-tees) tradition of the Sierra and the Aztatlán tradition of the coast.
Paleoindian traditions of Northwest Mexico
Human presence is attested in Northwest Mexico beginning with the Paleoindian period. In Sonora, examples of Clovis points were collected in sites like El Plome, Sásabe, Cerro Izábal, and Rancho Pimas. Rancho Colorado in Chihuahua and the Weicker site in Durango also present evidence of Clovis materials. Only one isolated finding of a Folsom point has been identified in the site of Samalayucan in Chihuahua.
Other nomadic cultural traditions of Northwest Mexico during the Paleoindian and Archaic periods include: the Cochise tradition (ca 5000-200 BC) of Sonora, northern Chihuahua and Baja California, whose culture stretched from the Southwest of the United States to Mexico, and the Caracoles and Las Chivas traditions of Durango, Zacatecas and Chihuahua.
Formative Period
The Early and Middle Formative (1800-400 BC) are scarcely known. However, the first sedentary groups of Northwestern Mexico shared some of the practices typical of other Mesoamerican cultures such as a farming tradition, and sophisticated ceramic techniques. Even if its date is debated, one important site that seems to pertain to this period is El Calon. El Calon is a steep-sided mound, 25 meters high constructed entirely with unopened mollusk shells. Archaeologists think that it might have functioned as a shrine for the success of fishing activities carried out in the adjacent marshes. Materials associated dated El Calon to ca AD 700-1000, but radiocarbon analysis push the date back to the Early Formative.
Classic Period
During the Classic period (200-900 AD) the Chalchihuites cultural complex developed in the internal valleys of the Sierra Madre Occidental between Zacatecas and Durango. Their centers were usually located in elevated position, suggesting a defensive function. A further evidence of frequent conflicts in the region is the presence of numerous tzompantli (skull racks) where traditionally the severed heads of war captives were placed and left exposed.
Important sites of the Chalchihuites culture are Alta Vista, La Quemada, El Teúl de Gonzales Ortega, La Ferrería and Cerro Montedehuma. These sites had patio compounds, ball courts and ceremonial buildings with colonnades and central altars. Important centers were connected to the villages through causeways.
By AD 900-1000 the Chalchihuites polities collapsed and a social reorganization included the movement of population groups and the introduction of new cultural elements.
Postclassic Period
By AD 900, many Chalchihuites sites in the Sierra region were abandoned. Some archaeologists see in the abandonment of this region that occurred in the Early Postclassic (AD 900-1300) the movement toward south by groups of Toltec-Chichimecs as recorded in indigenous Central Mexican documents.
However, a new cultural tradition in the coast flourished between AD 600 and 900, the Aztatlan horizon. This culture complex seems to have established a preferential relationship with Central Mexico, especially with the centers of Tula and Cholula. The typical Aztlatán ceramic style was widespread through trade within and outside Northwestern Mexico.
The best known sites of the Aztatlán tradition include Amapa, Culiacan, Chametla, Mochicahui, and Guasave. These were large centers that dominated a series of hinterland villages.
Between the end of the 13th century and the arrival of the Europeans, it seems that the Aztatlán tradition suffered a reduction of its territory as well as a limitation in the contacts with Central Mexico, signing a gradual decline.
Finally, a further area undergoing a distinct cultural development where at the limit of Mesoamerica, in the region where the Casas Grandes (Paquimé) and Trincheras tradition flourished in the far north of Sonora and Chihuahua. These areas are characterized by a mix of Mesoamerican and Southwestern cultural elements such as I-shaped ball court, with apartment compounds in the style of Ancestral Puebloan people.
Sources
Nelson Ben, 2001, Northwestern Mexico , in Davíd Carrasco (ed.), The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures, vol. 2, Oxford University Press.pp: 385-38
Hers, Marie-Areti, 2001, La Zona Noroccidental en el Clasico y el Posclásico, in Linda Manzanilla and Leonardo Lopez Luján (eds.), Historia Antigua de Mexico, vol.II, Porrua Editor, pp: 265-300