A Massive Terraced Village Complex in Chihuahua, Mexico, 3000 Years Before Present
Robert J. Hard,
John R. Roney
Cerro Juanaqueña is a residential complex with 8 kilometers
of terrace walls in northwestern Mexico that was occupied at ~3000
calendar years before present based on radiocarbon dates on maize
(Zea mays L.). Most other similar sized
terrace complex sites that have been found date to ~1000 years before
present. Cerro Juanaqueña was contemporaneous with 10 other sites
in the southwestern United States that have yielded 18 of the earliest maize or squash radiocarbon dates yet, and it is by far the largest and
most complex site. The archaeological evidence from this site, combined
with other recent data, implies that highly variable combinations of
population aggregation, agricultural dependence, and degrees of
sedentism were present during the time maize was being introduced into
the American Southwest.
R. J. Hard is at the Center for Archaeological Research,
University of Texas, 6900 North Loop 1604 West, San Antonio,
TX 78249-0658, USA. E-mail: rhard{at}lonestar.utsa.edu.
J. R. Roney is at the Bureau of Land Management, 435 Montano,
Albuquerque, NM 87107, USA. E-mail: jroney{at}ix.netcom.com.
