Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vvkck Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T08:51:46.142Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

War and Defense on Cerros de Trincheras in Sonora, México

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Randall H. McGuire  and
Maria Elisa Villalpando
Randall H. McGuire
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY, 13902-6000(rmcguire@binghamton.edu)
Maria Elisa Villalpando
Affiliation:
Centro INAH Sonora, Jesús Garcίa Final y Presbίtero Esteban Sarmiento. Antigua Penitenciarίa del Estado, Col. La Matanza. C.P. 83080. Hermosillo, Sonora, México(elisavillalpando@hotmail.com)
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

At the turn of the twenty-first century, critics suggested that warfare profoundly shaped cultural change in the prehistoric Southwest/Northwest. This challenge was part of a much larger debate concerning violence and warfare before civilization. It has become clear that scholars need to consider violence and warfare to understand the aboriginal history of the Southwest/ Northwest. Increasingly, archaeologists are asking: How did indigenous peoples practice war? How did warfare relate to social organization, adaptation, and religion? How did these relations change over time? Many authors have argued that we best answer these questions in well researched and carefully considered case studies. In Sonora, México, prehispanic peoples constructed terraces on isolated volcanic hills and built rooms, compounds, and other edifices on their summits to create cerros de trincheras. The Cerros de Trincheras and Defense Project mapped and collected Trincheras Tradition cerros de trincheras in Sonora. We used Geographic Information Systems analysis to demonstrate how these cerros de trincheras were defensive, what defenses protected, and how these relationships changed over time. This article compares Trincheras Tradition cerros de trincheras to general models of “primitive “ war, Yuman warfare, Andean Colla pukaras, and New Zealand Maori pas in order to infer a Trinchereño way of war.

Résumé

Résumé

Al inicio del siglo XXI los críticos sugirieron que la guerra delineó de manera profunda el cambio cultural en el SuroestelNoroeste prehispánico. Esta interpretación es parte de un debate mayor sobre las condiciones de violencia y la prdctica de la guerra antes de la existencia de las sociedades urbanas, resultando claro que se debe tomar en cuenta la violencia y la guerra para entender la historia nativa del SuroestelNoroeste. Los arqueólogos se preguntan con mayor frecuencia ¿Cómo es que los pueblos indigenas practicaron la guerra? ¿Cómo se relacionan la guerra con la organización social, la adaptacion y la religion? ¿Cómo cambiaron con el tiempo estas relaciones? Muchos autores han argumentado que es mejor responder a estas preguntas con estudios de caso bien investigados y consideraciones cuidadosas. En Sonora, México, los pueblos prehispdnicos construyeron terrazas en cerros volcánicos aislados, además de cuartos, recintos y otros edificios en las cimas, creando lo que se conoce cómo cerros de trincheras. El proyecto Análisis de los Aspectos Defensivos de los cerros de trincheras, maped y realizó recolecciones de superficie en cerros de trincheras de la Tradición Trincheras en Sonora durante 2006. Utilizamos andlisis de Sistemas de Informacion Geogrdfica para demostrar cómo estos cerros de trincheras fueron defensivos, quefue lo que protegieron y cdmofue que estas relaciones cambiaron a troves del tiempo. En este articulo comparamos los cerros de trincheras de la tradición Trincheras con modelos generales de guerra “primitiva,” formas de guerra Yumana, pukaras Colla andinos y pas de los maories de Nueva Zelanda, con elfin de inferir una forma Trinchereha de hacer la guerra.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 80 , Issue 3 , July 2015 , pp. 429 - 450
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2015

References

References Cited

Allen, Mark W. 1994 Warfare and Economic Power in Simple Chiefdoms: The Development of Fortified Villages and Polities in Mid-Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Allen, Mark W. 2008 Hillforts and the Cycling of Maori Chiefdoms: Do Good Fences Make Good Neighbors? In Global Perspectives on the Collapse of Complex Systems, edited by Jim A. Railey and Richard M. Reycraft, pp. 61–81. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque. Google Scholar
Allen, Mark W., and Arkush, Elizabeth N. 2006 Introduction. In Archaeology and the Study of War: Prehistories of Raiding and Conquest, edited by Elizabeth N. Arkush and Mark W. Allen, pp 1–22. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Arkush, Elizabeth N. 2011 Hillforts of the Ancient Andes: Colla Warfare, Society and Landscape. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arkush, Elizabeth, and Allen, Mark W. (editors) 2006 The Archaeology of Warfare: Prehistories of Raiding and Conquest. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Arkush, Elizabeth, and Stanish, Christopher 2005 Interpreting Conflict in the Ancient Andes. Current Anthropology 46:3–28.Google Scholar
Cameron, Catherine 2013 How People Moved among Ancient Societies: Broadening the View. American Anthropologist 115:218–231.Google Scholar
Clastres, Pierre 1994 The Archaeology of Violence. Semiotext(e), Paris. Cordell, Linda Google Scholar
Clastres, Pierre 1997 Archaeology of the Southwest. 2nd ed. Academic Press, Orlando.Google Scholar
Dye, David H. 2008 War Paths, Peace Paths: An Archaeology of Cooperation and Conflict in Native Eastern North America. AltaMira, Lanham, Maryland.Google Scholar
Downum, Christopher 2007 Cerros de Trincheras in Southern Arizona: Review and Current Status of the Debate. In Trincheras Sites in Time, Space, and Society, edited by Suzanne Fish, Paul Fish, and Elisa Villalpando, pp. 101–136. University of Arizona Press, Tucson. Google Scholar
Ferguson, R. Brian 2008 Ten Points on War. Social Analysis 52(2):32–49.Google Scholar
Field, Julie S. 1998 Natural and Constructed Defenses in Fijian Fortifications. Asian Perspectives 37:32–58.Google Scholar
Fish, Suzanne K., and Fish, Paul R. 2007 Regional Heartlands and Transregional Trends. In Trincheras Sites in Time, Space, and Society, edited by Suzanne Fish, Paul Fish, and Elisa Villalpando, pp. 165–193. University of Arizona Press, Tucson. Google Scholar
Fish, Suzanne K., Fish, Paul R., and Villalpando, Elisa (editors) 2007 Trincheras Sites in Time, Space, and Society. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Gat, Azar 2008 War in Human Civilization. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Greenwald, Dawn 2011 Ground Stone from Cerro de Trincheras, Sonora, México. In Excavations at Cerro de Trincheras, Sonora, México. Arizona State Museum Archaeological Series 204, edited by Randall H. McGuire and Elisa Villalpando, pp. 179–192. Arizona State Museum, Tucson. Google Scholar
Haas, Jonathan 1990 The Anthropology of War. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Haas, Jonathan, and Creamer, Winifred 1996 The Role of Warfare in the Pueblo II Period. In The Prehistoric Pueblo World, AD 1150–135, edited by Michael A. Adler, pp. 205–213. University of Arizona Press, Tucson. Google Scholar
Hassig, Ross 1988 Aztec Warfare: Imperial Expansion and Political Control. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Hinton, Thomas B. 1955 A Survey of Archaeological Sites in the Altar Valley, Sonora. Kiva 21:1–12.Google Scholar
Inomata, Takeshi 2006 Warfare and the Fall of a Fortified Center: Archaeological Investigations at Aguateca. Vanderbilt University Press, Nashville.Google Scholar
Jolivette, Stephanie, Ladefoged, Thegn, Bader, Hans Dieter, and Gibbs, Russell 2003 The Functionality and Defendability of Manuagakiekie Pa. Poster presented at the 68th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Milwaukee.Google Scholar
Keeley, Lawrence H. 1997 War Before Civilization. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Keeley, Lawrence H., Fontana, Marisa, and Quick, Russell 2007 Baffles and Bastions: The Universal Features of Fortifications. Journal of Archaeological Research 15:55–95.Google Scholar
Keener, Craig S. 1999 An Ethnohistorical Analysis of Iroquois Assault Tactics Used against Fortified Settlements of the Northeast in the Seventeenth Century. Ethnohistory 46:777–807.Google Scholar
Kelly, Raymond C. 2000 Warless Societies and the Origin of War. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Kohler, Timothy, Ortman, Scott, Grundtisch, Katie, Fitzpatrick, Carly, and Cole, Sarah 2014 The Better Angels of Their Nature: Declining Violence through Time among Prehispanic Farmers of the Pueblo Southwest. American Antiquity 79:444–464.Google Scholar
Kroeber, Clifton B., and Fontana, Bernard L. 1986 Massacre on the Gila. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
LeBlanc, Steven A. 1999 Prehistoric Warfare in the American Southwest. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
LeBlanc, Steven A. 2007 Why Warfare? Lessons from the Past. Daedalus 136:13–21.Google Scholar
LeBlanc, Steven A., and Register, Katherine E. 2003 Constant Battles: The Myth of the Peaceful, Noble Savage. St. Martin’s Press, New York.Google Scholar
Lekson, Stephen 2002 War in the Southwest, War in the World. American Antiquity 67:607–624.Google Scholar
Malville, Nancy J. 2001 Long-Distance Transport of Bulk Goods in the Pre-Hispanic American Southwest. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 20:230–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGuire, Randall H., and Villalpando, Maréa Elisa 1993 An Archaeological Survey of the Altar Valley, Sonora, Mexico. Arizona State Museum Archaeological Series No. 184. Arizona State Museum, Tuscon.Google Scholar
McGuire, Randall H., and Villalpando, Maréa Elisa 2011 Excavations at Cerro de Trincheras, Sonora, México. Archaeological Series No. 204. Arizona State Museum, Tucson.Google Scholar
Martin, Debra L., Harrod, Ryan P., and Pérez, Ventura R. (editors) 2012 The Bioarchaeology of Violence. University Press of Florida, Gainesville. Google Scholar
Nelson, Ben A. 2007 Crafting of Places. In Trincheras Sites in Time, Space, and Society, edited By Suzanne Fish, Paul Fish, and M. Elisa Villalpando, pp. 230–246. University of Arizona Press, Tucson. Google Scholar
Nicholas, Deborah L., and Crown, Patricia L. (editors) 2008 Social Violence in the Prehispanic American Southwest. University of Arizona Press, Tucson. Google Scholar
Nielson, Axel E., and Walker, William H. (editors) 2009 Warfare in Cultural Context: Practice, Agency and the Archaeology of Violence. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
O’Donovan, Maria 2002 The Survey of Cerro de Trincheras: New Perspectives on Site Function and Scale. Arizona State Museum Technical Series No. 190. University of Arizona, Tucson.Google Scholar
Osgood, Richard 2006 The Unknown Warrior: An Archaeology of the Common Soldier. The History Press, Charleston, South Carolina. Google Scholar
Otterbein, Keith F. 1997 The Origins of War. Critical Review 11:251–277.Google Scholar
Parkinson, William A., and Duffy, Paul R. 2007 Fortifications and Enclosures in European Prehistory: A Cross Cultural Perspective. Journal of Archaeological Research 15:97–141.Google Scholar
Pauketat, Timothy R. 2004 Ancient Cahokia and the Mississippians. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Peckham, Stewart 1965 Prehistoric Weapons in the Southwest. Museum of New Mexico Press, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Rice, Glen, and LeBlanc, Steven A. (editors) 2001 Deadly Landscapes: Case Studies in Prehistoric Southwestern Warfare. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Roos, Christopher I., Fish, Suzanne, and Fish, Paul 2002 Exploring the Occupational Dynamics of the Area Surrounding Cerro de Trincheras. Paper presented at the 67th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Denver.Google Scholar
Roscoe, Paul 2008 Settlement Fortification in Village and “Tribal” Societies: Evidence from Contact-Era New Guinea. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 27:507–519.Google Scholar
Solometo, Julie 2006 The Dimensions of War: Conflict and Culture Change in Central Arizona. In The Archaeology of Warfare: Prehistories of Raiding and Conquest, edited by Elizabeth Arkush and Mark Allen, pp. 23–65. University Press of Florida, Gainesville. Google Scholar
Turner, Christy, and Turner, Jacquelyn 1998 Man Corn: Cannibalism and Violence in the Prehistoric American Southwest. University of Utah Press, Provo.Google Scholar
Underbill, Ruth M. 1972 Red Man’s Religion: Beliefs and Practices of the Indians North of Mexico. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Vandkilde, Helle 2003 Commemorative Tales: Archaeological Responses to Modern Myth, Politics, and War. World Anthropology 35:126–144.Google Scholar
Vayda, Andrew P. 1960 Maori Warfare. Polynesian Society, Wellington, New Zealand.Google Scholar
Vega, Margaret Brown 2009 Prehispanic Warfare during the Early Horizon and Late Intermediate Period in the Huara Valley, Perú. Current Anthropology 50:255–266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Villalobos Acosta, César 2011 Los Cerros de Trincheras en el Paisaje Cultural Sonorense: ¿Evidencia de Memoria Colectiva? Ancient Mesoamerica 22:411–423.Google Scholar
Wallace, Henry D., and Doelle, William H. 2001 Classic Period Warfare in Southern Arizona. In Deadly Landscapes: Case Studies in Prehistoric Southwestern Warfare, edited by Glen Rice and Steven A. Le Blanc, pp. 289–330. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City. Google Scholar
Wilcox, David R. 1979 Warfare Implications of Dry-Laid Masonry Walls on Tumamoc Hill. Kiva 45:15–38.Google Scholar
Wilcox, David R., and Haas, Jonathan 1994 The Scream of the Butterfly. In Themes in Southwest Prehistory, edited by George Gumerman, pp. 211–238. School of American Research Press, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

McGuire and Villalpando Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material

Download McGuire and Villalpando Supplementary Material(PDF)
PDF 1.1 MB