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Cueva de la Olla (cave of the pot) is an archaeological site located in the northwest of the Chihuahua State, some 47 km southwest of Nuevo Casas Grandes near the Ignacio Zaragoza Ejido. To get there, take the road from Casas Grandes to Colonia Juarez, continue to the Ignacio Zaragoza ejido (dirt road with one way sections). At the exit, go forward two kilometers to the Casa Blanca Ranch, the site is one kilometer from the ranch, the site is perhaps the oldest in Chihuahua and Mexico, the Golondrina Cave is only 400 meters from the site.〔 The Site is located within the natural shelter of the cave. This site received its name because it has a rounded shape structure, shaped like a pot (or ''olla'', in Spanish). It is a Cuexcomate,〔The Cuexcomate is a type of mesoamerican grain storage facility constructed from natural materials such as clay, stone, hay and other organic materials. Its design features preserves grains, especially corn. It is still used in several Mexican communities.〕 or large barn type facility, with a shape that resembles a large vase. Similar granaries were located in scattered caves sites of the Sierra Madre Occidental. One of the particularities of the Valle de las Cuevas (valley of the caves) is the presence of a site where a sequence of very long human occupation has been detected. Human groups that lived in the region used a maize ancestor variety, dating approximately 5500 BCE. Due to the cold winter, there was the need to store food, hence they built the barn which can still be seen, although very deteriorated.〔 ==The Cultures== Human groups of hunter-gatherers arrive in the region from the north, probably Mogollon, Anasazi or Hohokam,〔The Anasazi or Ancient Pueblo People or Ancestral Puebloans were an ancient Native American culture centered on the present-day Four Corners area of the United States, comprising southern Utah, northern Arizona, northwest New Mexico, and a lesser section of Colorado. They lived in "houses" called pueblos in which they lifted up ladders when enemies attacked when they came near. The cultural group has often been referred to in archaeology as the Anasazi, although the term is not preferred by the modern Puebloan peoples. The word Anasazi is Navajo for "Ancient Ones" or "Ancient Enemy".〕〔(Ancestral Puebloans - Hewit Institute, History and Social Science, UNC. )〕 following the Sierra Madre Occidental; used plants, took advantage of smaller animal species, as turkeys; occupied the mountains and gradually dispersed in rivers, developing the Paquimé culture or “Casas Grandes”, whose first settlers were collectors in the process of learning sedentary traits. Cueva de la Olla belongs to an earlier occupation stage called “Perros Bravos” (Fierce Dogs), from 950 to 1060 CE.〔 Mogollon ( or ) culture evidences have been found,〔The Mogollon is one of the four major prehistoric archaeological culture areas of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico. The American Indian culture known as the Mogollon lived in the southwest from approximately AD 150 until sometime between AD 1400 and AD 1450. The name Mogollon comes from the Mogollon Mountains, which were named after Don Juan Ignacio Flores Mogollón, Spanish Governor of New Mexico from 1712-1715.〕 simple ceramic fragments and other more scarce luxury type materials, characteristic of the Paquime culture. The Site constructors probably were villagers who in addition to intensively exploit the environment, as can be seen in the premises vestiges, cultivated corn, squash, and beans, therefore they established a community use system.〔 It is presumed that the group living in the Cueva de la Olla was a group of at least 30 individuals, that probably worked the flat land areas of the region, adequate for farming; had water year-round thanks a nearby stream and stored their food production in the barn for a period of at least 170 days. Consumed wild plants such as acorns and palm.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cueva de la Olla (archaeological site)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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