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La Pintada is an archaeological site located some 60 kilometers south of the city of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, within the “La Pintada” canyon, part of the “Sierra Libre”, a small mountain massif of the coastal plains that extends throughout the Sonoran Desert. La Pintada, a forgotten archaeological treasure, is an important archaeological zone of its kind in the state of Sonora. It offers visitors a glimpse of the ancestral cultural legacy as well as an extraordinary natural view of its flora, fauna and its orography. The groups that lived here depended for survival on both; their knowledge of the territory and the availability of resources, and especially water. Their scarcity in a desert environment makes the places where water abounds in nodal points of territory. Hence, the “Sierra Libre”stands as an authentic oasis, it contains many natural water deposits, and the liquid abundance is reflected in the quantity and quality of available resources. Several containers in the La Pintada Canyon are filled during the summer rains and refilled with winter rains.〔 It was a spot where, according to some experts, native groups, such as Seris, Pimas or Yaquis, during their last years would hide from the Spaniards conquering weapons. It is also known as "Macizo del Cerro Prieto", "Sierra Libre" or "Sierra Prieta". Caves, hollows and rocks from this area were used by ancient natives as dwellings, funerary events and sanctuaries. The site is located within regional areas defined as Aridoamerica〔Aridoamerica is also known as the Gran Chichimeca. Gran Chichimeca is a term used by Mexican archaeologists to describe a region of the southwestern United States and the northern and central regions of Mexico, in contrast to Mesoamerica, which lies to the south and east. Some archaeologists even delineate a third buffer zone, Oasisamerica.〕〔Cordell and Fowler 85〕 and Oasisamerica.〔Oasisamerica was a broad cultural area in pre-Columbian southwestern North America. It extended from modern-day Utah down to southern Chihuahua, and from the coast on the Gulf of California eastward to the Río Bravo river valley. Its name comes from its position in relationship with the similar regions of Mesoamerica and nomadic Aridoamerica.〕 Both are defined as independent of Mesoamerica and in turn are apparently differentiated from one another by cultural traits. One group is said to be composed of hunter-gatherers and the other to be in possession of agricultural techniques. No information is available as to what the chronological periods are for each “region” was, as both cover about the same territories, nor their relation with other Mesoamerican native cultures in Mexico. ==Background== Evidence of human existence in the state dates back over 10,000 years, with some of the best known remains at the San Dieguito Complex in the El Pinacate Desert. The first humans were nomadic hunter gatherers and used stone, seashell and wooden tools.〔Gonzalez, pp. 36–37〕〔Foster, p. 242〕 In much of the prehistoric period, the environmental conditions were less severe than they are today. Vegetation was similar, but its distribution was wider and denser.〔Foster, p. 243〕 Agriculture first appears around 400 BCE and 200 CE in the river valleys. Ceramics developed after 750 CE and would diversity between 800 and 1350.〔 Between 1100 and 1350, the region had small but somewhat socially complex villages, which were involved in well-developed trade networks. One exception to this was the lowland central coast which never truly adopted agriculture.〔 As noted, Sonora and much of the northwest is not considered to be part of Mesoamerica, with Guasave in Sinaloa the most northwestern Mesoamerican settlement known, but there is evidence of trade between the peoples of Sonora and Mesoamerica.〔Foster, p. 150〕 Three cultures developed in the low flat areas of the state near the coast called the Trincheras tradition, the Huatabampo tradition and the Central Coast tradition. The Trincheras tradition is dated to between 750 and 1450 CE and mostly known from sites in the Altar, Magdalena and Concepción valleys, but their range extended from the Gulf of California into northern Sonora. The tradition is named after trenches found in a number of sites, the best known of which is the Cerro de Trincheras. The Huatabampo tradition is centered south of the Trincheras on the coast, with sites along extinct lagoons, estuaries and river valleys. The pottery is distinctive. The culture shows similarities with the Chametla to the south and the Hohokam to the north. It probably disappeared around 1000 CE. Unlike the other two tradition, the Central Coast remained a hunter-gatherer culture, as the area lacks the resources for agriculture.〔Foster, p. 18〕 The higher elevations of the state were dominated by the Río Sonora and Casas Grandes traditions. The Río Sonora culture is located in central Sonora from the border area to modern Sinaloa. A beginning date for this culture has not been determined but it probably disappeared by the early 1300s. The Casas Grandes tradition in Sonora was an extension of that based in the modern state of Chihuahua, and these people exerted their influence down to parts of the Sonoran coast.〔Foster, p. 19〕〔Foster, p. 251〕 Climatic changes in the middle of the 15th century resulted in the increased desertification of Sonora and northwest Mexico in general. This is the probable cause for the drastic decrease in the number and size of settlements starting around this time. Those peoples who remained in the area reverted to a less complex social organization and lifestyle.〔Foster, p. 252〕 Whatever socially complex organization which existed in Sonora before the Spanish, was long gone by the 16th century.〔 The story of the origins of the cultural super area of Mesoamerica takes place some 2000 years after the separation of Mesoamerica and Aridoamerica. Some of the Aridoamerican communities farmed as a complement to their hunter-gatherer economy. Those communities, among whom one finds adherents to the Desert Tradition, later would become more truly agricultural and form Oasisamerica. The process of introducing agriculture in the desert-like land of northern Mexico and the southern United States was gradual and extensive: by the year 600 AD (a time which coincides with the twilight of Teotihuacan), several groups had already acquired agricultural techniques. 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「La Pintada (archaeological site)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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