Paquimé

Casas Grandes with its famous archaeological site Paquimé, a World Heritage Site protected by the UNESCO, lies in the northwestern part of the federal state of Chihuahua, west of the old Camino Real between El Paso and Chihuahua, the state capital. Paquimé, which reached its apogee in the 14th and 15th centuries, played a key role in trade and cultural contacts between the Pueblo culture of the south-western United States and northern Mexico and the more advanced civilizations of Mesoamerica. The archeologically interesting area at the foot of the Sierra Madre Occidental extends over more than 60 hectares on the western bank of the Casas Grandes River. Only 10 hectares of this historically very important place have so far been excavated and secured. The remains of the settlement are impressive. Several buildings, which consisted of up to 600 rooms, were constructed from tamped clay in the toilsome hand-molding technique: Wet clay is manually applied to an existing clay layer and spread equally. Interestingly, the buildings had rectangular walls, a fact that is indicative of intense planning and is a remarkable difference from buildings erected in other civilizations at the same time.