In northern Chihuahua and Sonora and southern Arizona, there are many hills covered with dozens of elaborate terraces known as trincheras. Over the years, archaeologists have wondered why they were built and what they were used for. Theories include agricultural features to capture microclimates, fortified defensive settlements, monuments of collective labor, and communal living.
This in-depth study focuses on Cerro Juanaqueño in the Río Casas Grandes Valley of Chihuahua, made famous by the much later site of Paquimé. Between about 1300 B.C. and A.D. 1 native people built over 550 terraces on this isolated hill, a vast investment in labor that is largely intact today. They grew corn, beans, and squash in the valley below, which was some of the earliest agriculture in the region. Employing the latest research methods and thoughtful analysis, the scholars unravel the scope and lifestyle of the settlements.
Authors Hard and Roney have spent years studying these enigmatic features, and their conclusions presented in this volume break new ground. Amply illustrated and thoroughly documented, it is a very important contribution to the understanding of the development of early agriculture in northern Mexico. —Mark Michel
