At the northern end of the Chihuahuan Corridor, Chacoans were developing their great house culture and they had also begun inter-pueblo integration between their outlying communities. By 1150, the increased complexity of society on both ends of the Chihuahua Corridor created new markets and new production centres.
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| Tri-walled Kiva at Pueblo del Arroyo, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. (Author's collection copyright 2019) |
Of course, the increased trade could have had a synergistic effect on social development - especially within the elite classes. Because of this situation, Casas Grandes, previously an outpost along the Chihuahua Corridor, grew in size and came into direct competition with the Hohokam society’s shell trade. This shorter and more direct trade route, coupled with new Mesoamerican metallurgical techniques in copper and advances in aviculture practices seem to have sounded the death knell for Hohokam hegemony. The Chalchihuites provided luxury goods in quantities and at delivery speeds that the Hohokam could not match. By this time evidence shows Hohokam culture had retreated from its advance posts like Winona and Stony Canyon to their strongholds of Papaguería, the Gila-Salt and Tucson Basins while evidence of Mesoamerica culture amongst the Hohokam diminished.
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| Homol'ovi Ruins, Winslow, Arizona. (Author's collection. Copyright 2019) |
So it is evident through our discussion here that, prior to 1150 AD, the majority of Chacoan/Mogollon trade conducted with Mesoamerica passed through a Hohokam middleman who absorbed most of the Mesoamerica culture while passing along only the deliverables which is in-line with today’s concept of a middleman marking up any re-sell goods. Additionally, timelines corroborate the theory that the rise of the Chalchihuites in Zape broke the Hohokam trade monopoly and forced their retreat from Chacoan western borderlands. Simultaneously, the timeline reveals that this more direct contact with Mesoamerica culture brought about a rapid decline in Chacoan/Mogollon culture between 950 and 1250 AD.
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| Original Ceiling at Aztec Ruins, Aztec, New Mexico. (Author's collection. Copyright 2019) |
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