Casas
Grandes, or PaquimE, in northern Chihuahua, Mexico, was home to a religious
system that swept across northern Mexico and what is now the southern United
States between AD 1200 and 1450. To commemorate this religion the people of
Casas Grandes created striking polychrome pots with black and red geometric
and naturalistic designs on a cream base. Their pottery provides a window to
Casas Grandes cosmology.

Looking through this window, authors Christine and Todd VanPool find a
world centered on shamans who took spiritual journeys to consort with
supernatural creatures. The shamans called upon horned serpents to bring
rain, the lifeblood for farmers living in the Chihuahuan desert; dealt with
snakes that held powers more potent than their bites; and raised, sacrificed,
and buried macaws as ritual offerings to ensure water and fertility.

These findings challenge long-held beliefs about Southwestern religion and
force a reconsideration of the importance of shamanism in the development of social
differentiation in societies around the world.