Casas Grandes: A Fallen Trading Center of the Gran Chichimeca, Volume 5, Architecture
Creators: name: Di Peso, Charles C.
name: Rinaldo, John B.
name: Fenner, Gloria J.
Publisher: name: Northland Press
Year: 1974
Subjects: subject: Hohokam
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/culture-keyword/21/hohokam
subject: Casas Grandes
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/279/casas-grandes
subject: Funerary and Burial Structures or Features
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/301/funerary-and-burial-structures-or-features
subject: Burial Pit
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/307/burial-pit
subject: Archaeological Feature
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/339/archaeological-feature
subject: Artifact Scatter
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/340/artifact-scatter
subject: Hearth
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/343/hearth
subject: Commercial or Industrial Structures
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/280/commercial-or-industrial-structures
subject: Domestic Structure or Architectural Complex
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/251/domestic-structure-or-architectural-complex
subject: Midden
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/347/midden
subject: Settlements
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/252/settlements
subject: Town / City
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/255/town-city
subject: Domestic Structures
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/256/domestic-structures
subject: House
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/259/house
subject: Post Hole / Post Mold
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/359/post-hole-post-mold
subject: Rock Alignment
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/360/rock-alignment
subject: Rock Shelter
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/265/rock-shelter
subject: Platform Mound
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/268/platform-mound
subject: Wood
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/15/wood
subject: Building Materials
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/8/building-materials
subject: Mineral
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/12/mineral
subject: Ethnographic Research
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/investigation-type/14/ethnographic-research
subject: Architectural Documentation
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/investigation-type/16/architectural-documentation
subject: Archaeological Overview
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/investigation-type/1/archaeological-overview
subject: Architectural Survey
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/investigation-type/2/architectural-survey
subject: Collections Research
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/investigation-type/3/collections-research
subject: Data Recovery / Excavation
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/investigation-type/5/data-recovery-excavation
subject: Methodology, Theory, or Synthesis
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/investigation-type/6/methodology-theory-or-synthesis
subject: Heritage Management
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/investigation-type/24/heritage-management
subject: Site Evaluation / Testing
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/investigation-type/10/site-evaluation-testing

description: The serpentine mound after which Unit 11 was named was located in Blocks 22 and 23, extending slightly into Block 24, of the Sanchez Bjanco map. To the E, in Blocks 32, 33, 42, and 43, was the house-cluster. Unit 11 was entirely surrounded by an open expanse, with Unit 10 to the NE and Reservoir 2 further to the E. The house-cluster measured 68.30 m. in length on the N-S axis and 56.80 m. in width on the E-W axis, an area of 3,200 sq. m. Included within the house-cluster were 25 single story puddled adobe structures, two multistoried rooms, and four plazas. All of the rooms but two and all of the plazas but one were part of the original construction which took place at the beginning of the Buena Fe Phase; the remainder were added later in the same phase. With the exception of the multistory rooms and one plaza, the house-cluster was abandoned at the end of this time block. During the early 1850s Bartlett (1854, p. 359) described the ruins of Unit 11 as being a single story structure about 150 ft. square and divided into a number of compartments of equal dimensions. Bandelier (1892, PI. 6) assigned the letter N to Unit 11 and described it as follows: The plan of this building is so different from that of the other houses that the thought arises whether it may have been of modern origin. Still the potsherds are ancient, although less numerous. The ground plan of this ruin recalls that of a house of a Spanish Mexican hacienda, and the building was only one story in height. (Ibid., p. 551)