Altavista (Zacatecas)

Altavista, or Chalchihuites, is an archaeological site near the municipality of Chalchihuites in the Mexican state of Zacatecas, in the northwest of Mexico. It is believed that the site was a cultural oasis that was occupied more or less continuously from AD 100 to AD 1400. The site is within the "Sierra de Chalchihuites" – from the Nahuatl word chalchíhuitl, the name means "precious stone" – where the Chalchihuites-Chichimec culture was established. The Altavista name is due to a ranch that existed in the vicinity at the time when archaeologist Manuel Gamio visited the area. There are opinions that this ceremonial center was developed by the Súchil branch of the Chalchihuites culture. The site is related to the Chalchihuites culture that flourished during the Mesoamerican classical period, which had a social and political structure; had a hieroglyphical writing system; and constructed formal cities and ceremonial centers, as they had urbanization techniques, a numbering system, astronomy, and other important knowledge. These people, known as Chalchihuites, found sufficient elements to favor their social, economic and military life, and thus decided to settle here. Altavista was a control center for the turquoise trade route, originating in the oasis-American mines of New Mexico. Population decayed towards the year 800 CE, following a disastrous dry spell that ruined farming in the Mexican semi desert. It is thought that the high point of cultural flourishing at Altavista occurred during years the 400 to 650 CE, that is, in the classical period. The Chalchihuites cultural and ceremonial center represents the maximum northern expansion of Mesoamerica. This culture spread on the corridor of the eastern flanks of the Sierra Madre Occidental, from west of the State of Zacatecas to Durango, between 100 and 1250 CE, approximately. It is considered a border culture or "culture of transition", according to the archaeologist Manuel Gamio classification of Mesoamerican sedentary groups and hunter-gatherer Chichimec groups that inhabited the arid northern plateau.