The Casas Grandes people lived around the border of Mexico, Arizona, and New Mexico between approximately 700 and 1500 CE. They disappeared just before the Spanish conquistadors arrived in the area in 1519. The major city in Casas Grandes, Paquime, was a center for trade between Mexican cultures and the southwestern civilizations, including the Anasazi, Hohokam, and Hopi. Casas Grandes pottery began plain but the designs grew more elaborate, and it is now considered one of the “showiest of all Southwestern prehistorics” (Hayes and Blom 1996, 40-41).
