CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN NORTHERN MEXICO 
By CHARLES C DI PESO 
The Amerind Foundation Inc., Dragoon, Arizona 
Northern Mexico, known in the past as the Gran Chichemeca, is a 
vast and puzzling archeological zone which lies, for the most part, 
north of the Tropic of Cancer (fig. 1) . It is bounded on the west by the 
Pacific Ocean and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico. The northern 
line may be equated with the international border separating the 
United States of America and the Republic of Mexico. It is im- 
portant to note that there are no natural barriers on either the north 
or the south. 
This area includes over 1,050,000 square kilometers, more than 
one-half of the Republic ; yet, this land of the 'Sons of the Dog" to- 
day supports only one-fifth of the population. In the north there are 
6 persons per square kilometer as compared to 25 in the south. 
The north country includes at least four geographical subareas 
(Lopez de Llergo, 1959), each having varying climatic aspects. These 
range from the coastal eastern forest lands of Tamaulipas up to the 
dry mountains of the Sierra Madre Oriental and into the mesquite 
grasslands of the central plains (fig. 1). The country continues to rise 
westward to the Sierra Madre Occidental, which includes a belt of 
mountainside oak country as well as high pine forests with pleasant 
"top-of-the-mountain" meadows. The west scarp of the Sierra drops 
sharply through a series of wild, craggy mountain ranges into the 
Sonoran-Sinaloa coastal plain. Most geographers separate the penin- 
sula of Baja California from the latter climatic zone, primarily because 
of its geographical location. Within this area the mountain valleys as 
well as the coastal river systems tend to run north and south, with a 
few major rivers, such as the Aros, cross-cutting the main watershed 
flow in an east-west direction. Contrary to popular opinion, the Sierra 
Madre Occidentales are not a major barrier to foot travel. 
The Sierra Zacatecas, located along the southern border, does not 
act as a wall against north and south communication, as the Central 
Basin and Range Province is tilted downward from south to north. If 
there are no natural barriers between the north and south, why then is 
SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS, VOL 146, NO. 1 
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