Based on twenty-five years of survey and excavation work in the Casas Grandes region, this book presents an interpretation of Paquimé that differs greatly from the traditional ideas that have dominated the literature for the last half-century. This massive reinterpretation of the inner workings of the Casas Grandes region tackles the essential question of how Paquimé affected its near neighbors and also addresses the enigmatic end to the great city. An essential archaeological text, Reframing Paquimé will generate debate for a generation of future scholars of Northwest Mexico and the adjacent U.S. Southwest.

Michael E. Whalen is a professor emeritus in the department of anthropology at the University of Tulsa. His research interests include complex societies, processes of sociocultural evolution, prehistoric social structure, and ceramic analysis.

Paul E. Minnis is a professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Oklahoma now living in Tucson, Arizona, where he is a visiting scholar in the School of Anthropology at the University of Arizona. He is the author or editor of fifteen books, including Famine Foods: Plants We Eat to Survive, and numerous articles.