Some areas of Durango and southern Sinaloa constituted in pre-Hispanic times the northernmost regions of the so-called “West” of “Mesoamerica”.
However, while the Sinaloa region was continuously inhabited by agricultural and sedentary groups, Durango underwent a series of profound changes. And it is that the eastern region of Durango is extremely arid, so it was never conducive for agricultural and sedentary groups to live there. In contrast, to the west, the Sierra Madre and the adjoining valleys offer a wide range of ecological niches conducive to relatively stable settlements, even for non-agricultural peoples.
We can divide the pre-Hispanic history of this mountain region into three great cultural periods: a very old one of hunter-gatherers; a second period of great advances of agricultural and sedentary groups from the south; and finally a third time when those agricultural sites are abandoned and the region is invaded by northern groups from another cultural tradition.
That ancient time, by the way very poorly known, can be identified based on interesting cave paintings that hunter-gatherers left in their caves. During the second period, around 600 AD, the Duranguense mountainous area was colonized by southern cultures from Zacatecas and Jalisco from the so-called Chalchihuites Tradition, a name derived from the site of that name in Zacatecas.
Several important towns stood on the high tables and built perfectly aligned rectangular houses, as in Mesa de la Cruz, or houses organized around large patios, as in Cerro de la Cruz. A quite different place is La Ferrería, which due to its complexity must have had great political importance.
There they built housing units, a two-body pyramid and a ball court, as well as some curious constructions with a circular plan.
Much remains to be said about these agricultural cultures of Durango and we can only refer to the third time, when those agricultural sites of the Chalchihuites tradition were abandoned in the 13th century, and at the same time the region was invaded by people of the northern tradition (Sonoran) apparently associated with the intrusion of the Tepehuanes.
