Trincheras in archaeology refer to three different things: the culture, sites, and features. As to the culture, the Trincheras culture was one that lived in Northern Sonora from around 800 AD through 1450. They are known for a certain kind of pottery (purple-on-red). Their houses had pit houses, jacal structures, and masonry rooms. The jacal structures and masonry rooms are often found on the sides of volcanic hills, while the pit houses are found mostly on floodplain or terrace areas. The Trincheras culture's food source was from hunting and gathering and cultivating maize. They don't have any figurines, carved stone artifacts, ball courts etc... They do have simple shell jewelry, and the shells are believed to have been collected from the Gulf of California (Downum). …show more content…
These features are mostly located in the Basin-and-Range physiographic province. When these features are grouped together, it then becomes a trincheras site. Two major sites located in Sonora are known for this culture: La Playa, and Cerro de las Trincheras. The first one (La Playa) is around 3 sq mi of cultural remains consisting of ceramics, projectile points and lithics, fire-cracked rock (assumed to be from the use of roasting pits), and inhumation burials. La Playa was occupied from the Early Agricultural period to about 1450 AD. Cerro de las Trincheras is considered one of the best examples of a Trincheras site. It was probably occupied from AD 1300-1450, and it once had a population of 2100. It's covered with about 900 stone terraces that were used for platforms for their houses and jacal structures.