Academic Editor: Matteo Maron Received: 31 January 2025 Revised: 11 April 2025 Accepted: 21 April 2025 Published: 23 April 2025 Citation: Morales, J.; Gutiérrez, F.K.; Pérez-Rodríguez, N.; Gamboa, E.; Goguitchaichvili, A.; Esparza, R. Elemental Composition, Rock-Magnetic Characterization, and Archaeomagnetic Dating of Ceramic Fragments from the Paquimé Archaeological Site (Northern Mexico). Minerals 2025, 15, 437. https://doi.org/10.3390/ min15050437 Copyright: © 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/). Article Elemental Composition, Rock-Magnetic Characterization, and Archaeomagnetic Dating of Ceramic Fragments from the Paquimé Archaeological Site (Northern Mexico) Juan Morales 1,2, * , Fátima Karina Gutiérrez 3 , Nayeli Pérez-Rodríguez 4 , Eduardo Gamboa 5 , Avto Goguitchaichvili 2 and Rodrigo Esparza 3 1 Laboratorio Universitario de Geofísica Ambiental (LUGA), Instituto de Geofísica Unidad Michoacán, Campus Morelia, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Morelia 58190, Mexico 2 Servicio Arqueomagnético Nacional (SAN), Instituto de Geofísica Unidad Michoacán, Campus Morelia, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Morelia 58190, Mexico 3 Centro de Estudios Arqueológicos, El Colegio de Michoacán, A.C., Cerro Nahuatzen 85, Col. Fracc. Jardines del Cerro Grande, La Piedad 59370, Mexico 4 Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores Unidad Morelia, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Morelia 58190, Mexico 5 INAH, Delegación Chihuahua, Chihuahua 31000, Mexico * Correspondence: jmorales@igeofisica.unam.mx Abstract: Paquimé is a remarkable pre-Hispanic settlement that flourished between the 13th and 15th centuries in northwest Chihuahua, Mexico. This site is recognized for its distinctive fusion of Mesoamerican and Southwestern American cultural traits. Although much of the explanatory models about this settlement’s development and regional role have focused on trade, pottery from the Salado tradition, particularly Polychrome Gila and Polychrome Tonto, has generally been presumed to have originated in the American Southwest. To confirm the interaction between both cultures and contribute to the clarification of the absolute chronology of Paquimé, the geochemical characterization and rock-magnetic characterization of sherds of local and presumably foreign manufacture were carried out, including sherds with manufacture that seems to be the result of the abovementioned relationship. SiO 2 and Al 2 O 3 contribute more than 75% to the observed variation. The Casas Grandes pottery shares the geochemical signatures of both local and foreign types. High-coercivity magnetic grains dominate in the foreign-type pottery samples. In contrast, relatively low-coercivity ferrimagnetic grains are the main features of local-type sherds. Essentially similar absolute intensity values were obtained for both potsherd wares. The most probable age intervals obtained for all ceramic samples studied range from 990 AD to 1310 AD, in agreement with previous surveys and local archaeological frameworks. Keywords: Salado tradition pottery; geochemistry; rock-magnetic parameters; geochronology 1. Introduction Paquimé, also known as Casas Grandes, is located in the present-day municipality of the same name, along the western bank of the Casas Grandes River, in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. It is recognized as the largest, most developed, and centralized pre- Hispanic community in Northwestern Mexico and the Southwestern United States [1,2]. In addition, it has been considered a link between the cultures of Mesoamerica and those of the Northwest/Southwest [3–6]. It is estimated that it was a prominent cultural development from approximately 1200 A.D. to at least 1450 A.D. [7]. Minerals 2025, 15, 437 https://doi.org/10.3390/min15050437