In 1584, Baltasar de Obregón described the people he met in the Casas Grandes Valley (CGV), Northwest Chihuahua, Mexico. He juxtaposed these “rustic” people with the sophistication of the ancient builders of Paquimé who had lived in the CGV. Seventy years later, the Spanish missionaries called the people in the CGV “Suma” and enlisted them to build Mission San Antonio de Padua de Casas Grandes. Scholars have examined Obregón's and later administrators’ accounts to argue that the Suma were a small-scale society and unrelated to the ancient people of Paquimé (~AD 1200–1430). We reevaluate this interpretation. First, we contextualize the documentary evidence within contemporary frameworks. Second, using data from the 1958–1961 Joint Casas Grandes Expedition, we compare Paquimé and Suma material culture. We argue that the Suma were likely long-term residents of the Valley, organized into horticulture villages, and exhibiting cultural practices linked to Paquimé. After critiquing previous arguments about Suma origins, we consider how this criticism relates broadly to exploring Native Americans’ reactions to colonial settings.

1584 年，Baltasar de Obregón 描述了他在墨西哥奇瓦瓦西北部的卡萨斯格兰德斯山谷 (CGV) 遇到的人。他将这些“质朴”的人与生活在 CGV 中的 Paquimé 古代建造者的成熟并列。七十年后，西班牙传教士称 CGV 中的人为“Suma”，并招募他们建造 Mission San Antonio de Padua de Casas Grandes。学者们研究了 Obregón 和后来的行政人员的记述，认为苏玛是一个小规模社会，与 Paquimé 的古代人（约公元 1200-1430 年）无关。我们重新评估这种解释。首先，我们将文献证据置于当代框架内。其次，我们使用 1958 年至 1961 年联合卡萨斯格兰德远征的数据，比较了帕基梅和苏玛的物质文化。我们认为苏玛人很可能是山谷的长期居民，组织成园艺村，并展示与 Paquimé 相关的文化习俗。在批评了先前关于苏玛起源的争论之后，我们考虑了这种批评如何与探索美洲原住民对殖民环境的反应广泛相关。