Casas Grandes Pottery is made in the Casas Grandes Valley of Chihuahua, Mexico approximately 180 miles south of El Paso, Texas. Although Casas Grandes is not well known, it had a very rich prehistory. It was occupied by the "Paquimian" Tribe (Paquime = Casas Grandes) and it was the most densely settled part of the entire Pueblo Indian Culture area. The Paquimians were very famous for their distinctive and unique pottery, which had the widest distribution of manufacture of any Pueblo Indian Pottery style, past or present. In the early 1340's AD, due to unknown reasons, the Paquimians abandoned their sophisticated and well built city.

Approximately 600 years after the Paquimians disappeared, Casas Grandes natives studied the pottery style of the Paquimians. Captivated by the beauty of the unique pottery-making style, they began experimenting with clays and paints until they were able to redevelop the lost technology of the ancient artisans of Paquime.

After they mastered the style, it was modified and by using their limitless imagination created their own sophisticated technique in pottery making, which was a combination of the ancestral tradition from the Paquimians and new technology. The result was a unique style that is one of the finest in quality of work today. Casas Grandes pottery is compared with the Hopi's, (One of a group of North American Pueblo Indians, now on a reservation in NE Arizona) and the Santa Clara and the Santa Fe potters, both Pueblo Indians of New Mexico.

The new redeveloped lost technology of the ancient artisans of Paquime were well known for their harmoniously decorated polychrome wares and polished black pottery. The Casas Grandes artisans dig and prepare their clays and build their characteristically round-bottomed pottery. The pieces are given shapes of people, animals, or a combination of both. After the pieces are dry, paints are used that are made from liquid clays and other natural minerals. Brushes made out of human hair are used to paint designs on the pieces. The designs are not preciously sketched on paper, but they evolve spontaneously in the process of painting. Once the painting has been completed, the pots are fired in the open air in dried cow chips, which burn rapidly with a hot and even flame.