Plaza life and public performance at the Early Horizon center of Caylán, Nepeña Valley, Perú

Abstract

The following article examines ancient Andean performance at the Early Horizon site of Caylán (800-1 BC), Nepeña Valley, North-Central Coast of Peru. Caylán, a hypothesized early urban polity, was organized around a series of monumental enclosure compounds, each dominated by a plaza. Our research considers public performance from one of Caylán's largest and best preserved plazas, Plaza-A. Results indicate a spatially exclusive, neighborhood-based plaza environment. Public activities included spectacles with music, processions, and architecture entombment. Patterns of small-scale plaza interactions are also discussed. At Caylán, regular public interactions structured and maintained group identities in a new residential environment. These results highlight the role of public performance in the maintenance and reproduction of community during periods of social transformation associated with the emergence of urban lifeways.

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