Architecture and Spatial Organization of Urban Cercaduras at the Early Horizon Center of Caylán, Nepeña Valley, Peru

Summary

This poster presents architectural and spatial data from monumental urban compounds or cercaduras at the Early Horizon center of Caylán (800-1 B.C.), Nepeña Valley, Department of Ancash, Peru. Caylán is interpreted as the primary center of a multi-tiered polity that developed in the littoral portion of the Nepeña Valley and reached its peak during the second half of the first millennium BC. Recent fieldwork at Caylán revealed the existence of more than 40 cercaduras interpreted as multi-functional residential compounds. The cercaduras are articulated through more than a dozen streets. Area excavations and systematic pedestrian surveys provide significant data to explore the organization of the cercaduras including their size, complexity, depth, and overall variability. Results indicate that the urban cercaduras share spatial logic, in particular with respect to their access patterns and sub-divisions. Here, we analyze architectural data from a spatial syntax perspective with the objective of reconstructing the size and complexity of the co-residential groups at Caylán. We present detailed reconstructions of six of the better preserved cercaduras to bring insights into Early Horizon urbanscapes and demographics. The results are discussed in light of the increased complexity and potential socioeconomic diversity of human settlements in coastal Ancash during the Early Horizon.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16581