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Soundscapes and community organisation in ancient Peru: plaza architecture at the Early Horizon centre of Caylán

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Matthew Helmer  and
David Chicoine
Matthew Helmer
Affiliation:
1Sainsbury Research Unit for the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK (Email: m.helmer@uea.ac.uk)
David Chicoine
Affiliation:
2Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA (Email: dchico@lsu.edu)
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Abstract

The thriving study of acoustic archaeology is here applied to an excavated plaza site in Peru, where the authors show that an intimate sound-space was intended, one which featured panpipe music as well as the spoken word. Their method involved the measurement of three sound levels of speech at various distances from the plaza, giving us an easy-to-use mode of on-site investigation, which will surely win wide application. The study also showed a dramatic change from the use of acoustics in a previous period, where sound was canalised in U-shaped temples in order to address large numbers of people.

Keywords

PeruCaylánEarly Horizonninth-first centuries BCacousticssocial control
Type
Research Article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 87 , Issue 335 , March 2013 , pp. 92 - 107
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2013

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