Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T13:27:41.508Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aaron, W. 2001. Composing Avebury. World Archaeology 33: 296–314.Google Scholar
Abel, J.S., Rick, J.W., Huang, P.P., Kolar, M.A., Smith, J.O. & Howning, J.M.. 2008. On the acoustics of the underground galleries of ancient Chavín de Huántar. Paper presented at the European Acoustics Association Meeting, Paris, June 29-July 4 2008.Google Scholar
Bawden, G. 1982. Community organization reflected by the households: a study in pre-Columbian dynamics. Journal of Field Archaeology 19: 165–81.Google Scholar
Boivin, N., Brumm, A., Lewis, H., Robinson, D. & Korisettar, R.. 2007. Sensual, material, and technological understanding: exploring prehistoric soundscapes in south India. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 13: 267–94.Google Scholar
Burger, R. 1992. Chavín and the origins of Andean civilisation. London: Thames & Hudson.Google Scholar
Burger, R. & Salazar-Burger, L.. 1991. The second season of investigations at the Initial Period center of Cardal, Peru. Journal of Field Archaeology 18: 275–96.Google Scholar
Carmichael, P.H. 1998. Nasca ceramics: production and social context, in Shimada, I. (ed.) Andean ceramics: technology, organization, and approaches: 213–31. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.Google Scholar
Chicoine, D. 2006. Early Horizon architecture at Huambacho, Nepeña Valley, Peru. Journal of Field Archaeology 31: 1–22.Google Scholar
Chicoine, D. & Ikehara, H.. 2009. Informe técnico final del trabajo de campo: proyecto de investigación arqueológica Caylán (temporada 2009). Report prepared for Instituto Nacional de Cultura, Lima.Google Scholar
Chicoine, D. & Ikehara, H.. 2010. Nuevas evidencias sobre el periodo formativo del Valle de Nepeña: resultados preliminares de la primera temporada de investigaciones Caylán. Boletín de Arqueología PUCP 12: 349–69.Google Scholar
Chicoine, D. & Ikehara, H.. 2011. Informe técnico final del trabajo de campo: proyecto de investigación arqueológica Caylán (temporada 2010). Report prepared for Ministerio de Cultura, Lima.Google Scholar
Cook, P.R., Abel, J.S., Kolar, M.A., Huang, P.P., Huopaniemi, J., Rick, J.W., Chafe, C. & Chowning, J.M.. 2010. Acoustic analysis of the Chavín pututus (Strombus galeatus Marine shell trumpets). Paper presented at the 2nd Pan-American/Iberian Meeting on Acoustics, Cancun, 15-19 November 2010.Google Scholar
Cross, I. 2001. Music, mind, and evolution. Psychology of Music 29: 95–102.Google Scholar
Cross, I. & Watson, A.. 2006. Acoustics and the human experience of socially-organized sound, in Scarre, C. & Lawson, G. (ed.) Archaeoacoustics: 107–16. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.Google Scholar
Daggett, R. 1984. The Early Horizon occupation of the Nepeña Valley, north central coast of Peru. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Massachusetts Amherst.Google Scholar
Daggett, R. 1987. Toward the development of the state on the north central coast of Peru, in Haas, J., Pozorski, S. & Pozorski, T. (ed.) The origins and development of the Andean state: 70–82. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Dillehay, T.D. 2004. Social landscape and ritual pause: uncertainty and integration in Formative Peru. Journal of Social Archaeology 4: 239–68.Google Scholar
Donnan, C.B. 1982. Dance in Moche art. Nãwpa Pacha 20: 97–120.Google Scholar
Donnan, C.B. & Mcclelland, D.. 1999. Moche fineline painting: its evolution and its artists. Los Angeles (CA): UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History.Google Scholar
Ghezzi, I. & Ruggles, C.. 2007. Chankillo: a 2300-year-old solar observatory in coastal Peru. Science 315: 1239–43.Google Scholar
Goffman, E. 1967. Interaction ritual: essays on face-to-face interaction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gruszczyńska-Ziółkowska, A. 2009. Variedad sonora de las antaras Nasca: ¿un caos oel sistema? Revista Española de Antropología Americana 39: 145–68.Google Scholar
Hall, E.T. 1966. The hidden dimension. New York: Anchor.Google Scholar
Hall, E.T. 1968. Proxemics. Current Anthropology 9: 83–108.Google Scholar
Helmer, M. 2011. Social life and ancient Andean public landscapes: actions and performances as seen through the use of a first millennium BCE plaza at Caylán, Peru. Unpublished MA dissertation, Louisiana State University.Google Scholar
Helmer, M., Chicoine, D., & Ikehara, H.. 2012. Formative Period performances and plaza settings at Caylań, coastal Ancash, Peru. Nãwpa Pacha 32: 85–114.Google Scholar
Hodder, I. 2006. The spectacle of daily performance at Catalhöyük, in Inomata, T. & Coben, L.S. (ed.) Archaeology of performance: theaters of power, community and politics: 81–102. Lanham (MD): Altamira.Google Scholar
Houston, S.D. 2006. Impersonation, dance, and the problem of spectacle among the classic Maya, in Inomata, T. & Coben, L.S. (ed.) Archaeology of performance: 135–55. Lanham (MD): Altamira.Google Scholar
Hymes, D. 1975. Breakthrough into performance, in Ben-Amos, D. & Goldstein, K.S. (ed.) Folklore: performance and communication: 11–74. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Ikehara, H. & Chicoine, D.. 2011. Hacia una revaluación de Salinar a partir de la evidencia del Formativo Final en Nepeña, costa de Ancash, in Giersz, M. & Ghezzi, I. (ed.) Arqueología de la costa de Ancash (Andes: boletin del Centro de Estudios Precolombinos de la Universidad de Varsovia 8): 153–84. Warsaw: Centro de Estudios Precolombinos de la Universidad de Varsovia; Lima: Instituto Francés de Estudios Andinos.Google Scholar
Ikehara, H. & Shibata, K.. 2008. Festinese integración social en el Periodo Formativo: nuevas evidencias de Cerro Blanco, Valle Bajo de Nepeña. Boletín de Arqueología PUCP 9: 123–59.Google Scholar
Inomata, T. 2006. Plazas, performers, and spectators: political theaters of the Classic Maya. Current Anthropology 47: 805–42.Google Scholar
Inomata, T. & Coben, L.S.. 2006. Overture: an invitation to the archaeological theater, in Inomata, T. & Coben, L.S. (ed.) Archaeology of performance: 11–44. Lanham (MD): Altamira.Google Scholar
Kapchan, D.A. 1995. Performance. Journal of American Folklore 108: 479–508.Google Scholar
Kosok, P. 1965. Life, land, and water in ancient Peru. New York: Long Island University Press.Google Scholar
Lathrap, D.W. 1985. Jaws: the control of power in the early nuclear American ceremonial center, in Donnan, C.B. (ed.) Early ceremonial architecture in the Andes: 241–267. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections.Google Scholar
Moore, J.D. 1996. Architecture and power in the ancient Andes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Moore, J.D. 2003. Life behind walls: patterns in the urban landscape in the prehistoric north coast of Peru, in Smith, M. (ed.) The social construction of ancient cities: 81–102. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.Google Scholar
Moore, J.D. 2005. Cultural landscapes in the ancient Andes. Gainesville: University of Florida Press.Google Scholar
Pellow, D. 1996. Introduction, in Pellow, D. (ed.) Setting boundaries: the anthropology of spatial and social organisation: 1–9. London: Bergin & Garvey.Google Scholar
Pozorski, S. & Pozorski, T.. 1987. Early settlement and subsistence in the Casma Valley, Peru. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.Google Scholar
Pozorski, S. & Pozorski, T.. 2005. Architecture and chronology at the site of Sechín Alto, Casma Valley, Peru. Journal of Field Archaeology 30: 143–61.Google Scholar
Proulx, D.A. 1968. An archaeological survey of the Nepeña Valley. Research report 2. Amherst: Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Proulx, D.A. 1985. An analysis of the early cultural sequences in the Nepeña Valley. Research report 25. Amherst: Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Raimbault, M. & Dubois, D.. 2005. Urban soundscapes: experiences and knowledge. Cities 22: 339–50.Google Scholar
Rifkin, R. 2009. Engraved art and acoustic resonance: exploring ritual and sound in north-western South Africa. Antiquity 83: 585–601.Google Scholar
Romero, R.R. 2002. Panorama de los estudios sobre música Andina en el Perú, in Romero, R.R. (ed.) Sonidos Andinos: una antología de la música campesina del Perú: 11–70. Lima: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.Google Scholar
Schafer, R.M. 1977. The tuning of the world. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.Google Scholar
Shibata, K. 2010. El sitio de Cerro Blanco de Nepeña dentro de la dinámica interactiva del Periodo Formativo. Boletín de Arqueología PUCP 12: 287–315.Google Scholar
Shimada, I. 1994. Pampa Grande and the Mochica culture. Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Stobart, H. 2002. Interlocking realms: knowing music and musical knowing in the Bolivian Andes, in Stobart, H. & Howard, R. (ed.) Knowledge and learning in the Andes: ethnographic perspectives: 79–109. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.Google Scholar
Swenson, E.R. 2011. Stagecraft and the politics of spectacle in ancient Peru. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 21: 283–313.Google Scholar
Turino, T. 2008. Music as social life: the politics of participation. Chicago (IL): University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Turner, V. 1987.The anthropology of performance. New York: PAJ.Google Scholar
Warner, J. 2010. Interpreting the architectonics of power and memory at the Late Formative center of Jatanca, Jequetepeque Valley, Peru. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Kentucky.Google Scholar
Watson, A. 2001. The sounds of transformation: acoustics, monuments and ritual in the British Neolithic, in Price, N.S. (ed.) The archaeology of shamanism: 178–93. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Watson, A. & Keating, D.. 1999. Architecture and sound: an acoustic analysis of megalithic monuments in prehistoric Britain. Antiquity 73: 325–36.Google Scholar
Williams, C. 1985. A scheme for the early monumental architecture of the central coast of Peru, in Donnan, C.B. (ed.) Early ceremonial architecture in the Andes: 227–40. Washington, D.C: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections.Google Scholar
Wilson, D.J. 1987. Reconstructing patterns of early warfare in the Lower Santa Valley: new data on the role of conflict in the origins of complex north-coast society, in Haas, J., Pozorski, S. & Pozorski, T. (ed.) The origins and development of the Andean state: 56–69. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Yang, W. & Kang, J.. 2005. Acoustic comfort evaluation in urban open public spaces. Applied Acoustics 66: 211–29.Google Scholar