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

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.