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Cerro Lampay: Architectural Design and Human Interaction in the North Central Coast of Peru
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2017
Abstract
Recent fieldwork concerning the late Preceramic/late Archaic period on the PeruvianNorth-Central Ccoast has revealed the existence of large architectural complexes, which scholars interpret as indicative of social complexity. This article is especially concerned with architectural design as an effective means to define social and political organization at Cerro Lampay. It concludes that there was not a highly formalized hierarchy but that power positions within the community could have been negotiated through ritual practices that included the dual organization of participants. It is highly probable that the residents of the North Central Coast were in constant and intense interaction during the late Archaic, which may have resulted in displays of competitive emulationin ritual settings.
Recientes investigaciones en la costa nor-central peruana han revelado la existencia de grandes complejos arquitectónicos para el Período Precerámico Tardío/Arcaico Tardío, que son considerados por diversos investigadores como indicadores de complejidad social. Este trabajo enfatiza el análisis del diseño arquitectónico como medio efectivo para definir la organización social y política en Cerro Lampay. Se concluye que no hubo una jerarquía altamente formalizada sino que las posiciones de poder dentro de la comunidad podrían haber sido negociadas mediante prácticas rituales que incluyeron la organización dual de los participantes. Es muy probable que los moradores de la costa nor-central estuviesen en interacción constante e intensa durante el Arcaico Tardío, hecho que pudo haber resultado en los despliegues de emulación competitiva en contextos rituales.
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- Copyright © 2010 by the Society for American Archaeology.
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