THE CASMA CITY OF El Purgatorio ANCIENT URBANISM IN THE ANDES. MELISSA A. VOGEL Foreword by Michael E. Smith, Marilyn A. Masson, and John W. Janasek University Pres of Florida Gainesville Tallaassee Tampa Boca Raton Pensacola Orlando Miami- Jacksonville FL. Myers SarasotaCopyright 2016 by Melissa A. Voge Allright reserved Printed inthe United States of Ameria on aide paper “This book may be salable in an electronic edition, 1m www 684321 Library of Congress Cataloging in-Publication Data Names Vogel, Meliss A. author. |Smith, Michael Ernst, 1953- author of foreword, | Masson, Marly A author of foreword. |Janust, Jn Wayne, 1963- author of foreword Tile Th Casma ct of El Purgatorio: ancient urbanism inthe Andes “Melisa Voga foreword hy Michel F Smith, Marlyn A. Masson and John W Janus Other tiles: Ancient cites af the New Word Desrpton: Gainevll: University Press of Frid, [2016] | Sere: Ancient ces af the new word | Ices Bibliographical references and index ers LCC 201602006 | 1SBN 9780812062150 (oth) Subject: LESH: Indians of South America—Peru—Antiguies. | Indias of ‘South America Material cuture—Pera| Excavations (Archacology)—Pera, [Ges and towns, Ancent—Pers | neas—Antigutes. | Peru—Antgstes, | Casma River Vale (Pera) Antiguites. (lasifcaton: LOC F429 W548 206 | DDC 985/01—de23 iC reeoed avaiable at htpsleen oc gov/2016020069 “The Unversity Pres of Forde the scholarly publishing agency forthe State University System of Fords, comprising Florida A&M Univesity Florida Anti University, Florida Galf Coast ‘University lori International University, Farida State University, New Collegeof Frid, University of Cente Florida, University of Florida, Univer of North Florida, Unversity of South Florida, and University of West Florida. Univerty Pres of Florida Ns Northwest 1th Street J) Gaines PL sz611-2079 hupseeupeom ‘To my son Marcus, the light of my life, who tolerated mommy not allowing him to play with her computerCONTENTS List of Figures ix List of Maps xiii List of Tables xv Foreword xvii Acknowledgments xix Prologue xxi 1. Urbanism in Ancient America 1 2. The Andes in Late Prehistory: An Overview 30 3. The Casma and Their Capital City 51 4. The Urban Environment 86 5. Urban Ritual and the Casma Religion 126 6. Urban Economy 159 7. Urban Residents 179 8. Ancient Cities and Their Worlds 194 9. The City in Retrospect 209 Notes. 219 References Cited 227 Index 257stl u. 12. 2 22. 31. 3.2. 33. 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39. 310. Bu 312, 3.3. 34, FIGURES Georeferenced 2007 Google Earth photograph of El Purgatorio in the Casma Valley 3 ‘View of El Purgatorio Sector A from the west 4 Photo of Huaca del Sol 40 Photo of an audiencia at Chan Chan. 47 Georeferenced 1969 aerial photograph of Cerro la Cruz (IGN Pert) 56 Casma Molded blackware jar with figurative design (CCMIU6EL-16) 62 ‘Casma Molded blackware stirrup-spout bottle (CCM2U2-WEI) 63 Casma Molded redware vessel with figurative design. (CCMIU2L2-22) 63 ‘Casma Black-White-Red bow! (CCMIU2F2-1) 64 Casma-style jar with circles around neck (CCMIU2F6-5). 65 Casma-style vessel with rope design around neck (ELPOASAC-4) 66 Casma-style vessel with twisted handles (CSACO7-3) 66 ‘Casma-style vessel with serrated handles (CCMIU2X1-25) 67 Casma-style vessel with appliqués (CCMIU2F6-4) 67 Casma-style vessel with geometric design (CCMITHI-2) 68 ‘Casma-style vessel with zoomorphic design (CCMIU6F3-5) 68 Fragment of a decorated mold showing circle-and-dot design on its interior (A6RI3UI-907&908) 69 ‘Casma Molded vessel with painted cats (CCMIU7F2-2) 69x + Figures 3.5. 3.16. 37. 38, 3.9. 4 42 43 44. 45. 46. 4g. 48, 49, 4.10, 5h 52. 53. 5a, 82. 58, 59. View of El Purgatorio Sector A. 73 View of El Purgatorio Sector B 73 View of El Purgatorio Sector © 74 View of El Purgatorio Sector D_ 75 Fragment of a Chimii textile found in ARI3UL_ 85 Reconstruction of Compound Al Platform 7/Plaza 2 (PPC7) 94 Adobe frieze on Compound Al Plaza 2 (PPC7) 95 ‘Adobe frieze on Compound Al Platform 7 (PPC7) 96 Niched wall of Compound Al Room 21 (PPC2) 97 Reconstruction of Compound AI Platform 2be/Room 21 (PPC2) showing blocked stairway 97 Reconstruction of ceramic workshop adjacent to Compound A6 102 South wall of Compound A4 showing adobe construction on. stone foundations 115 Cabeza y soga (runner and header) adobe pattern (PPC7) 116 Possible dedicatory burial found under the floor in A3RI4UI 118 Retention wall protecting Sector A from ENSO-related flooding 122 Reconstructed kero showing Moon Animal design (CCM2BUBLS-46) 131 Wooden idol found in Sector C (CAS6RI7-W1)_ 133 Drawing of Casma Molded jar showing dancers (CCMIU7EI-28) 134 Fragment showing Casma agricultural deity (CCM2BUSLS-87) 135 Maize Goddess plaque (C U2-I15) 136 Blackware jar showing Casma version of Pachacamac griffin (CCM2UL6-99) 137 Bundles of human hair tied together (AAS3PAIUI-HA2) 144 A tightly flexed Casma burial (CCMIUGF3) 146 A plato de alfarero (potters plate) used for making pottery (AASSPAIUILS-454) 149 5:10. 62, 63. 6A, 65. 66, 67. 68, 69. 6.10. 6.1. 612, 74 9a, Figures = xi Compound Al Plaza | east wall showing friezes and standing stone 151 Chimii-Inca mummy interred in Compound A6 after abandonment of El Purgatorio (A6RS6THIFI) 155 Fragment ofa stitrup-spout mold found in the ceramic workshop (ELPOASA-28) 165 Fragment of a mold found in the ceramic workshop (AAS3PAISAC-19)_ 165 Fragment of a decorated mold showing exterior design (AGRI3UI-9078:908) 166 Ceramic fragment with a bird stamp found near the ceramic workshop (AOR48UILI-I74) 167 Beads (broken and whole) and raw material from the bead workshop (CCLSR9UIL2-SHI8S5) 168 Knotted piece of tapestry weave found in the bead workshop (CCLSR9UIL2-T3) 169 Broken spindle with spindle whorls and yarn (CCMIU2FL-SW1) 170 Remains of a weaving basket and its contents (CCMIU2FI-OF2) 170 Cotton yarn wrapped around a stick (A2RI2UI-109) 170 Row of grinding stones in kitchen area (Room 29) of Compound C4 172 Donut-shaped digging weight found on the surface in Sector A (ELPO4SA-13) 173 Casma Incised ceramic sherd with drops of smelted metal (AGRASUIL3-491) 175 Casma face-neck jar, perhaps depicting a leader or deity (CCMIU9FIO-1) 188 Graft on interior of bow! fragment with exterior painting, (A3PLIUI-45) 217MAPS LLL. The north coast of Peru showing the locations of relevant sites. § 1.2, The lower Casma Valley showing the locations of relevant sites 6 1.3. El Purgatorio showing Sectors A, B,C, D_ 21 1.4, Compound AI showing platform/plaza complexes shaded in gray 22 3.1 Cerro La Cruz 57 3.2. El Purgatorio site map showing proposed growth sequence for the city 83 4.1 Sector A 100 4.2. Compound A6 with AAS-3. 101 4.3, Compound A2 with AAS-6 104 44, Compound AS 105 45, Compound A3 with AAS-5 106 4.6. Compound A4 107 47. Sector 1tl | | | | | : 24. 22. 31 32. 4 42. TABLES ‘Comparative Andean Chronology 35 Previous Names for Variations of Casma State Ceramic Styles. 38 Results of Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Dating at El Purgatorio 7 Recalibration of Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Dates from Cerrola Cruz 79 Areas of Sectors at El Purgatorio 90 “The Platform/Plaza Complexes of Sector A, Compound 1 93FOREWORD Few cities in the South American Andes have been the focus of sustained archaeological research. Its arid Pacific coast, sliced latitudinally by vital river valleys descending from the Andean mountains to the east, pro- duced some of the most extensive and influential centers in the Ameri- «as, A couple of past cities—most notably, Moche and Chan Chan—have been subject to intensive archaeological research. In this book Melissa A. Vogel synthesizes a decade of sustained study at El Purgatorio, a hitherto little-known archaeological site on the Peruvian north coast. Located in the Casma, one of the largest of the Andean coastal river valleys, El Pur- gatorio was an extensive city that formed the capital of an enduring and influential polity that she terms the Casma state. Vogel’ study of El Purgatorio adds a critical chapter to the study of ‘Andean urbanism. Her analysis focuses on how the city’s built environ- ‘ment—its architectural forms and spatial orders—manifested particular sorts of sociopolitical relations and how, in its broader setting on the Peruvian north coast, those sociopolitical relations shifted over time. El Purgatorio emerged as an urban center during a geopolitcally volatile “transitional” period. It peaked from AD 1000 to AD 1400, from the end of the Middle Horizon to just before the Late Horizon, the period of Inca imperial expansion. Our understanding of this phase on the coast, the Late Intermediate Period, has been dominated by the historically docu- mented Chimii state, centered at the massive city of Chan Chan in the Moche Valley. El Purgatorio not only rivaled Chan Chan in size and spa- tial complexity but also thrived as a contemporaneous capital for at least two centuries. ‘This study brings much to bear on the study of past urbanism glob: ally. Vogel’ analysis ofthe ancient Andean city questions some traditional dichotomies that theorists employ to understand past cities. This bookBai + Foreman tackles a traditional distinction between “ritual” and “secular” cities and the complex societies that they center. In the precolumbian coastal An- des, early centers such as Moche focused on massive platform mounds and their attached courtyards and plazas as places for staged rituals and large-scale gathering, El Purgatorio manifested an early version of a novel spatial configuration, Here, and at later centers such as Chan Chan, ur- ban order centered on clusters of contiguous walled compounds, each incorporating places for restricted access and enclosing small platform/ plaza complexes. While evidence for feasting, and specialized production of the native corn beer (chicha) that fueled the events, is high at El Pur- gatorio, ritual events were more enclosed, walled-off, and exclusive. As ‘Vogel points out, more than indicating increasing secularization, what El Purgatorio demonstrates i increasing elite control over the production of ritual and the rise of other cultural attributes—craft specialization, long- distance trade, and so forth—to bolster elite power. Ritual production and especially feasting were central to urban life at El Purgatorio, Are we pethaps seeing increased bureaucratization? This book is the sixth in the Ancient Cities of the New World series Books in the series provide accessible portrayals of urbanism in places where publication has not kept up with fieldwork and archival research, While the study of any past urban center can claim to be about ancient cit- ies or urbanism, this series features studies that employ specific theories, models, and approaches drawn from the scholarly literature on cities and urbanism. Volumes in this series will complement introductory textbooks as in-depth, theoretically driven case studies of urbanism in precolum- bian Mesoamerica and South America. Michael E. Smith ‘Marilyn A. Masson John W. Janusek Series editors ss ACKNOWLEDGMENTS A large, multiyear project such as the one that prompted this volume can- not be accomplished without substantial financial support and the efforts of many hard-working contributors, to whom I would like to express my deep appreciation. The funding for this project was provided by gener ‘ous grants from the National Science Foundation (grants #BCS-0814338 and #1049318), the Brennan Foundation, and Clemson University. My sincere thanks go to my mentor Dr, Carol Mackey and my graduate stu- dent David Pacifico, for their tireless efforts to assist me with the revising and editing of this volume, and to friends Kenya Shujaa, John Warner, and Robyn Cutright, for their comments on specific chapters. Erin Black, Daniel Good, Thomas Oder, and Jeremy Fowler provided invaluable as- sistance with maps and illustrations. I would also like to thank Lic. Percy Vilcherrez.and Lic. Rocio Sanchez for their expertise in examining the faunal and botanical remains. I am greatly indebted to Susan Mowery and Kenya Shujaa for their expertise and skillful analysis of the human skeletal remains from El Purgatorio. I would have been lost without my dedicated lab director, Caroline Murray. I would also like to thank Lic. Isabel Collazos for her thorough analysis ofthe textile fragments from El Purgatorio. thank the people of Pueblo Mojeque for welcoming my interest in their town and the adjacent site and for their willingness to discuss the history of the area with me and the citizens of Casma for their hospitality. ‘Many Peruvian scholars contributed to the success of this project in the field, especially Lic. Roberto Pimentel, Lic. Victor Falcén, Lic. Ana Sofia Linares, Luis Tandaipan, Lic. Augusto Neyra, Lic. Camila Capriata, and Lic. Jorge Gamboa. I was blessed with several highly skilled local field assistants as well, many of whom worked on the project for multiple sea~ sons, including Félix Isidro, José Ramos, Carlos Infantes, Fidel Rosales,x + Acknowledgments José Luis Cervera, and Eusebio Valero. Many students and volunteers from both the United States and Peru worked on the project over the years. I would like to give special mention to repeat crew members Chris Looney, Kathy Oliver, and Allyson Kinard. And I would be remiss if did not also thank my favorite copy editor, Camille Nelson, for her thorough and meticulous work. Finally, my most heartfelt thanks go to my family and friends for their enduring support and insistence that I could accomplish this within the time frame that [had set for myself. Their love and encouragement helped make this a reality. PROLOGUE “The first time I tried to find the site of El Purgatorio I got lost. The year was 2001, and I was scouting for my next project location after finishing my doctoral field research farther north in the Chao Valley. My Peruvian co-director Lucho and I were in a mototaxi, which is essentially a rickshaw powered by a motorcycle instead of a bicycle. We were traveling across the lower Casma Valley when it ran out of gas. We had asked in town for someone who knew how to find the site, but our driver took us instead to the Initial Period (ca, 1800-900 BC) site of Moxeke, a large mound ‘or huaca that while more famous was definitely not where we wanted to go. To his surprise and displeasure we explained that this was the wrong place, and he had to ask a passerby by for directions. We then drove off through some fields (apparently on fumes), and thus Lucho and I ended up standing next to a mototaxi in the middle of a cornfield, waiting for our driver to round up enough fuel to get us back to town. Although El Purgatorio had once been the capital city of an important regional state, it seemed to have been forgotten by the people who now live on its doorstep. I never saw E] Purgatorio that year or in the next two years either, as I was busy writing my doctoral dissertation. And so it was that I finally ar- rived at El Purgatorio in 2004 to begin survey and mapping, sight unseen ‘except for aerial photographs and incomplete sketch maps. | was soon to learn why there was so much confusion over the site’ name and location, ‘The national map (which has not been field checked) labels the area Ha- cienda Mojeque, the same as the Initial Period site, and so a small village built on the northwestern edge of the site of El Purgatorio had chosen to name itself Pueblo Mojeque. To cause even greater confusion, the next district up the valley from Mojeque is called Purgatorio. The archaeologi- «al site of El Purgatorio spans both the Mojeque and Purgatorio districts, and yet some maps refer to it as two separate sites: El Purgatorio for theportion of the site in Mojeque and Tambo Viejo for the portion of the site {in Purgatorio, Are you confused yet? I can certainly see why. Not only was the site of El Purgatorio hard to find, but the area where itis located had been poorly defined by geographers and topographers. ‘To make matters worse, the mountain upon which the site was con- structed is occasionally mislabeled as well. On most maps, including the official national map, its called Cerro Mucho Malo; yet on some maps it has been labeled Cerro Purgatorio, presumably because some locals refer to tas such, People often ask me the significance of this seemingly biblical name for the site. Unfortunately, after searching the literature and asking local residents in the Casma Valley, I have yet to find a source for it. Pre- sumably some Spaniard made the designation after the conquest. I ike to joke that since the site is located on the skirts of the “really bad mountain” (English translation of Cerro Mucho Malo) and adjacent to the “happy plain” (English translation of Pampa Alegre) it makes sense to call the site in between “purgatory” Another possibility is that the area reminded someone of the second part of Dante Alighieris Divine Comedy (titled Purgatorio), in which Dante climbs the terraced Mount of Purgatory to reach the earthly paradise. Indeed, given the significance of mountains in the Andean sacred landscape and mountain tops as gateways to the heav- ens, the common practice of pilgrimage in traditional Andean religions, and the terraces that are carved into the mountain’ slopes, this may be a particularly suitable analogy. Thave come to believe that the site is aptly named as a place of transi- tion, for Bl Purgatorio was occupied during a time of political transition in precolumbian Peru and appears to represent a significant change in religious and political practice. Iti a truly immense urban settlement by ancient American standards. Unlike the cities ofits dramatic predecessors, the Moche, the site is oriented not around enormous pyramidal mounds but rather around walled orthogonal compounds with complex interior layouts, more similar to those of their eventual conquerors, the Chim. Investigating these architectural changes is essential for understanding the development of Andean complex societies as well as for interpreting the changing face of Andean cities over time. We call the archaeological culture that built this site the Casma, after the river valley where the site is located. This culture arose from the shifting sands ofa period called the Middle Horizon (ca, AD 600-1000) and reached its apogee during the subsequent Late Intermediate Period (ca. AD 1000-1470) before being Prologue - sx subsumed under the Chimd Empire around AD 1350-1400. Until recently the Casma had not been given much attention by archaeologists. ‘The ar- chaeological understanding of these periods on the north coast of Peru has been changing dramatically with the results of the atest field research, ‘Though the proverbial waters of the Middle Horizon remain murky, new research is slowly providing some clarity. These studies of El Purgatorio and the Casma state have the potential to explain not only a significant period of Peruvian prehistory, but also a people that had been lost and a city that had been largely ignored. Correcting these oversights is the aim of this volume.| i : bea URBANISM IN ANCIENT AMERICA During the latter half of the first millennium AD, coastal Andean elites implemented a fundamental change in the way they managed their people and expressed their power. Rather than emphasize their relationship to the supernatural through the performance of dramatic public rituals and the building of enormous platform mounds, rulers used religious activi- ties and their elite divinity in support of economic interests and territorial ‘control. These changes in how power was manifested through monumen- tal architecture, iconography, and public events profoundly influenced the urban environments of late prehistoric coastal polities. Cities that used to center on gigantic truncated pyramids and fantastic public displays instead came to revolve around large walled compounds that enclosed a variety of semipublic structures, including large open plazas with small platforms and complex networks of receiving areas, storage rooms, and ceremonial venues. Festivities became more restricted as walls separated the invited guests from the excluded and displays of power were increas- ingly reserved for those within, Religion remained a crucial instrument of the Andean state, but it took its place alongside overtly political practices and economic transactions as just one among several tools wielded by clites to maintain power. I refer to this era, previously mischaracterized as a period of “secularization” and loosely associated with a proliferation of hybrid ceramic styles sometimes called Transitional, as the “hegemonic transition” because of the dramatic shift in governing strategies that took place. This transformative period in Andean urbanism is well represented2 + The Casma City off Purgatorio at the site of El Purgatorio, capital city ofthe late prehistoric Casma state and the focus of my fieldwork. One of the aims of my research was to investigate the sociopolitical changes that accompanied the development of early American cities and. the effects of these changes on the urban populace. Project El Purgatorio addressed this aim through an examination of the built environment at Bl Purgatorio, a prehistoric Andean city that offered unique insights into the dynamics of urbanization on the north coast of Peru during a crit cal period of the region’s prehistory. In this chapter I introduce the city at the center of this study, briefly describe the trajectory of research on urbanism in the ancient Americas (including the connection to archaic state development), contextualize the study of EI Purgatorio within this research framework, and explain the methodology we used to investigate the site EL PuRGAToRIO, CasMA Caprrat City BI Purgatorio (igs. L1 and 1.2) was a large urban center on the north coast of Peru. It was associated with the Casma state, a polity that occupied ap- proximately 300 km of contiguous valleys on the north-central coast (map 1.1). The site covers an area of approximately 5.32 km? and appears to have had a long occupation, from around AD 700 through the remainder of the Middle Horizon (AD 600-1000) and most of the Late Intermediate Pe- riod (AD 1000-1400). Several seasons of fieldwork atthe site (2004-2011) verified initial hypotheses that El Purgatorio was an extensive, complex turban environment affliated with the Casma state and that, as Peruvian archaeologist Julio C, Tello (1956) suggested decades ago, it fit the criteria for a capital city (map 1.2). In addition to representing a distinctive form ofthe Andean city in late prehistory, El Purgatorio presented a unique opportunity to examine the development of Andean urbanism and the state using a previously un- derstudied cultural group, the Casma. The substantial size of the city and the longevity of its occupation warranted more in-depth archaeological attention. In addition, this project explored the major transformation of power that took place in late prehistoric Andean states: from the earlier, religiously oriented form of governance to more bureaucratic, central- ized states such as the Chim and Inca Empires. This investigation of El Figure 1.1. Georeferenced 2007 Google Earth photograph of El Purgatorio in the Casma Valley QuickBird/Digital Globe, Inc, Image4+ The Casma Cty of Purgatorio igure 12. View of EI Purgatorio Sector A from the west. Photo by author. Purgatorio provided significant information on the structure, extent, and a[Tdeune impact of the Casma state in Peruvian prehistory and on the evolution 2|Pampe Grande \ of Andean state-level societies. ‘The study of transitional polities (such 3|sipan as the Casma) during periods of great cultural complexity and flux can ——alFarfén | provide significant insight into long-term culture change, in terms of both 5|Chan Chan ° religio-political practices and how those practices are reflected in the built 6|Huacas de Moche ce peers environment. However, before turning to the details of the Casma case 7)Cerro ia Cruz study, a brief overview of the archaeological study of urbanism and the 8 Paftamarc 2 ‘Sechin Bajo : 10/61 Purgatorio Castillo de Huarmey connection between the development of cities and complex societies isin order. ‘Map L1 The north coast of Peru showing the locations of relevant sites. Map by author and Daniel Good,Map 12. The ywer Casma Valley showing the locations of relevant sites, ‘Tue STUDY OF URBAN ENVIRONMENTS 1N ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH Globally the process of urbanization has increased exponentially. Most of the world’s population now lives in urban environments, so it is no surprise that urbanism has become a prime subject of anthropological research. Archaeology. with its long view of the human past, is particu: larly well suited to investigating the origins and development of cities. Ar- chaeological studies have shown significant regional differences in urban forms (or types of cities) and how they developed, with notable distine- tions between Old World and New World cities. Similarly, the process of urbanization has various effects on urban residents. Some are common to most cities, while others are specific to individual cities or types of cities. ‘The study of urbanism across cultures and over long periods of time can trace the origins and development of urban life in the past, shed light on a ‘multitude of urban issues in the modern world (Smith 2010b), and inform, choices that shape the direction of urban environments into the future. Urbanism has been @ focus of anthropological research on both mod: ern and prehistoric cultures (Blanton 1976, 1981; Chapdelaine 2001; Chap. delaine et al. 1997; Childe 1950; Fox 1977; Keatinge et al. 1975; Marcus 1983; Moseley and Day 1982; Sanders and Webster 1988; Smith 2007, 2008; ‘Wheatley 1972). There is greater agreement on what constitutes an urban environment among modern and historical cultures. In contrast, one of the most contested areas of research on ancient cities has been the defini- tion of an urban environment: what counts as a city, how to recognize cities in the archaeological record, and how cities are similar or different across cultures and over time. Perhaps the greatest early influence on the archaeology of urbanism and ancient cities was V. Gordon Childe (1950), who coined the term “urban revolution” to describe the advent of cities in the ancient world. Childe (1950) developed a long list of criteria for iden- lifying the urban transition that included the following characteristics: large population size and density; fall-time craft specialists; monumental art and architecture; systems of recording, such as writing and the practi cal sciences; foreign trade involving exotic goods; social solidarity where identity is based on residence rather than on kinship; and a state level of organization with a ruling class that taxes is citizens, These criteria were based primarily on prehistoric cultures of the Old World and are closely linked to the development of state-level societies.+ The Casma Git of El Purgatorio As the study of ancient urbanism broadened to include a more diverse range of cultures with various expressions of urbanism, Childe criteria came to be considered somewhat limiting, and this is especially true in the Andes. For example, the Inca Empire may not have written down its language, but it was certainly a state-level society that created urban en- vironments, Furthermore, scholars such as Roderick J. McIntosh (1991) have challenged the presumed link between the development of cities and the presence of a coercive state as a causal factor, at least in parts of Africa and China. In fact, the noted differences between Old World and New World urbanism have sparked an extensive literature on the nature of New World urbanism and its various forms (for example, Farrington 2013; Joyce 2009; Kolata 1997; Smith 2000) that is especially relevant to the case study presented here. Aside from New World/Old World distinctions, another set of con- trasts in the study of urbanism lies in the differences between modern and prehistoric cities. Much of the theory behind the analysis of urbanism comes from the study of modern cities, which can be utilized in archaeo- logical interpretation but often require key modifications. One important contribution to this literature, employed by William T. Sanders and David ‘Webster (1988) as a means for characterizing Mesoamerican cities, was Richard G, Fox’ (1977) typology of cities. Fox emphasized the functions of cities, naming three primary types: regal-ritual centers that focus on ideological functions, administrative centers that focus on bureaucratic functions, and mercantile centers that emphasize the production of wealth through trade and craft production.? Fox noted that cities may serve more than one of these functions but argued that most tend to emphasize a primary function over others. Despite the difficulties in applying Fox’s typology to prehistoric sites, it continues to provide a useful analytical framework for examining and comparing cities cross-culturally and over time, so longas intersite variability is not overlooked, However, many an- cient cities may not clearly conform to just one type in Fox's model, espe- cially without the aid of historical documents. For example, El Purgatorio, the case study discussed here, appears to have served all of these urban functions (ideological, administrative, and productive) without obvious privileging of one function over another. One could argue that as acapital city it was primarily a regal-rtual center with administrative functions, but this description ignores the ample evidence for craft production and trade at EI Purgatorio. Indeed, the need to privilege one functional area Urbanism in Ancient Ameria = 9 over others may belie the multifunctional nature of many past and current turban environments. A heterarchical (rather than hierarchical) approach to urban functions may prove more useful in many prehistoric cases, such as that of El Purgatorio. Another major contributor to the literature on ancient cities of the Americas—whose views have heavily influenced my own—is Michael E. Smith (1989, 2000, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010a, 2010b). Smith (2007) has re- peatedly pointed out the need for more comparable data on ancient cities and for greater dialogue between archaeologists and scholars of modern urbanism, He has furthered this dialogue by addressing such modern is- sues as urban sprawl and sustainability and applying them to the ancient world (Smith 2010b). Smith (2008:4-9) advocates a functional definition of cities as central places over the traditional demographic definitions that emphasize population size and density. His approach to Mesoamerican urbanism includes four dimensions: urban form, urban life, urban func- ‘tions, and urban meaning. While this book is not organized according to that format, I certainly agree that all four of these dimensions were also important in the Andes, and they are therefore addressed in subsequent chapters. When interpreting urban meaning, Smith tends to favor em- pirical arguments and to discourage speculation about higher-level mean- ing in prehistoric cities that lack historical sources, perhaps because in ‘Mesoamerica we are fortunate to have some such documents available, The Andes, however, do not have the advantage of prehispanic textual resources; this creates an added difficulty for those of us who study pre- Inca archaeological cultures. Perhaps that is why I am less stringent than Smith about the occasional indulgence in speculation about higher-level ‘meanings, so long.as it is grounded in ethnographic or ethnohistoric anal- ogy as well as in archaeological evidence. Because cities are spatial entities, the study of ancient urban environ- ments requires the application of spatial analysis, for which there isa vast archaeological literature (Ashmore 1989, 1991; Ashmore and Sabloff 1997; Clarke 1977; Hietala 1984; Hodder and Orton 1976; Lawrence and Low 1990; Manzanilla and Chapdelaine 2009; McIntosh 1991; Smith 2003). ‘Whereas much of the early literature focused on monumental architec ture, more recently household archaeology has also become an area of great interest (Aldenderfer and Stanish 1993; Ashmore and Wilk 1988: Canuto and Yaeger 2000; Richards 1990; Wilk and Rathje 1982). Spatial distribution can be examined at varying scales, from individual artifacts10 ~ The Casma Cty of Purgatorio to households to sites within a region, and searched for patterns and their meaning (Clarke 1977; Hietala 1984; Hodder 1978; Hodder and Orton 1976). Changes in architectural style and form, both monumental and mundane, can be seen as indices of societal change (Bawden 1993; Ber- mann 1993). In addition, how people choose to organize their living and working spaces often correlates with how they organize their lives as in- dividuals and as communities (Rapoport 1994; Schortman and Nakamura 1991), Cultural processes shape the spatial environment, and power rela- tionships are often embedded in the spatial realm (Moore 1992, 1996b, 2005). This is precisely the premise behind the “hegemonic transition”: that changes in the monumental architecture of coastal Peru reflect changes in political strategies and public ritual Recent archaeological approaches have reintroduced a focus on the cognitive processes behind the construction and organization of space, with special attention given to meaning and intentionality. Approaches that emphasize individual agency recognize the choices made by political leaders, such as those made by a Maya ruler of Tikal (Harrison 1997) or by the Inca rulers for Cuzco (Hyslop 1990). Other spatial analyses focus on the ritual aspects and proxemics of space, how a place can both define and be defined by the ritual activities that occur there and for which it was designed. For example, Moore’ (1996a) interactional model linked the roxemics of ritual with the spatial properties of plazas in several pre-Inca Andean cultures, while Protzen and Rowe’ (1994) interpretation of the Incas’ Hawkaypata plaza utilized ethnohistoric and archaeological data to explain the role of this space in the civic and religious functions of Inca Cuzco, More recently, Inomata and Cober's 2006 volume provided several examples ofthe importance of performance in power and politics, notably how the Inca state utilized performances and theatrical spaces across their empire as a means to maintain power (Coben 2006). Mean- while, phenomenological approaches emphasize the lived experience of the subject, using the body as the preferred vantage point from which to view the world, For example, Tilley (1994) defines space as culturally con stituted and actively changing overtime, in direct association with human agency. Cities would certainly constitute such locales. My study attempts to recognize all of these factors: phenomenology, proxemics, expressions of power, and the individual agency of leaders at El Purgatorio, Ultimately, much of spatial analysis in archaeology begins with the search for patterns—patterns in architecture, artifact distribution, site ne layout, settlement systems, or whatever scale is relevant to the research questions at hand. What differs are the goals of the project, what it seeks to learn about a particular site, culture, or region, and the methods used to achieve those goals. This book draws on all of the approaches mentioned above (for example, Hegmon 2003)—thick description, stylistic analysis of architecture, middle-range analysis of the relationship between cultural processes and spatial organization, human agency, proxemics, and phe- nomenology—to address various aspects of the study of El Purgatorio and to establish a greater understanding of late prehistoric Andean cities. ANCIENT AMERICAN Cries Many scholars have already described the differences between cities of the New and Old Worlds in premodern times (Adams 1966; Blan- ton 1976; Cowgill 2004; Fox 1977; Smith 2007). Although broad cross- cultural comparisons can still be quite informative, Richard E. Blanton (1976:250) called for a regional approach to the study of cities and argued against overemphasizing the role of cities in social change. The regional approach is essential for understanding American cities, especially in the Andes, as explained below. More recently, Mesoamericanist Arthur A. Joyce (2009:195) argued that studies of urbanism should emphasize prac- tice, social negotiation, and materiality rather than cultural evolutionist, functionalist, and elite agency approaches. But to my mind an emphasis on urbanism as a form of practice need not exclude analyses of urban- ism that recognize the functions of cities or the agency of urban elites. Many critiques of large-scale models for urbanism have largely been ac. cepted, as has the need for historically and culturally contingent analyses of cities. Archaeologists must remember that our analytical categories, while useful for comparative studies of urbanism, may not always reflect «mic concepts of place. Nevertheless, the rise of a new city cannot occur without certain concomitant sociopolitical changes. The mass migration of people from rural to urban living creates new stresses and provokes adaptations to the new environment. While cross-cultural similarities and differences in urban forms should certainly be recognized, they must also bbe contextualized within their cultural, regional, and temporal settings. In some cases, such as in the prehistoric Andes and on Peru's north coast in particular, some interesting trends can be observed in the changing forms of architecture found in urban environments over time.12 - The Casma City of Pargtrio ANDEAN Cities Certain characteristics have tended to distinguish Andean cities from thei Mesoamerican and Old World counterparts. Two of the most important characteristics are the lack of markets and the concept of an “empty” cer- emonial center (Kolata 1997; Makowski 2008). Instead of using markets, in the Andes the exchange of goods seems to have been closely controlled by elites who administered a redistributive economy. In part because of this elite control of trade, the fates of most Andean cities were closely en- ‘ovined with the success or failure of their rulers; therefore they rarely sur vived for longer than a few centuries (Makowski 2008; Stanish 2010). In fact, atthe time of the Spanish conquest the only places in Peru with large urban centers were the central Sierra and the north coast (Rowe 1963:1). ‘The second characteristic, a ceremonial center that draws a high popula tion only seasonally ot for specific ritual occasions and is otherwise fairly “empty” of permanent residents, has been proposed to describe many of the early centers of monumental architecture in Pert (Moseley 2001; Rowe 1963; Silverman 1988). This idea has been challenged by those who view these early centers, such as Pampa de las Llamas-Moxeke, Taukachi- Konkan, and Caral, as urban centers with more permanent populations (Pozorski and Pozorski 1994; Shady 2006). Of course, atthe root of this debate is the definition of urbanism; a demographical definition requires a large, dense, permanent population, but a functional definition (sensu Smith 2008) requires only that these early centers fulfill urban functions, which does seem to have been the case, Beyond differences in the definition of a city, there are also distinct dif ferences in Andean urban spatial organization. Mesoamerican cities are often organized around an urban epicenter consisting of a central plaza surrounded by a number of temples and other public buildings in the shape of truncated pyramids that face onto the plaza (see Ashmore 1989, 1991; Ashmore and Sabloff 1997; Smith 2008). In early Andean ceremo- nial/urban centers stch as Pampa de las Llamas-Moxeke or Chavin de Huantar, the central organizing principle is often a large platform mound fronted by a plaza or series of plazas and sometimes flanked by smaller buildings, but these buildings are not always oriented toward or in line with the central plaza. The pairing of a large, often U-shaped platform ‘mound with a sunken, often circular court is widely distributed across Peru from 3000 BC to 200 BC, after which this pattern largely disappears. as Uebanam in Ancent Amerisn = 13 ‘With the possible exception of Inca cities such as Cuzco, late prehistoric ‘Andean cities do not share this central organizing principle. Indeed, the spatial characteristics of later Andean cities can differ significantly be- tween cultures. In terms of architectural style and construction techniques, Markus, Reindel’ (1993, 1999) diachronic study of monumental adobe architecture on the northern north coast is particularly relevant for this case study (see also Engel 1978). While not al of the sites in his study are considered urban, he did chart some as the types of adobes utilized, construction techniques, and structure morphology. Reindel’s analysis did not include north coast valleys south ‘of Vira, so the entire Casma territory from the Chao Valley to the Hua- rmey Valley falls outside the purview of his study. But his results provide a chronological model against which the results of research at El Purgatorio and other Casma sites can be compared, For example, Reindel claimed that flat, rectangular adobes and slightly convex adobes were charac- teristic of Middle Horizon northern architecture; El Purgatorio adobes conform to this pattern, Reindel (1999) also found that construction techniques included what he termed cabeza y soga (runner and header) arrangements of adobes. Likewise, this pattern was noted at El Purgato- rio—in fact, it was used as a decorative technique along the top of some compound walls. Moreover, comparisons of excavated platform mounds have determined that the forms represented at EI Purgatorio are terraced rather than smooth, inclined rather than vertical, and use both ramps and staircases for access. Platforms at El Purgatorio are clearly associated ‘with enclosures, a form that falls on the latter end of Reindel’s schema, His schema provides a basis for comparison among cities of the Peru- vvian north coast such as Tiicume (Heyerdahl et al. 1996), Pampa Grande (Shimada 1994), Pacatnamu (Donnan and Cock 1986, 1997), Huacas de ‘Moche (Chapdelaine et al. 1997), and Chan Chan (Moseley and Day 1982) that date to the Middle Horizon (ca, AD 600-1000) and Late Intermediate Period (ca. AD 1000-1470), as well as to other ancient cities around the world ignificant trends in adobe construction, such DEFINING URBANISM AND RELATED ConcEPTS Defining global criteria to determine what qualifies as a city has proved problematic, as the urban form differs from region to region and over