Circular Kancha: Theatres of Social Interaction in the North Highlands of Perú

Abstract

This paper addresses the active and changing role of circular kancha, public buildings organized around an open central court, common to the northern highlands of Perú. It discusses the distribution and chronology of this type of monument based on regional and local scale investigations in the central Los Conchucos region as well as the Callejón de Huaylas Valley. The focus on their landscape setting and the structure of the internal space, linked to the analysis of pottery samples recovered from excavations at Gotushjirka (San Nicolás district, Carlos Fermín Fitzcarrald province, Ancash Region), revealed that these are spaces built to create a dramatic sense of liminality, closely tied to mortuary practices. The remodelling of circular kancha following an orthogonal plan, detected at two sites in the Cordillera Blanca —Kishwar (Yanama district, Yungay province) and Keushu (Yungay district and province)— raise questions on the interaction of different sociohistorical trajectories at subregional level.