Multidisciplinary Research at Castillo de Huarmey, Peru

DOCUMENT Citation Only Wieslaw C. Wieckowski. Kelly Knudson. Lars Fehren-Schmitz.

The Wari imperial mausoleum, discovered in 2012-13 at the site of Castillo de Huarmey, Peru brought to light remains of 64 individuals buried within the main chamber underneath and additional seven in the contexts directly associated with the mausoleum. The upper layers of the building also yielded a collection of human and animal remains. The collection of human remains brings a unique set of data for bioarchaeologists. The research performed so far include standard analyses like taphonomy,...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Isabelle Druc. Roberto Pimentel Nita. Maciej Kalaska. Rafal Siuda. Marcin Syczewski.

The paste analysis of the ceramics found in the Castillo de Huarmey, a Middle Horizon Wari political center on the north coast of Peru brought forth the existence of a variety of production areas and a panorama of multiple producers with different agendas or practices. Much of the ceramics appear to have been made with material available in the Huarmey lower valley, coastal area, and probably the adjacent Culebras Valley. The fine painted Wari ceramics and fine reduced impressed wares present a...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Julia Chyla.

Huarmey valley, at the southern fringe of Peruvian North Coast, was inhabited for millennia. It is a rich, multi-cultural area, where almost all types of archaeological sites are represented. The discovery of an imperial mausoleum at El Castillo in 2012/13 is an example how little we know about this region. During the previous seasons modern state-of-art techniques of documentation were used on daily basis at the time of excavations. The successful attempts to implement new non-invasive, remote...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Patrycja Przadka-Giersz.

In recent decades, Andean archaeology has shown an increasing interest in studying women and the roles they played in ancient society. The spectacular discovery of the imperial mausoleum at Castillo de Huarmey represents the first undisturbed burial context of fifty-eight noblewomen accompanied with six human sacrifices, two tomb guardians and hundreds of precious artifacts, and provides groundbreaking data on female status in Wari Empire. The amount and the richness of the luxury and prestige...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Weronika Tomczyk.

Even through the majority of faunal remains so far recovered at Castillo de Huarmey site derived from ceremonial contexts (i.e. main mortuary mausoleum and adjacent palatial complex), studies demonstrate that at the very least, the site’s elite inhabitants extensively exploited local resources, and simultaneously benefited from developed trade connections. At the core of animal management was the extensive camelid husbandry. The standard zooarchaeological analysis and mortality profiles...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Milosz Giersz.

The Peruvian site of Castillo de Huarmey located on the desert coast some 300 kms north of Lima and 4 kms east of the Pacific Ocean, is widely known for the 2012-13 discovery of the Middle Horizon imperial mausoleum with the first undisturbed Wari high elite women’s multiple burial. The tomb, which concealed 64 individuals was accompanied by an abundance of valuable grave goods such as gold and silver jewelry, fine pottery, religious paraphernalia, and textile production materials and tools....

DOCUMENT Citation Only Krzysztof Makowski.

The idea that diffusion of a proselytizing religion is one of the main factors that generated the horizon effect follows the research on Wari and Tiwanaku phenomena since its inception. The seminal works of Dorothy Menzel have also convinced generations of scholars about the alleged relationship of these phenomena with the Wari empire ideology and on the particular role that the sanctuary of Pachacamac fulfilled in this process. The analysis of rich ceramic and textiles from Castillo de Huarmey,...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Jeffrey Splitstoser. Milosz Giersz.

Archaeological evidence suggests that khipus—devices made of wrapped and knotted cords—were used by people living in the Wari Empire at least as early as Middle Horizon 1B. These Wari-style khipus, like their later, more famous, Inka descendants, likely carried and conveyed information using color and knots. Wari khipus differ from Inka khipus, however, in many respects including their use of colorful wrapping to make bands and patterns to convey information. Wari-style khipus survive in far...