A Decade of Multidisciplinary Research at Castillo de Huarmey, Peru

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "A Decade of Multidisciplinary Research at Castillo de Huarmey, Peru" at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Since 2010, an international team of scholars has performed multidisciplinary research at Castillo de Huarmey, a Middle Horizon (AD 650–1050) coastal provincial center and Wari necropolis, where an imperial mausoleum with the first undisturbed Wari high-status women’s tomb and other elite burials was discovered. Using a broad methodological spectrum, including bioarchaeological, zooarchaeological, and biogeochemical analyses, alongside archaeometry, geoarchaeology, 3D HDS scanning, and architectural analysis, the archaeologists have brought to light a Middle Horizon cultural panorama and the nature and chronology of Wari imperial presence in this northwestern province. As a part of a commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the aforementioned discovery, this session will focus on the ideological impact, material footprint, Wari’s ancestor worship, and the links between gender and power that can be observed in the burials and public architecture from this unique precolumbian archaeological site.

Other Keywords
Andes: Middle Horizon • Craft Production • Bioarchaeology/Skeletal Analysis • Social and Political Organization: States and Empires • Chronology • Dating Techniques • Landscape Archaeology • Ceramic Analysis • digital archaeology • Mortuary archaeology

Geographic Keywords
Republic of Peru (Country) • Republic of Panama (Country) • Republic of Colombia (Country) • Netherlands Antilles (Country) • Aruba (Country) • Republic of Ecuador (Country) • Republic of Chile (Country) • South America (Continent) • South America: Andes • South America

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-9 of 9)

  • Documents (9)
Documents
  • The Absolute Chronology of Castillo de Huarmey (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Milosz Giersz. Alan Hogg. Branden Cesare Rizzuto.

    This is an abstract from the "A Decade of Multidisciplinary Research at Castillo de Huarmey, Peru" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Castillo de Huarmey, located on the North Coast of Peru and dated to the Middle Horizon period (ca. 650–1050 CE), was one of the most important provincial centers of the Wari Empire. Presenting the results of an extensive radiocarbon dating program, the present paper focuses on the chronological aspects of this unique...

  • Analysis of Physical Activity Pattern of Women from the Castillo de Huarmey Mausoleum, Peru (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Monika Lis.

    This is an abstract from the "A Decade of Multidisciplinary Research at Castillo de Huarmey, Peru" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper seeks to test the hypothesis that the elite individuals from the main chamber in the mausoleum in Castillo de Huarmey, Peru, functioned as specialized weavers. The sources available for the precolumbian Middle-Andes indicate the presence of aqllacuna (chosen women) who dedicated themselves to luxurious...

  • Elite Craft Specialists and Artists at Castillo de Huarmey (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Patrycja Przadka-Giersz.

    This is an abstract from the "A Decade of Multidisciplinary Research at Castillo de Huarmey, Peru" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. There is increasing archaeological evidence that in the Wari Empire prestigious objects were fashioned by artists belonging to the elite. The archaeological excavations at the royal necropolis of Castillo de Huarmey provide important insights into the craft production of luxury goods during the Middle Horizon period....

  • Elites, Craftsmen, or . . . Commoners? Ten Years of Bioarchaeological Research at Castillo de Huarmey (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Wieslaw Wieckowski.

    This is an abstract from the "A Decade of Multidisciplinary Research at Castillo de Huarmey, Peru" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In the last 10 years, the multidisciplinary Polish-Peruvian archaeological project at Castillo de Huarmey brought to light numerous finds. Some of the most significant research consists of wide-scale bioarchaeological analyses of human and animal remains originating from both undisturbed and looted burials. The most...

  • Iconographic, Technological, and Contextual Analysis of Wari Pyro-Engraved Gourds from Castillo de Huarmey, Peru (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Emanuela Rudnicka.

    This is an abstract from the "A Decade of Multidisciplinary Research at Castillo de Huarmey, Peru" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The technological, stylistic, and iconographical aspects of decorated gourds are yet insufficiently addressed by researchers of precolumbian Andean art. This paper investigates Wari pyro-engraved gourd vessels that have been discovered during the excavation process at Castillo de Huarmey since 2013. The archaeological...

  • Landscape Context of Castillo de Huarmey (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Julia Chyla.

    This is an abstract from the "A Decade of Multidisciplinary Research at Castillo de Huarmey, Peru" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Castillo de Huarmey, a Wari provincial center and elite necropolis, was one of the most important locations on the Middle Horizon (AD 650–1050) Huarmey Valley landscape. In my presentation, I will address issues concerning the location of the site on a macro scale in the entire Huarmey Valley, on a micro scale (the...

  • Partnering for Power: Castillo de Huarmey Relations with the Wari (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Patricia Knobloch. Milosz Giersz. Brandi Lee MacDonald. Michael Glascock.

    This is an abstract from the "A Decade of Multidisciplinary Research at Castillo de Huarmey, Peru" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. By Middle Horizon Epoch 2 (AD 800–850) the Wari polity was a generation old and assumed to reflect a complex hegemony based on ruins of a cosmopolitan capital in the Ayacucho-Huanta valley and artifact associations among ethnically distinct communities throughout the Andes. The complexity includes shared artistic...

  • Potters of Castillo de Huarmey: Confluence, Production, and Innovation of Ceramics (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Roberto Pimentel Nita.

    This is an abstract from the "A Decade of Multidisciplinary Research at Castillo de Huarmey, Peru" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Multidisciplinary research and analyses of ceramics found in Castillo de Huarmey, a political center of the Wari Empire during the late Middle Horizon (AD 800–1000), conducted in the last 10 years have produced new interpretations. A large number of ceramic vessels were deposited as offerings in elaborate mausoleums to...

  • The Role of Pachacamac and Castillo de Huarmey in the Wari World: A Comparison (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Krzysztof Makowski.

    This is an abstract from the "A Decade of Multidisciplinary Research at Castillo de Huarmey, Peru" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Excavations since 2005 at Pachacamac (Lurin Valley) near Lima and since 2010 at Castillo de Huarmey (Huarmey Valley) have provided important new evidence about the character and chronology of these two sites, considered by Menzel to be religious and political centers of the Wari Empire. Both sites were contemporaneous,...