Ceramic Differences at the Household/Neighborhood Level at Cerro Mejía: Evidence of a Possible Multiethnic "Mitmaqkuna" Community on the Southern Frontier of the Wari Empire

Summary

This poster will present the results of the analysis of household ceramic assemblages from the slopes of the secondary Wari center Cerro Mejía in the Moquegua Valley. The slopes of Cerro Mejía are divided into distinct domestic neighborhoods by fieldstone walls. Based on differences between these neighborhoods observed during excavations it has been hypothesized that this site was a multiethnic community similar to Inca mitmaqkuna with local inhabitants from throughout the region and possibly inhabitants from other locations in the Wari Empire. The analysis of ceramics from households in different neighborhoods appears to confirm the multiethnic nature of this community. Although there are some similarities across the site, the ceramic assemblages from each household suggest that ceramics were not centrally manufactured and distributed. Instead, the evidence suggests ceramics were manufacture at the household level. The assemblages were sufficiently different from each other to suggest that they were made not just by different individuals but by individuals who came from distinct ceramic manufacturing traditions. The goals of this poster are to clearly demonstrate the observed ceramic differences in detail and to discuss how these findings inform us about Wari imperial organization on the southern frontier of the empire.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

Keywords

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14515