The Role of Infrastructure in Wari State-Making in Southern Peru

Summary

In southern Peru, the transition from the Early Intermediate to the Middle Horizon during the seventh century A.D. was marked by the expansion of Wari state colonists and influence from the Ayacucho heartland. Andeanists have long postulated the role of climate change and drought during this initial state expansion, while issues of chronology complicate this issue. Here, we reevaluate the radiocarbon data from the early Wari colonies of Cerros Baúl and Mejía in the upper Moquegua Valley in comparison to recent investigations of Middle Horizon roads and waystations that connected Peru's southern coastal valleys. We investigate how systems of infrastructure (i.e. irrigation canals, agricultural terraces, and road networks) integrated local Early Intermediate social groups within the processes of Wari state-making on the southern frontier. Furthermore, we argue that these systems of infrastructure are crucially important when considering processes of cultural resilience during periods of environmental and social stress.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• A.D. 600 Cultural and Environmental Transformation in Ancient Peru   •
• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16036