Settlement Patterns in the Upper Mantaro Valley Revisited: Assessing the Effects of Wari State Expansion on the Central Andes during the Middle Horizon (A.D. 500–1000)

Summary

Archaeological studies of the Upper Mantaro Valley region in the central Andean highlands have played an essential role in shaping current models of Andean complex societies and state expansion during the Middle Horizon (A.D. 500–1000) and subsequent periods. Among the pioneer studies of this region was Browman’s pedestrian survey of the Upper Mantaro valley between Jauja and Huancayo, Peru for his doctoral dissertation, during which he registered over 106 sites dating to the Middle Horizon. Using temporal data, qualitative descriptions of features and artifacts, photographs and maps from Browman’s original field notes and dissertation, we reconstruct his findings in ArcGIS to re-analyze changes in settlement patterns, architecture and ceramic distributions through time and space. By integrating these patterns with newly available information about the environmental, social, and political contexts of the region, we build on previous work using technology unavailable at the time of the initial field research. Our re-examination focuses on the Middle Horizon period to specifically assess the influence of the Wari state on the Upper Mantaro region. 

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22122