Wari State Expansion and Middle Horizon Roads in the Majes-Chuquibamba Region, Southern Peru

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Exploring Culture Contact and Diversity in Southern Peru" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This project investigates the social mechanisms behind culture change and contact in Peru’s southern coastal valleys through the lens of road infrastructure: i.e. the built networks of communication, travel, and commerce. Here we present recent investigations of a pre-Inca road network in the Majes/Chuquibamba region of Arequipa. Excavations at three associated waystation sites indicate the development of road infrastructure was both a product of local communities and an intrusive Wari state during the Middle Horizon. Analyses of recovered materials show various cultural signaling and long-distance interaction between Arequipa and Ayacucho. Excavations at Pakaytambo, a newly discovered Wari enclave and D-shape temple along this road network, indicate the intersection of political economy and ritual that would have embedded local communities into the Wari sphere.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• Exploring Culture Contact and Diversity in Southern Peru

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24146