Assembling an Architecture of the Ayllu: Political Sequence, Historical Process, and Emergent Institutions at the Middle Horizon Site of Tecapa, Jequetepeque Valley, Peru

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Them and Us: Transmission and Cultural Dynamism in the North of Peru between AD 250 and 950: A Vision since the Recent Northern Investigations" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The late Middle Horizon site of Tecapa, in the southern Jequetepeque Valley, comprises a series of monumental compounds abutting a Late Moche huaca. Although the architecture resembles the orthogonal cellular style that has come to be associated with imperial Wari centers, extensive excavations have revealed no sign of Wari occupation. Instead, material culture indicates alliance and eventual syncretism between coastal peoples and a small enclave of highlanders from the nearby Cajamarca highlands. While some scholars argue that Wari maintained Cajamarca as a client state, I take this opportunity to reexamine the basis on which we have constructed Wari as an expansive imperial power. My review of the literature demonstrates that the architectural style attributed to Wari predates the Middle Horizon across a wide region in north central Peru. In fact, orthogonal cellular sites to the north of Wari itself show almost no corroborating evidence for Wari occupation beyond the architectural style. Though some archaeologists interpret gridded planning as evidence for a centralized administrative strategy, I show that histories of gridded planning in Eurasia do not support this argument. Instead, I suggest that Tecapa—and other planned orthogonal sites—denote the emergence of a new model of political organization

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Them and Us: Transmission and Cultural Dynamism in the North of Peru between AD 250 and 950: A Vision since the Recent Northern Investigations   •
• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 33005