Beyond Wari Empire and Inka Analogy: Refining Reconstructions of Wari Power in Middle Horizon Cusco

Summary

This is an abstract from the "A New Horizon: Reassessing the Andean Middle Horizon (AD 600–1000) and Rethinking the Andean State" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In the Cusco region of southern Peru, the Middle Horizon has generally been interpreted as a period during which a strong Wari imperial state conquered and then tightly controlled local populations and resources. Research conducted at the large Wari installation of Pikillaqta and at other Wari sites in the neighboring Huaro Valley has long guided these reconstructions of Wari power in the region, providing a one-sided perspective of Wari impact that is heavily based on Inka analogy. In this paper, I discuss different lines of archaeological evidence recently gathered at local settlements that can be used to test the Wari imperial model. Data from regional surveys and excavations at the local center of Ak'awillay show that far from being dominated by Wari colonists, local communities continued to obtain goods from centuries-old exchange networks and maintained power over the ritual realm. The paucity of Wari items at some distance from Wari installations in Cusco further suggests that local elites did not depend on Wari goods to display their status. These results should encourage us to move beyond the application of an Inka imperial model to the Wari, focusing instead on the multidirectional relationships that linked local communities and Wari colonists.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• A New Horizon: Reassessing the Andean Middle Horizon (AD 600–1000) and Rethinking the Andean State

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32926