Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T00:06:26.580Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Understanding Wari State Expansion: A “Bottom-Up” Approach at the Village of Ak'Awillay, Cusco, Peru

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Véronique Bélisle
Véronique Bélisle*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Millsaps College, Jackson, MS 39210, ([email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper documents how ancient state expansion affected local communities. Many scholars have argued that the Wari state of Middle Horizon (A.D. 600-1000) Peru established direct imperial control over several provinces. Archaeologists have studied large Wari sites using a “top-down” approach, but rarely have they studied local settlements to see how and if local populations were affected by the expansion of the Wari into their regions. My research takes a complementary “bottom-up” approach and examines the impact of Wari state expansion on the village of Ak'awillay in the Cusco region. I report on the excavation of contexts dating to the Middle Horizon and earlier periods at the site. These provide a unique perspective for evaluating change through time and assessing local responses to Wari expansion. Results suggest that most of the changes seen at Ak'awillay occurred before the arrival of Wari colonists in Cusco. Their presence had minimal impact on the daily lives of the villagers of Ak'awillay, although it provided new exchange opportunities that local leaders mayhave used for their benefit. Like other early states elsewhere, the Wari state may have controlled a small area around its colony but had a limited impact on more distant communities.

Resumen

Resumen

En este artículo se documenta el impacto de la expansión de los estados antiguos sobre las poblaciones locales. Muchos arqueólogos nan propuesto que el estado wari estableció un control imperial directo sobre varias provincias del Perú durante el Horizonte Medio (600-1000 d.C). La capital wari y los grandes sitios waris afuera de Ayacucho han sido investigados, pero raras veces se estudiaron los sitios locales para entender cómo las poblaciones fueron afectadas por la expansión del estado wari en su región. La investigación presentada aquí utiliza una perspectiva complementaria y examina el impacto de la expansión wari sobre el pueblo antiguo de Ak'awillay en la región del Cusco. Los contextos excavados en el sitio pertenecen no sólo al Horizonte Medio sino también a los periodos anteriores. La comparación de estos contextos proporciona una perspectiva única para evaluar los cambios a través del tiempo y entender las reacciones locales frente a la intrusión wari. Los resultados sugieren que la mayoria de los cambios en Ak'awillay ocurrio antes de la llegada de los Waris en el Cusco. Durante el Horizonte Medio la presencia wari tuvo un impacto mínimo en la vida diaria de la mayoría de los comuneros de Ak ‘awillay, pero proporcionó nuevas oportunidades de intercambio que las élites locales podrían haber utilizado para su propia ventaja. Como los estados antiguos en otras partes del mundo, el estado wari pudo haber controlado un área pequeña alrededor de su colonia en Cusco, en tanto que dejó pocas huellas sobre las comunidades locales que vivían a cierta distancia de las instalaciones coloniales.

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 26 , Issue 2 , June 2015 , pp. 180 - 199
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2015

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Bauer, Brian S. 1999 The Early Ceramics of the Inca Heartland. Fieldiana New Series No. 31. Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.Google Scholar
2004 Ancient Cuzco: Heartland of the lnca. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Bauer, Brian S., and Alan Covey, R. 2002 Process of State Formation in the Inca Heartland (Cuzco, Peru). American Anthropologist 104:846–864.Google Scholar
Bélisle, Véronique 2014 Early Intermediate Period and Middle Horizon Settlement Patterns in the Xaquixaguana Region. In Regional Archaeology in the Inca Heartland: The Hanan Cuzco Surveys, edited by R. Alan Covey, pp. 77–91. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Berdan, Frances E, Blanton, Richard E., Boone, Elizabeth H., Hodge, Mary G., Smith, Michael E., and Umberger, Emily 1996 Aztec Imperial Strategies. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Bergh, Susan E. (editor) 2012 Wari: Lords of the Ancient Andes. Thames and Hudson, New York.Google Scholar
Bermann, Marc 1994 Lukurmata: Household Archaeology in Prehispanic Bolivia. Princeton University Press, Princeton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braswell, Geoffrey E. 2003a Understanding Early Classic Interaction between Kaminaljuyu and Central Mexico. In Maya and Teotihuacan: Reinterpreting Early Classic Interaction, edited by Geoffrey E. Braswell, pp. 105–142. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Braswell, Geoffrey E. 2003b Introduction: Reinterpreting Early Classic Interaction. In Maya and Teotihuacan: Reinterpreting Early Classic Interaction, edited by Geoffrey E. Braswell, pp. 1–43. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Brumfiel, Elizabeth M. 1991 Weaving and Cooking: Women’s Production in Aztec Mexico. In Engendering Archaeology: Women and Prehistory, edited by Joan M. Gero and Margaret W. Conkey, pp. 224–251. Basil Blackwell, Oxford.Google Scholar
Burger, Richard L., and Asaro, Frank 1979 Análisis de rasgos significativos en la obsidiana de los Andes Centrales. Revista del Museo Nacional XLI-II:281–325.Google Scholar
Burger, Richard L., Mohr Chávez, Karen L., and Chávez, Sergio J. 2000 Through the Glass Darkly: Prehispanic Obsidian Procurement and Exchange in Southern Peru and Northern Bolivia. Journal of World Prehistory 14:267–362.Google Scholar
Carlotto, Victor, Gil, Willy, Cárdenas, José, and Chávez, Richard 1996 Geología de los cuadrángulos de Urubamba y Calca, Hojas: 27-r y 27-s. Boletín No. 65, Serie A: Carta Geológica Nacional. Instituto Geológico Minero y Metalúrgico, Lima.Google Scholar
Butters, Castillo, Jaime, Luis 2001 La presencia de wari en San José de Moro. In Huari y Tiwanaku: modelos vs. evidencias. Primera Parte, edited by Peter Kaulicke and William H. Isbell, pp. 143–179. Boletín de Arqueología PUCP No. 4. Fondo Editorial de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima.Google Scholar
Covey, R. Alan 2006 How the Incas Built Their Heartland: State Formation and the Innovation of Imperial Strategies in the Sacred Valley, Peru. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Covey, R. Alan 2014 Local Developments in the Sacred Valley and Responses to Wari Colonization. In Regional Archaeology in the Inca Heartland: The Hanan Cuzco Surveys, edited by R. Alan Covey, pp. 93–108. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Covey, R. Alan, Silva, Miriam Araóz, and Brian, Brian S. 2008 Settlement Patterns in the Yucay Valley and Neighboring Areas. In Imperial Transformations in Sixteenth-Century Yucay, Peru, edited by R. Alan Covey and Donato Amado González, pp. 3–17. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Covey, R. Alan, Bauer, Brian S., Bélisle, Véronique, and Tsesmeli, Lia 2013 Regional Perspectives on Wari State Influence in Cusco, Pern (c. A.D. 600–1000). Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 32(4):538–552.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cutright, Robyn E. 2010 Food, Family, and Empire: Relating Political and Domestic Change in the Jequetepeque Hinterland. In Comparative Perspectives on the Archaeology of Coastal South America, edited by Robyn E. Cutright, Enrique López-Hurtado, and Alexander J. Martín, pp. 27–44. Center for Comparative Archaeology, University of Pitts-burgh/Fondo Editorial de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú/Ministerio de Cultura del Ecuador, Pittsburgh/Lima/Quito.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
D’Altroy, Terence N., and Christine, Christine A. (editors) 2001 Empire and Domestic Economy. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Press, New York.Google Scholar
Davis, Allison R. 2011 Yuthu: Community and Ritual in an Early Andean Village. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Dietler, Michael 1998 Consumption, Agency, and Cultural Entanglement: Theoretical Implications of a Mediterranean Colonial Encounter. In Studies in Culture Contact: Interaction, Culture Change, and Archaeology, edited by James G. Cusick, pp. 288–315. Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Earle, Timothy K. 1991 The Evolution of Chiefdoms. In Chiefdoms: Power, Economy, and Ideology, edited by Timothy Earle, pp. 1–15. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Earle, Timothy K., and Terence’Altroy, Terence N. 1989 The Political Economy of the Inka Empire: The Archaeology of Power and Finance. In Archaeological Thought in America, edited by Clifford C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, pp. 183–204. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Falconer, Steven E. 1995 Rural Responses to Early Urbanism: Bronze Age Household and Village Economy at Tell el-Hayyat, Jordan. Journal of Field Archaeology 22:399–119.Google Scholar
Glowacki, Mary 1996 The Wari Occupation of the Southern Highlands of Peru: A Ceramic Perspective from the Site of Pikillacta. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachussetts.Google Scholar
Glowacki, Mary 2002 The Huaro Archaeological Site Complex: Rethinking the Huari Occupation of Cuzco. In Andean Archaeology I: Variations of Sociopolitical Organization, edited by William H. Isbell and Helaine Silverman, pp. 267–285. Kluwer Academic, New York.Google Scholar
Glowacki, Mary 2005a Dating Pikillacta. In Pikillacta: The Wari Empire in Cuzco, edited by Gordon F. McEwan, pp. 115–124. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City.Google Scholar
Glowacki, Mary 2005b Pottery from Pikillacta. In Pikillacta: The Wari Empire in Cuzco, edited by Gordon F. McEwan, pp. 101–113. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City.Google Scholar
Glowacki, Mary, and Gordon, Gordon F. 2002 Pikillacta, Huaro y la gran región del Cuzco: nuevas interpretaciones de la ocupación wari en la Sierra Sur. In Huari y Tiwanaku: modelos vs. evidencias, edited by Peter Kaulicke and William H. Isbell, pp. 31–19. Boletín de Arqueología PUCP No. 5. Fondo Editorial de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima.Google Scholar
Goldstein, Paul S. 2000 Exotic Goods and Everyday Chiefs: Long-Distance Exchange and Indigenous Sociopolitical Development in the South Central Andes. Latin American Antiquity 11:335–361.Google Scholar
Goldstein, Paul S. 2005 Andean Diaspora: The Tiwanaku Colonies and the Origins of South American Empire. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Harth-Terré, Emilio 1959 Pikillacta—ciudad de pósitos y bastimentos del imperio incaico. Revista del Museo e Instituto Arqueológico 18:3–19.Google Scholar
Hastorf, Christine A. 1990 The Effect of the Inka State on Sausa Agricultural Production and Crop Consumption. American Antiquity 55:262–290.Google Scholar
Helms, Mary 1979 Ancient Panama: Chiefs in Search of Power. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Isbell, William H. 1989 Honcopampa: Was it a Huari Administrative Centre? In The Nature of Wari: A Reappraisal of the Middle Horizon Period in Peru, edited by R. Michael Czwarno, Frank M. Meddens, and Alexandra Morgan, pp. 98–114. BAR International Series 525. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.Google Scholar
Isbell, William H. 1997 Reconstructing Huari: A Cultural Chronology for the Capital City. In Emergence and Change in Early Urban Societies, edited by Linda Manzanilla, pp. 181–227. Plenum Press, New York.Google Scholar
Isbell, William H. 2004 Mortuary Preferences: A Wari Culture Case Study from Middle Horizon Peru. Latin American Antiquity 15:3–32.Google Scholar
Isbell, William H. 2009 Huari: A New Direction in Central Andean Urban Evolution. In Domestic Life in Prehispanic Capitals: A Study of Specialization, Hierarchy, and Ethnicity, edited by Linda Manzanilla and Claude Chapdelaine, pp. 197–219. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Isbell, William H., and Gordon, Gordon F. 1991 A History of Huari Studies and Introduction to Current Interpretations. In Huari Administrative Structure: Prehistoric Monumental Architecture and State Government, edited by William H. Isbell and Gordon F. McEwan, pp. 1–17. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Jennings, Justin 2006a Understanding Middle Horizon Peru: Hermeneutic Spirals, Interpretative Traditions, and Wari Administrative Centers. Latin American Antiquity 17:265–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jennings, Justin 2006b Core, Peripheries, and Regional Realities in Middle Horizon Peru. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 25:346–370.Google Scholar
Jennings, Justin 2010 Becoming Wari: Globalization and the Role of the Wari State in the Cotahuasi Valley of Southern Peru. In Beyond Wari Walls: Regional Perspectives on Middle Horizon Peru, edited by Justin Jennings, pp. 37–56. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Jennings, Justin (editor) 2010 Beyond Wari Walls: Regional Perspectives on Middle Horizon Peru. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Jennings, Justin, and Brenda, Brenda J. 2009 Drink, Power, and Society in the Andes: An Introduction. In Drink, Power, and Society in the Andes, edited by Justin Jennings and Brenda J. Bowser, pp. 1–27. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Junker, Laura L., Mudar, Karen, and Schwaller, Maria 1994 Social Stratification, Household Wealth, and Competitive Feasting in 15th-16th-Century Philippine Chiefdoms. Research in Economic Anthropology 15:307–358.Google Scholar
Kosiba, Steven 2010 Becoming Inka: The Transformation of Political Place and Practice during Inka State Formation (Cusco, Peru). Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago, Chicago.Google Scholar
Lightfoot, Kent G., and Martínez, Antoinette 1995 Frontiers and Boundaries in Archaeological Perspective. Annual Review of Anthropology 24:471–492.Google Scholar
Lumbreras, Luis 1974 The Peoples and Cultures of Ancient Peru. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
McEwan, Gordon F. 2005a Conclusion: The Functions of Pikillacta. In Pikillacta: The Wari Empire in Cuzco, edited by Gordon F. McEwan, pp. 147–164. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City.Google Scholar
McEwan, Gordon F. 2005b Pikillacta Architecture and Construction Requirements. In Pikillacta: The Wari Empire in Cuzco, edited by Gordon F. McEwan, pp. 63–83. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City.Google Scholar
McEwan, Gordon F. 2005c Excavations at Pikillacta. In Pikillacta: The Wari Empire in Cuzco, edited by Gordon F. McEwan, pp. 29–62. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City.Google Scholar
McEwan, Gordon F. (editor) 2005 Pikillacta: The Wari Empire in Cuzco. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City.Google Scholar
McEwan, Gordon F., and Couture, Nicole 2005 Pikillacta and Its Architectural Typology. In Pikillacta: The Wari Empire in Cuzco, edited by Gordon F. McEwan, pp. 11–27. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City.Google Scholar
Marcus, Joyce 2003 The Maya and Teotihuacan. In Maya and Teotihuacan: Reinterpreting Early Classic Interaction, edited by Geoffrey E. Braswell, pp. 337–356. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Mendívil, Salvador, and Dávila, David 1994 Geologia de los cuadrángulos de Cuzco y Livitaca, Hojas: 28-s y 29-s. Boletin No. 52, Serie A: Carta Geologica Nacional. Instituto Geológico Minero y Metalúrgico, Lima.Google Scholar
Menzel, Dorothy 1964 Style and Time in the Middle Horizon. Ñawpa Pacha 2:1–105.Google Scholar
Montoya, Eduardo, Glowacki, Mary, Rodríguez, Julinho Zapata, and Mendoza, Pablo 2003 Chemical Characterization of Archaeological Ceramics Using kO based INAA: A Study in the Production and Distribution of Middle Horizon Pottery from Cuzco, Peru. Nuclear Analytical Techniques in Archaeological Investigations, Technical Reports Series No. 416. International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna.Google Scholar
Montoya, Eduardo, Glowacki, Mary, Rodríguez, Julinho Zapata, and Mendoza, Pablo 2009 Caracterización de cerámicos wari mediante análisis por activatión neutrónica. Revista de la Sociedad Química del Perú 75:473–478.Google Scholar
Morris, Craig 1998 Inka Strategies of Incorporation and Governance. In Archaic States, edited by Gary M. Feinman and Joyce Marcus, pp. 293–309. School of American Research Press, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Murra, John V. 1980 The Economic Organization of the Inka State. JAI Press, Greenwich, Connecticut.Google Scholar
Nash, Donna J., and Ryan Williams, P. 2009 Wari Political Organization: The Southern Periphery. In Andean Civilization: A Tribute to Michael E. Moseley, edited by Joyce Marcus and P. Ryan Williams, pp. 257–276. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Ochatoma Paravicino, José, and Romero, Martha Cabrera 2001 Poblados rurales huari: una visión desde Aqo Wayqo. CANO asociados, Lima.Google Scholar
Patterson, Thomas C. 1991 The Inca Empire: The Formation and Disintegration of a Pre-Capitalist State. Berg, New York.Google Scholar
Pendergast, David M. 2003 Teotihuacan at Altun Ha: Did It Make a Difference? In Maya and Teotihuacan: Reinterpreting Early Classic Interaction, edited by Geoffrey E. Braswell, pp. 235–247. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Rogers, Daniel J. 1990 Objects of Change: The Archaeology and History of Arikara Contact with Europeans. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Rostworowski de Diez Canseco, María 1977 Etnía y sociedad: costa peruana prehispánica. Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, Lima.Google Scholar
Sanders, William T. 1973 The Significance of Pikillacta in Andean Culture History. Occasional Papers in Anthropology (Pennsylvania State University) 8:380–428.Google Scholar
Schortman, Edward M., and Patricia, Patricia A. 1998 Culture Contact Structure and Process. In Studies in Culture Contact: Interaction, Culture Change, and Archaeology, edited by James G. Cusick, pp. 102–125. Center for Archaeological Investigations, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Schreiber, Katharina J. 1987 Conquest and Consolidation: A Comparison of Wari and Inka Occupations of a Highland Peruvian Valley. American Antiquity 52:266–284.Google Scholar
Schreiber, Katharina J. 1992 Wari Imperialism in Middle Horizon Peru. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Schreiber, Katharina J. 2001 The Wari Empire of Middle Horizon Peru: The Epistemological Challenge of Documenting an Empire without Documentary Evidence. In Empires: Perspectives from Archaeology and History, edited by Susan E. Alcock, Terence N. D’Altroy, Kathleen D. Morrison, and Carla Sinopoli, pp. 70–92. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Sinopoli, Carla M. 1994 The Archaeology of Empires. Annual Review of Anthropology 23:159–180.Google Scholar
Sinopoli, Carla M. 2001 Empires. In Archaeology at the Millennium: A Sourcebook, edited by Gary M. Feinman and T. Douglas Price, pp. 439–471. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Press, New York.Google Scholar
Smith, Stuart T. 1998 Nubia and Egypt: Interaction, Acculturation, and Secondary State Formation from the Third to First Millenium B.C. In Studies in Culture Contact: Interaction, Culture Change, and Archaeology, edited by James G. Cusick, pp. 256–287. Occasional Paper No. 25. Center for Archaeological Investigations, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Stein, Gil J. 2002a Colonies Without Colonialism: A Trade Diaspora Model of Fourth Millennium B.C. Mesopotamian Enclaves in Anatolia. In The Archaeology of Colonialism, edited by Claire L. Lyons and John K. Papadopoulos, pp. 27–64. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Stein, Gil J. 2002b From Passive Periphery to Active Agents: Emerging Perspectives in the Archaeology of Interregional Interaction. American Anthropologist 104:903–916.Google Scholar
Stein, Gil J. 2005 Introduction: The Comparative Archaeology of Colonial Encounters. In The Archaeology of Colonial Encounters, edited by Gil J. Stein, pp. 3–31. School of American Research Press, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Stuiver, Minze, and Paula, Paula J. 1993 Extended 14C Data Base and Revised Calib 3.0 14C Age Calibration Program. Radiocarbon 35:215–230.Google Scholar
Thomas, Nicholas 1991 Entangled Objects: Exchange, Material Culture, and Colonialism in the Pacific. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Topic, Theresa L., and John, John R. 2010 Contextualizing the Wari-Huamachuco Relationship. In Beyond Wari Walls: Regional Perspectives on Middle Horizon Peru, edited by Justin Jennings, pp. 188–212. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Vaughn, Kevin J. 2005 Crafts and the Materialization of Chiefly Power in Nasca. In Foundations of Power in the Prehispanic Andes, edited by Kevin J. Vaughn, Dennis Ogburn, and Christina A. Conlee, pp. 113–130. Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association, Number 14. American Anthropological Association, Arlington, Virginia.Google Scholar
Williams, P. Ryan 2001 Cerro Baúl: A Wari Center on the Tiwanaku Frontier. Latin American Antiquity 12:67–83.Google Scholar
Williams, P. Ryan, Dussubieux, Laure, and Nash, Donna J. 2012 Provenance of Peruvian Wari Obsidian: Comparing INAA, LA-ICP-MS, and Portable XRF. In Obsidian and Ancient Manufactured Glass, edited by Ioannis Liritzis and Christopher Stevenson, pp. 75–85. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Yao, Alice 2008 Culture Contact and Social Change Along China’s Ancient Southwestern Frontier, 900 B.C–100 A.D. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Zapata Rodríguez, Julinho 1997 Arquitectura y contextos funerarios wari en Batan Urqu, Cusco. In La muerte en el antiguo Perú: contextos y conceptos funerarios, edited by Peter Kaulicke, pp. 165–206. Boletin de Arqueología PUCP No. 1. Fondo Editorial de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Penú, Lima.Google Scholar