Wari Empire: Difference between revisions

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The '''Wari Empire''' or '''Huari Empire''' was a political formation that emerged around 600 AD (CE) in [[Peru]]'s Ayacucho Basin and grew to cover much of coastal and highland Peru.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Schreiber|first=Katharina J.|date=April 1987|title=Conquest and Consolidation: A Comparison of the Wari and Inka Occupations of a Highland Peruvian Valley|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/281780|journal=American Antiquity|volume=52|issue=2|pages=266–284|doi=10.2307/281780|jstor=281780 |s2cid=155131409 |issn=0002-7316}}</ref> The empire lasted for about 500 years, until 1100 CE.<ref name=":1">Wade, Lizzie (August 17, 2016). "The Wari's grisly end—the fall of a South American empire". ''Science''. Retrieved April 28, 2024.</ref> It existed during the same era as the [[Tiwanaku Empire|Tiwanaku]] culture, and at one time, was thought to have been derived from it.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Williams |first=Patrick Ryan |date=2001 |title=Cerro Baúl: A Wari Center on the Tiwanaku Frontier |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/971758 |journal=Latin American Antiquity |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=67–83 |doi=10.2307/971758 |jstor=971758 |issn=1045-6635}}</ref> In 2008, [[archeologists]] found a [[precolumbian]] city, the [[Cerro Pátapo ruins|Northern Wari ruins]] (also called [[Cerro Pátapo]]) near modern [[Chiclayo]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2008-12-17 |title=Archaeologists unearth ancient Wari city |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna28281360 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230608022909/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna28281360 |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 8, 2023 |access-date=2024-05-27 |website=NBC News |language=en}}</ref> The find was the first extensive settlement related to the Wari culture discovered that far north.<ref name="'Ancient city unearthed' in Peru ">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7787053.stm|title='Ancient city unearthed' in Peru |date=17 December 2008|publisher=[[BBC]]|access-date=2008-12-17}}</ref><ref name="Archeologists in Peru unearth ancient Wari city">{{cite news|url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUKTRE4BF7NY20081216|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081218061709/http://uk.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUKTRE4BF7NY20081216|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 18, 2008|title=Archeologists in Peru unearth ancient Wari city|date=16 December 2008|publisher=Reuters|access-date=2008-12-17}}</ref> Archaeological discoveries have continued over the past decade. In 2023, archaeologists discovered a 1200-year-old Wari ritual complex in Arequipa.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Reid |first=David |date=March 2023 |title=The role of temple institutions in Wari imperial expansion at Pakaytambo, Peru |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278416523000016 |access-date=May 2, 2024 |journal=Journal of Anthropological Archaeology|volume=69 |doi=10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101485 }}</ref> While more discoveries are being made regarding the Wari Empire, archaeologists are able to draw more conclusions about the Wari Empire's culture.

The Wari Empire was a second-generation state of the Andean region; both it and Tiwanaku had been preceded by the first-generation [[Moche (culture)|Moche]] state. When expanding to engulf new polities, the Wari Empire practiced a policy of allowing the local leaders of the newly acquired territory to retain control of their area if they agreed to join the Wari empire and obey the Wari.

Scholars, such as William Isbell, Katherine Schreiber and [[Luis Guillermo Lumbreras|Luis Lumbreras]] consider the Wari an Empire largely due to their infrastructure. They note its construction of an extensive network of roadways linking provincial cities, as well as the construction of complex, characteristic architecture in its major centres, some of which were quite extensive. Leaders had to plan projects and organize large amounts of labor to accomplish such projects.<ref name="Bergh2012">{{cite book |author=Susan E. Bergh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0lKcuAAACAAJ |title=Wari: Lords of the Ancient Andes |publisher=Thames & Hudson |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-500-51656-0 |access-date=31 August 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Isbell |first1=William H. |last2=Schreiber |first2=Katharina J. |date=July 1978 |title=Was Huari a State? |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-antiquity/article/abs/was-huari-a-state/8086DDE08BD8DA9D3FF9DE08F46355BE |journal=American Antiquity |language=en |volume=43 |issue=3 |pages=372–389 |doi=10.2307/279393 |issn=0002-7316 |jstor=279393 |s2cid=164117358}}</ref> At the Wari colony, Pikillacta, irrigation canals and terraces were built. The irrigation canals and terraces served to moved water throughout the colony, allowing the colony to utilize agriculture.<ref name=":232">{{Cite book |last1=Flannery |first1=Kent |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt2jbvjr |title=The Creation of Inequality: How Our Prehistoric Ancestors Set the Stage for Monarchy, Slavery, and Empire |last2=Marcus |first2=Joyce |date=2012 |publisher=Harvard University Press |jstor=j.ctt2jbvjr |isbn=978-0-674-06469-0}}</ref>

The Wari had an expansionist culture beginning sometime in the seventh century AD,<ref name=":02">Marsh, Erik J; Schreiber, Katharina (21 February 2015). "Eyes of the empire: A viewshed-based exploration of Wari site-placement decisions in the Sondondo Valley, Peru". ''Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports''. '''4''': 54–64 – via Science Direct.</ref> given its military related weaponry. It is estimated that their expansionist nature led to a greater level of violence than many of the other pre-Hispanic cultures.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tung |first=Tiffiny A. |date=July 2007 |title=Trauma and violence in the Wari empire of the Peruvian Andes: Warfare, raids, and ritual fights |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajpa.20565 |journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology |language=en |volume=133 |issue=3 |pages=941–956 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.20565 |pmid=17506491 |issn=0002-9483}}</ref> It's speculated that the Wari relied on force to conquer and consolidate territories,<ref>Arkush, Elizabeth N. "Collapse, conflict, conquest: The transformation of warfare in the late prehispanic Andean highlands." ''The archaeology of warfare: prehistories of raiding and conquest'' (2006): 286-335.</ref> utilizing of cost-effective strategies. Those may have ranged from implied force, coercive diplomacy, to co-opting local political hierarchies.<ref>Sinopoli, Carla M. "The archaeology of empires." ''Annual review of anthropology'' 23.1 (1994): 159-180.</ref>

In 2008, a team led by archaeologist, Cesar Soriano discovered the ruins of a city near Chiclayo. The Northern Wari Ruins provide the first evidence of the Wari in Northern Peru.<ref name="'Ancient city unearthed' in Peru" /> There are signs of human sacrifice in the site as Archaeologists have found bones at the bottom of a cliff. Along with the piles of bones, the remains of a young women were found.<ref name="'Ancient city unearthed' in Peru" /><ref name="Archeologists in Peru unearth ancient Wari city" /> Evidence found by archaeologists at the site suggests a potential link between the Wari and Moche Civilization. The site has been preserved well due to the hot dry climate of Peru.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cerro Pátapo |url=https://www.historyhit.com/locations/cerro-patapo/ |access-date=2024-05-28 |website=History Hit |language=en-GB}}</ref>

Pikillacta was a 495 acre settlement near the Cusco basin.<ref name=":232" /> The central part of Pikillacta was a series of multi-room buildings that Joyce Marcus compared to ice trays.<ref name=":232" /> The first archaeological excavation of Pikillacta was conducted in 1927 but minimal evidence was found.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt20krzhs |title=Pikillacta: The Wari Empire in Cuzco |date=2005 |publisher=University of Iowa Press |doi=10.2307/j.ctt20krzhs |jstor=j.ctt20krzhs |isbn=978-0-87745-931-6}}</ref> Through three separate excavations, Gordon McEwan made extensive discoveries at Pikillacta. Although Pikillacta is one of the largest Wari Archaeological sites that has been found, there is not a substantial amount of evidence suggesting that people actually lived there.<ref name=":3" /> Evidence found at the suite, such as the lack of doorways, has led archaeologists to theorize that Pikillacta could have been used as an insane asylum or prison.<ref name=":3" />

Located in south of what is now Peru, Cerro Baul was one of the most important discoveries for determining the relationship between the Tiwanaku and the Wari Empire, interpreting the duration of the empire, and the relationship between the capital Huari and other regions.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Williams |first=Patrick Ryan |date=2001 |title=Cerro Baúl: A Wari Center on the Tiwanaku Frontier |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/971758 |journal=Latin American Antiquity |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=67–83 |doi=10.2307/971758 |jstor=971758 |issn=1045-6635}}</ref> It was an administrative and ceremonial center in Moquegua Valley. there were two distinct types of architecture found, public buildings associated with administrative tasks built similarly to ones in the capital Huari, and secondly small housing for the people who lived atop the mesa.<ref name=":0" /> There was evidence of a variety of different food sources and animals present, which shows the expansive trade network within the Empire.<ref name=":4">{{Citation |last=deFrance |first=Susan D. |title=The Luxury of Variety: Animals and Social Distinction at the Wari site of Cerro Baúl, Southern Peru |date=2014 |work=Animals and Inequality in the Ancient World |pages=63–84 |editor-last=Arbuckle |editor-first=Benjamin S. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt128809k.9 |access-date=2024-06-04 |publisher=University Press of Colorado |jstor=j.ctt128809k.9 |isbn=978-1-60732-285-6 |editor2-last=McCarty |editor2-first=Sue Ann}}</ref> It is also theorized that the different food sources present we restricted based on different levels of social standing, and many of the animals present may not have been used for food but rather as sacrifices for religious rituals.<ref name=":4" />

[[Category:Former empires in theSouth AmericasAmerica]]