Katharina J. Schreiber

Was Huari a State

Pristine state government evolved among the indigenous cultures of the central Andes, but archaeologists have not demonstrated when and where. Conceptualization of the state as an integrative mechanism for gathering and processing information and for deliberating decisions provides explicit archaeological criteria for statehood. Examination of the archaeological record reveals that Middle Horizon Huari fulfills almost all of these criteria for statehood, although many data remain to be collected before the processes of prehistoric Andean state formation will be fully understood.

Conquest and Consolidation: A Comparison of the Wari and Inka Occupations of a Highland Peruvian Valley

A recent archaeological survey was conducted of a highland Peruvian valley in order to evaluate the effect on a local culture of the expansion of empires. The strategy employed in the consolidation of a region under an imperial administrative structure is the result of two general factors: the needs of the empire, and the level of extant local political organization. Evidence of Wari and Inka imperial facilities in the Carahuarazo Valley is interpreted in light of changes in the local culture during each occupation to provide a more complete picture of this process. A relatively greater Wari presence and lesser Inka presence are interpreted as the result of differing administrative needs on the part of the respective empires, as well as differing local systems at the time of each conquest. Similarities in goods and services extracted by each empire serve to indicate that although imperial strategies differed, the end result of consolidation of the area into each empire was roughly similar.

A TEST OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SITE SIZE AND POPULATION

Archaeologists, especially those doing regional surveys, generally assume that there is a correlation between the areal extent of a habitation site and the number of people living at that site. This paper uses a oombination of archaeological and historical data from the Peruvian Andes to examine this assumption. We find that, in this case, only a weak correlation holds between these two factors. However, a consideration of site function and topography may render the apparent ambiguities understandable. Entre los arqueologos, particularmente los que realizan prospecciones regionales, se presume generalmente que existe una correlaci6n entre el area de un sitio habitacional y el ntmero de personas que vivieron en el sitio. Este articulo utiliza una combinaci6n de datos arqueol6gicos e hist6ricos de los Andes peruanos para evaluar este supuesto. Resulta que, en este caso, solo se mantiene una correlaci6n muy pobre entre estos dosfactores. Sin embargo, si tomamos en cuenta lafunci6n del sitio y la topografia, las ambiguedades aparentes podrian resultar mads comprensibles.

Pataraya: The Archaeology of a Wari Outpost in Nasca

The research reported in this article explores Wari imperial strategies in the upper Nasca Valley of south-central Peru and, building on previous research, documents the flexibility and diversity of those strategies. The focus of these investigations is the site of Pataraya, a small Wari provincial outpost, and its environs. Despite its size, the rectangular enclosure at Pataraya is well planned and conforms to the canons of Wari state architecture documented at other Wari provincial sites. The site was founded early in the Middle Horizon (A.D. 650-1000) and then abandoned during the collapse of the Wari system. Extensive excavation at this condensed version of the Wari building tradition—over 60 percent—uncovered a pattern of spatially segregated use and access within the enclosure. Activities were relegated to specific patio groups with little replication of function, and the sectors themselves were connected by an astonishingly complex system of narrow corridors. The site appears to have been involved in the transfer of coastal products, especially cotton, to the sierra along an ancient road that is also associated with another much larger Wari compound and with the reorganization of an older local site near modern-day Uchuymarca, both of which were also documented during the project.

It's about time? Testing the Dawson ceramic seriation using luminescence dating, Southern Nasca Region, Peru

Copyright

Myths of the Archaic State: Evolution of the Earliest Cities, States, and Civilizations , by Norman Yoffee. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-521-81837-0 hardback £45 & US

1. Evolution of a factoid 2. Dimensions of power in the earliest states 3. The meaning of cities in the earliest states and civilizations 4. When complexity was simplified 5. Identity and agency in early states: case studies 6. The collapse of ancient states and civilizations 7. Social evolutionary trajectories 8. New rules of the game 9. Altered states: the evolution of history.

75; ISBN 0-521-52156-4 paperback £19.99 & US

A key to the understanding of ancient iconography is knowing just what the pictures are pictures of. That is not always an easy question: in this case, a classic collection of Peruvian depictions, it is at least clear the pictures are of birds. But what kind of bird, and why?