Patrick Ryan Williams

Rethinking disaster-induced collapse in the demise of the Andean highland states: Wari and Tiwanaku

The role of drought in the collapse of the ancient states of the Andean Middle Horizon has received a great deal of attention in recent years. The only Andean valley where both principal states of this time period, Wari and Tiwanaku, had established settlements is in Moquegua, Peru. Based on a GIS network analysis of ancient irrigation systems and detailed palaeoclimatic data, I assess the assertion that a centuries-long drought caused the collapse of state colonies in this valley circa AD 1000. I conclude that the onset of the drought significantly postdated collapse and suggest that factions of Tiwanaku social groups who allied themselves with Wari settlers upset the ecological balance of water use in the valley prior to the end of the first millennium AD. The increase in agricultural activity in the upper sierra in conjunction with the political instability caused by the fissioning of Tiwanaku political power in the valley created an environment of vulnerability for the Tiwanaku state colonies. It was the complex interaction of social and ecological factors that led to the collapse of the largest western colony of the Tiwanaku state. The Wari imperial colony played a pivotal role in this collapse by establishing an administrative center in the upper valley that drew away resources from the Tiwanaku state below. Ironically, the political instability caused by the Tiwanaku colonial collapse may have been instrumental in the downfall of the Wari colony as well.

Sighting the apu: a GIS analysis of Wari imperialism and the worship of mountain peaks

Abstract In the Andes, prominent mountains are revered as earthly spirits that protect, but may also punish, their human constituents. These apu were often linked to distant ancestors and are considered the most important local deities. During the phase of the earliest highland Andean expansive states (ad 600–1000), the Wari and Tiwanaku utilized mountain worship as a means of establishing hegemony over local peoples who considered these mountains as places of ancestral origins. By usurping the apu, or including them in the pantheon of imperial deities, the expansive state effectively held these sacred places hostage and incorporated local belief systems into an imperial ideology. Recent research has yielded new clues to the worship of mountain peaks, including the usurpation of a unique geological mesa formation at Cerro Baúl as the basis for the Wari colonization of its southern frontier. Furthermore, research on the mountain summit has revealed architectural complexes oriented to, and presumably dedicated for, rites of veneration to the higher snowcapped volcanic peaks visible from this mountain summit.

The first direct evidence for the production of Maya Blue: rediscovery of a technology

Maya Blue is a colour that is more than a pigment; it had roles in status, ritual and performance, being daubed onto pots and people before sacrifice. Here researchers use experimental and historical evidence to discover how it was made, including direct scientific analysis of Maya Blue on a pot thrown into the sacred well at Chichén Itzá. The results indicate that the formation of the colour was actually part of the ritual.

Imperial Interaction in the Andes

The Middle Horizon (AD 500–1000) was a dynamic period in the Andean Cordillera of South America. Two expansive states dominated regions only eclipsed by the later Inca empire. The Huari ruled in the north and Tiwanaku in the south. Huari and Tiwanaku both utilized a set of religious icons centered on a front facing deity so similar in execution that for many years these cultures were thought to have been a single political entity. Scholars suspect that both states have a theocratic origin, but developed differently throughout the growth and expansion of their respective domains. The transformation of Huari, characterized as secular and militant, was recognized early on through a change and standardization of ceramic styles (Menzel 1964). Thus it was hypothesized that Huari was an expansive empire that governed most all of highland and coastal Peru from its upland capital in the sierra of Ayacucho through the placement of administrative centers (Feldman 1989; Isbell and McEwan 1991; Lumbreras 1974; Schreiber 1992). Tiwanaku, until recently, portrayed as ecclesiastical and mercantile, is now also considered to have transformed into a secular institution, which held hegemony over Bolivia, southern Peru, and northern Chile from a higher altiplano capital near the shores of Lake Titicaca (Browman 1985; Goldstein 1993b; Kolata 1989; Janusek 1994; Lumbreras and Amat 1968; Mujica 1985; Ponce 1969; Stanish 1995; Wallace 1980).

A marked preference

Abstract Questions of cultural difference in the prehispanic Andes have generally been addressed through studies of style (textile designs, ceramic form and decoration, burial patterns), space (settlement pattern), or material selection/sourcing (metal ores, lithic) analysis. Cultural preference, however, may be expressed by other means and cultural affiliation can be performed in a myriad of settings with varying accoutrement. One area of research that can be used to address cultural preferences and the performative power of the state is food practice. In this paper we analyze macrobotanical remains from two prominent Huari sites, Cerro Baúl and Conchopata. We demonstrate that these remains provide evidence for a cultural cooking practice and/or cuisine preference centered on chicha de molle production in elite Huari contexts during the Middle Horizon.Las cuestiones sobre diferencias culturales en los Andes prehispanicos han sido, por lo general, abordadas a través de los estudios estilísticos (patrones textiles, forma y decoración cerámica, formas de entierro), espaciales (patrones de asentamiento), o de selección de materiales/proveniencia (minerales, líticos). Las preferencias culturales, sin embargo, se pueden expresar por otros medios y la filiación cultural puede realizarse en entornos múltiples con variados artefactos. Un área de investigación que puede utilizarse para discutir las preferencias culturales y la fuerza performativa del Estado es la práctica culinaria. En este artículo se discute evidencía de prácticas que no fueron registradas en restos iconograficos. A traves del analisis de los restos macrobotánicos de dos importantes sitios Huari: Conchopata y Cerro Baúl, se sostiene la presencia de una práctica culinaria, o preferencia gastronomica, centrada en la producción de chicha de molle en contextos de elite Huari durante el Horizonte Medio.

Building Taypikala: Telluric Transformations in the Lithic Production of Tiwanaku

Stone configured Tiwanaku construction and identity. A vital component of Tiwanaku’s most important monuments, it defined Tiwanaku as a place and a people. Here we summarize ongoing geoarchaeological research into the lithic production of Tiwanaku monumentality. We discuss our research on stone quarrying and monumental production in light of previous investigation on the topic. We conclude that monumental stone production was critical to Tiwanaku’s emergence as a central urban center. A shift in lithic materials, sources, and quarrying technologies propelled Tiwanaku’s rise as a primary urban center during the Andean Middle Horizon. This was a transformation from sandstone, quarried in the nearby Kimsachata Mountains, to the strategic inclusion of more durable volcanic andesite, quarried in several new more distant locations including the extinct volcano Mount Ccapia. Our research attests the telluric foundation of Tiwanaku urbanism and cosmology, which originated in Late Formative centers and interaction networks. It also attests the importance of the contrasting materiality of two classes of stone—their differing colors and durabilities, technologies of monumental production, and montane places of origin—for Tiwanaku’s emergent centrality and cosmology.

A change in landscape: Lessons learned from abandonment of ancient Wari agricultural terraces in Southern Peru

Ancient agricultural terrace practices have survived for millennia, sustaining populations through extreme climatic shifts and political regime changes. In arid regions with abrupt relief such as Southern Peru, agricultural terracing is undergoing a resurgence, as has seen revitalization of once abandoned terrace and hydraulic systems. Wari terraces at Cerro Baul provide clues to past cultural practices. They also document sustainable farming practices by using resilient land management techniques which can help combat desertification and degradation of arable lands. Three abandoned Wari terrace systems were mapped using microtopographic methods, the erosion patterns examined, the states of preservation compared, and then the design contrasted with modern terracing practices in the Moquegua Valley. In order to negate the harmful effects of desertification, rehabilitation and reconstruction of these terraces using ancient knowledge and techniques may be necessary. Rehabilitation must be conducted with consideration for preservation of cultural patrimony that may be encountered within the terrace treads or riser structures. With future climatic shifts impacting vulnerable dryland areas more than others, the ability to resiliently respond to these changes may be found in the lessons learned from ancient farming techniques such as the Wari.

Open-Cell Ablation of Killke and Inka Pottery from the Cuzco Area: Museum Collections as Repositories of Provenience Information

Museum collections are often invaluable repositories of information for archaeologists, as they contain large numbers of intact, well provenanced objects. However, the utility of such collections for chemical analysis is often limited by the inability to perform destructive analysis on them. We report here on the analysis of Killke (ad 1000–1400) and Inka (ad 1400–1532) ceramics from the Cuzco area of Peru housed in the Field Museum of Natural History South American collections using a specially modified open-cell laser to generate compositional data from complete intact vessels in a minimally destructive manner. These data are compared to measurements performed using a conventional laser cell on Killke and Inka sherds from the same collections and regional raw material samples. We discuss both the utility and shortcomings of the open-cell system as a means of ceramic analysis, as well as implications for archaeological understanding of prehistoric ceramic production and economy in the Cuzco area.