PHOTO 7.6. Seams in the large exterior wall of Pikillacta may represent divisions between assigned labor units.
The plans that the Wari held for the Cuzco region must have been immense to justify the building of such a massive complex. The large scale of Pikillacta can be interpreted as a reflection of what the Wari Empire eventually expected to gain from the region. The Wari would not have invested so much time and energy in its construction if they had not believed that the site and the region as a whole would provide significant rewards to the empire. Also, it appears that the Wari believed that the relatively low level of societal complexity in the Cuzco region would be inadequate to fulfill the demands that the empire would place on it, and thus they built their own center so that the region could be administered by Wari officials. Nevertheless, the great expectations, perhaps represented by the maize grown in this agriculturally important region or the establishment of a strong frontier with the Tiwanaku polity to the south, may never have been completely realized, as Pikillacta was abandoned in the midst of its great construction plan. Furthermore, excavations at the site indicate that parts of it were burned soon after its abandonment, perhaps reflecting local resistance against the Wari in the Cuzco region.
There is evidence that other sites in the Cuzco region were also burned and abandoned at the same time as Pikillacta. For example, in 1999 we selected for excavation a small site called Pukacancha (Co. 141) near Cuzco to gain more information on the ceramic styles of the valley (Bauer and Jones 2003). The site, which had been occupied throughout the Wari Period, was abandoned after a burning episode that dated to around AD 780–1030 (95.4% probability).8 This date is remarkably similar to the latest dates obtained from Pikillacta and may mark the termination point for Wari influence in the valley (see below).
The history of the Wari occupation of the Cuzco region also needs to be understood on a regional level. To accomplish this, we can now turn to the results of several other research projects in the Cuzco region and to the findings of our valley survey.
The Wari in the Cuzco Region
Pikillacta is not the only archaeological site in the Lucre Basin. During McEwan’s work at Pikillacta, he explored the Lucre Basin and recorded the locations of thirty-two additional sites, approximately half of which appear to contain Wari Period components (McEwan 1984). He suggests that several of the Wari Period sites were so tightly integrated with Pikillacta that they should be considered annexes of it. McEwan proposes that together they formed a single urban-like zone in which different sites served separate functions.
WARI INFLUENCE IN THE HUARO BASIN
Because Pikillacta is the largest Wari site in the Cuzco region, it has long been assumed to be the earliest Wari occupation in the area. However, recent research in the Huaro Basin, to the southeast of the Lucre Basin, suggests that the history of the region may not be as certain as current reconstructions imply. Many years ago, looting at the site of Batan Orco, just outside the town of Huaro, uncovered the remains of an elite Wari burial, and more recent excavations at the site by Zapata (1997) revealed the remains of a Wari Period cemetery. Glowacki and Zapata (1998) continued researching the Wari Period occupation of the Huaro Basin, conducting excavations in the town of Huaro itself as well as at several sites that surround it. The excavations in Huaro indicate that the town sits above a large Wari site that contains ceramics of especially high quality. Additional excavations at nearby sites found dense domestic materials. The combination of several large habitation sites, a cemetery with high-status graves, and a central area with fancy pottery (perhaps an elite residence or a ceremonial district) indicates that the Huaro Basin was of considerable importance to the Wari. Furthermore, survey work by Glowacki (2002) has shown, based on ceramic styles, that a number of large sites in the Huaro Basin were occupied throughout the Wari Period. Glowacki and Zapata (1998) have hypothesized that the Huaro Basin was occupied early on during the Wari expansion process and that it was from this “beachhead” that the Wari began to consolidate their hold over the Cuzco region. These researchers suggest that it was after the Wari had occupied the Huaro Basin that they selected the large unoccupied plain above Lake Lucre as the site for their future provincial center and began the construction of Pikillacta. Glowacki (2002) also proposes that certain sites in the Huaro Basin continued to be occupied even after the abandonment of Pikillacta.
The presence of elite burials and compounds, in addition to several large domestic occupations in the immediate area, certainly indicates that the Huaro Basin was important for the Wari. Only future research will be able to determine if Huaro was the primary Wari administrative center before the construction and occupation of Pikillacta. Alternatively, Huaro could represent a secondary node of Wari administration in the Cuzco region, developed to administer the area along the upper Vilcanota River Valley between Lucre to the west and Sicuani to the east.
WARI INFLUENCE EAST AND SOUTHEAST OF THE HUARO BASIN
A series of other studies is helping to map the distribution of Wari influence east of Cuzco, beyond Huaro, toward the Altiplano and the Lake Titicaca Basin. Rowe and his colleagues found Wari-style ceramics at several sites near Sicuani in the early 1950s (Rowe 1956: 142–144). Recent work by Bill Sillar and Emily Dean (personal communication, 1999) in the region of Rachi has identified numerous sites that contain Wari-style materials and others that contain Altiplano-related artifacts. In other words, Pikillacta no longer stands as the last Wari site before entering the Altiplano, and there may have been considerable interaction between these two empires.
Sergio Chávez (1985, 1987) reports on an elaborate collection of 141 Wari-style metal objects from the Pomacanchi area, to the southeast of Cuzco. Within this collection also were two ceramic vessels, one of which is classified by S. Chávez (1987: 8) as Chakipampa B and the other appears to be a local style. Excavations conducted by Wilbert San Román Luna (1979, 1983) at the site of K’ullupata in Pomacanchi have recovered various Wari-style artifacts. Other isolated Wari-style finds have been recovered still farther to the southeast of Cuzco in the Province of Chumbivilcas by S. Chávez (1987, 1988) and Lantarón Pfoccori (1988), and in the Province of Espinar by Meddens (1989).
It should be noted that S. Chávez’s (1987: 17) study of Wari-style metal objects recovered in the Pomacanchi area suggests that these objects may also reflect some Tiwanaku influence. Furthermore, S. Chávez indicates that he has found a provincial Wari-style beaker from Chumbivilcas that also contains some Tiwanaku features. These findings emphasize that there most certainly were people living in transitional zones, such as the Altiplano regions east and southeast of Cuzco, which were not directly controlled by either Wari or Tiwanaku but were influenced by both of these expanding states.
WARI INFLUENCE NORTHWEST AND SOUTHWEST OF THE LUCRE BASIN
Research has revealed several Wari sites in the upper course of the Vilcanota Valley between the area of Pikillacta and Sicuani. Other projects conducted to the northwest and southwest of the Lucre Basin have, however, revealed dramatically different patterns. For example, Wari or Arahuay ceramics have been found at relatively few sites in the Province of Paruro (Bauer 1999; 2002). Furthermore, all of the sites with Wari or Arahuay materials in the Province of Paruro lie north of the Apurímac River and none of them is especially large. One unusual site, Muyu Roqo, located on a mountain slope immediately west of the town of Paruro, deserves some special discussion. Surface collections from this small site, which measures approximately 50 m by 50 m, provided a large number of Wari-style fragments (Bauer 1999; 2002). Test excavations at the site yielded hundreds more and nearly two thousand camelid bone fragments. A radiocarbon date run on one of the bones yielded an age of 113 5 ± 50 BP (calibrated 95.4 % probability AD 770–1000).9
The Muyu Roqo ceramic collection suggests that the site served a ceremonial function during the Wari Period. A high percentage of fine ware vessels were found at the site, most of which were large bowls and drinking vessels, which implies
that extensive eating and drinking activities took place there. The great number of camelid bones recovered at the site reinforces this interpretation. Although the exact nature of the site cannot be determined until additional excavations take place, the current evidence strongly suggests that this site was used for ritual activities during the Wari Period.
Muyu Roqo is also noteworthy because it is one of a small number of sites in the Paruro Valley that contain significant Wari-style remains. The Lucre Basin and the Wari center of Pikillacta are located only 20 kilometers north of the Paruro Valley. These two areas are connected by several large trails, and the journey between them on foot takes only six to eight hours. Despite the close proximity of the Lucre and Paruro regions, it is clear that they hold different kinds and densities of Wari remains.
Similar survey results have been found in the lower Vilcanota Valley downstream from the Lucre Basin. While surveying the region between Cuzco, Pisaq, and Calca, Covey (2003) has detected few sites with Wari ceramics. It is becoming increasingly clear that the Wari occupation of the Cuzco region was highly uneven. People living one or two river valleys away from the Lucre Basin would have certainly been aware of the great political and social changes that were occurring in it, but their lives may have been affected to a much lesser extent.
WARI INFLUENCE IN THE CUZCO AND OROPESA BASINS
Our systematic regional survey found a relatively strong record of Wari influence west of the Lucre Basin. In all, around eighty-five sites were identified in the Oropesa and Cuzco Basins that contained Arahuay ceramics (Map 7.2). Several interesting observations can be made about these sites. First, unlike in the Lucre Basin, no sites in the Oropesa and Cuzco Basins contain Wari-style architectural remains. Thus, all Wari-site classifications in these areas of the Cuzco Valley have been done on the basis of recovered ceramics. In this regard it is also worth noting that in all of our surface collections and test excavations, we recovered only a handful of ceramics that appear to have been imported from the Wari homeland and none of the sites found contained any unusual proportions of domestic versus fancy wares. In other words, from the current database, we imagine a series of Wari Period settlements stretching across the Cuzco Valley that were simply using the ceramics of their time. No sites display remains of Wari architecture, and there were no distinct concentrations of extra fine or important vessels that might be reflective of an important political or ritual center for the Wari in either the Oropesa or Cuzco Basins.
A second, related point is that none of the sites containing Wari Period pottery in the Oropesa and Cuzco Basins is especially large. Although several of the sites measure 3–4 hectares in size, and most certainly represented substantial villages in their time, none are large enough to be considered a secondary center of Wari administration. Perhaps the largest Wari Period occupation in the valley was the site of Coripata (Cu. 155 on Map 7.2).10 Urban growth of Cuzco has destroyed the site (Cumpa Palacios 1988), but it is fair to say that it was not over 5 hectares. Given the sheer magnitude of Pikillacta, it is not surprising that there is no secondary Wari center in the valley. The western end of the Cuzco Basin is some 30 kilometers from Pikillacta. The Wari could easily have administered this entire region and its population from the Lucre Basin, through the use of local elite already established in the preexisting Cuzco chiefdom. The surplus agricultural production from the valley was most likely sent straight to Pikillacta, and groups of villagers, perhaps functioning under a system of obligatory, rotating labor service, would have worked on its construction.
It should also be noted that the clusters of sites containing Arahuay materials in the Oropesa and Cuzco Basins are similar to those seen for the Qotakalli Period. There is a significant site cluster around site An. 326, near the village of Huasao in the Oropesa Basin. Not surprisingly, the Huasao area contains some of the best maize-producing fields in this narrow section of the Huatanay drainage. Further up the river in the Cuzco Basin, near the modern city of Cuzco, there is a much heavier concentration of Wari Period sites on the southern side of the basin than on its northern slopes. There are also no sites at the far northwest end of the basin, but they pick up again on the other side of the watershed in the Cachimayu region. These patterns resemble those found for the distribution of Qotakalli Period remains.
Perhaps the most striking difference between the two periods is that during Qotakalli times, there appear to be more small sites scattered across the countryside than in the Wari Period. Although resolution of our site-size data is not especially high, it appears that many of the small and more isolated Qotakalli Period homesteads and hamlets were abandoned, and their inhabitants moved into the many village-level settlements located across the region. This may reflect the greater agricultural intensification that occurred during this era.
Unlike the Cuzco and Oropesa Basins, some areas of the Andes reflect clear shifts in settlement patterns before and after they were incorporated under Wari rule.
MAP 7.2. Thirty-five important Wari Period sites in the Cuzco Valley
For example, in her regional study of the Carhuarazo Valley, Schreiber (1987b, 1991, 1992, 1999) has documented substantial changes in the local settlement pattern as the Wari consolidated the region into their expanding state. A large administrative center (Jincamocco) was constructed, along with at least three subsidiary centers. A series of new village settlements were established in the lower maize-growing region of the valley, and many of the villages located in the potato-growing elevations were abandoned. She writes:
The picture that emerges in the Carhuarazo Valley is one of a small highland valley with a relatively low population engaged in tuber cultivation and camelid herding. Suddenly, in the Middle Horizon, a new culture appeared. A large center was built, after summarily destroying the local village that occupied the desired location. Terraces were built and maize cultivation increased. Some of the local villages were moved down to lower elevations, closer to the newly created maize zone. The increased labor inputs required to build the center and complete the terraces may have necessitated bringing in laborers from outside the valley. (Schreiber 1992: 161)
In the Cuzco and Oropesa Basins of the Cuzco Valley, we see a markedly different process of consolidation occurring. There is no evidence of a radical reorganization of the social landscape with the arrival of the Wari. Many of the smallest sites are abandoned, but few new sites of significant size (village or above) are established. For the most part, Wari Period materials simply appear in villages that had already been occupied during the previous era. This, in turn, is radically different from what has been found in the Lucre and Huaro Basins to the east, where large Wari installations appear to have been built and occupied.
The strong continuation of Qotakalli Period settlement patterns into and throughout the Wari Period in the Cuzco and Oropesa Basins provides important insights into their economic system. For example, it seems that the local economy already conformed to the priorities of the foreigners. Since Late Formative times, there had been a gradual concentration of the population into habitation sites in the lower elevation zones of the valley. The Wari were interested in maize, and the local economy of the region was already focused on its production. Rather than expending a large amount of time and energy in reorganizing the local economy, the Wari were satisfied with the status quo and quickly began a process of power consolidation through the occupation of the Huaro Basin and the construction of Pikillacta in the Lucre Basin.
It must be stressed, however, that maize production is not the whole story to explain the Wari presence in the Cuzco region. If it was, we would expect to find a series of large Wari sites stretching down the Vilcanota Valley, which holds some of the finest maize-growing areas of the Andean highlands. Recent work by Covey (2003) in the Vilcanota Valley between San Salvador and Calca has demonstrated that there are no imperial Wari centers in this highly fertile, frost-free zone of maize production. Rather than concentrating solely on the maize resources of the region, it see
ms that the Wari positioned Pikillacta to take advantage of a number of different local economic factors. From the Lucre Basin, the Wari could take advantage of tribute labor in the maize-growing areas of the Cuzco and Vilcanota Valleys to the northwest, without having to invest in building facilities in these areas. Furthermore, from the Lucre Basin, the Wari could gain access to, and perhaps even control over, the coca trade routes to the north, which brought this valuable leaf from the subtropical areas of Paucartambo into the highland valleys. Finally, the location of Pikillacta in the Lucre Basin also provided the Wari with an entry into the rich tuber-producing and herding economies of the upper Vilcanota Valley to the southeast as well as establishing a frontier with more remote regions that were under the influence of Tiwanaku.
The strong continuation of Qotakalli Period and Wari Period settlement patterns in the Cuzco and Oropesa Basins also yields information on the local-level political organization of the region at the time of Wari influence. Since the days of Menzel (1959), it is well recognized that the form and intensity of installations in an area of imperial expansion will vary in response to the preexisting social organization of the area. Using the Inca as an example, Menzel demonstrated that in areas that had well-established social hierarchies and centralized rule, the Inca co-opted members of the local elite to work for them and left the existing institutions largely in place. In contrast, in the areas that lacked centralized authority, the Inca needed to construct their own administrative centers and support facilities. These observations can be used to provide some clarity on the Wari occupation of the Cuzco region.
It is clear that the Wari felt a great need to completely transform the Lucre Basin through the construction of Pikillacta and its numerous support facilities, which included large tracks of terraces, canals, and various satellite communities. In contrast, the Cuzco polity, concentrated at the northwest end of the valley some 30 kilometers away, was left relatively on its own. No secondary center was constructed in the Cuzco Basin, and the settlement pattern remained largely unchanged. It seems that the local population of the Cuzco Basin was brought under Wari influence through a variety of social mechanisms. Most importantly, the Wari needed the labor tribute of the Cuzco polity, as well as that of other surrounding ethnic groups, to build, maintain, and supply their emergent center of Pikillacta. As the Wari entered the Cuzco region, they would have attempted to form coalitions with certain members of the local elite families, and then, over time, tried to extend their direct administrative control over the region and its populace.
Ancient Cuzco Page 11