The Nature of Wari: A Reappraisal of the Middle Horizon Period in Peru

234 Pages·1989·28.46 MB·English

by  R.M.Czwarno, F.M.Meddens and A.Morgan (eds.)

The Nature of Wari
A Reappraisal of the Middle Horizon
Period in Peru
edited by
R. M. Czwarno,
F. M. Meddens and A. Morgan
BAR International Series 525
1989
B.A.R.
5, Centremead, Osney Mead, Oxford 0X2 ODQ, England.
GENERAL EDITORS
A.R. Hands, B.Sc., M.A., D.Phil.
D.R. Walker, M.A.
BAR -S525, 1989: ’The Rature of Vari*
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Dedicated to the people of Perú.
Contents
Introduction
R.M. Czwarno, F.M. Meddens and A. Morgan.........iii
Cambios significatives ocurridos en el mundo andino
Ruth Shady Solis...........1
Huari administration: a view from the capital
Christine C. Brewster-Wray...........23
Evidence for the dual socio-political organisation and
administrative structure of the Wari state
Martha B. Anders.........35
The Wari empire in the southern Peruvian highlands:
a view from the provinces
Gordon F. McEwan.........53
A speculative hypothesis of Wari southern expansion
Robert A. Feldman...........72
Honcopampa: was it a Huari administrative centre?
William H. Isbell...........98
Social patterning and the investigation of political
control: the case for the Moche/Chimu area
R. Michael Czwarno.........115
Implications of camelid management and textile
production for Huari
Frank M. Meddens ...... 146
Change and cultural interactions in the Middle Horizon:
the evidence of the pottery figurines
Alexandra Morgan.........166
Tejidos del Horizone Medio del Valle de Huarmey
Heiko Prümers...........189
Wari and Mycenae: some evolutionary comparisons
Allison Paulsen...........215
ii
Introduction
R.M. Czwarno, F.M. Meddens and A. Morgan
Quiero medir lo mucho que no se
y ese asi como Uego
sin rumbo, toco y abren, entro y miro
los retratos de ayer en las paredes
Neruda 1982:188.
If only we could put the past on a projector and see it replay itself like some
lost film classic. How much easier it would be to understand—and how much
less challenging. Gone would be the heresies and arguments—replaced by cold
certainty.
The Middle Horizon symposium in Amsterdam at the 46th International
Congress of Americanists grew out of the uncertainties which cloud this period in
Peruvian prehistory. It was an attempt to bring together different perspectives—
since “los retratos de ayer...” look completely different to each of the viewers—
to see if a reappraisal of recent work would bring these different pictures more
closely together. It did not do so, but it has presented us with new perspectives
on these divergent views.
The idea of a Tiahuanaco Horizon was first suggested by Uhle (1903) on
the basis of Tiahuanaco-related ceramics found at Pachacamac. The wide
distribution of this type of ceramics was further confirmed by the study of the
Uhle material from other locations in Peru, ranging from the Moche/Chicama
valleys in the North to the Nasca Valley in the South (Strong 1925; Kroeber
1925a; Kroeber 1925b; Gayton and Kroeber 1927). But it was Tello (1970
[1931]) who first sought a Peruvian center from which the style derived from
Tiahuanaco could have spread and who directed the attention of scholars such
as Rowe, Collier, Willey (1950) and Bennett (1953) to the site of Huari. A
detailed study of investigations concerning the Wari state appears in Anders
(1986:37-48).
In 1964, on the strength of the documented ceramic material available at
the time, Menzel undertook to establish a rigorous chronology of the Wari style
and to trace the evidence of Wari influence in the Ayacucho Basin and on the
Central and South coasts. She came to the conclusion that the spread of the
style was not only due to “religious propaganda” but that there was also proof
of “military conquest” by an “imperial state with its capital at Huari and ruling
the whole central part of Peru” (Menzel 1964:68). Large scale investigations
undertaken at the site of Huari by Isbell and a number of scholars working with
iii
him during the 1970s seemed to confirm the existence of a highly centralised
state in the Ayacucho Basin.
Soon doubts about this model—in particular about the idea of an expan­
sionist military empire—began to be voiced. Logically they first emerged in an
area where the Wari presence was not strongly felt—the North Coast. Here
the investigations of a team from Harvard University under Moseley lead to the
conclusion that “the nature of the Middle Horizon occupation does not confirm
the hypothesis of a foreign invasion originating from the southern site of Huari”
(Donnan and Mackey 1978:213) indeed that “the chronological hiatus separat­
ing the Moche and succeeding Chimu cultural phases.. .is now open to serious
question” (Bawden 1982:288), thus denying the very existence, at least for that
part of Peru, of a Middle Horizon.
In a study examining phenomena and explanatory models which focusses
on influential factors other than military expansion—aspects such as climate,
demographic growth, development of important regional centers, linguistics,
for example—Shady (1982, this volume) suggests that long-distance contacts
already became operative in the whole Peruvian territory during phase 7 of
the Early Intermediate Period “before the presence of Tiahuanacoid [stylistic]
traits”; and that there are no sufficient indications corroborating the existence
of a Wari empire either in epoch 1 or in epoch 2 of the Middle Horizon.
More recently, Anders has suggested that the perception of local styles during
the Middle Horizon, has been “blurred by the expectations generated by the
model of Wari conquest” (Anders 1986:37), thus questioning the validity of
epochs 3 and 4 of Menzel’s chronology.
There are those who see pictures of an empire extending from near the
Bolivian border almost to Ecuador—leaving its calling card in fragments of
pottery and administrative centres across the deserts, mountains and valley
oases of Peru. Isbell looks at a previously almost unknown site—Onqopampa,
in the Callejón de Huaylas—and sees the establishment of the Wari empire before
that empire developed its characteristic administrative complex—as described
and elucidated by Brewster-Wray. McEwan continues his previous work, and
expands his explanations of Pikillaqta as a major Wari provincial capital,
controlling the borders between the Wari and Tiwanaku empires.
Feldman’s study of what he interprets as the military expansion of Wari
towards the south adds the dimension of confrontation with Tiwanaku-—thus
giving one possible explanation for the appropriation of Tiwanacoid iconography
by Wari. Onto this model of a bureaucratic, centralised and expansionist state,
Anders adds illuminating touches of a more subtle system of authority. Starting
with the evidence for a dual organisation which best fits her data from Azángaro,
she suggests that the same dualism and reciprocity—a deeply rooted precept of
Andean ethnic tradition—may well have operated in the whole of the Wari state,
leading to a delicate balance between centralising and decentralising tendencies
and a typically Andean strategy for the imposition of authority and ideology on
dependent territories. Meddens looks at Espinar and the Chicha/Soras Valley
and sees evidence of Wari control over herding and pastoralism—albeit with a
iv
light hand at the reins—-in a manner which suggests the same desire to control
the production of cloth as that evident in the Inka empire. Paulsen’s paper takes
up a challenge thrown down by Rowe some years ago, and suggests a synthetic
model of the development of empires—by comparing Wari and Mycenae.
On the other hand are those whose picture of the Middle Horizon is something
simultaneously simpler and more complex—simpler in the absence of empire—
but with an array of states and polities interacting with each other to form
something more complex than had gone before—a confederacy perhaps.
Shady takes an unconventional approach—particularly to the ceramic data—
in reconsidering the socioeconomic and political foundations of, and develop­
ments during, the Middle Horizon. The Chakipampa-Nasca 9, Vinaque-Atarco
and Tiwanacoid controversies she raises suggest a radically different focus. Cer­
tainly her hypotheses are challenging, and could lead us into new directions
for research—which must include greater access to detailed data if they are to
succeed.
Czwarno looks for evidence of discontinuity in the cultural patterns of the
North Coast and the presence of foreign influence by analysing spatial forms
from Pampa Grande and Chan Chan in relation to Middle Horizon floorplans
from the Viru and Rimae Valleys. The absence of Wari-influenced patterns, and
the apparent continuity of local forms suggests to him that the Wari presence on
the North Coast was light, and probably did not entail political control. This is
echoed to some extent in Prumers’ paper, which considers North Coast Middle
Horizon textiles from Huarmey. Prumers analysis suggests the Middle Horizon
textile motifs were a fusion of Moche and Wari styles expressing a local idiom.
He also fails to find evidence of a Wari-dominated buffer between the north
and central coasts—something also evident in Morgan’s analysis of figurines
from Chimu Capac—a site seen by Menzel as just such a buffer. Morgan’s
analysis of Early Intermediate Period and Middle Horizon figurines, discovers
the development of new modes of expression within local idioms, but against a
background of interregional contact. As with the Prumers and Czwarno papers,
the inferences seem to point to complex interaction, but not necessarily to the
development of a Middle Horizon empire.
Even a cursory skimming of the papers presented here indicate just how
differently the data are viewed by the various investigators. McEwan and Anders
both discuss Azangaro, but offer radically different explanations from Anders’
original work. In a similar vein of disagreement, Czwarno argues that the lack of
Wari spatial patterns at a site with elite architecture indicates the lack of Wari
political control—by linking spatial patterns with structures of group identity
creation and maintenance—while Isbell argues the lack of Wari spatial patterns
at Onqopampa is clearly indicative that the Wari empire was established well
before suitable state mechanisms for the control of conquered groups.
Whence comes this pachakuti—this “worlds in upheaval” dichotomy? The
answer is neither straight-forward nor simple—it rests in what always seems to
produce the split between belief and heresy—in the meanings we extrapolate
from the material remains of the past. Much of the current thinking should be
v
seen against the backdrop of the socio-economic climate within which the various
investigations originate. Anthropological and archaeological theory are—to some
degree—coloured by philosophical beliefs, the socio-economic background and
origin of the researchers who generate those theories and the principles and
philosophies of the funding bodies who support them. In the case of the
Middle Horizon, dichotomy has been bred by the symbols of influence we see in
pottery and (to some extent) in architecture. The papers presented here are no
exception.
It becomes clear that a great regional variation in Wari architecture exists.
It is noteworthy that this variation in design and detail also occurs at Huari
itself. It deserves far greater investigative emphasis than it has received to date.
The North Coast relationships between Huari, Moche and Chimu are again
shown to be problematic, and data is presented which appears to throw new
light on this question. A critical review of the papers presented here shows the
Huari/Wari issue to be as controversial as ever. To some degree, the problem
is exacerbated by the fact that very large tracts of Peru still have received very
little archaeological focus. Thus, the origins of some stylistic traits, and the
chronological sequences of some local cultural developments are still not clearly
understood.
Clearly, the role of ceramics in the definition of the Middle Horizon empire
is central. The evidence of Wari influence remains the presence of pottery with
Middle Horizon motifs. Perhaps a solution to the present dichotomy requires
that we re-evaluate the explanatory potential of ceramic styles. Can we be
confident that ceramic distributions accurately delimit political boundaries?
Thus, until we can clearly explain the mechanisms of stylisitic diffusion, ceramic
evidence should perhaps not be seen as the primary arbiter. What is needed
is uncontrovertible evidence—from one side of the debate or the other—to
adequately explain Huari’s role in the Middle Horizon.
The studies published in the last decade are inscribed within the framework
of this controversy. Questions which may provide a solution to this dichotomy
include the following:
- was Wari a “Horizon Style” which encompassed the main cultural areas
of Peru in the same way as Chavin or Tawantinsuyu?
*
- If Wari is a “Horizon Style”, what were the mechanisms of propagation
—were they religious, military, commercial, or a combination of these or
other systemic variables?
- How can the different strengths of impact of the Wari styles in various
areas be explained?
- What are the chronological implications of these difference?
- If Wari is not a “Horizon Style”, is there nevertheless evidence of long­
distance contact and a heightened pan-Peruvian “awareness” at or after
the end of the Early Intermediate Period?
vi
Neruda, P.
1982 El escondido. El fuego cruel. In Isla Negra: A Notebook. Translated by
Alastain Reid. Souvenir Press, London.
Rowe, J.H., D. Collier and G. Willey
1950 Reconnaissance notes on the site of Huari, near Ayacucho, Peru.
American Antiquity 16:120-137.
Shady Solis, R.
1982 La cultura Nievería y la interacción social en el mundo andino en la
época Huari. Arqueológicas 19:5-108.
Strong, W.D.
1925 The Uhle Pottery Collections from Ancón. University of California
Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 21(4):135-190.
Tello, J.C.
1970[1931] Las ruinas de Wari. El Comercio, Lima, 27 agosto de 1931.
Reprinted in 100 Años de Arqueología en el Perú, edited by R. Ravines,
pp.519-525. Lima.
Uhle, M.
1903 Pachacamac. Report of the William Pepper, M.D.,L.L.D., Peruvian
Expedition of 1896. Philadelphia.
viii
- What evidence of cultural continuity exists in the different areas between
the Early and Late Intermediate periods?
Until both sides of the argument can address these questions—and see the same
pictures—the dichotomy will remain. In the interests of debate we have left
responsibility for content with the individual authors, even where we strongly
question the factual content of some of the papers.
As a final note, it will be obvious we can’t even agree on spelling: some
authors use the Hispanisised Huari exclusively, others use the Qeshwa Wari—
the split falls somewhere between the two camps. In this volume we have decided
to utilise the spelling favoured by each author, except where the author’s use
was inconsistent, though our personal preference was to use Qeshwa orthography.
Perhaps a first step towards reconciliation would be the adoption of the spellings
which appear more prevalent in Peru—that is, Qeshwa—with one possible
exception, as used here in this introduction—using Wari to indicate the empire,
and Huari specifically in discussing the site. We have accented all placenames
which do not have an Anglicised equivalent regardless of author practise in
respect for the country which provides such a rich focus for our varied interests
in the past.
Acknowledgements: We wish to thank Elizabeth Baquedano for her assistance
in editing the Spanish papers in this volume.
Bibliography
Anders, M.B.
1986 Dual organization and calendars inferred from the planned site of
Azdngaro: Wari administrative strategies. Ph.D. dissertation, Cornell
University.
Bennett, W.C.
1953 Excavations at Wari, Ayacucho, Peru. Yale University Publications in
Anthropology 49.
Donnan, C. B. and C. Mackey
1978 Ancient Burial Patterns of the Moche Valley, Peru. University of Texas
Press, Austin.
Gay ton, A.H. and A.L.Kroeber
1927 The Uhle Pottery Collections from Nazca. University of California
Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 24(1).
Kroeber, A.L.
1925a The Uhle Pottery Collections from Moche. University of California
Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 21(5).
1925b The Uhle Pottery Collections from Supe. University of California
Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 21(6).
Menzel, D.
1964 Style and Time in the Middle Horizon. Nawpa Pacha 2:1-106.
vii