Imperial Interaction in the Andes: Wari and Tiwanaku at Cerro Baul

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With National Science Foundation support Dr. Patrick Williams and his collaborators will conduct two seasons of archaeological research at the site of Cerro Baul in highland Peru. The site, located in the Moquegua sierra of Southern Peru dates to approximately 600-1,000 AD and represents a complete administrative center set on top of the most imposing natural feature in the region. Two phases of monumental architecture have been identified on the summit and these include administrative architecture, religious temples, elite domestic contexts and craft production and artisan habitation facilities. On the slopes of the mountain mesa domestic terraces inhabited by lower status people are present. The site is particularly interesting because it lies at the boundary between two prehistoric empires, Wari, with a capital in Ayacucho to the North and Tiwanaku with its capital in Bolivia. Wari which has been characterized as secular and militant, governed most of highland and coastal Peru while Tiwanaku, portrayed as ecclesiastical and mercantile held sway over Bolivia, southern Peru and Northern Chile. Economically Wari generated agricultural revenue by constructing irrigated terraces on steep mountain slopes where maize and other crops could grow. Occupying the higher Altiplano plains, Tiwanaku reclaimed flat terrain for farming potatoes and other high-altitude crops while also herding camelids and using llama caravans to secure distant resources. Luckily for archaeologists the empires employed different styles of imperial architecture and much of their ceramics and iconography are also distinct. It is only in the Moquegua region of Peru that both Tiwanaku and Wari settlements are found in close proximity and the site of Cerro Baul itself contains evidence of both groups. Dr. Williams wishes to understand the nature of the interaction between them. Therefore he will conduct extensive excavation at the site and carry out a regional survey to reconstruct the agricultural systems. With these data he will determine the extent to which integration took place and the types of complementary strategies employed. Analyses of excavated materials will focus on subsistence production systems, domestic activity patterns, craft production systems, elite exchange and iconographic relationships.The case of Wari-Tiwanaku interaction provides one of the few examples in prehistory in which the influence of peer empires on each other can be examined. By documenting the development of political economy and ideological exchange at Cerro Baul, Dr. Williams research will make a significant contribution to the anthropological study of complex societies and the evolution of Andean statecraft.