pikillacta t h e w a r i e m p i r e i n c u z c o E d i t e d b y G o r d o n F. M c E w a n Pikillacta u n iv er si t y o f io wa p re ss | i owa ci t y Pikillacta The Wari Empire in Cuzco edited by gordon f. mc ewa n University of Iowa Press, Iowa City 52242 Copyright © 2005 by the University of Iowa Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Design by April Leidig-Higgins http://www.uiowa.edu/uiowapress No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher. All reasonable steps have been taken to contact copyright holders of material used in this book. The publisher would be pleased to make suitable arrangements with any whom it has not been possible to reach. The University of Iowa Press is a member of Green Press Initiative and is committed to preserving natural resources. Printed on acid-free paper Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pikillacta: the Wari Empire in Cuzco / edited by Gordon F. McEwan. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 0-87745-931-2 (cloth) 1. Pikillacta Site (Peru). 2. Huari Indians — Poli- tics and government. 3. Huari architecture — Peru — Cuzco (Dept.). 4. Huari pottery — Peru — Cuzco (Dept.). 5. Excavations (Archaeology) — Peru — Cuzco (Dept.). 6. Cuzco (Peru: Dept.) — Antiq- uities. I. McEwan, Gordon Francis. .. 2005 985'.37 — dc22 2004058856 05 06 07 08 09 5 4 3 2 1 This volume is dedicated with respect and affection to Dr. Luis Barreda Murillo, with gratitude for his advice and support over these many years Contents Acknowledgments ix 1 Introduction: Pikillacta and the Wari Empire 1 By Gordon F. McEwan Exploration and Excavation at Pikillacta 2 Pikillacta and Its Architectural Typology 11 By Gordon F. McEwan and Nicole Couture 3 Excavations at Pikillacta 29 By Gordon F. McEwan 4 Pikillacta Architecture and Construction Requirements 63 By Gordon F. McEwan 5 Wari Hydraulic Works in the Lucre Basin 85 By Alfredo Valencia Zegarra Data Analysis 6 Pottery from Pikillacta 101 By Mary Glowacki 7 Dating Pikillacta 115 By Mary Glowacki 8 Human Skeletal Remains from Pikillacta 125 By John W. Verano 9 Arsenic Bronze at Pikillacta 131 By Heather Lechtman 10 Conclusion: The Functions of Pikillacta 147 By Gordon F. McEwan References Cited 165 Index 179 Acknowledgments The fieldwork on which this study is based was made possible by grants from the University of Texas Latin American Archaeological Program, the Fulbright-Hays Research Abroad Fellowship program, and National Science Foundation Grants BNS-8112729, BNS-8819481, and BNS-9044446. Excavations were conducted under the authority of the Peruvian National Institute of Culture permit no. 067-81 and Supreme Resolution 268-89-ED. I would like to express my appreciation to Richard P. Schaedel, Ramiro Matos, and Luis Lumbreras, all of whom o ffered advice and encouragement on this project. In Cuzco very special thanks go to Luis Barreda of the Universidad San Antonio Abad del Cuzco. It can truly be said that the Pikillacta project would never have succeeded without his enthusiastic support. I am also very grate - ful to Jorge Flores and to Manuel Chávez Ballon, of the University of San Antonio Abad, for support and advice. Over the years quite a few people worked on the Pikillacta Project. My thanks to my Peruvian field assistants Lizandro Lantaron, Julio Maza, Ro- berto Perez, Nemesio Holguin, Wilbert Palomino, Leoncio Vera, and Wilbert Vera for their excellent work and to Leonidas Wilson and the men of the village of Huacarpay who formed the bulk of our labor force. Thanks also to Jean-Pierre, Elsbeth, and Maurice Protzen, Elizabeth Blulle, Je ff King, Mark Hewitt, Donald McEwan, Daniel Julien, Alana Cordy-Collins, Nicole Cou- ture, Mary Glowacki, Ann Hutflies, Rahilla Abbass, and Kathy Reese. Thanks also to Don Rice for advice on the project proposal and to Nicole Couture, Mary Glowacki, Heather Lechtman, John Verano, and Alfredo Valencia, who all contributed to the present volume. Editorial advice from Inga Calvin and Teddy Dewalt, who read many drafts of various chapters of this work is greatly appreciated. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to my wife, Nancy, for end - less patience and constant support through the many years of this project. [...]... 374) The largest of the Wari provincial centers, the subject of this study, is located in the heart of Inca territory in the valley of Cuzco and may have provided the actual point of transmission of the knowledge of statecraft to the peoples who later formed the Inca state Finally, the Wari seem to have reorganized parts of their domain for economic purposes in ways that are strikingly similar to Inca... that the Wari were innovators of important techniques of statecraft involving ancestor worship that explain the function of and the labor investment in the Pikillacta complex The long-term Wari occupation of Cuzco had a tremendous cultural impact and set the stage for the development of the later Inca state Introduction: Pikillacta and the Wari Empire | 7 Exploration and Excavation at Pikillacta 2 Pikillacta. .. excavations and the investigative strategy used In chapter 4 I discuss the labor costs of the construction of the site, providing a picture of the level of investment of the Wari Empire in the Cuzco region Related to this is the discussion by Alfredo Valencia in chapter 5 of the complex hydraulic works, consisting of canals, reservoirs, and aqueducts that the Wari had to erect before they could even begin to... reconstruction of the Wari Empire This model seems appropriate since there are some obvious similarities Most of the major Introduction: Pikillacta and the Wari Empire | 3 provincial Wari sites are located along the Inca highway system, implying an earlier, similar road network in use by the Wari In addition, the distribution of the major Wari provincial centers geographically parallels many of the late-Inca... in the Moquegua drainage in southern Peru, Jincamocco in the southwest Highlands, and the Central Highland site of Azángaro near the presumed capital of the empire, the site of Wari in Ayacucho (fig 1.1) These data have been interpreted by many scholars to suggest that the Wari developed the first pan-Peruvian empire The Wari State The Peruvian Middle Horizon appears to have been dominated by two principal... amount of control that the Wari achieved in distant territories Opinions of Wari scholars fall broadly into two groups One group sees a powerful Wari state heavily dominating provincial areas The other group sees Wari in uence within the context of relatively independent political units And, of course, there is the possibility that each is correct in certain instances Contributing to these arguments is the. .. and mapping of the ruins, the main architectural block was divided into four sectors that appear to correspond 2.1 The Valley of Cuzco 2.2 The Lucre Basin of the Valley of Cuzco from the air Pikillacta is in the upper right quadrant Courtesy of Servicio Aerofotográfico Nacional, Peru to original units employed by the ancient Wari architects (fig 2.4) Sector 1, the part of the site having the highest... or windows in any of the walls which would permit access The majority of the doorways encountered in mapping the site were in the interior of structures or enclosures This apparent absence of doorways in the high walls of Pikillacta has led to speculations such as the theories that it served as an insane asylum or prison, with the absence of entryways necessary for the confinement of the inmates (these... energy-averaging, an argument central to his theory of the origin of the Andean state During the course of the 1979 fieldwork for my master’s thesis, together with Luis Barreda of the University of Cuzco, I excavated four test cuts in the small conjoined rooms in Sector 4, the so-called storage units (see McEwan 1979) The results of these tests seemed inconsistent with the storage center interpretation... model These facilities include the sites of Viracochapampa, Azángaro, Jincamocco, and especially Pikillacta In Isbell’s model these sites represent centers of state storage and administration They are the major nodes in the administrative hierarchy of the empire Schreiber (1987) has supported Isbell’s formulation and the utility of the Inca model using the example of the Jincamocco site to demonstrate the . of the late-Inca centers (W. H. Isbell 1978: 373 – 374). The largest of the Wari provincial centers, the subject of this study, is located in the heart of Inca territory in the valley of Cuzco. correct in certain instances. Contributing to these arguments is the fact that the functions of the architecture in the im - perial provincial centers, and indeed the func - tioning of the centers. adminis - tration. They are the major nodes in the admin - istrative hierarchy of the empire. Schreiber (1987) has supported Isbell’s formulation and the util - ity of the Inca model using the example of the