Pataraya: The Archaeology of a Wari Outpost in Nasca

Abstract

The research reported in this article explores Wari imperial strategies in the upper Nasca Valley of south-central Peru and, building on previous research, documents the flexibility and diversity of those strategies. The focus of these investigations is the site of Pataraya, a small Wari provincial outpost, and its environs. Despite its size, the rectangular enclosure at Pataraya is well planned and conforms to the canons of Wari state architecture documented at other Wari provincial sites. The site was founded early in the Middle Horizon (A.D. 650-1000) and then abandoned during the collapse of the Wari system. Extensive excavation at this condensed version of the Wari building tradition—over 60 percent—uncovered a pattern of spatially segregated use and access within the enclosure. Activities were relegated to specific patio groups with little replication of function, and the sectors themselves were connected by an astonishingly complex system of narrow corridors. The site appears to have been involved in the transfer of coastal products, especially cotton, to the sierra along an ancient road that is also associated with another much larger Wari compound and with the reorganization of an older local site near modern-day Uchuymarca, both of which were also documented during the project.

Endemic violence in a pre‐Hispanic Andean community: A bioarchaeological study of cranial trauma from the Majes Valley, Peru

“…By the beginning of the MH, Nasca polities were “balkanized,” but more connected to the highlands than ever before (Carmichael, ; Menzel, ; Schreiber & Lancho Rojas, ; Whalen & La Rosa, , p. 5). Around this time, people from the Wari homeland in the Ayacucho Valley expanded throughout the Peruvian Andes, reorganizing economies, subsistence, ritual practices, and sociopolitical structures in their heartland and at distant Wari outposts (Edwards & Schreiber, ; Isbell & McEwan, ; Jennings, ; Tung, ; Williams, ; Williams & Nash, ). Given that the consolidation and expansion of polities corresponded with an uptick in physical violence in other prehistoric contexts in the Andes and other global regions (Buzon & Richman, ; Martin et al, ; Pérez, ; Smith, ; Torres‐Rouff, ; Torres‐Rouff & Costa Junqueira, ), we use cranial trauma data from Uraca to evaluate how this time of sociopolitical transformation in southern Peru was characterized by violence.…”

The Wari Enclave of Espiritu Pampa

“…The foundation date is consistent with, if not a little earlier than, the two available dates from D-shaped structures at Conchopata, the second most important site within the Wari heartland (Ketteman 2002:33-34). The foundation date also appears to be slightly earlier than those recovered at the sites of Tenahaha (Jennings and Yépez Álvarez 2015) and Pataraya (Edwards and Schreiber 2014) in the Arequipa and Nasca regions, respectively. However, they match well with Wari dates from the Cusco region (Bauer 2004:67;Bauer and Jones 2003:16;Glowacki 2005;Sillar et al 2013:25;Skidmore 2014:332), as well as the far southern realms, including the site of Beringa (Owen 2010:65;Tung 2007Tung :264, 2012 and Cerro Baúl (Williams 2001(Williams :78, 2009.…”

“…This documents the collapse of Wari power in the region and the onslaught of widespread regional warfare that characterizes much of the Late Intermediate Period (AD 1000-1400). Furthermore, other Wari sites, including Cerro Baúl in the Moquegua region (Williams 2001(Williams , 2009; also see Green and Goldstein 2010), Tenahaha in the Cotahuasi Valley (Jennings 2010), Pataraya in the Nasca drainage (Edwards and Schreiber 2014), and Camaná in Majes (Malpass 2001) See Lumbreras (1960aLumbreras ( , 1975 and Isbell and McEwan (1991) for comprehensive reviews of early investigations at the site of Huari. See Jennings (2010) for an extended discussion of recent Wari research across the central Andes.…”

The influence of Amazonia on state formation in the ancient Andes

“…Although direct imperial control might often allow for the extraction of resources through violent means (which entails little reciprocity), clientage is rather different—in that although it may not be an equal relationship, it is still reciprocal. Edwards and Schreiber (2014: 230) suggest that the Wari’s outposts near Nazca provided them with access to coastal products unavailable in the highlands, especially cotton. But what did the Nazca get in return?…”