Wari Power and Local Encounters in Middle Horizon, Cusco, Peru

Véronique Bélisle, PhD, Associate Professor, Millsaps College

In the Andes, the Middle Horizon (600-1000 CE) has traditionally been interpreted as a period during which a strong Wari imperial state conquered several provinces and tightly controlled local populations. In the Cusco region of southern Peru, research conducted at large Wari installations has long guided reconstructions of Wari power, leading scholars to argue that Wari presence resulted in the loss of local autonomy and the reorganization of economic activities. In this talk, our speaker uses regional surveys as well as excavation data from the local center of Ak’awillay and from the Wari site of Kaninkunka to test this model. She evaluates Wari economic impact in Cusco and assesses the nature of the relationships between local communities and Wari colonists. Results suggest strong continuity in agricultural production and exchange networks, pointing to a rather weak Wari impact on economic activities. Encounters with Wari were not grounded in violence, and some ritual spaces were a theater for alliances and exchange with select members of local populations.

Dr. Véronique Bélisle is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Millsaps College. She is interested in state expansion, its impact on local lifeways, and the strategies that state colonists develop to interact with the communities they meet. More specifically, her research focuses on the impact of Wari expansion in the Cusco region of southern Peru, where she has directed large-scale excavations. She investigated local settlements for over a decade, and is currently working on a new project at a Wari site in Cusco. She has published her research in English and Spanish in different journals, including Latin American Antiquity, Journal of Anthropological Anthropology, Cambridge Archaeological Journal, Journal of Archaeological Science, Ñawpa Pacha, and Chungara. She is working on a book that uses a bottom-up approach to understand Wari impact in Cusco.

This meeting is free and open to the public but you must pre-register. Click HERE to register.