UC Santa Barbara

This dissertation explores results from portable x-ray fluorescence and lithic analyses of obsidian artifacts from the sector of Vegachayuq Moqo, site of Huari, in the Ayacucho highlands of Peru. The site of Huari is the capital of the eponymous Wari Empire, whose territory extended over the central Andes during the Middle Horizon, AD 600–1000. Throughout prehistory, obsidian in the Andes was generally obtained from three primary obsidian source locations (Quispisisa, Alca and Chivay) as well as six additional smaller, local, sources (Puzolana, Jampatilla, Potreropampa, Lisahuacho, Macusani and Aconcagua). Previous obsidian sourcing studies conducted throughout the central Andes, primarily focused on elemental and geographical identification of the sources themselves, suggest that during the Middle Horizon the Wari Empire became invested in the distribution of obsidian from the Quispisisa obsidian source in the Ayacucho highlands (Burger et al. 2000). During the Middle Horizon, the distribution of Quispisisa obsidian reaches its greatest extent, often coinciding with the presence of other Wari imperial media in the region (e.g., ceramic iconography, architecture). While it has been assumed that Wari may have controlled the distribution of obsidian during the Middle Horizon, little work has been done to explore this hypothesis. This dissertation tests the assumption that the Wari Empire played a fundamental role in the distribution of obsidian from the Quispisisa obsidian source to hinterland territories within the empire, consequently ushering in new obsidian production and consumption practices during the Middle Horizon.

The data for this dissertation derive from the 2012 excavation season at the site of Huari, conducted by Dr. Jose Ochatoma Paravicino, Licenciada Martha Cabrera and Licenciado Carlos Mancilla Rojas from the Universidad Nacional de San Cristóbal de Huamanga (UNSCH) in Ayacucho. X-ray fluorescence analyses were conducted using a Bruker Tracer III from the Anthropology Department at the University of California Santa Barbara. Lithic analysis was conducted at the UNSCH archaeology lab during the summer field season, 2016. The results presented in this dissertation confirm previous assumptions regarding the presence of Quispisisa obsidian in hinterland territories, while uniquely focusing on the consumption of obsidian in the Wari capital. This dissertation suggests that Wari imperial control of obsidian was not based upon a radical new program, but instead upon a co-option, or formalization, of pre-existing obsidian production, distribution and consumption networks built upon thousands of years of obsidian exploitation in the Andes. At the site of Huari, obsidian production and consumption patterns were established during the Early Intermediate Period, Huarpa occupation (AD 1–500), and continue through the Middle Horizon, Wari occupation. This continuation of obsidian exploitation and use confirms the Wari Empire’s flexible political, economic and social strategies in co-opting, or adapting upon, pre-existing infrastructure, and local social, political and economic organization, to administer control over a territorially dispersed empire.