Cultural Continuity and Foreign Elements in Cajamarca, Northern Highlands of Perú: A Case Study of the Middle Horizon

Abstract

In this paper I examine the distribution and movement of population during the Middle Horizon, using archaeological data of the Cajamarca region. I present excavation data from the El Palacio site which was a Wari administrative center in the Cajamarca Valley. There we found exotic elements in the form of architecture, funerary chambers and polychrome ceramics, while evidence of cultural fusion was unclear. Although Cajamarca was under direct dominion of the Wari state, local material culture such as ceramics appear to have continued without great change. If any parallel relation between material culture and language can be assumed, it would be reasonable to think that, during Middle Horizon in Cajamarca, multiple languages co-existed or that people were bilingual both in the local language and the official language of the Wari state.