La presencia de Wari en San José de Moro

Abstract

Wari Presence in the San José de Moro Site

San José de Moro has been recognized as one of the most important Late Moche sites in the Jequetepeque Valley. Throughout 10 years of continuous excavations a detailed ocupational history has been obtained, and the site has been interpreted as a regional ceremonial center and an elite cemetery. High status burials, such as the Priestess of Moro, have been excavated, and it is from this site that most of the Late Moche Fine Line Ceramics comes. In this context, finding large quantities of Wari, Wari-derived, and Polychrome Moche ceramics is puzzling. It is during late Moche, and apparently at the same time as Fine Line decoration was being incorporated, that the first evidence of Wari show up at Moro. Wari influence at the site seems to have two phases, the first one associated with Late Moche, and related to the Middle Horizon 1, and the second associated with the Transitional Period, and represented by the presence of Middle Horizon 2 ceramics. In this article I advance an explanation of the conditions under which the Wari influence was accepted, and the consecuences of its presence in the ultimate colapse of Moche society.