Cerro Baúl: un enclave wari en interacción con Tiwanaku

Abstract

Cerro Baul: A Wari Enclave Interacting with Tiwanaku

Wari expansion to the extreme south of Peru is a phenomenon whose study began 20 years ago, with the discovery of a great arquitectonic complex at Cerro Baul. The excavations undertaken in the last 3 years have revealed that Cerro Baul was more than a military fortress; it was the most important political and religious center that Wari established in the only region where there is direct evidence of interaction with Tiwanaku, the altiplano state that established its colonial center in the middle Moquegua Valley. Based on the twelve radiocarbon dates from Cerro Baul, we can affirm that this interaction was maintained for over 200 years, a time that included periods of tension and others of cooperation.

The current work analyzes the relations that the Wari colony on Cerro Baul maintained with its capital located in the Department of Ayacucho. Therefore, we document the characteristics of the monumental and domestic architecture and establish their relationship to forms found in Ayacucho. We also analyze the irrigation technology implemented by Wari in the zone and compare it with the agricultural techniques utilized prior to Wari expansion in Ayacucho and in Moquegua. Precedents for the irrigation technology in the Cerro Baul region are present in Ayacucho, but are not found in Moquegua. Both lines of evidence indicate that contacts between Cerro Baul and the capital were very strong, a position which is also supported by the extensive exchange of prestige goods. Apparently, the Moquegua colony articulated the Wari state's policies for interacting with the Tiwanaku neighbors.