The Wari heritage
The first European to describe the ruins of the ancient Wari civilization (also called Huari) was Pedro Cieza de León, who arrived in 1533 in the area of the current city of Ayacucho.
The Carmelite Antonio Vásquez de Espinoza also described in detail the so-called “Viñaque valley” speaking of various ruins and sumptuous constructions.
According to the indigenous writer Huaman Poma, the name Wari comes from the first colonizers of the continent, after the flood.
The area where Ayacucho is located today was an important crossing point for people and goods since ancient times, an ideal exchange center between the jungle, the mountains and the coast. One of the first Wari towns was, from the Christian era, Nahuin Puquio, located in the south of Huamanga. The population was dedicated to agriculture and crafts (especially ceramics). This society, called Huarpa, was already stratified and the division of labor was common. Spiritual and political power was concentrated in a priest (curaca) who practiced sacred ceremonies dedicated to the cult of the Sun. From the first years of the Huarpa culture, ceramic craftsmanship was distinguished by geometric decorations with rhombuses, parallel lines and vivid colors like red and yellow, as well as black.
Around 800 AD, the Wari culture began to be influenced by the traditions of Tiahuanaco, the stone city built near Lake Titicaca, 3,850 meters above sea level.
In this way, the Tiahuanaco artistic tradition joined the Wari style of the mountains, which in turn had been influenced by the Nazca culture.
This “cultural colonization” of Tiahuanaco was peaceful and mainly artistic and cosmogonic. The fusion of the two cultures created the so-called Tiahuanaco-Wari area of influence, which expanded to northern Peru for another two centuries.
The Wari culture was considered the source of all the archaic traditions of the Andean area starting with the most important one: the Sun. The so-called missionaries of the Sun spread their spiritual and peaceful vision throughout much of the continent.
For the Spanish Cieza de León, who visited Tiahuanaco in the years after the conquest, the builders of the Wari citadel were the same as those of Tiahuanaco, anticipating the archaeological evidence by 5 centuries.
The archaeologist Tello was the first to scientifically study the Wari site, in 1942.
The Huari citadel, located 3000 meters above sea level, is approximately 22 kilometers from the current city of Ayacucho. More recently, long underground galleries and large-scale canalization works were discovered. With the city of Wari, the classic Andean urbanism is outlined, with a religious center consisting of the temple, an urban area where the priests and those in charge of the cult lived and then, an upper neighborhood (called Hanan) and a lower one (Urin) where artisans, soldiers and specialized farmers lived. Finally, the majority of the population lived along the valley, in the cultivated fields and in the Andean camelid ranching areas.
The Wari urban style, characterized by square and rectangular houses, and surrounded by high walls, was also used in other towns such as Wilka, Pikillacta and Choquepuquio.
The Wari culture was distinguished by complex and interesting artistic creations.
In the town of Huacauara there are eight lithosculptures and bas-reliefs from the main temple. They illustrate figures with a serious and calm appearance, dressed in wide cloaks of ceremonial and clerical style. However, the most important Wari artistic remains are found in ceramics and textiles.
By studying these artistic creations, the life and traditions of the Wari people can be understood in detail. Initially, Wari ceramics were characterized by their large polychrome vessels, used in ritual offerings. Subsequently, around the 9th century AD, also due to the Nazca influence, the dominant iconography was the trophy heads (heads cut off and displayed as trophies in order to appear fearsome to enemies) and the snake, symbol of the underworld. The predominant colors were bright red, white and gray, often outlined in black. Large containers of the Conchopata, Moqo and Pacheco Robles style, of clear Tiahuanaco influence, were also found, characterized by the symbology of the Sun and decorated by images of Divinities and medicinal plants. It is common to observe the sacred image of Viracocha, the supreme creator, as seen in the Puerta del Sol, in Tiahuanaco, accompanied by 4 male and 4 female figures. In fact, numerology is very important in the Andean culture, which considered the numbers 4, 8 and 9 sacred. During archaeological excavations in the different Wari cemeteries, several mummies were found covered in exquisitely decorated wool or cotton blankets, in which predominate red, burgundy and geometric figures.
Of all the ancient textiles found in South America, the Wari are the most elaborate and complex, and in them it is perceived that the subjects, both anthropomorphic and zoomorphic, are modeled and stylized to the point of almost becoming abstract.
At the foundations of Wari iconography is the influence of the great civilization of the Andean highlands that had its center in Tiahuanaco.
Abundant in the Wari fabric are the symbols of the creator, Viracocha, of the Sun and of the mountains, considered sacred because the water that gives life flows from them.
Wari fabrics seem to be related to the world of the subconscious and, like Buddhist mandalas, they transmit a cosmic message that goes beyond materiality.
Around 1000 AD, the Wari culture suddenly ceased to exist. The fortified citadels were mysteriously abandoned. Some scholars suggested that southern Peru was the victim of a tremendous drought that lasted two decades. The population had a terrifying decline and the survivors, taking refuge in the valleys closer to the coast, partially lost the Wari culture, practicing their own existing local traditions. These villages of survivors formed, for example, the Chiribaya culture, located in the region of the current Peruvian city of Moquegua, in the province of Ilo.
The northern limits of the Chiribaya culture reached the Churajón ethnic group, typical of the area where the city of Arequipa is established today.
The Chiribaya, who prospered until 1350 AD, when they became part of the Inca culture, were recognized as the lords of the sea and the desert. Indeed, they fished and knew how to transform arid desert valleys into gardens. They had a surprising water system that is somewhat reminiscent of that of the Zenúes of the Colombian plains.
In addition, they raised llamas to feed on their meat and fished with effective spears with sharp copper tips.
There is a strong Wari tradition in Chiribaya ceramics and textiles: the most common colors are red, orange, brown, ocher and yellow.
The fabrics were made of cotton, alpaca and vicuña wool. The iconography included figures of Divinities, geometric, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic.
By studying the Chiribaya tombs it is possible to reach the conclusion that their society was diversified and hierarchical. Typically, the upper classes decorated their dresses with objects made of turquoise, jade, lapis lazuli and beautiful shells.
During the excavations, several wooden containers were found, characterized by zoomorphic annexed pieces of obvious Tiahuanaco origin. As for metallurgy, they used copper to make various instruments such as axes, spoons and knives. Gold and silver were used to make beautiful jewelry, which was worn to evoke the cult of the Sun and the Moon.
YURI LEVERATTO
