The End of Empire: New Radiocarbon Dates from the Ayacucho Valley, Peru, and their Implications for the Collapse of the Wari State

Abstract

This paper presents a suite of new accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon measurements from the Ayacucho Valley of Peru and discusses their implications for the timing and nature of the collapse of the Wari Empire. Analysis of these and previously published dates from the region indicate that there is little evidence for state political authority in Ayacucho prior to the end of the 7th century. Dated human remains from the polity's eponymous capital indicate that the authority of the state's rulers persisted at least as late as the mid-11th century. Dates from rural sites in the Ayacucho Valley suggest continuity of occupation and folk material culture following Wari's disintegration. Finally, AMS measurements of bone from 2 large extramural ossuaries represent the first absolute dates associated with Chanca ceramics and suggest that this archaeological/ethnohistoric culture appeared in the valley at about AD 1300.

Variation of bone collagen amino acid δ13c values in archaeological humans and fauna with different dietary regimes: Developing frameworks of dietary discrimination

“…Huari was the inland capital of the eponymous Andean civilization that flourished between approximately AD 500 and 900. The samples were discovered in a pit containing a minimum of 96 men, women, and children (Bragayrac,1991:75; Finucane et al,2007). Artificial cranial modification was an indicator of ethnicity in the Andes by the time of the Spanish Conquest, and four different forms of cranial modification are exhibited by humans in the pit, suggesting it may have been a “multiethnic” burial (Finucane et al,2007).…”

“…The samples were discovered in a pit containing a minimum of 96 men, women, and children (Bragayrac,1991:75; Finucane et al,2007). Artificial cranial modification was an indicator of ethnicity in the Andes by the time of the Spanish Conquest, and four different forms of cranial modification are exhibited by humans in the pit, suggesting it may have been a “multiethnic” burial (Finucane et al,2007). AMS radiocarbon dates of two humans suggest that the pit dates to the 14th and 15th centuries AD (Finucane et al,2007).…”

Reconceiving the Chronology of Inca Imperial Expansion

“…The key concern for calibrating 14 C dates is the predominant source of air during the growing season, as this affects the uptake of CO 2 (and thus 14 C) in plants (McCormac et al 2004(McCormac et al :1088. As Finucane et al (2007) argue for the Ayacucho region of Peru, due to the southward shift of the ITCZ in the primary growing season, the austral summer, much of the CO 2 absorbed by plants should represent the Northern rather than the Southern Hemisphere. During that time of year, easterly winds prevail along the Andes down to ~20S (Garreaud 2009), so the weather systems and the moisture they bring derive from the east, across the ITCZ.…”

A Bayesian Re-Assessment of the Earliest Radiocarbon Dates from Tiwanaku, Bolivia

“…Finucane et al 2007;MichczyÒski et al 2007;Unkel 2007). I hope this study encourages researchers working in the Andes, and especially the Titicaca Basin, to take advantage of these models.…”