Wari Empire

Between about 600 and 1000 CE, the Wari (or Huari) built the first expansive state in the Andes. Their capital, Huari, near modern Ayacucho in the central highlands of Peru, grew into a sprawling city of walled compounds that housed tens of thousands of people at its peak. From there the Wari planted planned administrative centers far across the mountains, such as Pikillacta near Cusco and Viracochapampa in the north, built on a grid of rectangular enclosures, and linked them with roads. They spread terrace farming and irrigation for maize, and used llama caravans to move goods.¹

The Wari rose at the same time as Tiwanaku, the great city near Lake Titicaca, and both shared a religious imagery centered on a staff-holding deity, though the two states were rivals rather than one empire; at Cerro Baul in southern Peru a Wari outpost sat close to Tiwanaku settlements. Wari officials kept records on knotted cords, an early form of the khipu, and the empire's organization of labor and food, including lavish feasts with corn beer (chicha), anticipated methods later used by the Inca.¹²

Wari declined around 1000 CE, possibly under drought and internal strains, and its centers were abandoned. In 2013 archaeologists at El Castillo de Huarmey on the north-central coast found an unlooted Wari royal tomb holding the remains of elite women buried with gold, silver and fine textiles, showing how far Wari power reached.¹³