This book explores how individuals, social groups, and entire
populations are impacted by the tumultuous collapse of ancient
states and empires. Through meticulous study of the bones of the
dead and the molecules embedded therein, bioarchaeologists can
reconstruct how the reverberations of traumatic social disasters
permanently impact human bodies over the course of generations. In
this case, we focus on the enigmatic civilizations of ancient Peru.
Around 1000 years ago, the Wari Empire, the first expansive,
imperial state in the highland Andes, abruptly collapsed after four
centures of domination. Several hundred years later, the Inca rose
to power, creating a new highland empire running along the spine of
South America. But what happened in between? According to Andean
folklore, two important societies, known today as the Chanka and
the Quichua, emerged from the ashes of the ruined Wari state, and
coalesced as formidable polities despite the social, political, and
economic chaos that characterized the end of imperial control. The
period of the Chanka and the Quichua, however, produced no known
grand capital, no large, elaborate cities, no written or commercial
records, and left relatively little by way of tools, goods, and
artwork. Knowledge of the Chanka and Quichua who thrived in the
Andahuaylas region of south-central Peru, ca. 1000 - 1400 A.D., is
mainly written in bone-found largely in the human remains and
associated funerary objects of its population. This book presents
novel insights as to the nature of society during this important
interstitial era between empires-what specialists call the "Late
Intermediate Period" in Andean pre-history. Additionally, it
provides a detailed study of Wari state collapse, explores how
imperial fragmentation impacted local people in Andahuaylas, and
addresses how those people reorganized their society after this
traumatic disruption. Particular attention is given to describing
how Wari collapse impacted rates and types of violence, altered
population demographic profiles, changed dietary habits, prompted
new patterns of migration, generated novel ethnic identities,
prompted innovative technological advances, and transformed beliefs
and practices concerning the dead.
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