The Wari Civilization and Their Descendants: Imperial Transformation in Pre-Inca Cuzco

(Paperback)

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Drawing on research conducted in Cuzco, Peru, The Wari Civilization and Their Descendants: Imperial Transformation in Pre-Inca Cuzco, Peru analyzes the political and social transformations that led to the downfall of the Wari civilization in the Andean Middle Horizon period (AD 5001000) and resulted in the rise of the Inca state. The contributors to this collection present evidence of the Wari civilizations robust, imperialistic occupation of Cuzco, and argue that this presence laid the groundwork for later regional polities that can be traced to the Late Horizon Inca period (AD 14761532). This collection fills a gap in scholarly literature on Cuzco prehistory, the provincial southern highlands of the Wari civilization, and early imperialism in the Andes.

Reviews

The Middle and Late Horizons in the ancient Andes were periods of broad political expansions and dramatic social change. The Wari Civilization and Their Descendants is perhaps the first book to try to connect these eras in one region, showing us how the demise of the Wari in Cuzco can be linked to the rise of the Incas a few hundred years later. A must-read for those interested in how states rose and fell in the pre-Columbian world. -- Justin Jennings, Royal Ontario Museum
This eye-opening book offers new data on the extensive and enduring Wari imperial presence in the Cuzco region. Mary Glowacki and Gordon McEwan have edited an important volume that will compel many Andean archaeologists to reconsider their interpretive approach to the Wari civilization, the first pre-Hispanic empire that preceded the Inca civilization in the pre-Columbian Andes, and contemplate the role Cuzco played in the empires development. All readers who have studied prehistoric empires, from scholars of Andean antiquity to students, will welcome this skillfully researched and well-written discussion of imperial rulers in the provinces and elite classes in early state societies. -- Miosz Giersz, University of Warsaw

Author Bio

Mary Glowacki is state archaeologist of Florida.

Gordon F. McEwan is former professor of anthropology at Wagner College.