Page 268 - Perú indígena y virreinal

in Peruvian history began, it was named after various elements of Ayacucho origin, lasting almost up until the 16th Century. There is no doubt that many Inca institutions, myths and beliefs were born during the Wari period.
The presence of Wari art, that adopted the processes and forms of Moche, Cajamarca, Nasca, Tiwanaku and other areas, transformed the artistic models that had been prevalent in the majority of regions up until that time. Without standardizing local or regional styles, it brought together a range of processes and facilitated an exchange of experiences. It was during the Wari period that the use of colour in pottery became popular in regions such as the north coast, where Moche art used no colours; the Wari influence intensified the use of colour in places such as Lima, altering the multi-coloured formats of the Nasca and creating new styles, such as Santa, based on the Recuay style, Huaura on the north coast of Lima and the many “descendent” styles that appeared throughout Peru. The art of weaving, which became an industry, underwent significant changes.
The decline and fall of the Wari Imperial State was the result of its own strengths. In its conquest, Wari encouraged the urban development of its colonies and some of them, such as Pachacamac in Lima, grew as powerful as the capital of the Empire itself located in Ayacucho. Pachacamac, at some point, became a power of considerable importance on the coast, featuring a religious significance that it maintained right up to the Inca Period. It possessed its own manufacturing brand, one that boasted its own style and enjoyed growing prestige.
The growth of the cities was not so much physical as social and economic; they required food surpluses and access to labour in order to maintain urban production and the circulation mechanisms that sustained them. Between the 6th and 10th Centuries, many regions became powerful and fought to establish their own lordly dominions; it seems that the conquest lasted only a few years in more than one region and neither was the entire territory under constant Wari subjection. However, a “pax Wari” did exist that made it possible to operate the road network and the transit of caravans over long distances.
Ayacucho, for its part, witnessed a problem of excessive urban growth, featuring a strong concentration of people employed in the production of items and raw materials and a kind of abandonment of agricultural activity. Throughout the Huarpa Period, Ayacucho lands had been intensively worked. However, all the farming lands worked so laboriously by the Huarpa were abandoned by the Wari, who obviously enjoyed easy access to produce of colonial origin. When Wari fell, the area became virtually a desert, which is why some archaeologists believe that insurgency and the decline of Wari was based on climatic changes, and this may very well have been a factor.
THE REGIONAL STATES AND THE CHIEFDOMS OR FREE TOWNS
Following the fall of Wari in around the 11th Century, a series of small kingdoms and lordly dominions appeared throughout Peru, forming an area similar to that of the former empire. Artistic styles and patterns of life took on a somewhat artificial guise; that is to say, copied, inauthentic and decadent versions of the imperial arts. This lasted for one or two centuries, depending on the place, given that the return to regional independence led to a reassessment of the dominions that had existed prior to the Wari conquest and originated a revival of regional nationalities. In this respect, we should recognize the fact that at no time did the nationalities cease to exist. What is more, there is no evidence to suggest any kind of state repression existed either. In the same way as with the Incas, the Wari only imposed changes within the circles of power.
The new states and chiefdoms (called “free towns” by the Spanish) grew in accordance with their economic potential. Soon those that possessed the resources to sustain cities and larger armies grew more powerful. In this respect, the large coastal and mountain valleys were most favourable for such growth: the Valleys of Trujillo, Lima and Ica, along the coast, and those of Vilcanota, Mantaro, Pampas and Cajamarca, in the mountains. The Tiwanaku tradition survived around Titicaca until quite late on, when it broke up into a series of small lordly dominions such as those of Omasuyos, Pacajes, Lupacas and Collas, who all spoke aymara. Trujillo, formerly occupied by the Moche, became the kingdom of Chimu, whilst Lima became mainly Chancay and Ischma, Ica the lordly dominions of Chincha, and Ica and Vilcanota the lordly dominion of Cusco, which later gave rise to the Inca Empire. Mantaro was occupied by the Wankas and Pampas by the Chancas.
This was the age in which the cities prospered, to such an extent in fact that some archaeologists have suggested calling it the “City Builders Period”. In the richest valleys more than one city was even constructed. Cities made of stone and mud spread throughout the Andes and the economy was based, to a certain extent, on an urban model, which meant that even the small villages were affected by the traffic of urban products and a profits system clearly designed in favour of the ‘lords’ of the cities.
We should recognize, however, that such cities had nothing in common with the contemporary image of cities, city-dwellers and “city leaders”. The real economic foundation resided in the country and the population—even the inhabitants who lived in the urban centre—was distinctly rural, except for the ‘lords’ and their closest entourages. Those who lived in the city were peasants who had moved there temporarily or permanently in order to fulfill certain specific productive or service functions: constructing buildings, specialized craftsmen, soldiers and servants.
Numerically, the urban population was not very large; in physically gigantic cities such as Chan Chan, the capital of the Chimu Kingdom, which could perhaps house up to 50,000 inhabitants, the number probably never exceeded 5,000. The majority of the buildings in such centres were offices, store-rooms, halls, “courts”, patios and similar public centres, including temples, tombs and others. Relatively few served as housing or bedrooms. Chan Chan consisted of a series of “citadels” in the form of immense palaces enclosed by walls, whose interiors contained a labyrinth of rooms, patios, terraces and even pyramid-like monticules and reservoirs of water. Fully inhabited, each “citadel” could contain perhaps 1,000 people, but these enclosures were probably occupied by but a few dozen; first, because the majority of the rooms were offices and store-rooms and, second, because each citadel was the palace of a king, and when he died, the palace became his mausoleum, devoted to his worship and to no other purpose. In this sense, we can presume that only a few of these citadels were actively functioning, whilst the rest served as immense funerary enclosures containing granaries and other storerooms, run by officials and servants, all employed in the service of the dead king. The citadels were organized according to a hierarchy, which meant that some were of higher status than others. In the same city there were also houses occupied by craftsmen and perhaps merchants, which surrounded the palaces. These undoubtedly made up the main urban centre.
The king, by now far removed from the old image of the chief, was regarded as a god, and the wise men of the period related long and elaborate stories concerning the origins of the royal family and their mysterious hold on power. The lords of Lambayeque promoted the legend that they had originated from a hero known as Ñamlap, who reached the dry lands of the north from a place that had never been seen or heard of, preceded by a majestic court worthy of the tales of Oriental fantasy. The Chimu claimed that they originated from the lord known as Taycanamu, from whose long and noble line were descended the ci-quic who ruled the kingdom. The Incas of Cusco stated that four mysterious brothers, known as Ayar, formed the origin of their lineage, whose founder, the son of the Sun God, had reached Cusco and established the city on the orders of his divine father; this hero, Manko Qapaq, was therefore recognized as the “first Inca”. All of these legendary heroes must have emerged from the very heart of the Wari invasion, in around the 10th and 11th Centuries, as a means of sustaining power. In Conchopata (Ayacucho), recent discoveries have brought to light pictorial testimonies of similar characters to those described in relation to the legendary heroes of the Incas. Furthermore, these images are associated specifically with the small reed craft typically used on Lake Titicaca. This lake is closely connected to the tales regarding the origin of the Incas.
Not all of these kingdoms were, of course, powerful, since while some maintained control of several valleys, others were hardly larger than small chiefdoms, ruling the inhabitants of a valley or part of a valley. This led to the emergence of a strong imbalance among the various states and permanent conflict between regions. These conflicts have confused many historians, who have considered these to be inter-ethinic wars, when it seems that this was not actually the case. Wars were coordinated, decided and defined by power groups by means of alliances, agreements, negotiations and armed confrontation. Warriors were limited to participating in this game depending on their specific role within
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