Under the supervision of Dr. Joyce Marcus, Veronique Belisle will conduct archaeological excavations at Ak'awillay, a site in the Cusco region of highland Peru. The excavation data from Ak'awillay will be used to evaluate the impact of an empire on households, specifically the impact of Wari imperial expansion on a local community.
From AD 600 to 1000, the Wari Empire established several administrative centers across the central Andes. In the Cusco area, earlier archaeologists focused on two large Wari centers and they concluded that Wari controlled the Cusco area during this period. Systematic surveys have demonstrated the absence of Wari architecture at other sites, although Wari ceramics were present at a small number of local settlements.
This new project will take a complementary "bottom-up" perspective that looks at a smaller community (1) to evaluate the impact of imperial expansion on the local population and (2) to refine what is known about Wari expansion and its strategies of incorporation.
Empires, including that of the Wari, tend to use a variety of strategies to incorporate and interact with local communities that may resist, rebel, or cooperate. The impact of imperial expansion can be profound in some regions of an empire but not others, or experienced only by certain segments of local societies. By taking a detailed view of a single community in the Cusco area, this research will examine what changes, if any, were experienced at the household level - from family to family - after Wari expansion reached the Cusco region. These excavations will complement earlier studies that focused on two larger Wari centers, and add to the historical and ethnohistorical research on empires by developing archaeological signatures for the identification of imperial expansion.
Ak'awillay - the focus of the project - was occupied in the pre-Wari period, but it was only during the Wari period that it became the largest settlement in the area. Excavations will yield data that will be used to compare pre-Wari households to Wari-period households, as well as activities and artifact inventories. With these data it will be possible to evaluate whether Wari's impact on local households was minimal, substantial, or restricted to certain households and/or activities.
In addition to sharing the results of this research widely with the scientific community, regular sessions will be organized with the people of the modern Quechua-speaking community of Ak'awillay to help them learn about their past and how to protect and preserve their archaeological site. This project will provide work for several members of the local community (both women and men) in an area where income and paying jobs are hard to find. It will also give Peruvian and North American scholars and archaeologists an opportunity to gain experience in excavation and laboratory work, leading to their own degrees and professional advancement.
Since expansionist states also characterize the modern world, this archaeological project - showing how ancient states expanded, incorporated, and controlled local territories - will be relevant to understanding the process of modern political expansion.
