Lea este ensayo en español: El arte imperial wari
Eight centuries before the Inca created one of the most powerful empires in the ancient Americas, two prominent kingdoms arose whose artistic expressions, especially those linked to religious life, dominated the Central Andes for nearly five hundred years (600–1000 CE). In the Ayacucho region of the south-central highlands of Peru, Wari emerged as an expansive empire characterized by various artistic, architectural, religious, and sociopolitical innovations. Around the same time in the Lake Titicaca basin, on the Bolivian side of the Altiplano, Tiwanaku developed into a prestigious ceremonial center where people on pilgrimages from distant areas congregated. Both the Wari and the Tiwanaku societies—representing two distinct, independent, cultural and political phenomena, but with related iconographic programs—paved the way for subsequent Andean empires.
Wari—the capital of the Wari empire—was established in a part of the Andean range that is relatively poor for agriculture compared to other regions. Despite such natural limitations, Wari people wisely and pragmatically exploited available resources to build one of the largest and most important urban centers in the ancient Americas. An abundance of stone, pozzolana (volcanic ash that, when mixed with calcium hydroxide and water, forms a durable cement), and clay deposits provided raw materials for the creation of elaborate objects and led to the development of a distinctive type of architectural ornament. In addition to being sculpted or modeled, pozzolana, with its characteristic white hue, and clay (typically red) were used to add color to buildings at the great Wari capital. Archaeological excavations have shown that the walls of the city were white and red and sometimes adorned with mural paintings. These colors must have had special meaning in Wari cosmology, and the architecture, at the time of its greatest splendor, would have made a strong impression on residents and outsiders alike.
The architectural history of the Wari capital remains incomplete. Archaeological research has determined that the site seen today, constructed of finely carved and worked stone, was erected upon an older city made of earthen buildings. The seemingly disordered urban layout reflects a spatial organization related to Central Andean traditions, such as cults dedicated to mountains and powerful animistic entities in the landscape known as huacas, and the tracking of celestial bodies during the year, especially at solstices and equinoxes. Some scholars suggest that Wari, like Teotihuacan in Central Mexico, was divided into wards separated by narrow roads and larger thoroughfares. Some of these wards were organized around D-shaped temples, a kind of community ritual architecture typical in Wari society.
Prior to the era of Wari splendor, local Ayacucho-area art and traditions of the Huarpa culture (1–400 CE) apparently did not play a major role in the life of those communities. Wari imperial consolidation included the development of an emblematic art that incorporated styles and technologies from other regions. The Nasca tradition from Peru’s southern coast influenced the creation of the Wari’s Chakipampa style, characterized by stunning vessels with bright colors and fine finishes . Representations of fish, octopuses with straight or undulating arms ending in hooks, starfish, crabs, and what seems to be seaweed entered the Wari tradition, along with animals with curled bodies, zoomorphic heads or bicephalic serpent elements, teeth, and whiskers. Concentric circles decorating the body of vessels found both in the highlands and on the coast resemble qochas, or reservoirs, used to collect groundwater in the arid Nasca valleys of southern Peru .
The other major influence on Wari art came from interaction with Tiwanaku, the polity that emerged in the Titicaca basin around 500 CE. Tiwanaku images and the belief system supporting them were adopted by Ayacucho-area elites and spread throughout the Wari empire as part of its expansionist policy. The new styles appeared thanks to the creativity of Wari artists, who often repeated a limited iconographic repertoire that reflected, on the one hand, the bearer’s power and prestige, and on the other, their place in the Wari world.
Unlike Moche art of the northern coast of Peru, which from 500 to 850 CE featured complex, narrative scenes painted on pottery, Wari imperial ceramics focused on colorful representations of sacred fauna and plants, notably maize in various stages of growth and hallucinogens such as one extracted from the vilca tree (Anadenanthera colubrina). Solitary personages—possibly rulers, warriors, priests, and supernatural deities—were depicted in both painted ceramics and in sculpture ; ; . Occasionally, there are simple compositions portraying combat, prisoners, and sacrifices .
One of the most important personages is known as the Staff God, a being depicted frontally, with an over-scaled head and smaller body. The deity wears an elaborate headdress with radiating appendages evoking the sun’s rays, ending in feline, snake, and falcon heads in profile and circles representing maize ears. The rectangular face features round eyes divided vertically into black and white halves resembling the first and third quarter phases of the moon, a wide nose, and a partially opened mouth baring teeth and fangs. An exquisite Wari bottle in The Met collection has a face with characteristics similar to the Staff God. In the full-body version of this deity, the arms are bent at the elbow and rise to shoulder height, where they hold a staff in each hand. The torso is usually covered by a tunic (unku) that extends below the knees and is sometimes girded by a belt with tassels that end in a combination of feline and serpent heads. This principal deity, whose image embodies the power of various animal species, is thought by some researchers to represent Wiraqocha, a creator god mentioned in colonial chronicles beginning in the late sixteenth century.
It is likely that the Staff God entered the Wari artistic register through the influence of Tiwanaku culture. The Gateway of the Sun, for example, is a richly decorated stone portal that forms part of Tiwanaku’s ceremonial precinct. Its central personage is the Staff God, accompanied by supernatural “assisting angels” sculpted in profile. These secondary figures are depicted with legs bent at the knees, a staff in one hand, and wings emanating from the back . A Wari lime container (poporo) carved in wood also represents a three-dimensional version of one of these companion deities, which usually appear in profile.
Wari interactions with the Nasca and Tiwanaku cultures led them to create one of the most aesthetically and technically accomplished corpuses of artworks in the ancient Americas. For example, Wari weavers were experts in harmony and color, fashioning tapestry-woven garments considered to be among the world’s finest for both their imagery and splendor. Using cotton, vicuña, and other camelid hair, they exploited various design possibilities to create sashes, bags, and sleeveless tunics called unkus. Unkus formed part of the clothing worn in ritual ceremonies, and their bright colors, diverse weaving techniques, and complex iconography of geometricized figures continue to impress ; ; . Also prominent in Wari textile art are four-cornered hats characterized by their square shape and pointed tip at each of the corners ; . Some were tapestry-woven; others were knotted. Worn above the eyebrows, ears, nape, and braids, they were likely used to distinguish the rank, social status, and perhaps ethnic origin of dignitaries or provincial chiefs.
All indications suggest that the Wari capital was abandoned during the tenth century due to a major crisis, the causes of which are still debated. Some researchers propose that internal and external factors aggravated conflicts and weakened its power, leading to its decline; subsequently, people in various regions rebelled, invaded, and broke away from the city. Others say that economic problems prevented the capital from satisfying the needs of a great empire or that adverse climatic conditions, specifically drought, led to the depopulation of the urban center. What is certain is that the archaeological record of excavations conducted at the site reveals that a violent process of abandonment took place as evidenced by massive destruction and fractured floors in nearly all ceremonial and residential precincts, including domestic units. At present, no tomb has been found complete due to the intense looting that occurred in the aftermath of the city’s collapse. Yet the influence of the Wari empire’s visual traditions endured in the centuries that followed the collapse, most notably in the striking tapestry-woven tunics of the Inca empire —the last and largest imperial power in the ancient Americas before the Spanish invasion in the sixteenth century.