Trauma and Violence in the Wari Empire of the Peruvian Andes: Warfare, Raids, and Ritual Fights

ABSTRACT This study examines bioarchaeological evidence for violence during the period of Wari imperial-ism in the Peruvian Andes through analysis of skeletal trauma from three populations dating to AD 650–800. The samples are from contemporaneous archaeological sites: Conchopata, a Wari heartland site in central high-land Peru; Beringa, a community of commoners in the Majes valley of the southern Wari hinterland; and La Real, a high status mortuary site, also in the Majes val-ley. Given the expansionist nature of Wari and its mili-tary-related iconography and weaponry, it is hypothesized that Wari imperialism was concomitant with greater lev-els of violence relative to other prehispanic groups in the Andes. It is also hypothesized that differential articula-tion with the Wari empire (e.g., heartland vs. hinterlan