CONCLUSIONS

The rise of Huari and Tiahuanaco was linked, interactive and simultaneous. Synthetic reconfiguration of SAIS iconography and shared colonization of Moquegua are obvious aspects of the relationship, but many others are implied - from similar drinking vessels to the Tiahuanaco-like megalithic semi-subterranean temple at Huari.

SAIS icons surely represent a pantheon of deities similar to later Inca gods. They were associated with a new solar calendar as well as an annual round of ritual practices that constituted the core of a new religion embraced by both metropoles and cultural spheres. The role of this new religion in Middle Horizon conquest and expansion was surely very significant, but remains little understood today. SAIS iconography disappeared in the highlands at the end of the Middle Horizon quite utterly, so it is not surprising that analogies with Inca religion are not terribly close.

Both Huari and Tiahuanaco were capable of colonizing distant lands and setting up provincial administration similar to what is classified as “empire.” Huari used imperial strategies in provinces much more than Tiahuanaco did, but a great deal of metropole influence in both realms is not consistent with our ideas about how empires operate. Apparently alternative organizational practices remain poorly understood by evolutionary archaeology. Tiahuanaco in particular defies our understanding of its political and economic dimensions. However, both Wari and Tiwanaku diffused very distinctive material culture that was surely employed far and wide to express a new, international identity, associated with each metropole. Similarity between the two material repertoires suggests that these new identities were linked, perhaps even two variants of a single religion.

Both Huari and Tiahuanaco were large pre-industrial cities, with maximal populations exceeding 15,000 inhabitants. Both could have reached double this figure, although it appears that Huari was somewhat larger in permanent inhabitants, while Tiahuanaco received the greater numbers of pilgrims, perhaps by several orders of magnitude. Neither city seems to have been highly differentiated in terms of economic or craft specializations. Tiahuanaco seems more ceremonial; Huari more administrative and residential. In spite of the shared religion, the two cities were remarkably different in their construction of place, including their built environments, and ideas about refuse and pollution. Together they reshaped Andean culture, shifting the focus of civilization from Peru’s north coast into the highlands, hundreds of kilometers south, where the Inca Empire would appear half a millennium later.

Acknowledgments I am privileged to have excavated at Huari and elsewhere in its heartland, as well as in the Tiwanaku heartland, at Iwawi. Working in both core areas has provided me a unique perspective on the interrelated rise of Huari and Tiahuanaco. Because Huari, Tiahuanaco and the Middle Horizon constitute such a broad topic, and the length of this chapter is restricted, I was obliged to eliminate much bibliography, citing only one or two recent publications of an author, where a more complete bibliography can be found. Special thanks to Alexei Vranich as well as Leo Benitez who presented lectures on their current Tiahuanaco research at SUNY Binghamton in the spring of 2006. Charles Stanish and the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology organized a conference on Tiahuanaco in May, 2006, with Vranich and his research team, Paul Goldstein, and many others, presenting their recent research. In May 2007, Mauricio Uribe and I organized a conference at the University of Chile, sponsored by Dumbarton Oaks and the Cotsen Institute, on SAIS iconography. Specialists from around the globe attended, presenting research and discussing issues. All these sources have informed my thinking as it appears here. I also thank my colleagues from recent excavations at Conchopata, including Jose Ochatoma, Alberto Carbajal, Anita Cook, Tiffiny Tung, and Martha Cabrera. Ismael Perez shared his current work at Huari, as well. Patricia Knobloch provided many insights into iconography and chronology. Her knowledge of Middle Horizon styles and their synchronization is without equal. Joerg Haeberli generously shares his thinking with me. Helaine Silverman read and commented on an early version of this chapter. Judy Siggins, my wife, read, commented and edited several versions. Without her assistance, it would still be in preparation. I, of course, bear sole responsibility for any errors.