Cuzco

Systematic surveys and excavations conducted in the Cuzco Valley (Bauer 2004), the Paruro Province to the south (Bauer 1990, 1992, 1996, 1999, 2001), and the lower Vilcanota Valley to the north (Covey 2003, 2004, 2006) have produced an impressive amount of information on more than 2,000 archaeological sites, located within an area of approximately 1,200 km2 that crosscuts the Inca heartland from north to south. Bauer interprets the data as showing the emergence of a centralized state in the Cuzco basin several centuries before the Inca expansion over the Titicaca basin and the central highlands (Bauer 2004; Bauer and Covey 2002; Covey 2003, 2004, 2006).

The abandonment of the great Wari center at Pikillacta and the end of Wari influence, ca. AD 1000, was followed by radical changes in the Cuzco region (Bauer 2004). During the following Killke Period (AD 1000-1400) the number and size of settlements increased in the Cuzco basin. Several new settlements were built on the north side of the Cuzco Valley proper, together with large agricultural terraces and irrigation canals, and Cuzco itself became a large settlement. To the south of Cuzco, in the present province of Paruro, the Wari Period settlements continued to be occupied. The location of the settlements in unprotected places near the farmlands, the absence of fortifications, and the extensive distribution of Killke pottery suggest that this area was controlled by the Cuzco polity from a very early time (Bauer 1990, 1992, 1996). A similar pattern is observed in Limatambo to the west of Cuzco (Heffernan 1989). The situation is, however, different in the northern areas. In the areas of Quilliscachi and Cusichaca (Kendall 1974, 1976, 1985) to the northwest of Cuzco, Killke settlements are located in defensible places on the mountain tops and usually have defensive walls. Something similar occurs in the Chit’apampa basin, the Cuyo basin and, in general, in the lower Vilcanota Valley to the north of Cuzco (Covey 2003, 2004).

A similar situation is observed in the area between the Cuzco and Lucre basins to the east that was depopulated and became a buffer zone. In this zone a large center surrounded by impressive protective walls was established at the Tipon site. In the Lucre basin to the east, the situation is quite different. The changes are less pronounced. Settlements such as Chokepukio and Minasta persisted after the decline of the Wari influence, and at least three large sites—Chokepukio, Minasta, and Cotocuyoc—appear to have coexisted with Tipon (Glowacki 2002). Architecture and different types of portable items were produced in a distinct style different from those of the Cuzco basin and other areas to the west. As a matter of fact, the persistence of Wari features in the material culture of the Lucre basin is notable.

The end of the Wari influence in the Cuzco region was followed by political fragmentation and the appearance of several autonomous polities of varying sociopolitical complexity. However, this fragmentation did not have the same intensity in all areas of the region. Apparently, the Cuzco basin populations were politically more united from the beginning. With the disappearance of Wari influence in the Cuzco basin, these communities were in a better position within the region’s social and political landscape, and able to slowly and progressively expand and consolidate their power within the Cuzco region before expanding to neighboring regions, ultimately evolving into the Inca state and empire.