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| Wankarani | |
|---|---|
| Name | Wankarani |
| Period | Formative |
| Region | Altiplano, southern Peru, western Bolivia |
| Dates | c. 1500 BCE–400 CE |
| Major sites | Jiskairumoko, Ch'uxñuma, Aymara heritage |
| Cultures influenced | Tiwanaku, Chiripa, Pukara |
Wankarani The Wankarani culture was a Formative period highland society centered on the southern Altiplano of present-day Peru and adjacent Bolivia, active from roughly 1500 BCE to 400 CE. Archaeological evidence ties Wankarani communities to contemporaneous developments across the Andes including ceramic traditions, mound-building, and early agricultural intensification that later influenced Tiwanaku, Pukara, and Chiripa trajectories.
Scholarly usage of the culture-name derives from early fieldwork to label a distinguishable ceramic and settlement assemblage, paralleling naming conventions used for Chavín de Huántar, Moche, and Nazca. Debates among researchers working at institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution, British Museum, Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco, and Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú have paralleled terminological shifts seen in studies of Tiwanaku and Pukara. Comparative terminology appears in syntheses published by scholars affiliated with National Archaeological Museum (Peru), Museo Nacional de Antropología y Arqueología (Bolivia), University of Chicago, Peabody Museum, and Field Museum.
Wankarani settlements are concentrated on the southern Altiplano near modern administrative divisions including Puno Region, Moquegua Region, and parts of La Paz Department. The environment includes puna grasslands, salt flats like Salar de Uyuni, and lacustrine basins adjacent to Lake Titicaca. Climatic variability tied to El Niño–Southern Oscillation and highland microclimates influenced hydrology observed in paleoenvironmental studies by teams from National Science Foundation, INQUA, and research programs at University of Cambridge and Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos. Geological features such as the Andes orogeny and volcanic provinces including Ticsani and Ubinas shaped soil formation and obsidian sources comparable to procurement patterns documented for Chiripa and Pukara.
Chronological frameworks for Wankarani draw on radiocarbon sequences calibrated in projects involving Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and regional labs at Universidad Católica Boliviana. Material culture comprises distinctive ceramics, lithic tools, and metallurgical precursors comparable to artifacts from Caral, Sechín Alto, Tiwanaku and Pukara. Pottery typologies show painted and incised motifs related to iconographic repertoires explored alongside Chavín de Huántar and Moche research. Stone tool assemblages include blades and projectile points paralleling forms catalogued in collections at the American Museum of Natural History, Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia del Perú, and Museo Nacional de Etnografía y Folklore (Bolivia). Faunal remains and botanical macrofossils analyzed in laboratories at Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute contextualize subsistence changes contemporaneous with developments at Norte Chico and Cupisnique.
Settlement evidence reveals dispersed hamlets and small mound-based villages with low platform constructions, echoing patterns seen in studies of Pukara and early Tiwanaku hamlets. Architectural remains include rectangular habitations, storage features, and burial mounds compared in regional surveys by teams from Universidad de San Andrés (Bolivia), Universidad Nacional de Juliaca, and field projects associated with Universidad de Lima. Spatial analyses conducted with GIS by researchers at University of California, Los Angeles, Arizona State University, and University College London link site distributions to pastoral corridors and transhumance routes also noted in studies of Aymara and Quechua ethnoarchaeology. Survey work parallels methodologies used at Jiskairumoko and Ch'uxñuma in mapping habitation clusters and ritual precincts.
Agricultural practices included cultivation of highland crops such as quinoa, cañihua, and tubers related to potato lineages, alongside pastoralism focused on camelids like llama and alpaca. Crop processing tools and storage features echo economic strategies studied at Tiwanaku agro-pastoral systems and Pukara agricultural terraces. Isotopic analyses by teams from University of Oxford, MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology, and University of Bern indicate mixed agropastoral diets similar to those reconstructed for Chiripa and Tiwanaku. Exchange networks involved obsidian and marine shells comparable to trade links documented for Moche and Nazca, connecting Wankarani enclaves with coastal polities and highland centers via routes studied by researchers from Universidad Mayor de San Andrés and Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.
Burial contexts include primary interments within mounds and isolated graves with varied grave goods, paralleling mortuary variability observed at Tiwanaku, Pukara, and Chiripa. Evidence for social differentiation appears in differential access to exotic goods and architectural investment, themes explored in theoretical frameworks advanced by scholars at Harvard University, University of California, Berkeley, and University of Arizona. Funerary offerings include ceramic vessels, lithic implements, and personal ornaments comparable to assemblages curated by Museo Nacional de Antropología y Arqueología (Bolivia) and Museo de Sitio de Pukara. Bioarchaeological analyses by teams from University of Michigan and Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia address health, diet, and mobility patterns similar to those studied in Tiwanaku populations.
Initial identification and excavation occurred in the 20th century through projects associated with institutions such as Universidad Nacional San Agustín de Arequipa, Museo de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia de Lima, Smithsonian Institution, and international collaborations with University of Cambridge and University of Oxford. Major fieldwork includes surveys and excavations documented in reports from Instituto Nacional de Cultura (Peru), Museo Tumbas Reales de Sipán, and collaborative missions with École Française d'Extraterritorial Studies and Deutsches Archäologisches Institut. Recent multidisciplinary studies integrating paleoenvironmental, isotopic, and GIS data involve funding and partnerships with National Geographic Society, European Research Council, and National Science Foundation, and scholarship disseminated through journals affiliated with Society for American Archaeology and publishers like Cambridge University Press and Routledge. Ongoing debates connect Wankarani research to broader Andean syntheses involving Tiwanaku origins, interactions with Pukara, and long-term processes addressed in comparative works alongside Chavín de Huántar, Moche, and Nazca studies.