Culture · Middle Horizon

Wari

600–1000 CE, South America — Andes

Wari was the first expansive state in the Andes, ruling from its capital near Ayacucho between about 600 and 1000 CE and building planned administrative centres such as Pikillacta and Viracochapampa along highland roads later used by the Inca. Its art shares the Staff God and profile winged attendants with contemporary Tiwanaku, rendered on polychrome ceramics, tapestry tunics of extraordinary thread count and small turquoise figurines. The Wari tunic, with its compressed and abstracted figures, is the finest textile of the ancient Americas. Royal tombs at El Castillo de Huarmey, excavated in 2012, showed the wealth of the elite.

Dates	600–1000 CE
Period	Middle Horizon
Region	South America — Andes
Areas	Ayacucho (Huari), Central and southern Peruvian highlands, Peruvian coast (Pachacamac, Nasca), Cusco region (Pikillacta)
Typical objects	Vessel, Bowl, Figurine, Pendant, Bead
Typical materials	Terracotta, Turquoise, Marine shell, Gold, Silver, Bronze

Identification

Wari pottery is a thick polychrome with black outlines around cream, red, grey and purple zones, often on face-neck jars and large urns; Tiwanaku pottery is thinner and the kero beaker is its signature shape. Wari tapestry tunics are interlocked and warp-faced with the design distorted toward the edges. Turquoise and shell figurines about 50 mm high and 'four-cornered hats' in knotted pile are diagnostic.

Legality

Peru's Law 28296 (2004) on the National Cultural Heritage declares all pre-Columbian objects the property of the nation and bans export; a US–Peru CPIA agreement has been in force since 1997 covering all pre-Columbian archaeological material, so Wari objects need documented presence outside Peru before that date. Wari textiles are the most frequently smuggled category.

Reproductions and fakes

Wari tunics and hats are forged from ancient fibre and, more often, genuine fragments are reassembled and completed; ceramics are copied in Ayacucho and Lima. Genuine textiles show consistent fading and wear, and genuine pots have worn bases and mineral deposits.

Photographs

Wari — Bottle with deity — Wari, 650–1000 CE — Bottle with deity — Wari, 650–1000 CE — The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Purchase, Nelson A. Rockefeller Gift and Mrs. Carroll L. Cartwright Gifts, 1964, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Open Access, CC0

Wari — Lime container — Wari, 650–1000 CE — Lime container — Wari, 650–1000 CE — The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Purchase, Nelson A. Rockefeller Gift, 1969, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Open Access, CC0

Elsewhere

met: 315052

Cite this article

Stratum Study. "Wari" (Culture). Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21. https://stratum.black/study/cultures/wari. Accessed 2026-09-21.

BibTeX · CSL-JSON

@misc{stratum-wari,
  title        = {Wari},
  author       = {{Stratum Study}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/study/cultures/wari}},
  year         = {2026},
  note         = {Culture article, Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21; sources: stratum, met. Accessed 2026-09-21.}
}

Citations carry the pack version and the article's as-of date so they resolve to the same text later. The facts themselves belong to the sources listed below; cite those for the science.

Identification

Legality

Reproductions and fakes

Photographs

Age

Materials

Collecting rules

Elsewhere