Danielle Kurin, PhD, is a bioarchaeology professor and forensic anthropologist who served at the University of California, Santa Barbara. With extensive field experience in the Andes region, Danielle Kurin is author of the book The Bioarchaeology of Societal Collapse and Regeneration in Ancient Peru (Springer, 2016).
In the work, Dr. Kurin explores the sudden, catastrophic demise of the Wari Empire a millennia ago, after the Wari had controlled a region the size of contemporary Peru for 500 years. With reasons for this collapse still not fully understood, this decline paved the way for the Inca to come to power around 1400 AD and form a new empire encompassing the “spine of South America.”
Dr. Kurin’s research of hundreds of skeletons reveals links between the last remaining populations of imperial Wari and the Chanka society that emerged in its wake. Unlike the Wari, the Chanka did not create elaborate cities or develop major commercial networks and written systems. In addition, they left behind relatively few goods and tools as evidence of their society.
As Dr. Kurin describes it, “prehistoric state fragmentation” of the Wari led to unprecedented genocidal attacks, displacement, and mass migrations. With community health impacted, individual life spans were reduced and access to clean water and nutritious food became less equally distributed.
At the same time, the Chanka began to display remarkable societal resilience mechanisms. These included trepanation medical procedures, new clan-like social formations, and religious practices centered on the worship of mummified ancestor-chief bodies. The archeological record reveals this upheaval and regeneration process in a novel way.
In the work, Dr. Kurin explores the sudden, catastrophic demise of the Wari Empire a millennia ago, after the Wari had controlled a region the size of contemporary Peru for 500 years. With reasons for this collapse still not fully understood, this decline paved the way for the Inca to come to power around 1400 AD and form a new empire encompassing the “spine of South America.”
Dr. Kurin’s research of hundreds of skeletons reveals links between the last remaining populations of imperial Wari and the Chanka society that emerged in its wake. Unlike the Wari, the Chanka did not create elaborate cities or develop major commercial networks and written systems. In addition, they left behind relatively few goods and tools as evidence of their society.
As Dr. Kurin describes it, “prehistoric state fragmentation” of the Wari led to unprecedented genocidal attacks, displacement, and mass migrations. With community health impacted, individual life spans were reduced and access to clean water and nutritious food became less equally distributed.
At the same time, the Chanka began to display remarkable societal resilience mechanisms. These included trepanation medical procedures, new clan-like social formations, and religious practices centered on the worship of mummified ancestor-chief bodies. The archeological record reveals this upheaval and regeneration process in a novel way.
