Who Made Peru's Wari Pottery?

[Judi Lynn]

2. Forget the Inca, this was Peru's first major empire, and thanks to ancient pottery we know how power

Forget the Inca, this was Peru’s first major empire, and thanks to ancient pottery we know how powerful it was


15 March 2023 / Matthew Agius

Paint It, Black.

Ancient pottery has revealed the reach of the Wari empire, which was prominent in modern-day Peru between the seventh and eleventh centuries.

The groups that existed amid this empire used a material rather than written culture, so their art and objects provide archaeologists with the best glimpse into their unique history.

Now new research from several collaborating US institutions has shed light on the reach of the Wari through an unusual material: pigment.

“People sometimes think of the Inca as the first big empire in South America, but the Wari came first,” explains Luis Muro Ynoñán from the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.

“Since they didn’t use writing… things like pottery would have been an important means for conveying social and political messages. The visual impact of these objects would have been super powerful.”

More:
https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/ancient-peruvian-empire-pottery-pigment/