Trophy Skull Sheds Light on Ancient Wari Empire

Newswise ^ | 1-24-2007

[blam]

Click on the site for more photos.

[blam]

I believe the Wari were ethnically related to the Chachapoyas but often battled with them. Wari relics/artifacts have also been found on the Altiplano.

Kuelap - The Machu Picchu Of Northern Peru (Chachapoyas - White, blonde haired people)

[facedown]

Cotocotuyoc trophy skull showing cut nasal area and gold alloy pins used to fasten the scalp back on for public desplay. This Wari warrior, excavated by Earthwatch volunteers working with Dr. Mary Glowacki, was approximately 30 years old and had survived several head injuries.

desplay?

[facedown]

A bottom view of Cotocotuyoc trophy skull, discovered by Earthwatch-supported archaeologist Dr. Mary Glowacki, shows carefully cut and smoothed circular hole. Carved bone teeth-like inserts were used to replace this Wari warrior's teeth after death.

[blam]

GGG Ping.

[denydenydeny]

But...but...I thought the indigenous peoples of the world lived in peace and harmony with their environment and their neighbors, and it was only the coming of the evil white man that introduced war to them?

I'm just baffled by this totally unexpected discovery.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

Exactly what I was thinking.

[IronJack]

an elite cemetary

The word is CEMETERY. For cripes' sake!

By the way, it's "i-n-d-e-p-e-n-d-E-n-c-e." No "A".

Granted, a cemetery may be an ossuary, but it's not necessary.

[blam]

Check out the bottom of this page, no telling who wrote this.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Blam. I was wondering Wari the world this empire was...

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

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[Fred Nerks]

These 40 greenstone carvings with distinctive dress and headgear are one of two such sets found in ceremonial caches in the Wari city of Pikillacta in Peru. Twenty of the figures in each set are identical, leading expert Anita Cook to suggest they represent the founders of the Wari Empire. “They’re evidence of the Wari’s ancestor worship,” says Cook. “The Wari believed their ancestors were the link between everyday life and the supernatural world.”

http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0206/feature5/zoom3.html

Twenty figures in each set are identical...maybe because they were characters used in a board-game?

[wildbill]

Be vewy vewy wari because today we're hunting wabbits.

[Dustbunny]

Hummmmm, the first chess pieces?

[CobaltBlue]

Looks remarkably like the cover of the board game, Tikal.

[CobaltBlue]

BTW, the earliest known board games date back to almost 6,000 BC.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Board_game

[Fred Nerks]

http://nabataea.net/games3.html
ancient board games site.

[Fred Nerks]

Artifact from the Tribute find.

Moche Lizard bowl

Different, but somehow similar. They certainly knew how to make beautiful pottery.

[blam]

Thanks. Nice addition.

[Fred Nerks]

This masonry wall, with an adorned entryway, also served as an aqueduct for the canal (details below), that transported water for the great city of Huari, Piquillakta, upper Urubamba valley, Cusco, Peru.

http://kyapa.tripod.com/agengineering/canaltechnology/canals.htm

Investigations further demonstrate that Cotocotuyoc was defensive in nature, and that it likely became a stronghold for the Wari as the valley occupation destabilized and finally collapsed. The use and abandonment of Cotocotuyoc may be associated with a shift in its water supply, a canal system linking the site to hillside springs

http://www.american.edu/anthro/andean/abstracts.cfm

[Fred Nerks]

clickable link to canal site. Why did the image disappear?

http://kyapa.tripod.com/agengineering/canaltechnology/canals.htm