Animal Wealth and Local Power in the Huari Empire

Abstract

Display of wealth in the form of feasts and offerings can be instrumental for increasing economic, social, and political power. This study compares faunal remains from three Huari sites (Peru, AD 550-900) and it develops expectations for contrasting quotidian trash, feasting remains, and deposits of animal offerings. During the early Huari times in provincial Cotocotuyoc, offerings of camelids served to obtain and maintain symbolic capital by the local leaders. At Conchopata, in the Huari heartland, public feasts served to legitimize relations of power, while private mortuary feasts functioned to naturalize status differences. Meat feasts and animal offerings were key in articulating the politics of the Huari Empire local elites.