From Rural to Urban: Archaeological Research in the Periphery of Huari, Ayacucho Valley, Peru

For hundreds upon hundreds of years, humans lived in small settlements where most individuals, if not all, were linked by kinship ties. Many of these villages were occupied for generations and thus their occupants had a strong connection to the place. The villages were politically and economically autonomous, yet they were connected with adjacent villages by means of barter and intermarriage. Within a relatively short period of time, centuries-long occupied small villages were left vacant and replaced by fewer but much larger settlements identified as cities. In contrast to the rural based villages, cities began to house much larger numbers of residents, who not only were unfamiliar with each other but also were mainly concerned with their own well-being. Recent archaeological research carried out in the immediate periphery of Huari provides crucial information that indicates that the growth of Huari paralleled the abandonment of rural villages apparently in the midst of increasing conflict. The rural settlement of Huaqanmarka was occupied for several centuries, yet it was abandoned within a short period of time simultaneously with the desertion of other adjacent settlements