The Wari Empire A more secular and militant nation than the Tiwanaku, the Wari governed most of highland and coastal Peru from their upland capitol at Ayacucho, along the spine of the Andes. Cultivating these steep mountain slopes into fertile farmland for corn, peppers, and other crops required high-altitude terracing and irrigation, agricultural techniques perfected by the Wari. Throughout their realm, the Wari also erected immense courtyard complexes lined with tall, barrack-like palaces that are easily distinguished from the Tiwanaku architectural style. Large, D-shaped temples and linear “libation halls,” rather than pyramidal temples, functioned as the sacred center of Wari culture by hosting traditional festivals and ceremonial sacrifices to the gods. About the same time that the Tiwanaku colonists first established their agricultural center in the Moquegua Valley (A.D. 600), the Wari made a bold thrust into the region. Here, they quickly established a political outpost along the Wari frontier bordering Tiwanaku territory. Their remote city, built atop Cerro Baúl, is the only known point of interaction between these two powerful Andean empires. continue >>