Conchopata is a Wari Empire site located in the highlands of central Peru, within modern Ayacucho, and about 10 kilometers from the capital city of Huari. At its heyday, the city covered between 20-40 hectares, although standing remains are limited to an area of about 3 hectares. The site was occupied consistently between 240 BC-AD 1000, with the first Wari materials appearing between ~AD 550-700.
Wari architecture at Conchopata including a fortification wall, two patio compounds, several D-shaped temples and two plazas, and more than 200 burials. Conchopata is considered a city of potters, because numerous sets of ceramic manufacturing tools were discovered.
The tombs are of wealthy or middle class status, suggesting taht the town, at least the surviving parts of the twon, contained several palace compounds occupied by a range of classes of people, from servants to petty kings.
Stable isotope analysis suggests that the people subsisted mainly on corn agriculture and camilid (llama and alpaca) herding.
Sources
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This glossary entry is part of the Guide to the Wari Empire and the Dictionary of Archaeology.
Finucane, Brian, Patricia M. Agurto, and William H. Isbell 2006 Human and animal diet at Conchopata, Peru: stable isotope evidence for maize agriculture and animal management practices during the Middle Horizon. Journal of Archaeological Science 33(12):1766-1776.
Isbell, William H. 2004 Mortuary Preferences: A Wari Culture Case Study from Middle Horizon Peru. Latin American Antiquity 15(1):3-32.
