The Peruvian site of Pikillacta is an enormous set of ruins belonging to the Wari empire. The site is located in the Lucre Basin of Peru at the east end of the valley of Cuzco, some thirty kilometers from the capital city of Cuzco.
The word Pikillacta means "flea city" in Quechua; its original name is unknown. The site covers an area of nearly 2 square kilometers, including an enormous rectangular enclosure with hundreds of separate rooms, some small and plain, some large enclosures and compounds, some richly decorated. Some of the rooms contained human remains, and based on that, Pikillacta is thought to represent a ritual facility for the practice of ancestor worship.
One of the most interesting aspects of Pikillacta (and there are numerous) is the hydraulic works that connect the water resources of the site to terraces and cultivable fields in the Lucre Basin, including canals, reservoirs, causeways, and aqueducts. This complex set of features allowed intensive agriculture of maize, potatoes and other crops.
The purpose of Pikillacta was pretty clearly not residential--in fact, it appears to have been used only sporadically. Excavator Gordon McEwan believes the primary function of the site was administrative. Pikillacta, says McEwan, was a device used by the Wari Empire to control its subjects by controlling the location and context of the Wari religious ceremonies.
Sources
This glossary entry is part of the Guide to the Wari Empire and the Dictionary of Archaeology.
Gordon F. McEwan. 1998 The function of niched halls in Wari architecture. Latin American Antiquity 9(1):68-86.
Gordon F. McEwan (ed). 2005. Pikillacta: The Wari Empire in Cuzco. University of Iowa Press: Iowa City.
