The Wari Ruins

Between roughly AD 500 and 1000 the Wari state administered a large part of what is now Peru from this plateau, running a network of planned provincial centres and roads that the Inca later inherited and improved. The capital covered several square kilometres, and what survives is a landscape of long stone-and-mortar walls, some still several metres high, enclosing rectangular compounds, along with underground galleries and stone-lined tombs. Columnar cactus has grown up through most of it. A small museum near the entrance holds ceramics, turquoise inlay and carved stone. Only a fraction has been excavated, and the rest is under the cactus and the scrub.

History

Wari was founded around 400 AD, rose to prominence around 550, and at its height housed around 70,000 people of different cultures, the centre of a new religion that drew their beliefs together. The capital of the Wari Empire, it lies 22 kilometres northeast of Ayacucho and was abandoned around 1000 AD (Wikipedia, Wari (archaeological site)).

The main sights

• The compound walls - long stone-and-mortar enclosures still standing well above head height.
• The underground galleries - stone-lined passages and tomb chambers.
• The site museum - Wari ceramics, stone carving and turquoise work.
• The cactus field - the columnar cactus that has taken over most of the unexcavated city.

When to go

May to September, in the dry season, and in the morning before the plateau heats up. Most visitors combine it with the ceramics village of Quinua further along the same road, which is the sensible way to do it and turns a thin half day into a good one. Allow for the museum being closed at lunchtime.

What to expect

This is an unrestored site with minimal signage, and without a guide or a good deal of prior reading it is walls in a cactus field. There is very little shade at 2,700 metres and the sun is fierce. The museum is small. Nothing here has the visual payoff of an Inca site, and visitors who come expecting one leave flat. Its interest is historical rather than scenic.

Nearby

Quinua, where the roof-top ceramic churches are made, is a short drive further on.

Key facts