Avaliação: El manejo del agua en los Andes : pasado, presente y futuro – Putting your foot in it: Late Intermediate Period agricultural expansion and water management in Ayacucho and Apurimac, Peru

Agricultural intensification in the Peruvian Andes has commonly been associated with the rise of strong central authority such as the Wari and Inca empires. Here we evaluate the evidence for expansion of Late Intermediate Period irrigated agricultural terracing and water management in the territories of the Chanca, Aymaraes, Soras and Rucanas (Ayacucho and Apurimac).
Archaeological evidence from the Chicha-Soras and other nearby valleys confirms that the initial phase of irrigated agricultural terrace construction occurs during the Middle Horizon as the Wari empire exercises state-level control. During the early Late Intermediate Period, multiple small ethnic groups appear to exert control over a number of river catchments. The social structure of these groups remains relatively hierarchical but by the later Late Intermediate Period, it lacks any ruling elite. Around the 13th to 14th century AD the local polities embark on a major terrace-remodelling programme. Evidence for inter-group aggression, large-scale demographic change and warfare is widespread. We review the archaeological evidence for major terrace remodelling, water management infrastructure and settlement, and evaluate the findings in the context of new environmental archaeological and palaeoecological evidence for cultivation practices and the development of long distance trading systems, which remain part of the functioning of the ayllus operating across the region. We also assess these socio-economic developments in the context of climate change in the Peruvian Andes, which suggests a period of greater aridity during the early Late Intermediate Period, and enhanced climate variability during the later Late Intermediate Period (AD 1300 onwards). We conclude by outlining a programme of future interdisciplinary research that proposes an interpretative model and methodological toolkit for examining the relationships between terrace agriculture, water management practices and climate change in Ayacucho

• Agricultural Intensification
• Water Management
• Late Intermediate Period
• Palaeoecology
• Central Andes