The Tomb
The intact chamber uncovered in 2013 lay along
the western slopes of the necropolis. Wari
builders had carved out a subterranean cham-
ber that became an imperial tomb. Almost all of
the deceased buried inside the chamber were
women and girls who had likely died over a
period of months, most probably of natural
causes. Four of them appeared to be of higher
rank than the rest.
The Wari treated these four noblewomen in
death with great respect. Attendants dressed
them in richly woven tunics and shawls, paint-
ed their faces with a sacred red pigment, and
adorned them with precious jewelry, from gold
ear flares to delicate crystal-beaded necklaces.
Their bodies were arranged in the flexed posi-
tion favored by the Wari and then wrapped in
a large cloth to form a funerary bundle.
Rich offerings were placed in small cham-
bers, including textiles valued more highly than
gold; knotted cords known as khipus (quipus),
used for keeping track of imperial goods; and
the body parts of the Andean condor, a bird
closely associated with the aristocracy. (In-
deed, one title of the Wari emperor may well
have been Mallku, an Andean word meaning
“condor.”)out places on the summit for mausoleums of
their own. When they had exhausted the avail-
able space there, they engineered more, building
stepped terraces all the way down the slopes of
El Castillo and filling them with funerary tow-
ers and graves.
So important was El Castillo to the Wari
nobles, Giersz explained, that they “used every
possible local worker.” Dried mortar in many of
the newly excavated walls bears human hand-
prints, some left by children as young as 11 years
old. When the construction ended, likely some-
time between a.d. 900 and 1000, an immense
crimson necropolis loomed over the valley.
Though inhabited by the dead, El Castillo con-
veyed a powerful political message to the living:
The Wari invaders were now the rightful rul-
ers. “If you want to take possession of the land,”
archaeologist Krzysztof Makowski said, “you
have to show that your ancestors are inscribed
on the landscape. That’s part of Andean logic.”IMPRESSIVE
ADORNMENTS
Elite Wari women wore
gold and silver ear
ornaments—some as
big as doorknobs—like
the ones (above) found
in the royal tomb at
El Castillo.
WARI SPOON, CARVED WOOD, ROYAL TOMB,
EL CASTILLO DE HUARMEY, PERU
CRIS BOURONCLE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES70 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022
RROBERT CLARK/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHICOBERT CLARK/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC