Social rank appears to have mattered as much
in death as it did in life. Attendants placed the
highest ranked women in three private side
chambers in the tomb. The most important,
a woman of about 60, lay surrounded by rare
luxuries, from multiple pairs of ear ornaments
to a bronze ceremonial ax and a silver goblet.
Perhaps most valuable were weaving tools fash-
ioned from gold. Wari women were consummate
weavers, producing tapestry-like cloth with yarn
counts higher than those of the famous Flemish
and Dutch weavers of the 16th century.
Nicknamed the Huarmey Queen, her remains
revealed more details about an elite woman’s
life in Wari culture. Careful examination of her
skeleton revealed that she spent most of her time
sitting, though she used her upper body exten-
sively—the skeletal calling cards of a life spent
weaving. In addition, she was missing some of
her teeth—consistent with the decay that comes
with regularly drinking chicha, a sugary, corn-
based alcoholic beverage that only the elite were
allowed to drink.
Beyond, in a large common area, the lesser
noblewomen were interred along the walls. Be-
side each one, with few exceptions, there was a
container roughly the size and shape of a shoe
box. Made of cut canes, it held weaving tools,
the kind favored by the Wari to create textiles.All of the noblewomen buried at El Castillo were
clearly dedicated to this art. When the tomb was
ready for sealing, laborers poured in more than
30 tons of gravel and capped the chamber with
a layer of heavy adobe bricks. This tomb would
remain undisturbed for centuries, keeping Wari
wealth, knowledge, and tradition intact.
Today, researchers remain uncertain about
why the Wari empire collapsed. One of the
leading theories is that a severe drought struck
their region around a.d. 1000. When the end
came, it was swift. At one Wari site dedicated to
making ceramics, potters seem to have dropped
their tools one day and left, perhaps driven out
by some as yet unidentified invader. The Wari
left a history-changing legacy, though. They
had created something in the Andes that never
completely vanished: the idea of an empire. Four
hundred years later, building on their founda-
tions, the Inca emerged to revive it.SIGNS OF
MOURNING
Before her burial, the
skull of the woman
now known as the
Huarmey Queen
(above) was adorned
by mourners with red
pigment, still visible on
the brow.
*Portions of this article appear in Lost Cities,
Ancient Tombs, edited by A.R. Williams.
Copyright © 2021 by National Geographic
Partners. Reprinted by permission of National
Geographic Partners.72 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022
RROBERT CLARK/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHICOBERT CLARK/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC