Conchopata
Conchopata Wari Centre · Ayacucho Conchopata
Middle Horizon (c.600–800 CE) Wari Empire·Wari (Huari)·🇵🇪 Ayacucho, Huamanga Province, Peru
About
About Conchopata
Conchopata, 9 km northeast of Ayacucho city at 2,800 m, is the celebrated Wari satellite city where William Isbell and Anita Cook uncovered the empire's face-neck jar cult. Within orthogonal walled compounds and D-shaped temples around the Wari capital (5 km west), archaeologists found floors carpeted by thousands of smashed oversize conical jars with applied modelled faces (the Wari 'trophy-head' or Wiraqocha effigies) spanning offering pits and subfloor cists – a state-sponsored feasting and libation ritual.
The architecture mirrors Wari's capital with niched halls, patio-groups and walled lanes, while ceramics bridge the earlier Huarpa and Tiwanaku-inspired Wari styles. 800 CE the sector was abandoned during the Wari collapse, leaving smashed-jar carpets intact.
Why it mattersConchopata, 9 km northeast of Ayacucho city at 2,800 m, is the celebrated Wari satellite city where William Isbell and Anita Cook uncovered the empire's face-neck jar cult. Within orthogonal walled compounds and D-shaped temples around the Wari capital (5 km west), archaeologists found floors carpet Type-site defining regional sequence.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Chronology and phasing of construction
- 02Function of elite vs communal architecture
Theories
- 01Regional capital coordinating irrigation and exchange
- 02Ritual-ceremonial amphitheatre aligned to astronomy
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.600–700 CE
- Period
- Middle Horizon (c.600–800 CE) Wari Empire
- Culture
- Wari (Huari)
- Builders
- Wari
- Purpose
- Wari urban residential-ceremonial precinct famous for oversize face-neck jar offerings and D-shaped temples near Wari capital
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.600–700 CE
Initial construction
c.800–900 CE
Major occupation / refurbishment
c.1000–1532
Late horizon / Inca incorporation where applicable
On the ground
Structures & features
13.1090° S · 74.1930° W · 2800 m · 2 mapped features
D-Shaped Temple and Jar-Crush Plaza
templeD-shaped temple 25m long adjoining plaza where 10,000 face-neck jars were ritually smashed
13.1087° S · 74.1928° WWalled Residential Compounds (Sector B)
ancient villageOrthogonal agglutinated household compounds with niched halls and walled lanes
13.1093° S · 74.1931° W