ABSTRACT
Empires are expansive states that incorporate other groups to extract resources. Successful, long-lived empires find a number of ways to integrate subordinate polities, some of which are rituals. These rituals are not necessarily affiliated with a particular religion but may be a set of activities that promote adherence to ideals, legitimize the power of state officials, and reify the existence of the state within the natural order of things. In this paper, we focus on the region of Moquegua in southern Peru, where Wari ritual was influenced by interactions with Tiwanaku, and ultimately abandoned in the wake of political collapse as both polities broke apart at the end of the Middle Horizon. As we will show, if rites performed in monumental settings and associated iconographic themes were used during the Middle Horizon to legitimize elites, these practices and symbols were completely eradicated in the following period. This suggests a rather abrupt break and rejection of some ritual practices that promoted the power of state elites during the Middle Horizon with the collapse of the Wari Empire, at least in Moquegua.
