BARCELONA, SPAIN—According to a statement released by the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), remnants of a 1,400-square-foot building, a courtyard, and warehouses have been uncovered at the site of El Trigal III, which is located in southern Peru’s Aja River valley. The construction of the building has been dated to between the seventh and tenth centuries A.D., when the Wari Empire encompassed much of coastal and highland Peru. Pedro V. Castro-Martinez of UAB and Trinidad Escoriza-Mateu of the University of Almería and their colleagues determined from the thickness of the surviving walls and the amount of building materials that the structure had two floors. Traces of plaster on the rubble indicate that walls were colored white and yellow. Evidence of food preparation and storage has been found in the structure’s first-floor layer. The 5,000-square-foot courtyard was surrounded by a wall of large stones. Small rooms in this courtyard were presumably for storage purposes. Although this is the first time that such a complex has been found, a ceramic model of this type was discovered in a burial in south-central Peru. The complex is therefore thought to have served as one of many warehouses where tributes paid to the Wari Empire by local people were stored. To read about Wari production of a corn-based fermented beverage called chicha, go to "Alcohol Through the Ages: Forging Wari Alliances."
