Elite Wari colonists lived on top of high, dry Cerro Baúl in southern Peru. By Lizzie WadeWhen Wari colonists arrived in the Moquegua Valley of southern Peru some 1400 years ago, people already living there were likely nervous.
The Wari state, with its capital city of Huari high in the Andes near what is now Ayacucho, Peru, had been expanding its reach.
The Wari takeover was violent in places; the invaders sacrificed local people and displayed their heads as trophies.But this time the Wari colonists did something unexpected.
Rather than trying to seize the fertile valley floor, where people already lived, the newcomers occupied high, dry land that no one else had figured out how to use.