Wari is sometimes described as the first empire of the Andes, conquering and controlling a broad region during the Middle Horizon (600–1000 CE). This article synthesizes archaeological research to offer a new perspective on Wari’s rise, expansion, and collapse. Wari emerged in a rapidly urbanizing environment as a set of ideas about the world and how it should work that blended foreign ideas with local traditions. Heartland cities were organized around elite kin groups who competed for followers by hosting small-scale gatherings. Wari-related ideas, objects, and people circulated far more widely, creating a dynamic cultural horizon of considerable heterogeneity. Efforts to centralize decision making in the ninth century CE may have led to the polity’s decline. Although this reconstruction of Wari politics differs from previous models, it is in keeping with contemporary interpretations of collective and low-power early expansive polities in other parts of the world.

瓦里有时被描述为安第斯山脉的第一个帝国，在中地平线（公元 600-1000 年）期间征服并控制了广阔的地区。本文综合了考古学研究，为瓦里的兴起、扩张和崩溃提供了新的视角。 Wari 在快速城市化的环境中出现，作为一套关于世界及其运作方式的思想，将外国思想与当地传统融为一体。中心地带的城市是围绕精英亲属群体组织起来的，他们通过举办小规模的聚会来争夺追随者。与瓦里相关的思想、物品和人物传播得更广泛，创造了一个具有相当多异质性的动态文化视野。公元九世纪集中决策的努力可能导致了政体的衰落。尽管瓦里政治的这种重建与以前的模式不同，但它符合当代对世界其他地区集体和低权力早期扩张性政治的解释。