Dorothy Menzel y el estudio del estado Wari

Abstract

Dorothy Menzel has been a researcher who has had profound impact on the study of the Wari state. Menzel’s conviction that art is not only a means to transmit ideas and values of a culture, but also can be deciphered to explain ancient cultural formations, enabled her to gain a broad understanding of the Wari state. Menzel paid special attention to ceramic associations, as well as to changes of pottery designs in order to trace a sequence of chronological significance. From the stylistic sequence she attempted to reconstruct the complex development process of Wari. Menzel divided the Middle Horizon Wari ceramics into four epochs (MH1, MH2, MH3, and MH4). On the basis of secure associations, Menzel also subdivided the first two epochs into MH1A and MH1B and MH2A and MH2B, anticipating at the same time making similar subdivisions for epochs three and four when more associations become available. Once the stylistic sequence was established, Menzel was well positioned to discuss the development of the Wari state and its expansion beyond its Ayacucho Valley heartland. Finally, this approach allowed her to make some suggestions with regard to the decline of Wari that culminated in the eventual abandonment of its capital city. This was certainly a unique and ambitious endeavor since no similar study existed. More importantly, perhaps, is that this stylistic sequence established more than five decades ago continues being used by researchers involved in Wari studies, a testament to the enormous importance of Menzel’s work.