Patterns of Violence and Diet Among Children During a Time of Imperial Decline and Climate Change in the Ancient Peruvian Andes

This chapter explores how an ongoing drought (ca. 900–1350 C.E.), which overlaps with the decline of the Wari Empire (ca. 1100 C.E.), altered the frequency and intensity of violence and food consumption practices among children living in the former Wari imperial core in Ayacucho, Peru. The relationship between violent conflict and diet among juveniles is examined as part of a larger investigation into how the after-effects of sociopolitical decline and an ongoing drought may mutually reinforce and exacerbate detrimental effects on childhood health. Childhood cranial trauma data are used to reconstruct levels and kinds of violence, and stable isotope data from carbonates in the dental enamel apatite and dentin collagen are used to reconstruct childhood diet. Results show a significant increase in lethal violence against children relative to the preceding Wari era. The nitrogen isotope data from dentin collagen suggest that childhood diets were similar in terms of protein consumption in the two eras, but carbon isotope data from both enamel apatite and dentin show that post-Wari children and infants (and their breastfeeding mothers) consumed significantly less carbon-enriched foods such as maize (Zea mays)—a socially valued crop in the Andes—than Wari-era children. A case of cranial trepanation on a child is also presented.