This research investigates social and community reorganization and development during post-collapse periods. Organizational strife, militarism, and power vacuums often characterize once occupied regions after the fall of imperial occupation and influence. To this end, I take an explicitly community or village-based approach to the study of this redevelopment. This research saw the excavation of the fortified Cajamarca community of Yanaorco located in the northern highlands of Peru.

The highland Cajamarca community of Yanaorco was established not long after the collapse of the occupying Wari Empire and was occupied continuously through the mid 15th century. A broad community and household level approach to the archaeological record is taken in the study of community organizational change during this period in terms of the built environment subsistence and craft economies and leadership strategy. In the lack of strong indicators of social hierarchy, social and economic differentiation can be seen in variability in household foodways and the differential consumption patterns of decorated ceramics and high value items like metal objects between elite household areas and commoner areas.

The current work also seeks to address militarism and inter-community competition and conflict during these post-collapse periods and in particular, the early part of the Late Intermediate Period (AD1000 - AD1476). The strategically located community of Yanaorco, overlooking the Gavilán Pass, occupied an important location on the social and political landscape in Cajamarca. Its inhabitants would have played a key role within the context of dynamic exchange and social reorganization in the Cajamarca region during this contentious period. Yanaorco is one of many fortified communities that developed at this time in Cajamarca.

Finally, evidence from the inter-community exchange of decorated ceramics and from foodways within the community itself are brought to bear on questions of Cajamarca identity and ethnogenesis during the LIP. In investigating the range of day to day activities and interactions that occurred within this village, this work seeks to reconstruct a picture of daily life within the community. This community-level approach is critical to gaining an understanding of village organization within a broader regional context.