At the time of the Spanish invasion, central Andean society was organized around ayllus. These extensive social units, bound together by kinship, reciprocity, land claims, honoured ancestors and other criteria, are an example of the kin-based sodalities that have long been seen in political science as impediments to state development. Class should replace kin when large and complex polities like the Inca Empire form, and groups like the ayllu should fade away. This article seeks to re-evaluate the role played by kin-based sodalities in early state formation and expansion through a case study of the Wari State (ce 600–1000). We argue that the decades-long development of ayllus was a reaction to incipient urbanization, surging interregional interaction and the other challenges associated with Wari's rise. Ayllu development created a more heterarchical political structure that would endure some 200 years into the polity's existence. Elite efforts to consolidate power in the ninth century ce ultimately led to the polity's decline and highlight the need to develop more dynamic models of urbanization and state formation in the Andes and elsewhere.

在西班牙入侵时，安第斯中部社会围绕着ayllus组织起来。这些广泛的社会单位，通过亲属关系、互惠关系、土地所有权、尊贵的祖先和其他标准联系在一起，是政治学中长期以来被视为国家发展障碍的亲属社会的一个例子。当像印加帝国这样庞大而复杂的政体形成时，阶级应该取代亲属，而像ayllu这样的群体应该逐渐消失。本文试图通过对瓦里邦（600-1000 年）的案例研究，重新评估以亲属为基础的联谊会在早期国家形成和扩张中所扮演的角色。我们认为ayllus数十年的发展是对初期城市化、区域间互动激增以及与瓦里崛起相关的其他挑战的反应。Ayllu的发展创造了一个更加异质化的政治结构，该结构将持续约 200 年进入政体存在。精英阶层在公元 9 世纪巩固权力的努力最终导致了政体的衰落，并凸显了在安第斯山脉和其他地方开发更具活力的城市化和国家形成模式的必要性。