Rethinking the Inka: Community, Landscape, and Empire in the Southern Andes 9781477323861

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Rethinking  the Inka

Rethinking  the Inka

Community, Landscape, and Empire in the Southern Andes Edited by Frances M. Hayashida, Andrés Troncoso, and Diego Salazar

University of Texas Press    Austin

Copyright © 2022 by the University of Texas Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America First edition, 2022 Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to: Permissions University of Texas Press P.O. Box 7819 Austin, TX 78713-7819 utpress.utexas.edu/rp-form The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997) (Permanence of Paper). Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Hayashida, Frances M., editor. | Troncoso, Andrés, editor. | Salazar, Diego, editor. Title: Rethinking the Inka: Community, Landscape, and Empire in the Southern Andes / edited by Frances M. Hayashida, Andrés Troncoso, and Diego Salazar. Description: First edition. | Austin : University of Texas Press, 2022. | Rethinking the Inka began as papers circulated and discussed by the authors at a three-day workshop held at Villa Virginia in Pirque, Chile, in 2016”–Acknowledgments. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2021029506 ISBN 978-1-4773-2385-4 (cloth) ISBN 978-1-4773-2386-1 (PDF) ISBN 978-1-4773-2387-8 (ePub) Subjects: LCSH: Incas–Chile–Congresses. | Incas–Argentina– Congresses. | Incas–Bolivia–Congresses. | Incas–Peru– Congresses. | Incas–Antiquities–Congresses. Classification: LCC F3429 .R427 2022 | DDC 985/.019–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021029506 doi:10.7560/323854

Contents

List of Illustrations  List of Tables 

vii

xi

A Note on Orthography  Acknowledgments 

xiii

xv

Chapter 1. Rethinking the Inka: The View from the South  1

Frances M. Hayashida, Andrés Troncoso, and Diego Sal az ar Chapter 2. Sacred Geography, Wak’as, and Inka Colonialism in the

Southern Andes  Félix A. Acuto

13

Chapter 3. Metals for the Inka:

Mining, Power, and Religion in Qullasuyu 

35

Pablo Cruz Chapter 4. Copper Rich, Water Poor: Atacama during Inka Rule  57

Diego Sal az ar, José Berenguer R., Victoria Castro, Frances M. Hayashida, César Parcero-Oubiña, and Andrés Troncoso Chapter 5. Landscape, Social Memory, and Materiality in the Calchaquí Valley

during Inka Domination in Northwest Argentina 

83

Verónica I. Williams Chapter 6. Agency and Sociopolitical Dynamics of the Qullasuyu

Inka Frontiers  107 Sonia Alconini

Chapter 7. Between Subordination and Negotiation for Local Autonomy:

Regional Perspectives in the Study of Societies in Los Cintis, Southern Bolivia, under Inka Domination  123 Cl audia Rivera Casanovas Chapter 8. The Inka Construction of Space in the South:

Sacred Landscapes, Celebrations, and Architectural Orientation at El Shincal de Quimivil (Catamarca, Argentina)  145 Marco A. Giovannet ti

Chapter 9. Rituals and Interactional Dynamics:

Segmented Societies and Tawantinsuyu in Southern Qullasuyu  165 Daniel Pavlovic, Rodrigo Sánche z, Daniel Pascual, and Andrea Martíne z Chapter 10. Relational Communities, Leaders, and Social Reproduction:

Discussing the Engagement between Tawantinsuyu and Local Communities in the Southern Part of Qullasuyu  185 Andrés Troncoso Chapter 11. Visual Strategies Used in Relations between Tawantinsuyu and the

Societies of Qullasuyu: Iconographic Negotiations, Power, and Memory 

José Luis Martíne z C. Chapter 12. The Role of Chullpas in the Inka Conquest of the Southern

Altiplano: A Symmetrical Approach 

221

Axel E. Nielsen Chapter 13. Perspectives on Understanding Qullasuyu  241

Ian Farrington Contributors  Index 

vi

265

Contents

261

203

Illustrations

Figures

Figure 0.1. Participants in the “Repensando el Tawantinsuyu desde el Qullasuyu” workshop in Pirque, Chile, May 18–20, 2016  xvi Figure 1.1. The four divisions (suyus) of Tawantinsuyu and the location of Cuzco, the Inka capital  2 Figure 2.1. The Potosí and Chuquisaca regions, Bolivia  16 Figure 2.2. North Calchaquí Valley, Argentina  Figure 2.3. Cortaderas Bajo site  Figure 2.4. Guitián site 

17

18

20

Figure 2.5. Nevados de Cachi area  Figure 2.6. El Apunao site 

21

22

Figure 2.7. Uña Tambo site 

23

Figure 2.8. The Molinos and Angastaco basins 

24

Figure 2.9. Main Inka sites in central Catamarca, Argentina  26 Figure 2.10. La Ciudacita site 

27

Figure 3.1. Inka mines and metallurgical sites 

38

Figure 3.2. Prehispanic mines identified in sector 1 of Cerro San Felipe, Oruro, Bolivia  41 Figure 3.3. Plan view of the Inka mining camp located at the top of Cerro Cuzco  42 Figure 3.4. Plan view of sector 1 of the pre-Inka site Pulac 050 (Escara, Uyuni) and photograph of furnace H1  43 Figure 3.5. Wayras and other metallurgical features  44 Figure 3.6. Photographs of functioning experimental wind-powered furnaces  45 Figure 3.7. Tambo de Sevaruyo, Oruro, Bolivia  Figure 3.8. The Inka at Potosí 

46

48

vii

Figure 3.9. Summit of Cerro Porco, Potosí, Bolivia  51 Figure 4.1. Map of the Southern Andes showing the location of the Atacama region  58 Figure 4.2. Map of the Atacama region showing known Inka remains and sites  61 Figure 4.3. Aerial view of Turi showing the Inka plaza, adobe kallanka, and adobe possible domestic compound  65 Figure 4.4. Plazas and RPC at Inka sites 

66

Figure 4.5. Inka mines from El Abra, on the Upper Loa River  67 Figure 4.6. Inka fields from the site of Paniri 

68

Figure 4.7. Rumimuqus from the site of Paniri 

69

Figure 4.8. Plan view of the Inkawasi-Abra mining campsite with its central plaza  71 Figure 4.9. Possible qaqas 

74

Figure 5.1. Tawantinsuyu and the location of the middle Calchaquí Valley, Northwest Argentina 

85

Figure 5.2. Location of Inka sites in the middle Calchaquí Valley, Salta, Northwest Argentina  86 Figure 5.3. Location of Late Intermediate Period sites in the middle Calchaquí Valley and views of pukaras  87 Figure 5.4. Agricultural terrace complexes in the study area  88 Figure 5.5. Map showing the distribution of Inka sites and roads in the middle Calchaquí Valley  92 Figure 5.6. Agricultural sites in the middle Calchaquí Valley  93 Figure 5.7. Paths and communication routes between the valleys and puna  94 Figure 5.8. Blocks with petroglyphs, quchas, and snakelike designs in the middle Calchaquí Valley  95 Figure 5.9. Engraved stones and remains from metal production  96 Figure 5.10. Rock art in the study area 

98

Figure 6.1. Map showing the two Inka frontier segments discussed in the chapter  109 Figure 6.2. Drawing from Guaman Poma de Ayala (2006 [1613]:304–305) depicting the Kallawaya as trusted royal litter bearers  111

viii

Illustrations

Figure 6.3. Inka Period settlement pattern in the Oroncota Valley and fine architectural style of the Oroncota building complex  112 Figure 6.4. Example of the terracing system in the Kallawaya region and example of the storage phullu facilities  114 Figure 6.5. Inka Period settlement distribution in the Kallawaya region  115 Figure 6.6. Local Yampara-style pottery and imported Huruquilla ceramic excavated in Yoroma (Oroncota Valley)  116 Figure 6.7. Local Charazani slate ceramic style, Kallawaya region  117 Figure 6.8. Examples of ceramics in the Taraco Inka Polychrome style recovered in Kaata Pata, Kallawaya region  118 Figure 7.1. Los Cintis study area in the southern Bolivia valleys  127 Figure 7.2. Late Regional Development Period settlement pattern, Cinti Valley  128 Figure 7.3. Agricultural terraces in the Cinti Valley  129 Figure 7.4. Late Period settlement pattern, Cinti Valley  130 Figure 7.5. Huruquilla and Late Huruquilla pottery styles  131 Figure 7.6. Late Regional Development Period settlement pattern, San Lucas region  133 Figure 7.7. Late Period settlement pattern, San Lucas region  134 Figure 7.8. Regional center of Sacapampa  Figure 7.9. Late Quillaca ceramics 

135

137

Figure 7.10. Map of Pututaca (PT-1) 

138

Figure 8.1. Location of the study area in the Inka Empire and map of El Shincal  146 Figure 8.2. Plaza and usnu positions with reference to the four surrounding hills  150 Figure 8.3. Western Terraced Hill 

151

Figure 8.4. Special upright stones or monoliths  152 Figure 8.5. Plan of Complex 19 

153

Figure 8.6. Cobble mound and rock-lined holes for liquid libation offerings  154

Figure 8.7. Usnu position in relation to the equinox sunrise  155

Figure 10.7. Standing stones and a Diaguita-Inka vessel at Loma Los Brujos  194

Figure 8.8. Solar alignments on the Western Terraced Hill  156

Figure 11.1. Toasts between the Inka and the lord of the Qulla  204

Figure 8.9. Fragments of Inka vessels from the Discard Zone  157

Figure 11.2. Qiru styles 

Figure 8.10. Examples of large stones with mortars at El Shincal  158

Figure 11.4. Qirus from chullpas 

Figure 9.1. Map of the upper Aconcagua River basin showing elements mentioned in the text  166 Figure 9.2. Panoramic photo from the El Tártaro site of the middle Putaendo Valley  169 Figure 9.3. Topographic plan of the El Tártaro site  170 Figure 9.4. Excavations and wall at the El Tártaro site  173 Figure 9.5. Small ceramic qiru cup reconstructed from pieces recovered at El Tártaro  173 Figure 9.6. Cerro Mercachas (flat-topped mountain) as seen from the Aconcagua Valley  174 Figure 9.7. Georeferenced plan of the Mercachas site and Wall 3 detail  175 Figure 9.8. Series of enclosures at the Mercachas site  176 Figure 9.9. Mount Aconcagua as seen from sector 1 of the Cerro La Cruz site  177 Figure 9.10. Sector 3 of the Cerro La Cruz site, showing the interior space or plaza and sectors 1 and 2  177

206

Figure 11.3. Inka qiru styles 

207 208

Figure 11.5. Decorated chullpa at Willa Kollu site 4 (Lauca River, Pacajes), with qirus embedded in the lintel  209 Figure 11.6. Qiru MC-02350 

210

Figure 11.7. Tampu T’uqu motifs 

211

Figure 11.8. Qiru with incised motifs of heads and arms  212 Figure 11.9. Chuku motifs 

213

Figure 11.10. Chullpas with Inka textile designs  214 Figure 11.11. Chullpa decorated with what may be an Aymara textile design  215 Figure 12.1. Location of the main chullpa sites mentioned in the text  222 Figure 12.2. Examples of chullpa towers 

224

Figure 12.3. Examples of chullpa chambers 

225

Figure 12.4. Late Intermediate Period chambers in a cave at Cueva del Diablo   229 Figure 12.5. Late Intermediate Period chambers and rock art at Oqañitaiwaj  230 Figure 12.6. Chullpas flanking the plaza of Bajo Laqaya  231

Figure 10.1. Map of the study area indicating the main Inka administrative-ceremonial facilities in the Choapa and Limarí River basins  186

Figure 12.7. Intrusive towers built on the ruins of the early Late Intermediate Period village of Itapilla Kancha  232

Figure 10.2. Diaguita petroglyphs with nonfigurative, anthropomorphic, and camelid motifs  188

Figure 12.8. Examples of low-opening towers in clusters near Inka Period villages  233

Figure 10.3. Diaguita petroglyphs depicting heads  189

Figure 12.9. Plan of Juchijsa 

Figure 10.4. Anthropomorphic-zoomorphic Diaguita vessels  190

234

Figure 12.10. Plan of Llacta Kucho showing the three clusters of chullpas and associated boulders and cists  235

Figure 10.5. Inka-Diaguita petroglyphs with nonfigurative, camelid, and anthropomorphic motifs, including the Santamariano Human-Shield motif and heads  191 Figure 10.6. Inka administrative-ceremonial facilities  193

Illustrations

ix

Plates

Plates follow page 000. Plate 1. Cortaderas Bajo site Plate 2. El Apunao site Plate 3. Plan view of sector 1 of the pre-Inka site Pulac 050 (Escara, Uyuni) and photograph of furnace H1 Plate 4. Photographs of functioning experimental wind-powered furnaces Plate 5. The Inka at Potosí Plate 6. Possible qaqas Plate 7. Engraved stones and remains from metal production Plate 8. Rock art in the study area Plate 9. Local Charazani slate ceramic style, Kallawaya region. Plate 10. Examples of ceramics in the Taraco Inka Polychrome style recovered in Kaata Pata, Kallawaya region Plate 11. Late Quillaca ceramics Plate 12. Fragments of Inka vessels from the Discard Zone Plate 13. Small ceramic qiru cup reconstructed from pieces recovered at El Tártaro Plate 14. Anthropomorphic-zoomorphic Diaguita vessels Plate 15. Standing stones and a Diaguita-Inka vessel at Loma Los Brujos Plate 16. Toasts between the Inka and the lord of the Qulla Plate 17. Chuku motifs Plate 18. Chullpas with Inka textile designs Plate 19. Late Intermediate Period chambers and rock art at Oqañitaiwaj Plate 20. Intrusive towers built on the ruins of the early Late Intermediate Period village of Itapilla Kancha

x

Illustrations

Tables

3.1. Inka mines identified in the study area 

39

4.1. Radiocarbon dates from Inka Period Atacama  62 5.1. Radiocarbon dates from Late Intermediate and Inka Period residential and agricultural sites from the middle Calchaquí Valley mentioned in the text  89 9.1. Relative percentages of ceramic types found at Inka architectural complexes in the Aconcagua Valley  171 9.2. Absolute dates obtained for Inka architectural complexes in the Aconcagua Valley  172 12.1. Absolute dates for samples directly associated with chullpas in northern Lípez  225 12.2. Chullpa site types and their chronology 

228

xi

A Note on Orthography

This volume follows the standard orthography for Quechua and Aymara used in Peru since 1985.1 Common alternative spellings are given in parentheses at the first appearance of a word. Exceptions are made for most place-names and personal names, unless they are commonly written with the standard orthography. References to specific texts use the spelling of the source. We realize that the decision to follow the standard orthography results in spellings that are not common in the Inka and Andean archaeology literature, such as qiru for the tall drinking vessel spelled kero, qero, q’ero, or quero in other sources. Many scholars follow the Spanish orthography and varied spellings of colonial writers for Andean languages. Others, moving away from the orthography of the colonizers, use some variant(s) of Quechua orthography or mix Quechua and Spanish conventions. In nearly all cases, the basis for the spellings adopted is not made explicit. Few earlier dictionaries or other references covering terms relevant to Inka times include the standard orthography. This has changed with recent publications such as the new version of Arte y vocabulario en la lengua general del Perú (Anonymous 2014 [1586]), edited by Rodolfo CerrónPalomino, which was our primary source. Other sources consulted are listed in the references. These resources make it possible to follow a standard orthography for Quechua and Aymara, just as is done for English and Spanish. We are grateful to Joshua Shapero and Angélica Serna Jeri for their input, advice, and generous loan of dictionaries while libraries were closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We alone are responsible for all spelling decisions and any errors.

xiii

Note 1. The orthography, ratified by Resolución Ministerial 1218–85-ED, is based on recommendations from the Primer Taller de Escritura Quechua y Aimara held at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in 1983 (https://bdpi.cultura .gob.pe/lenguas/quechua and https://bdpi.cultura.gob.pe /pueblos/aimara). Note, however, that there have been debates over the standards. For an introduction to these debates, see Heggarty (2006)

References Consulted Academia Mayor de la Lengua Quechua de Qosqo 2005 Diccionario quechua-español-quechua. Municipalidad de Qosqo, Cusco. Anonymous 2014 [1586]  Arte y vocabulario en la lengua general del Perú. Edited by Rodolfo Cerrón-Palomino with the collaboration of Raúl Bendezú Araujo and Jorge E. Acurio Palma. Instituto Riva-Agüero, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima. Carranza Romero, Francisco 2003 Diccionario quechua ancashino–castellano. Iberoamericana, Madrid. Cerrón-Palomino, Rodolfo 2008 Quechua sureño: Diccionario unificado quechuacastellano castellano-quechua. Biblioteca Nacional del Perú, Lima. Cusihuaman G., Antonio 1976 Diccionario quechua: Cuzco-Collao. Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, Lima. Heggarty, Paul 2006 Disputed Issues in Quechua, https://www.quechua.org .uk/Eng/Main/i_ISSUES.HTM. Hornberger, Esteban, and Nancy H. Hornberger 2008 Diccionario trilingüe quechua de Cusco: Qhiswa, English, castellano. 3rd ed. Centro Bartolomé de las Casas, Cusco. Layme Pairumani, Félix 2004 Diccionario bilingüe aymara-castellano castellanoaymara. 3rd ed. Consejo Educativo Aymara, La Paz. Santo Tomás, Domingo de 2006 [1560]  Léxico quechua de Fray Domingo de Santo Thomas 1560. Edited by Jan Szemiński. Convento de Santo Domingo—Qorikancha, Cusco. Soto Ruiz, Clodoaldo 1976 Diccionario quechua Ayacucho-Chanca. Ministerio de Educación, Lima.

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A Note on Orthography

Acknowledgments

Rethinking the Inka began as papers circulated and discussed by the authors at a three-day workshop held at Villa Virginia in Pirque, Chile, in 2016 (figure 0.1), made possible through grants from the Pre-Columbian Studies program of Dumbarton Oaks, the Chilean Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica (CONICYT USA 2013-0012), and the Dirección de Investigación, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales of the Universidad de Chile (FPCI 10-0416). We thank all three sponsors and are especially grateful to Colin McEwan, then the director of the Pre-Columbian Studies program of Dumbarton Oaks, for his enthusiastic support and his insights into all things Inka. The ideas presented in the papers further benefited from the comments and questions of workshop contributors Tristan Platt, Ana María Lorandi, and Francisco Garrido and attendees Noa Corcoran-Tadd, Ester Echenique, Cristián González, Natalia La Mura, Shelby Magee, Beau Murphy, and Mariela Pino. Pablo Cruz was unable to attend but accepted our invitation to contribute a chapter on his influential work on Inka mining and metallurgy. We also thank Kelly McKenna, then of Dumbarton Oaks, for helping to ensure that the workshop ran smoothly; the administrators and staff of Villa Virginia, for their warm hospitality and delicious meals; and, most of all, the authors, for their contributions, their collegial company, and the chance to exchange and debate ideas and rethink the Inka. Since the workshop, the field of Andean studies has experienced the tremendous loss of both Colin and Ana María. We are grateful for their many contributions and for our time together in Pirque.

xv

Figure 0.1. Participants in the “Repensando el Tawantinsuyu desde el Qullasuyu” workshop in Pirque, Chile, May 18–20,

2016. Standing, left to right: Andrés Troncoso, César Parcero-Oubiña, Marco A. Giovannetti, Diego Salazar, Félix A. Acuto, Ian Farrington, Mariela Pino, Cristián González, Noa Corcoran-Tadd, Axel E. Nielsen, Colin McEwan, Francisco Garrido, José Luis Martínez C. Seated, left to right: Natalia La Mura, Daniel Pavlovic, Ana María Lorandi, Verónica I. Williams, Victoria Castro, Tristan Platt, Sonia Alconini, Claudia Rivera Casanovas, Shelby Magee, Beau Murphy, Frances M. Hayashida.

Rethinking  the Inka

Chapter 1

Rethinking the Inka The View from the South Frances M. Hayashida, Andrés Troncoso, and Diego Salazar

Qullasuyu

Extending from the capital of Cuzco toward the south, Qullasuyu was the largest of the four sectors of Tawantinsuyu, the Inka Empire of the Andes. It encompassed a diverse physical and social landscape that included parts of what is now southern Peru, Bolivia (and possibly Brazil just across the eastern border of Bolivia), northwestern Argentina, and Chile as far south as the Cachapoal Valley, south of Santiago (figure 1.1; Pärssinen 2015; Uribe and Sánchez 2016). Multiple lines of evidence— linguistic, genetic, and archaeological—indicate that Inka origins can be traced at least in part to Qullasuyu, specifically the southern shores of Lake Titicaca (Cerrón-Palomino 2015; Pärssinen 2015; Shimada 2015; Shinoda 2015; but see Covey 2017 for a differing opinion). From there, the ancestors of the Inka migrated to the Cuzco region, where they consolidated their power and commenced their campaigns of expansion. Direct dating of Inka contexts has demonstrated that imperial expansion into Qullasuyu began as early as the latter half of the fourteenth century, earlier than suggested by historical accounts of military campaigns and the reigns of Inka kings (Cornejo 2014; Marsh et al. 2017). In addition to being the largest sector of Tawantinsuyu, Qullasuyu has been the most heavily studied, with an immense body of research produced primarily by South American scholars writing in Spanish. For example, in the five-year period between August 2013 and August 2018, 62 percent (113 of 183) of articles on the Inka indexed in the Web of Science focused on Qullasuyu. Despite this dominance, Qullasuyu scholarship is less widely known and cited by scholars based in North America, most of whom work within modern Peru. This may be partly a result of focusing on research perceived to be most directly related based on proximity but is also arguably grounded 1

Figure 1.1. The four divisions (suyus) of Tawantinsuyu and the location of Cuzco, the Inka capital.

in the geopolitics of knowledge production, where publications in English, the dominant academic language and native language of most North American researchers, receive greater attention (Hamel 2007; Lillis and Curry 2013; Paasi 2015). Another example of this imbalance is the striking underrepresentation of South American authors in compilations published in English on the Inka Empire and on Andean archaeology in general, despite the abundance of relevant research by these scholars. 2

F. M. Hayashida, A. Troncoso, and D. Salazar

This observation should be taken not as a critique of these volumes or their editors but rather as a commentary on prevailing structures of scientific knowledge production, which we should question and challenge for a variety of reasons, including the potential to shift and deepen our understanding of the Andean past. The neglect of work on Qullasuyu is unfortunate because Tawantinsuyu was vast, complex, and

diverse and therefore impossible to fully understand based only on any one region. It is also unfortunate because scholarship on the southern Inka Empire is empirically rich (typically involving long-term, intensive research carried out on different geographic scales, joining, where possible, archaeological and ethnohistoric evidence) as well as innovative, often drawing on theoretical approaches less well represented in scholarship on other parts of the empire. We highlight these contributions and approaches in the next section before closing with an overview of the volume. Objectives and Themes

The following chapters introduce readers to the richness and diversity of current archaeological research on Qullasuyu. Significantly, the authors raise issues applicable to the empire as a whole that help us to rethink the Inka and other empires in terms of the relations between the state and indigenous leaders; how imperial dynamics are expressed in and interpreted from the material record; the participation of things as nonhuman beings in the creation of Inka sovereignty and in local social reproduction before and during Inka rule; and the goals of expansion (with some authors emphasizing Inka control of resources, while others question the primacy of economic motivations). Though perspectives differ, all the authors touch on two or more of these themes, which can be linked to larger discussions of the Inka, the Andes, and imperialism and colonialism. Many of the chapters share an emphasis on long-term research carried out at different geographic scales and focus on the periods both before and during Inka rule to understand the context and consequences of imperial incorporation. Both Alconini and Rivera Casanovas follow the wellestablished practice in the Andes and elsewhere of using systematic settlement-pattern surveys to reveal shifts in organization and political economy (Bauer and Covey 2002; Parsons et al. 2000; Stanish 2001). Through regional comparisons, excavation at Inka sites, and examination of ethnohistoric sources, their work also provides new information on the role and agency of local subject elites who were incorporated into the state administrative hierarchy to different degrees. Some formed close alliances with the Inka in relations that were

mutually beneficial, thus calling into question purely top-down models that presume total state control and local dependence. Martínez, Cruz, Giovannetti, Williams, Salazar et al., Troncoso, Pavlovic et al., and Nielsen discuss the ability of local leaders to negotiate with the state to determine the terms of their affiliation or subjugation and how leadership and local social reproduction persisted or changed following Inka incorporation (see also Platt et al. 2006; Sánchez Canedo 2014). Revealing the agency and roles played by local leaders is central to understanding Inka occupation in provincial spaces (Alconini and Malpass 2010). Local leaders served as a bridge between the state and their communities, facilitating or impeding certain types of sociopolitical dynamics. This is particularly true in zones such as the far southern regions of Qullasuyu, where the distance from Cuzco created greater reliance on (and opportunities for) local leaders. Although local leaders were a crucial part of state machinery, we know very little about how this relationship worked on the ground, a problem that can be addressed archaeologically. The production, distribution, and consumption of Inka material culture and iconography is a key practice related to Inka power, as the authors of this volume consider but interpret differently. Scholars of the Inka and other empires have grappled with the interplay of colonial, subject, and “hybrid” material culture in the provinces and its interpretation (Bray 2018; Costin 2016; Hayashida 1999; Julien 1993; Khatchadourian 2016; Liebmann 2015; Mattingly 2011; Menzel 1959; Silliman 2010; Tiballi 2010; Van Oyen and Pitts 2017; Webster 2001; Woolf 1995), though research based on well-dated and provenienced contexts is surprisingly rare in the case of the Inka. While the distribution and adoption of Inka styles can be interpreted as evidence for “Inkanization,” the collective observations of this volume require us to question the equation of style with identity and the assumption of a simple correspondence between imperial incorporation and the spread of Inka styles. To the contrary, we know that material culture styles are manipulated as part of political strategies and therefore are not a direct reflection of social life but are instead sociopolitical material resources (Hodder 1982; Morris 1995). Thus, as several authors in this volume note, Inka material forms and iconography are actively deployed by local leaders to confirm local political Rethinking the Inka

3

power (see the chapters by Martínez C., Pavlovic et al., and Troncoso). This scrutiny of the complex relations between humans and things and their varied histories in the imperial provinces corresponds to the growing discussion in archaeology on the participation of things (such as objects, organisms, substances, and places) in political life that has emerged from the ontological and material turns in archaeological and anthropological theory (Bauer and Kosiba 2016; Johansen and Bauer 2018; Khatchadourian 2016; Kosiba et al. 2020; Smith 2015; Swenson and Jennings 2018). An additional consideration for the Andes past and present is that—through their relations with people—things have the potential to be animate “superhuman individuals” (Salomon 2018:52) with “distinct capacities, moods, and appetites who interact with each other and with human beings” (Allen 2015:24). Collectively described by Spanish colonial writers as wak’as, they co-resided with people, could be ancestral, and, like human societies, were potentially organized into nested hierarchies of authority, with highly visible landscape wak’as such as mountains occupying high positions (Allen 2015; Castro and Aldunate 2003). Some were oracular and partitive, with doubles, substitutes, or kin that allowed them to travel and reside or be represented in multiple places (Astuhuamán 2008; Curatola 2008; Gose 1996; Topic 2008). Wak’as consumed and were fed both human food (such as maize beer) and nonhuman food (such as shells and minerals) and were embodied in a variety of physical forms, such as outcrops, unusual stones (possible lithified persons), mines, mountains, springs, oddly shaped cultigens, mummies, houses, and other structures (Allen 2015; Bray 2012; Castro and Aldunate 2003; Duviols and Albornoz 1967; Mannheim and Salas Carreño 2015). At the same time, nonhuman beings, together with their human counterparts, have histories that varied across the immense and culturally diverse area that came under Inka control. Widespread ideas and practices may themselves be the consequence of Inka or Spanish colonialism, requiring caution in our assumptions and close attention in each context to human-nonhuman relations before, during, and after Inka rule to fully understand the transformations that occurred (Gose 2016; Kosiba 2015a, 2015b; Swenson 2015; Troncoso, Nielsen, Pavlovic et al., and Williams, this volume).

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F. M. Hayashida, A. Troncoso, and D. Salazar

From historical accounts, we learn that the Inka engaged directly with the significant wak’as that they encountered as they expanded their domain and treated them as political players and potential allies (Astuhuamán 2008; Curatola 2008; Gose 1996). Major provincial oracles or their substitutes traveled annually to Cuzco to offer their prophecies for the coming year (Curatola 2008; Gose 1996). The Inka made offerings to wak’as in their provincial homes, which were recorded by special accountants in Cuzco (Molina 2011 [1575]:78). The Inka also took control of major sources of food (Spondylus [spiny oyster], minerals) for wak’as and appropriated or created agricultural fields whose products were dedicated to their support (Hayashida 2016; Hocquenghem 1993; Rostworowski de Diez Canseco 1970; Sandweiss and Reid 2016; Salazar et al., this volume). Individual Inka rulers formed alliances with the most powerful panregional oracles, such as Pachacamac, Catequil, and Pariacaca, whose doubles or kin were sent to reside in specific provinces where they received offerings (were fed), engaged with local people, and presumably inserted themselves into existing local hierarchies of superhuman beings (Astuhuamán 2008; Rostworowski de Diez Canseco 1992; Topic 2008). Similarly, doubles of important wak’as from the Inka heartland were established in the provinces (as seen in the renaming of powerful places), bringing Cuzco into the provinces (Cruz, this volume). The Inka created new wak’as in subject territories by sacrificing children, whose mummies were venerated, along with the locations of the sacrifice (Duviols 1976; Gentile 1996; McEwan and van de Guchte 1992; Zuidema 1977), sacralizing existing landscape features (Chase 2015), and placing object wak’as (such as stone ancestors) in state installations (Chase 2015; Meddens et al. 2010; Troncoso, this volume). Inka rulers also had the power to destroy significant wak’as, the best-known example being Atahualpa’s retaliatory attack on Catequil that included leveling the hill embodying the wak’a who had berated the ruler for his cruelty (Betanzos 1996). Finally, the Inka placed themselves as intermediaries between local people and their important wak’as by reorganizing provincial landscapes through the construction of new paths, centers, and shrines that reoriented movement, access, and the visibility of major landscape wak’as (Acuto 2012; Lynch and Parcero-Oubiña 2017; Vitry 2017;

Acuto, Giovannetti, Salazar et al., Troncoso, and Williams, this volume). All these examples reveal the centrality of nonhuman beings to the state and local communities and the impossibility of reducing them simply to symbolic references to religious practices isolated from the rest of life. Inka politics are cosmopolitics. Not only negotiations between humans and nonhumans but also the perceived actions of nonhumans directly affected the logic of human practices within the empire, including those of the state, and fundamentally shaped state-local relations (Bray 2015; Cadena 2015; Shapero 2019; Acuto, Cruz, Giovannetti, Nielsen, Salazar et al., and Troncoso, this volume). An ontological perspective requires us to rethink the dynamics of imperial annexation, occupation, and domination as well as the agency of local communities. Thus, as the combined contributions of this volume demonstrate, explanations of Inka expansion and provincial dynamics that focus solely on economic or territorial gain and neglect the role of nonhumans are incomplete. Organization and Overview of the Volume

The contributors’ offerings begin with Félix Acuto’s provocative and compelling argument (chapter 2) that Inka expansion into Qullasuyu was primarily driven not by economic concerns but by “the establishment of bonds with the holy places and supernatural entities.” Acuto draws on research in Potosí and Chuquisaca (see also Cruz, this volume), the northern and middle Calchaquí Valley (see also Williams, this volume), and central Catamarca (see also Giovannetti, this volume) as well as ethnohistorical accounts of Andean beliefs and ritual practices. He observes how the Inka reorganized landscapes, engaged directly with powerful and spiritually dangerous high mountain wak’as, placed themselves as intermediaries between subjects and significant mountain wak’as, and appropriated local places of origin and ancestral peaks in a move to establish themselves as returning ancestors. Pablo Cruz (chapter 3) explores the Inka relationship with metals and mines through archaeological and ethnohistoric research in the Charcas region southeast of Lake Titicaca, where some of the richest mineral deposits in the empire were located. His work reveals the technology of mining

and metallurgy; administration (involving local allies) and organization of labor; and the sacred character of mines, the mountain wak’as where they were located, metallurgical centers and facilities such as furnaces, and metal itself. Many of the deposits in this area belonged to the primary Inka deity, the Sun, as well as to the deity of Lightning, whose origins, like those of the Inka, were in Qullasuyu. The Inka emphasis on establishing sanctuaries and acquiring minerals from specific mountain wak’as (whose ores were particularly valued for their sacred qualities) rather than on maximizing extraction undermines a purely economic explanation for expansion into the region and incorporation of the mines. As Cruz concludes, research into mining and metallurgy in Charcas renders the hypothesis by Raffino (1993) and other authors that Inka expansion into Qullasuyu was driven by a desire to acquire its mines both “more convincing and more complex.” A similar argument is made by Diego Salazar, José Berenguer, Victoria Castro, Frances M. Hayashida, César Parcero-Oubiña, and Andrés Troncoso (chapter 4) for the Inka annexation of the Atacama region in northern Chile, an area known in the past and present for its productive copper mineral mines. Few early colonial historical records for the area are available, but we have a wealth of well-dated archaeological evidence for life before and during Inka rule. Here the Inka expanded and intensified copper mineral and turquoise mining, added administrative sectors to important local settlements, created high-altitude shrines and offerings to mountain wak’as, established Inka centers at landscape wak’as associated with the mines, and expanded irrigation agriculture. At the same time, the extracted minerals for the most part were not suitable for smelting into copper metal; instead, ground copper minerals were a favored and necessary food for local wak’as. By controlling the mines, the Inka placed themselves as intermediaries between locals and their wak’as, while strengthening their ability to negotiate directly with powerful nonhuman beings. Verónica I. Williams (chapter 5) examines Inka landscape transformations in the middle Calchaquí Valley of northwestern Argentina. In the Late Intermediate Period through the Inka Period, residents of the quebradas (ravines) inhabited high hilltop sites that were difficult to access, known as pukaras (pucaras), where their activities were hidden from Rethinking the Inka

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view. Each pukara was associated with a complex of agricultural fields, carved stones (linked in Qullasuyu with agriculture and mining), and rock art panels. Unlike other areas (such as Atacama and northern Calchaquí: see Salazar et al. and Acuto, this volume), the Inka did not create state sectors in local settlements but instead established entirely new centers where activities would have been highly visible, built high-altitude shrines, created state agricultural fields, and rerouted traffic, creating a new spatial as well as political order. The widespread adoption of rock art and pottery styles associated with the Inka as well as those of other subject groups is also interpreted as part of what Williams calls a “new visual discursive resource” that conveyed prestige. A regional approach is also taken by both Sonia Alconini and Claudia Rivera Casanovas, who apply the results of settlement-pattern surveys to understanding the consequences of Inka incorporation. Alconini (chapter 6) compares Inka incorporation of two frontier polities, the Yampara (in southern Bolivia) and the Kallawaya (located east of Lake Titicaca). In both cases, ethnohistoric accounts describe how the lords of the two polities established alliances with the Inka: the Kallawaya lords came to depend on the Inka for status and power, while the Yampara lords were more independent. Settlement within Kallawaya territory, rich in gold and farmlands, was heavily reorganized, with a large influx of mitmaqkuna (state colonists; mitmacona) and agricultural expansion. Status was marked by the use of fine Inka pottery that was also used in feasts. In contrast, though state installations were built in Yampara territory, regional economic and settlement pattern changes were minimal. Status was marked by the use of Yampara-style vessels, perhaps indicating the “deliberate inclusion of indigenous materials to ease cultural integration.” Rivera Casanovas (chapter 7) compares two regions in southern Bolivia within the territory of the Qaraqara, part of the powerful Charka Confederacy with whom the Inka ruler Pachakuti established diplomatic relations (Platt et al. 2006). The eventual Inka incorporation of the two regions followed very different trajectories. Cinti, which was more politically centralized and integrated prior to Inka incorporation, was ruled indirectly, with little evidence for reorganization, a consequence of the negotiating ability of Cinti lords. San Lucas was both less integrated prior to Inka rule and rich in 6

F. M. Hayashida, A. Troncoso, and D. Salazar

mineral resources. Here the Inka established a large administrative center and brought in a sizable contingent of Quillaca colonists. The contrast provides evidence for a high Inka investment where economic gains were high, but the cosmological significance of the mines as a driver of Inka expansion is also considered (see Acuto, Cruz, and Salazar et al., this volume). Marco A. Giovannetti (chapter 8) argues for the Inka creation of a sacred landscape in his study of the Inka administrative center Shincal de Quimivil and its surroundings in Catamarca, Argentina. The center of the site is a large Inka plaza with a ceremonial platform (usnu or ushnu), which lies at the intersection of two axes that extend between four outlying hills in the four cardinal directions, each of which was modified during Inka rule. The usnu as well as architectural and worked stone wak’as located on the hills were used to observe astronomical phenomena corresponding to important dates in the Inka calendar. Shincal de Quimivil was also an important location for feasts involving both human and nonhuman beings. Numerous bedrock mortars and associated pottery and botanical remains are evidence of the large-scale preparation of food and drink, which included both local (algarrobo [Prosopis sp.]) beer and Inka (maize) beer. At the usnu and other locations at the site, libations to nonhuman beings were poured into stone-filled depressions and along channels carved into stones. These commensal acts in the newly reorganized Inka landscape further reveal Inka dialogue and negotiation with local wak’as. Daniel Pavlovic, Rodrigo Sánchez, Daniel Pascual, and Andrea Martínez (chapter 9) document Inka attempts to impose a new social and ritual order at the far southern reaches of Tawantinsuyu in the Aconcagua Valley of Chile, where local populations were decentralized and dispersed. Here the Inka built new ritual centers on the tops of hills and mountains, thus appropriating or creating new landscape wak’as organized hierarchically with Aconcagua, the highest peak in the Andes, at the apex and linked to each other by lines of sight. Local people were socialized into the imperial order both through their work constructing the centers, whose walls made of stone and layouts (perimeter walls, controlled access, large enclosures for gatherings, astronomical alignments) have no local antecedents, and through their participation in feasts in these foreign built spaces. The objects

used for feasting also played a role in Inka efforts to indoctrinate local subjects. Pottery assemblages are characterized by large percentages of decorated pottery (rare in local residential sites), including highly visible serving vessels in Inka styles. Andrés Troncoso (chapter 10) combines a landscape perspective with a focus on local leaders and their role in imperial incorporation. Writing about the Limarí and Choapa River basins in Chile’s semiarid north, he highlights how Diaguita leaders of corporate groups mediated between the state and communities and between human and nonhuman beings. Local social reproduction required the intensive production of rock art and interaction with rock art sites. Communities relied on their leaders (themselves depicted in the art) to coordinate these practices that persisted into the Inka period. The Inka established their administrativeceremonial centers in new locations, thus segregating Inka and local public spaces. In these contexts, Diaguita leaders articulated communities with the state as they participated in commensal events and ceremonies that included both Inka (in the form of stone ancestors) and local (in the form of Diaguita vessels) nonhuman beings. Their abilities as mediators created opportunities for Diaguita leaders to increase their privileges, importance, and status, partly expressed through their selective incorporation of Inka motifs and compositional conventions in rock art and pottery. José Luis Martínez C. (chapter 11) explores the material expression of Inka relations with local leaders through a study of qirus, drinking cups that originated in pre-Inka times in Qullasuyu and were used in ritual toasts to establish political alliances or acknowledge subordination. Local leaders received the toasts of Inka representatives as a sign of their submission and were gifted qirus and other items to mark their relationship with the state. Cuzco qirus were widely distributed in Qullasuyu and have been found associated with burials and embedded in the lintels of funerary towers (chullpas) from Puno to Charcas. Their decorations are visual texts communicating Inka origins and power, messages enhanced by the ceremonial contexts in which they were used. The chullpas with embedded qirus, some decorated to resemble Inka tunics, are Aymara in origin and construction and may have been “used by the mallkus [Aymara lords] to reinforce or enhance their internal legitimacy, a visual message oriented to the Aymara themselves.”

Finally, dressing chullpas in tunics and giving them qirus for toasting suggests their status as lordly nonhuman beings and political actors in Tawantinsuyu. Chullpas as powerful social actors also participated in the Inka incorporation of the Altiplano northern Lípez region of southwestern Bolivia, as demonstrated by Axel E. Nielsen (chapter 12). Some chullpas (built chambers accessed through narrow, formalized openings) in this region contained burials, but others stored crops and other items, and many received offerings. They also served as conduits between the lived-in world and the underworld, particularly those in caves and rockshelters. Prior to Inka rule, chullpas were also found on the margins of villages and pukaras (fortified villages), with their openings oriented toward habitation areas and associated with the plazas of some of these sites. The plaza chullpas arguably embodied the lineages of resident segmentary groups and participated in plaza commensal activities necessary for social reproduction. With Inka annexation, some of the plaza chullpas and public constructions were destroyed and the pukaras were abandoned. At newly established Inka Period villages, burial chullpas were built in clusters away from the habitation areas. Their openings face east, a practice introduced here and in other parts of the empire by the Inka, suggesting the imposition (or adoption) of new ideas of political legitimacy. Comments by Ian Farrington (chapter 13) close the volume. Based on the studies presented and his knowledge of Cuzco, Qullasuyu, and other Inka provinces, he reflects on the chronology of and motivations for conquest, strategies of consolidation, and processes of negotiation and diplomacy. As he integrates and analyzes the main themes discussed by the authors already summarized, he also highlights how Inka cosmology drove Inka expansion and defined imperial policies, including the reorganization of provincial landscapes and creation of “other cuzcos,” the renaming of significant places (using Inka toponyms), the design of provincial Inka centers to incorporate astronomical alignments significant to Cuzco, the establishment of relations with provincial wak’as (including mountain peaks), and the appropriation of mines and agricultural lands. At the same time, Farrington notes the variability and flexibility of Inka rule in the provinces in Qullasuyu and beyond. In summary, the chapters and commentary introduce readers to the wealth of research being Rethinking the Inka

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carried out in Qullasuyu, the largest and most intensively studied sector of Tawantinsuyu, on topics relevant to the empire as a whole. Long-term field, documentary, and collections-based projects inform the authors’ perspectives, which emphasize themes of the transformation and resacralization of provincial landscapes; the role of nonhuman beings in community social reproduction as well as imperial policy; the position of local leaders and their ability to negotiate; and how we interpret persistence and change in objects and art during Inka rule. Together, the contributors invite Andeanists and others to reconsider how we study, interpret, and understand the history and dynamics of the Inka and other empires in the ancient world.

Bray, Tamara 2012 Ritual Commensality between Human and NonHuman Persons: Investigating Native Ontologies in the Late Pre-Columbian Andean World. eTopoi 2:197–212. 2015 Andean Wak’as and Alternative Configurations of Persons, Power, and Things. In The Archaeology of Wak’as: Explorations of the Sacred in the PreColumbian Andes, edited by Tamara Bray, pp. 1–19. University Press of Colorado, Boulder. 2018 Partnering with Pots: The Work of Objects in the Imperial Inca Project. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 28(2):243–257.

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Chapter 2

Sacred Geography, Wak’as, and Inka Colonialism in the Southern Andes Félix A. Acuto

Introduction

What motivated the Inka to expand the southern frontier of their empire time and again and to occupy territories far from Tawantinsuyu’s core? Why did they invest time, energy, and resources in the construction of a variety of structures and facilities, such as roads, administrative centers, tampus (way stations; tambos), usnus (ritual platforms), qullqas (storehouses; qullcas, colcas, qollqas, qolqas), and defensive strongholds? Why did they engage in the resettling of indigenous populations, in activities of exchange and hospitality with local communities, and in the production of different goods to support these activities in regions from which they apparently did not obtain great benefits? Why did Tawantinsuyu advance beyond the Titicaca Basin and the Bolivian Altiplano to penetrate into distant areas? Some of these were very difficult to traverse (such as the deserted Atacama region). In other regions they were under constant attack by the indomitable eastern lowland populations. What did they seek in these southern areas where neither economic resources nor a human labor supply were particularly attractive or abundant? For a long time, students of Tawantinsuyu have attempted to answer these central questions in order to unravel the nature of Inka colonialism in Qullasuyu. These questions have generally elicited one specific answer: the Inka put their imperial eye on the Southern Andes because they were interested in the rich mineral resources of the region. It is true that they developed intensive mineral extraction in some areas of the Southern Andes (such as in the Potosí or Atacama regions), but this was not the case in other parts of the Southern Andes where Inka occupation was also intensive. This raises some important issues. How relevant was the contribution of the minerals from the southern quarter of Tawantinsuyu to the Inka political economy and 13

wealth finance? Were significant amounts of minerals and metal prestige goods transported from the Southern Andes to core regions of Tawantinsuyu? It was probably a logistical nightmare for the Inka to integrate territories so distant from the most important areas of their geopolitical power as well as to transfer goods and resources from these faraway lands to Tawantinsuyu’s core areas. It is interesting to note that many of the material goods that the Inka produced in the Southern Andes actually served to finance and support their activities and projects there. Evidence that artifacts were shipped from the Southern Andes to other quarters of Tawantinsuyu is quite scarce. Several examples illustrate this point. Archaeologists usually find ceramic vessels in Inka provincial territories that preserved Inka standard forms while incorporating non-Inka decoration and motifs. Scholars have referred to this type of pottery as mixed-Inka pottery style. These ceramic vessels were not local imitations of Inka pottery: their production was sponsored by Tawantinsuyu, and they were used in Inka settlements and activities. For example, Inka-Pacajes and Inka-Chicha (or Inka-Paya), two mixed-Inka pottery styles produced in the Southern Andes under Inka sponsorship, were widely circulated across indigenous territories in Northwest Argentina, north and central Chile, and southern Bolivia (Cremonte et al. 2015; Uribe 2004; Williams 2004). The staple goods that the Inka produced in this region were not exported to other areas of Tawantinsuyu. As the presence of large groups of storage facilities in major Inka sites in the Southern Andes (such as Zapahuira, Saguara, Churqueaguada, Agua Hedionda, Campo del Pucará, La Ciudacita, El Shincal, Hualfín: see Albeck 2016; Ataliva et al. 2010; Cremonte et al. 2005; Hyslop and Schobinger 1990; Muñoz et al. 1987; Raffino 2004; Santoro and Uribe 2018; Schiappacasse and Niemeyer 2002) suggests, the agriculture projects developed in this part of the Inka Empire served to support the activities that they conducted in this southern quarter. But the Inka not only locally consumed the primary goods and the artifacts that they produced in this large area. They also used Southern Andean labor in their activities and projects. The mitmaqkuna (colonists) that the Inka sent to different regions of northwestern Argentina, north and central Chile, and southern Bolivia to serve in a variety 14

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of imperial projects were natives of this southern quarter of Tawantinsuyu (see Aldunate and Cornejo 2001; Bárcena 2005; Berenguer 2009; Espinosa Soriano 1985–1986; Gentile 1988; Lorandi and Cremonte 1991; Zanolli 2003). Contrary to the usual argument, the Southern Andes received more prestige items from the central regions of the empire, including Cuzco, than the minerals and metal goods that it provided for Tawantinsuyu’s wealth finance, It is interesting to note that fine-quality material goods such as qumpi (combi, cumbi, cumpi, qompi, compi) textiles, Cuzco-style ceramic vessels, qirus (tall cups), and gold, silver, or Spondylus figurines arrived in the region to serve as offerings to the local sacred entities or wak’as, rather than to smooth the relationships between the Inka and indigenous communities (Besom 2009; Reinhard and Ceruti 2005). Tawantinsuyu introduced two kinds of material goods to the Southern Andes: Inka-style, locally produced objects and imported, fine, prestige Inka goods. Material items of the first group were used in the Inka’s interactions with indigenous populations, serving either as utensils for feasting and ceremonial activities or as gifts for local representatives. In contrast, objects of the second type were not included in interactions with human communities and were directed to the wak’as. Whereas the first group was of lesser quality and often blended Inka and local styles, the second group included high-quality objects that more closely followed Inka forms and decorative patterns. Who were the wak’as, these sacred entities? As ethnology and historical anthropology have taught us, nonhuman agents populate the world of Indigenous societies in the Americas. Indeed, according to Indigenous ontology, a plethora of these entities lived (and still do) in the Andean landscape, participating in and influencing human daily affairs. Places and natural features that stand out in the Andean landscape were recognized for their animacy and sacredness, becoming shrines and places of pilgrimage and veneration (Bray 2015a; Chase 2015:91; Christie 2008; Randall 1982; van de Guchte 1999). These included the snowy summits of prominent mountains, volcanoes, river intersections, waterfalls, springs (puqyus, puquios), lakes, rock outcrops (qaqas) or boulders with unusual forms or particular colors (especially white, red, and yellow), caves, and salt flats. Places considered axes mundi, known in the Andes as taypi/chawpi

(central places of origin and diffusion), were particularly esteemed. This was also the case for tinkuys (places where forces, elements, times, and entities met and merged): centers where different social and symbolic spheres (both complementary and opposing) united and were mediated (Allen 1988:65, 1997; Bouysse-Cassagne 1987; Ossio 1996; Wachtel 2001:64). The social life of Andean Indigenous communities was entangled with the supernatural beings that lived in the area, including dead ancestors. These nonhuman entities protected the community, improved land and livestock productivity, and provided vital energy. In return, people had to take care of them, nurturing and feeding them with offerings (Allen 1988; Arnold et al. 1992; Bastien 1978; Chase 2015; Martínez 1976). High and prominent mountains acquired a special status in Andean cosmology. They were considered not only tutelary entities but also places to communicate with the supernatural levels, paqarinas (places of origin of the mythical founders of local communities), gods who control water, weather, and agricultural activities, and apus (ancestors) (Bastien 1978; Besom 2009; Gose 1994; Martínez 1983). Mountains, like other types of wak’as, benefited human communities but were also powerful and dangerous beings. They had their territories, and even their own livestock (such as foxes, hawks, condors, pumas, or vicuñas), but these areas were rugged and untamed and therefore dangerous for humans (Christie 2008; Cruz 2012; Gose 1994). This was especially the case for summits. People, wak’as, and landscapes were symbolically, socially, and even physiologically entangled and depended on each other (Allen 1988; Bastien 1985; Chase 2015; Earls and Silverblatt 1978; Fernández Juárez 1998; Gavilán 2005; Greenway 1998). Hence, controlling the wak’as or having hegemonic interactions with them implied controlling their human worshippers. Even though the extraction of minerals was an important (though overestimated) Inka activity in the Southern Andes (see Cruz and Salazar et al., this volume), I argue in this chapter that Inka expansion in the region was especially driven by the establishment of bonds with the holy places and supernatural entities that lived in the different regions of this large territory. I contend that the Inka’s colonial politics in the Southern Andes were

more oriented toward connecting with the sacred than toward interacting with local human communities. The relationships that they established with these communities were a consequence of and were determined by the relationships that Tawantinsuyu set up first with the different regional wak’as. A key aspect of Inka colonialism in the Southern Andes involved their effort to place themselves as intermediaries between indigenous communities and local wak’as. Here I focus on Inka occupation of four areas of the Southern Andes: Potosí and Chuquisaca in southern Bolivia and the northern and middle Calchaquí Valley and central valleys of the Catamarca province in Northwest Argentina. The Potosí and Chuquisaca Regions

Even in an area such as mineral-rich Potosí, where prehispanic mining and later colonial mining were dominant activities, the Inka seem to have been especially interested in local wak’as. A great portion of the Inka landscape in this region marked by the extraction of mineral resources was oriented toward the sacred. Cruz (2009, this volume; Cruz et al. 2013) has shown that the Inka’s first move to conquer this region was to connect with the regional wak’as and then organize the administration of the territory and its people. “More than a particular mining center, the name ‘Porco’ seems to be referring to the jurisdiction of the huaca, which corresponds to the Los Frailes mountain range that, besides Porco and Potosí, has other mountains with minerals that the Inkas sacralized, such as Ubina, Cosuña, Cuzco, Inca, Mundo, and Kari Kari. The administrative and ceremonial center of Oma Porco, as its name indicates, must have occupied a central position in the territorial jurisdiction of the huaca with the same name” (Cruz 2009:60; my translation). This same situation prevailed in the territory of what today is the Department of Chuquisaca. In this area, the Inka organized a territorial-administrative jurisdiction around the principal apu of the region: Quiquijana mountain. This apu articulated with 12 other mountain-wak’as that surrounded the contemporary city of Sucre (figure 2.1). The Inka organized their administrative jurisdictions in relation to the principal tutelary entity of the region rather than in connection with indigenous inhabitants, local settlements, economic Sacred Geography, Wak’as, and Inka Colonialism

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Figure 2.1. The Potosí and Chuquisaca regions, Bolivia. Triangles: sacred mountains.

activities, or natural resources, which gave regional wak’as a central place in Inka domination. The Inka colonial process involved first co-opting the interactions with the wak’as. Only after this situation was secured did they begin to organize the political, economic, and demographic aspects of provincial administration. The centrality of wak’as in Inka colonization is clear in the physical and visual articulation established between many Inka settlements and structures and indigenous sacred places. Studies by Cruz (2009, 2015, this volume; Cruz et al. 2013) demonstrate a consistent overlap between the Inka presence and local sacred geography. Historical, archaeological, and toponymical evidence demonstrates that the Inka interacted with practically every consecrated mountain of the region by placing a solid stone platform on the summit (an extremely dangerous place for people), by settling a ritual center in direct connection with it, or by changing its name. According to Cruz, consecrated 16

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mountains, rituals, and mining (all elements that belonged to the same symbolic realm and sphere of practice) are consistently linked. The Inka not only settled in the untamed and wild territory of the mountain wak’as of the Potosí and Chuquisaca regions but also oriented the ritual structures of their principal centers toward these wak’as, maintaining a visual connection with them. This is the case of the large kallanka (great hall) of Oma Porco, the principal Inka settlement in Potosí, whose doors frame some of the wak’as of the Los Frailes mountain range. In addition, Oma Porco constituted a portal to the territory of the Porco wak’a, the main tutelary entity in the area (Cruz 2009:60; Cruz et al. 2013:112). Inka naming practices in the region also display their interest in the sacred landscape. With the onset of Inka domination, a number of mountain wak’as received Quechua names. The Inka even gave some of them the name of the sacred mountain that surrounded Cuzco, a strategy also

Figure 2.2. North Calchaquí Valley, Argentina.

employed in other areas of Tawantinsuyu, such as Cerro Quiquijana in the Chuquisaca region. This strategy deepened the process of appropriation of the sacred that the Inka initiated when conquering a region, making the unknown familiar and transforming the meanings associated with the rebaptized wak’a and probably part of its personality. Through naming, the Inka demonstrated power over local supernatural beings as they subjected them to their own scheme of interactions.

The North Calchaquí Valley

In the northern part of the Calchaquí Valley (figure 2.2), the Inka designed and built a landscape oriented toward the principal wak’a and tutelary entity of the region: Cerro Meléndez in the Nevados de Cachi area. Cortaderas was one of the principal Inka centers in this region located in a marginal area, away from local settlements (Acuto 1999). Besides the spacious plaza (around 900 m²), in the central sector of this site they built a large ritual platform (usnu) located Sacred Geography, Wak’as, and Inka Colonialism

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Figure 2.3 (Plate 1). Cortaderas Bajo site: (a) view of

Cortaderas Bajo’s plaza from the usnu platform; (b) view of Cerro Meléndez from the usnu platform; (c) standing stones (wankas).

on a round hill 30 m above the southeast side of the plaza (figure 2.3; plate 1) (Acuto et al. 2012). The presence of pre-Inka rock art on this hill’s west slope indicates that the hill itself was a meaningful topographical feature before the Inka arrived. Those who came to Cortaderas to participate in ritual events used a road that led directly to the plaza. The roofs and walls of buildings enclosed ritual participants once they were inside the public space, restricting their views of the surrounding landscape and forcing them to focus on what happened in the plaza and on the usnu. These buildings’ doors contributed to this, as they were designed to avoid the curious gaze of onlookers convened to participate in public-ceremonial activities. While a large audience gathered in the plaza surrounded by buildings that blocked any distracting view and focused attention on the ritual platform, Inka ritual specialists may have made their preparations out of view of the audience, in a structure located on the eastern slope of the hill, below the usnu. They climbed the back of the hill along a path that people today have transformed into a Way of the Cross, passing next to two natural wankas (figure 2.3c; plate 1c). These standing stones, either natural or intentionally erected (especially those that are connected with usnu platforms), had great significance in Andean and Inka cosmology, representing “stone ancestors” (Meddens et al. 2010; Staller 2008:287–289). Once they reached the platform, the ritual hosts were easily seen and heard by the public below, due to the topographic and acoustic properties of this place. From this position, the Inka could not only connect with the spectators but also see, talk to, and summon Cerro Meléndez (figure 2.3a and 2.3b; plate 1a and 1b). The Inka positioned themselves as visual intermediaries between the great Calchaquí wak’a and the visitors gathered in the plaza below, who were not able to contemplate the sacred mountain from their location. A similar situation is seen at Guitián, the only Inka settlement built in the area where local communities resided (Acuto 1999), which is directly associated with La Paya, one of the principal

local centers of the region (figure 2.2). Guitián’s main feature is a trapezoidal plaza surrounded by four Inka residential compounds (kanchas) and a kallanka. Guitián also includes a series of local residential compounds on its east side and was circumscribed by a perimeter wall (figure 2.4). Once inside the plaza, those who visited Guitián to participate in public events found themselves in a secluded and almost oppressive space. They could see only the walls of the Inka buildings and the blue sky above. While walls and roofs blocked the view outside, asymmetrical doors and small halls obstructed the view of the interior of Inka residences (figure 2.4a). These features forced people to focus their attention on what was going on within the plaza. In this celebratory context, ritual officials standing on the usnu above the crowd conducted ceremonies, poured libations, and placed offerings in the small semicircular receptacle built inside this platform (figure 2.4b). Unlike the people who gathered at Guitián’s plaza, Inka representatives could gaze at the summit of Cerro Meléndez from their position on the usnu (figure 2.4c), invoke and worship the sacred mountain, and at the same time act as intermediaries between the audience and the local apu, thus linking the audience with the wak’a. But it was not enough for the Inka to pay homage to the principal north Calchaquí tutelary entity from afar. They traveled to the mountain itself to mark their presence and to establish a direct connection with this revered apu as well as with other meaningful natural features of the Nevados de Cachi area, such as two lakes and a natural spring (animated elements of renowned sacredness in Andean Indigenous cosmology). Another noticeable element of the Nevados de Cachi landscape was La Uña (The Fingernail), a thin and pointed peak that resembles a standing stone, visible from the valley bottom. “In the Andean realm, numerous native communities revered specific outcrops or stones as mythic ancestors and guardians. Such features were referred to by the Quechua term ‘guanca.’ Such objects were generally unmodified and aniconic” (Bray 2009:362). Indigenous communities also visited the area of the Nevados de Cachi, but they engaged with the apu’s territory in a significantly different way (figure 2.5). People from the northern Calchaquí Valley seem to have tried to disturb this territory as little as possible. Native trails and local sites (isolated Sacred Geography, Wak’as, and Inka Colonialism

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Figure 2.4. Guitián site: (a) map; (b) semicircular structure inside the usnu; (c) view of Cerro Meléndez from the usnu platform.

or small groups of stone structures and parapets) are quite inconspicuous (blending with the rocky landscape and difficult to see). The majority of these sites are located around a large meadow about 4,400 m above sea level (masl) and contain few surface artifacts (ceramic sherds and stone projectile points) (figure 2.5a). According to our investigations, these pre-Inka sites may have been connected with hunting activities. We have also found a variety of piled rocks (saywas; sayhuas) and standing and braced rocks (some of which seem to have imitated La Uña) in the Nevados de Cachi. However, these rock monuments are not found above 4,750 masl. It is interesting to note that piled and standing rocks are common features in Late Intermediate Period (LIP) residential and agricultural sites. A few years ago, we excavated near a wanka located in one of the plazas of Las Pailas, the largest LIP site in the region (Kergaravat et al. 2015). During these archaeological excavations, we recovered evidence that the residents of Las Pailas conducted feasting activities right next to the wanka. In addition, we found an offering buried underneath this rock: a ceramic pot and a grinding stone. Rock art is completely absent from the Nevados de Cachi area, though is very common in the valley bottom. This suggests that local people avoided 20

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marking the territory of the mountain with iconographic elements that belonged to other spatial and social spheres. Nonetheless, they introduced certain material features that harmonize with this landscape. Through piled rocks and standing stones (elements that are common natural features in this rocky landscape), people used the language of the mountain to signify its territory (see Christie 2008). In contrast to local people, the Inka penetrated the territory of the sacred mountain, going beyond 4,750 masl to the very summit of Cerro Meléndez (6,020 masl) (figure 2.5b). The Inka not only ventured across this territory but also dared to modify it, materially assert their presence, and settle there in order to live together with the apu. The Inka marked this territory, which local communities avoided to disrupt and transform, with a conspicuous road, solid architecture, monoliths, and a particular petroglyph. The Inka presence in the Nevados de Cachi area did not go unnoticed. In addition, the Inka formalized a pilgrimage circuit with different stations, all linked by a well-constructed road. This circuit began at the foot of the Nevados de Cachi, where the Inka installed a fine rectilinear structure at 4,409 masl (figure 2.5a). Following the road, after passing a small lake, pilgrims reached a site (El Apunao) connected with a spring that gives birth to the Las Pailas River, which

watered one of the principal prehispanic agriculture areas of the region. Here the Inka built a stone platform that faces the green valleys below, including a square stone receptacle with a paved floor and a canal that runs parallel to the river (figure 2.6a and 2.6b; plate 2a and 2b). Archaeoastronomical studies have shown that the platform was oriented to the equinoxes (see Moyano 2014). An interesting petroglyph a few meters from the platform confirms this connection of El Apunao, the equinoxes, and the agricultural cycle (figure 2.6c; plate 2c) (Jacob and Leibowicz 2014). It presents a unique motif of 187 circles, the number of days between the equinoxes. The Inka seem to have built this site to honor and make offerings to the muchneeded water (resembling rituals that some communities still perform today: see Allen 2014:74). They symbolically initiated the circulation of water by pouring liquids into the qucha (receptacle; cocha, qocha), which then flowed through a canal that

runs parallel to the river. The natural spring was replicated by the receptacle and the river by the canal, metaphorically positioning the Inka as providers of water (see also Bray 2013). The next station in this circuit was a settlement (Uña Tambo) with fifty-one stone structures (including two Inka kanchas) (figure 2.7a), a gnomon that receives the first sunrays during the equinoxes (Jacob et al. 2013; Moyano 2013:202–208), and ten other monoliths (wankas), some of which seem to be mimicking La Uña (figure 2.7b). The Inka placed this site in a quite meaningful spot. It is located right next to La Uña, probably a wak’a itself (as the attempt to imitate it suggests), and adjacent to the intersection of two watercourses that, together with the stream that comes down from El Apunao, form Las Pailas River (figure 2.7c). The confluence of watercourses, such as the one found south of Cuzco, was of great relevance for the Inka, who considered it a place of encounter (tinkuy).

Figure 2.5. Nevados de Cachi area: (a) distribution of local and Inka sites; (b) stone structure on the summit of Cerro

Meléndez.

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The last stage in this journey to the Nevados de Cachi area was the very summit of Cerro Meléndez, with a rectangular rock structure (12.2 by 6.3 m, figure 2.5b), probably related to a qhapaq hucha (human sacrifice; capacocha, qhapaq ucha) ritual. The way up from Uña Tambo to the summit included passing next to a lake of deep blue water located at 5,300 masl, another meaningful feature of the natural landscape that was perhaps also venerated. The Middle Calchaquí Valley

South of a very dry and practically unoccupied area that divides the northern part of the Calchaquí Valley from its middle sector, the Molinos and

Angastaco basins show an important concentration of sites (figure 2.8). This region lacks the typical LIP large and agglomerated settlements found in other areas of Northwest Argentina. The sociocultural landscape that the Inka encountered in the middle Calchaquí Valley included sites located on the flat summit of particular mountains (see Williams, this volume, figure 5.3), residential units scattered on lower terrain, agricultural areas surrounding the high-ground sites with terraces and irrigation canals, petroglyphs and monoliths located in the agricultural fields, and petroglyphs found inside the high-ground settlements (or on the slopes of the hills where these sites were constructed) (Williams 2014; Williams and Villegas 2013). These features are grouped in independent settlement clusters consisting of a high-ground settlement surrounded by

a

Figure 2.6 (Plate 2). El Apunao site: (a) map and 3D reconstruction of platform and receptacle; (b) stone receptacle;

(c) petroglyph.

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Figure 2.7. Uña Tambo site: (a) map; (b) standing stone (wanka) and La Uña in the background; (c) Uña Tambo’s location next

to the confluence of two streams (tinkuy).

agriculture terraces and scattered residential units, petroglyphs, and monoliths. Archaeological studies in the region have detected nine of these systems or assemblages of sites (Williams 2014; Williams and Villegas 2013), all located on the western side of the principal valley where it intersects with perpendicular gullies that connect the Calchaquí Valley with the puna (high grasslands). Though archaeologists have usually assigned a defensive role to high-ground sites, evidence indicates that they were also linked with sacred meanings and ritual practices (Williams 2014; Williams and Villegas 2013). First, these sites are on the summit of imposing, steep-sided rocky hills with flat tops (see Williams, this volume, figure 5.3). The buildings constructed on their summits were not visible from below, which permitted site inhabitants to view the surrounding area without being seen. But the distinctive shape and topographical

characteristics of the hills themselves would have caught people’s attention. Second, domestic buildings as well as other features (such as the concentration of grinding stones) indicate that people did more than carry out defensive duties in these places. Third, petroglyphs and carved rocks are associated with high-ground sites as well as with agricultural terraces. This shows that intentional actions were designed to bestow specific meanings upon these places. Serpentine lines, groups of lines that could represent agricultural fields, and groups of circular holes (probably quchas: ritual receptacles for water or other liquids) are some of the typical elements carved into the surface of these rocks. Fourth, as in the northern area of the valley, monoliths are connected to the agricultural fields. Finally, architectural analysis and radiocarbon dating have demonstrated that in some cases these terraces date back to the Formative Period and thus acted as Sacred Geography, Wak’as, and Inka Colonialism

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Figure 2.8. The Molinos and Angastaco basins.

material mnemonics that evoked memories of previous times for LIP communities. Taking all these elements and features into account, Williams et al. (2005) argued that these high-ground sites were not simply defensive facilities but also sacred meaningful spaces or wak’as: places for offerings linked 24

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to water and the agricultural cycle and related to ancestors and indigenous memory. The Inka deployed a triple strategy in this region: differentiation from the local landscape, assimilation into the local landscape, and, simultaneously, appropriation of indigenous shrines. As in

the northern section of the Calchaquí Valley, the people of Tawantinsuyu sought to set themselves apart from the local cultural landscape by establishing their own places and social spheres away from indigenous settlements and agricultural areas (Acuto 1999). Actually, the main Inka sites in the region, Pukara–Tambo de Angastaco and Compuel, are located on the periphery of the local landscape (figure 2.8). Unlike the nine indigenous site clusters located at the western ridge of the valley, the Inka placed Pukara–Tambo de Angastaco on the valley bottom next to the Calchaquí River. Compuel, in contrast, is on the west side of the valley like local sites but on the southern edge of the local territory, away from native settlements. The Inka also sought to assimilate themselves to the indigenous landscape, not so much spatially but symbolically. In Pukara–Tambo de Angastaco, for instance, the Inka imitated one of the main features of the local landscape: a high-ground site with a perimeter defensive wall. Pukara–Tambo de Angastaco reproduced the concept of the cultural modification of the summit of a noticeable topographic feature, though in this case the Inka chose a mount that was not as imposing as the local ones. In contrast to native high-ground sites, the substantial walls of the Inka settlement were visible from below, which shows that they sought not only to view and control the surrounding area from this high location but also to declare their presence in the region. Instead of selecting an imposing natural feature, the Inka used architecture to attract attention. They built a place that competed with the local society’s ritual practices and cult of the ancestors. Instead of intruding into each of the nine wak’as high-ground settlement (a troublesome task), the Inka decided to create their own wak’a (a policy also applied in other parts of Tawantinsuyu: see Chase 2015:81), separate from the local wak’as and from vernacular history and memory. Assimilation also took place in the sphere of agriculture. Based on radiocarbon dating and the architectural analysis of the terraces, researchers have argued that Tawantinsuyu not only expanded regional crop production but also became involved in the symbolic world of rock art and carved stones associated with the agricultural fields. As Williams and Cremonte (2013:35) argue, by intruding into the local agriculture sphere, which dated back to the Formative Period (ca. 500 BC), Tawantinsuyu materialized its presence in the indigenous

landscape by becoming part of indigenous history and cults. Finally, Compuel’s location confirms Tawantinsuyu’s attempt to connect to and appropriate native shrines and worship practices (figure 2.8). This site, which presents a series of kanchas and complex administrative rectilinear buildings, was strategically positioned at the entrance of a corridor that led to the puna region and to some important sacred landmarks, such as Cerro Galán, where an Inka high-altitude sanctuary is located. Thus, from this location, the Inka managed to control pilgrimage to the sacred mountain. Central Catamarca

The central area of what today is Catamarca province shows the full extent of Inka colonialism in the Southern Andes (figure 2.9). Tawantinsuyu created four important settlements (Hualfín, El Shincal de Quimivil, Watungasta, and La Ciudacita) whose most outstanding feature was their spacious plazas connected to large high-quality buildings (Lynch et al. 2013; Moralejo 2013; Raffino 2004). El Shincal’s large plaza (30,625 m²), imposing usnu (256 m²), sculpted hills, channels, and stairways demonstrate Inka concern for ritual choreography (Giovannetti, this volume). Recent studies at this site have confirmed the centrality of public-ceremonial events at El Shincal, which has been interpreted as a prime regional center for pilgrimage and ritual, probably a taypi/chawpi: a center from which siq’i (ritual pathway radiating from Cuzco; ceque, seq’e, z’eqe, ziqi) lines radiated. Archaeologists have found abundant evidence of production oriented to feasting and ritual consumption right next to this site, such as 360 mortars associated with an area with several hearths and fragments of large ceramic containers (Giovannetti 2016). The study of the ceramic sherds, together with the archaeobotanical evidence recovered from this same area, has shown that maize and algarrobo (Prosopis sp.) chicha (beer) brewing were major activities conducted in this area. Besides building these centers for ritual and pageantry, the Inka sought to connect with regional sacred landmarks, as at the Nevados del Aconquija/ La Ciudacita site. Based on its fine rectilinear architecture, the monumentality of its publicceremonial buildings, and the paved road that leads to it, Hyslop and Schobinger (1990) claimed that Sacred Geography, Wak’as, and Inka Colonialism

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Figure 2.9. Main Inka sites in central Catamarca, Argentina.

La Ciudacita is the most important Inka site in the Southern Andes (figures 2.9 and 2.10). For a long time, scholars thought that this site and Pukara de Andalgalá were Inka border fortresses strategically placed to control and contain the advances and attacks of the “indomitable” eastern lowland people (Hyslop and Schobinger 1990; Scattolín and Korstanje 1994; Williams 2000). According to this interpretation, these two apparent strongholds were established on the Aconquija mountain range (a natural and cultural frontier between the western Andean highlands and the eastern wooded plains) to defend the important Inka settlements and key productive activities in the central valleys of Catamarca (figure 2.10a). A group of researchers has begun to revisit this functional interpretation of La Ciudacita in the last few years (Ataliva et al. 2010). The site is located at 4,384 masl, on the crest of Sierra del Aconquija, an isolated location difficult to access from the valley bottoms (at 2,200 masl on the western side and at 400 masl on the eastern side). To reach the settlement it is necessary to traverse rough terrain and a diversity of ecological zones (including dense forest on the eastern slope) (figure 2.10a). The ecological and topographical characteristics of 26

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Nevados del Aconquija’s slopes make the descent from the La Ciudacita to the valley bottom lengthy and very difficult. Although this site could easily be defended, the great distance from La Ciudacita to the paths located at the foot of Sierra del Aconquija made the site incapable of blocking incursions by eastern lowland groups and preventing an attack on the unprotected Inka centers located on the first river terraces of the valley bottom. Another line of evidence that casts doubt on the defensive character of La Ciudacita comes from historical and archaeological investigations showing that the Inka had alliances with the eastern lowland Tucumán groups, who served as state mitmaqkuna in the Inka centers of central Catamarca (Williams 2000). The new investigations in La Ciudacita have called attention to the particular ecological features of the surrounding areas. Ascending to the site via its western slope and descending its eastern slope involved crossing the following ecosystems in only 70 kilometers: prepuna (2,000 to 3,400 masl), high Andes (above 3,400 masl), foggy meadows (3,400 to 3,200 and 2,800 to 2,500 masl), mountain forest (2,500 to 1,500 masl), subtropical mountain forest (1,500 to 600 masl), mountain foot forest (600 to 400/300 masl), and the Chaco plain (below 300

Figure 2.10. La Ciudacita site:

(a) site location; (b) map of the southeast sector of La Ciudacita: 1. usnu, 2. main plaza, 3. kallanka, 4. qullqas (redrawn from Hyslop 1990:80); (c) view of La Ciudacita’s plaza and usnu (photograph courtesy of Ricardo Moyano).

masl) (Ataliva et al. 2010:163). These environments in La Ciudacita and its surrounding area not only provided human communities with a myriad of different and complementary resources but also were the dwelling places of contrasting supernatural entities, particularly those from the lowlands and those from the highlands. In other words, La Ciudacita belonged to a circumscribed area that meshed both worlds. The merging of different ecological floors in La Ciudacita (basically the encounter of the yungas zone and the Andean highlands), the confluence of two rivers near the site (the Jaya River from the east and the Las Pavas River from the north), and the position of this settlement at an ethnic frontier that separated the eastern lowland plain groups from the Andean societies made this location a tinkuy. There is also a meaningful difference between east and west in Inka mythology. The east, the direction of the jungle, represents the past, the disordered and chaotic archaic times of the uncivilized tribes that inhabited the earth before the sun was born. The west, in contrast, represents the present, the time of Inka civilization (Randall 1982). In this sense, not only culture and space but also time cycles merged in La Ciudacita, where the present time (kay pacha) met the past (ñawpa pacha). The Inka took notice of this place’s symbolism— the suture of two ecologically, culturally, and temporally opposed regions—and installed a settlement that stands out more for its ritual facilities than for its defensive structures. This site has two Inka sectors with plazas (a wide walled plaza of 3,000 m² in the southeast sector and a more private plaza associated with a large kallanka in the northeastern sector), an usnu with stone stairs placed on a rocky small round hill 6 m above the main plaza of the southeast sector, kallankas, monoliths in both plazas, and a number of qullqas (storehouses) (figure 2.10b and 2.10c). The two Inka areas, with fine and monumental architecture, sharply contrast with a third area of the site with smaller and lower-quality buildings of local architecture. Ataliva et al. (2010) suggest that the Inka sought to reproduce in La Ciudacita the hanan-urin (upper and lower moiety; hanan-hurin, anan-urin) division, distinguishing the colonizers from the colonized. Usnu architecture and its placement simultaneously permitted those who conducted publicritual activities to address the audience gathered in the plaza, to obtain an ample view of the eastern 28

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wooded plains, and to make astronomical observations (Moyano 2013:249–257). Moyano and Díaz (2015:170) claimed that La Ciudacita’s usnu was the center of a siq’i system that incorporated surrounding meaningful places, making this site a taypi/ chawpi. Rituals and astronomical activities as well as the orientation of the buildings, especially the plazas and usnu, allowed the Inka to act as mediators between the opposing forces that converged in this place (both celestial entities and sacred landmarks from the western highlands and the eastern lowlands). By knowing the dynamics of these forces, by renaming them with Quechua names (as the contemporary toponymy of the Aconquija area shows: see Moyano and Díaz 2015:169), and by conducting rituals and making offerings to them, the Inka maintained the equilibrium between these opposing forces and promoted their appeasement, which expressed the power they had over them. Comparisons to contemporary Indigenous ritual described by Randall (1982) suggest that the Inka probably used La Ciudacita to convoke and bring together groups from the west and from the east as well as to merge ecologically, culturally, and symbolically contrasting areas (the jungle and the highlands) and different times (the wild prehuman and pre-sun past and the Inka civilized present). This would have positioned the Inka as powerful intermediaries and skillful handlers of supernatural forces. The presence of Inka ritual sites on the summit of the neighboring Tipillas (5,450 masl) and Las Cuevas mountains (4,960 masl—La Ciudacita’s usnu provides a view of the sun setting behind Las Cuevas during the June solstice) certifies the ritual importance that the Sierras del Aconquija had for Tawantinsuyu (Reinhard and Ceruti 2005:13). This contrasts with the meager presence of preInka sites (so far only small Formative sites have been detected near La Ciudacita), which suggests that local communities may have avoided the area. However, this changed during colonial times, when people kept visiting La Ciudacita and built 20 apachitas (cairns; apachetas) in the old Inka plaza. Discussion

A comprehensive survey of Inka studies in the Southern Andes allows us to certify that

Tawantinsuyu meddled in the symbolic, spiritual, and ritual world of its colonial subjects. In some circumstances, this intervention implied the dramatic transformation of sacred landmarks and ritual practices. At the local site of Turi in the Atacama region, for example, the Inka built a new public-ceremonial space after destroying the tombs of local ancestors (see Aldunate 2001). On other occasions, Inka influence was subtler but equally disruptive of vernacular traditions and the native social and spiritual order. The Inka introduced elements of their own imaginary—that acted as an imperial stamp—in places where native communities for generations had painted or carved their symbols on rocks and expressed their beliefs (see Gallardo and Vilches 2001; Leibowicz et al. 2015; Sepúlveda 2004; Troncoso 2004). Inka colonialism in the Southern Andes was driven by the search (1) to establish tight bonds with local wak’as and (2) to position themselves as intermediaries between these sacred landmarks and their native worshippers, imposing their own perspective and authority. I maintain that Inka colonization focused on the connection with these supernatural entities rather than on the interaction with indigenous communities or the extraction of economic resources for four reasons. For many years, students of Tawantinsuyu paid attention to the economic, bureaucratic, and logistical aspects of Inka colonialism. They understood that control over indigenous labor, exploitation of natural resources, administration of conquered territories, and development of hospitality and exchange with indigenous elites to guarantee the provisioning of labor and goods to imperial settlements (including Cuzco) and projects were the principal Inka strategies in provincial lands. In recent years, the symbolic, cosmological, and ritual aspects of Inka domination have attracted growing interest (Acuto 2005; Bauer and Stanish 2001; Bray 2015b; Farrington 2013; Kosiba 2015a, 2015b; McEwan and van de Guchte 1992; Meddens et al. 2014; Troncoso 2004; van de Guchte 1999, among others). Today a number of scholars understand Inka expansionism as a religious and ontological quest oriented to bring order to chaos (Jennings 2003; Ramírez 2008; Randall 1982; Sillar 2002). This quest caused the Inka to incorporate the sacred (shrines, oracles, pilgrimage centers, paqarinas, apus, public spaces, and so forth), to reorganize ritual practices, to redefine the entities that were

active in the Andean world as well as their agency, status, and power, and to create their own perspective and impose it upon the colonized (Allen 2014). The Inka sought to reorder and resignify the sacred and to have an effect on Andean ontology. They wanted not to change this ontology but to give it a new twist, in which the Inka perspective came first. Inka occupation of the Southern Andes shows the centrality of this quest. Second, by strategically preventing indigenous people from interacting directly with their own wak’as, Tawantinsuyu asserted its authority. During staged ritual performances, the Inka— metaphorically and materially—interposed themselves between local people and their tutelary entities. In these colonial contexts, the Inka became intermediaries who linked indigenous people and their wak’as through their performative bodies and their material devices (usnus). But this authority was emphasized by traveling to and settling in the territory of the wak’a. Knowledge is acquired by direct experiences in Andean Indigenous culture, and vision is central in the construction of social relationships (Allen 2015; Dean 2015). The direct and sequential encounter with the territory, with its material order and its landscape narratives, creates knowledge about the entities that dwell in it and memory about past events, including mythical ones (Abercrombie 1998; Chase 2015; Kosiba 2015a, 2015b)—a past that is in the present. People and nonhuman entities of the Andes acquire knowledge by following paths, visiting places, and seeing: knowledge validated by direct experience gives authority (Allen 2014, 2015). For example, apus controlled the region they were able to see and the people who lived in this region (Allen 2014:76; Dean 2007:506). Events that occur in interior worlds (such as in the underworld), hidden from view, are unknown and therefore difficult to handle. The Inka needed to see the apu (as well as other shrines) and to visit its territory if they hoped to create any kind of interaction and to exercise any type of control over it. Consequently, being with the sacred, knowing the sacred through firsthand experience, expanded Tawantinsuyu’s (powerful) vision and reinforced its weight on the vernacular landscape and on the entities that inhabited it. The Inka applied a similar strategy in ritual contexts: by becoming visual intermediaries, they expressed differences in power and authority. The Inka allowed themselves views of the sacred but hid these views, Sacred Geography, Wak’as, and Inka Colonialism

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as well as views of the interior of Inka buildings, from local participants. Third, by penetrating and settling in the unstable and dangerous territories of wak’as (the counterpoint of the rural and domestic world lived in the valley bottoms) without negative consequences or harm, the Inka showed that they became more than human. Unlike local communities who seem to have avoided these territories or visited them infrequently, taking care to minimize their presence, the Inka branded the lands of the wak’as with their architecture and symbolism. They demonstrated that they were able to tame the supernatural beings, to live together with them, and to speak with them on equal terms. This put the Inka in a different position, as beings constituted by the same substances as the wak’as. Christie (2006) also pointed out the connection between the Inka and rocks and the idea that they both were made of the same substance (the substance of the mountain). According to their myth of origin, Inka ancestors came from rock (in some versions from an opening in a rock outcrop, in others from a rocky cave) and were later transformed back into rocks or stone wak’as. The examples presented here show that Inka architecture expressed the communion between Tawantisuyu and the sacred. The Inka developed a dual building strategy. On the one hand, through architecture they become noticeable in the holy landscape. Their solid structures were built to last. On the other hand, Inka architecture followed the terrain, incorporated natural features, or mimicked the topography. Examples are the massive usnu of Cortaderas and the usnu at La Ciudacita, both adapted to the summit of round knolls; the platform, receptacle, and canal of El Apunao that mimicked the spring and paralleled the river’s flow; the standing rocks at Uña Tambo that mimicked La Uña boulder; and the principal Inka settlement in the middle Calchaquí Valley that imitated native sacred sites. This dual strategy allowed the Inka to mark their presence in the sacred areas and, at the same time, metaphorically show the cosmological relationship between Tawantinsuyu and indigenous sacred landmarks and natural forces. They seem to have sought to amalgamate with local wak’as and to show that they belonged together and were parts of the same whole. The integration of natural rock outcrops into Inka architecture (such as in the cases of Uña Tambo, El Apunao, and La Ciudacita) was a clear material metaphor of the union between 30

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the territory of the wak’as and the Inka as well as a material metaphor of the power of the Inka, who were capable of ordering this wild territory through architecture. As Dean (2007:502) argued, “integrated rock outcrops also served as powerful signs of belonging in a particular locale, and therefore functioned as imperialist claims to the possession and assimilation of new territories.” Fourth, the Inka sought to inscribe themselves into indigenous history and landscapes of memory by appropriating local paqarinas and settling at the head of the apus; dwelling with the tutelary entities; traveling, building, and embedding themselves in places related to vernacular mythical history through architecture and choreographic devices; creating mountain-settlement-wak’as similar to the local ones; and introducing elements of Inka iconography at native rock art sites. Andean Indigenous history is cyclical: the past is lived in the territories in present time. Unlike the Western view, in the Andes the past is ahead because it is known; the future lies behind because it is unknown and cannot be seen. Once the Inka materialized their presence in the landscape they became part of local historical cycles. Citing the work of Rosalind Gow and Bernabé Condori, Randall (1982:49) argued that, for Andean Indigenous people, “the past is always alive and a portion of the present and of the future exist now and always existed.” When settling in or marking indigenous memory landmarks, places of origin, and apus, the Inka became part of the past, what was known, and thus were transformed from foreign invaders to returning ancestors (Acuto 2005). In conclusion, in this systematic (and almost obsessive) search to connect with sacred nonhuman beings, the Inka conducted a deep reordering of the landscape. They appropriated local sacred geography, organized their administrative jurisdictions around local wak’as, positioned themselves as intermediaries between indigenous populations and their own tutelary entities, and attempted to represent themselves as part of local memory and as returning ancestors. In order to accomplish all this, the Inka displaced and resettled indigenous communities, reshaped and reordered native sacred landscapes (both symbolically and materially), usurped and marked their presence in native ceremonial spaces and cosmologically meaningful places, and controlled and redefined the rituals at and pilgrimages to these places.

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Ossio, Juan M. 1996 Symmetry and Asymmetry in Andean Society. Journal of Steward Anthropological Society 24(1–2): 231–248. Raffino, Rodolfo 2004 El Shincal de Quimivil. Sarquís, Catamarca, Argentina. Ramírez, Susan 2008 Negociando el imperio: El Estado Inca como culto. Bulletin de l’Institut Français d’Études Andines 37:5–18. Randall, Robert 1982 Qoyllur Rit’i, an Inca Fiesta of the Pleiades: Reflections on Time and Space in the Andean World. Bulletin de l’Institut Français d’Études Andines 11:37–81. Reinhard, John, and María C. Ceruti 2005 Sacred Mountains, Ceremonial Sites, and Human Sacrifices among the Incas. Archaeoastronomy 19:1–43. Santoro, Calogero, and Mauricio Uribe 2018 Inca Imperial Colonization in Northern Chile. In The Oxford Handbook of the Incas, edited by Sonia Alconini and R. Alan Covey, pp. 355–374. Oxford University Press, New York. Scattolín, María C., and María A. Korstanje 1994 Tránsito y frontera en los Nevados del Aconquija. Revista Arqueología 4:165–197. Schiappacasse, Virgilio, and Hans F. Niemeyer 2002 Ceremonial Inca provincial: El asentamiento de Saguara (Cuenca de Camarones). Chungara 34(1): 53–84. Sepúlveda, Marcela A. 2004 Esquemas visuales y emplazamiento de las representaciones rupestres de camélidos del Loa superior en tiempos incaicos: ¿Una nueva estrategia de incorporación de este territorio al Tawantinsuyu? Chungara 36:439–451. Sillar, Bill 2002 Caminando a través del tiempo: Geografías sagradas en Cacha/Raqchi, departamento del Cuzco (Perú). Revista Andina 35:221–245. Staller, John E. 2008 Dimensions of Place: The Significance of Centers for the Development of Andean Civilization: An Exploration of the Ushnu Concept. In Pre-Columbian Landscapes of Creation and Origin, edited by John E. Staller, pp. 269–314. Springer, New York. Troncoso, Andrés 2004 El arte de la dominación: Arte rupestre y paisaje durante el período incaico en la cuenca superior del Río Aconcagua. Chungara 36:553–561. Uribe, Mauricio 2004 El Inka y el poder como problemas de la arqueología del Norte Grande de Chile. Chungara 36:313–324. van de Guchte, Marteen 1999 The Inca Cognition of Landscape: Archaeology, Ethnohistory, and the Aesthetic of Alterity. In The

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Archaeologies of Landscapes: Contemporary Perspectives, edited by Wendy Ashmore and Arthur Knapp, pp. 149–168. Blackwell, Oxford, UK. Wachtel, Nathan 2001 El regreso de los antepasados: Los indios urus de Bolivia, del siglo XX al XVI. Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico City. Williams, Verónica I. 2000 El Imperio Inka en la Provincia de Catamarca. Intersecciones en Antropología 1:55–78. 2004 Poder estatal y cultura material en el Kollasuyu. Boletín de Arqueología PUCP 8:209–246. 2014 Sociedades prehispánicas tardías en el noroeste argentino: Una aproximación a trayectorias históricas en el Valle Calchaquí durante el Tawantinsuyu. In Ocupación Inka y dinámicas regionales en los Andes (siglos XV–XVII), edited by Claudia Rivera, pp. 123– 154. Instituto Francés de Estudios Andinos, La Paz. Williams, Verónica I., and María B. Cremonte 2013 Paisajes sociales y revalorización de áreas periféricas del noroeste argentino durante la dominación del Tawantinsuyu. In Al borde del imperio: Paisajes sociales, materialidad y memoria en áreas periféricas del noroeste argentino, edited by Verónica I. Williams and María B. Cremonte, pp. 15–35. Sociedad Argentina de Antropología, Buenos Aires. Williams, Verónica I., and María P. Villegas 2013 Colonización estatal en las cuencas de AngastacoMolinos (Salta, Argentina). In Al borde del imperio: Paisajes sociales, materialidad y memoria en áreas periféricas del noroeste argentino, edited by Verónica I. Williams and María B. Cremonte, pp. 221–251. Sociedad Argentina de Antropología, Buenos Aires. Williams, Verónica, María P. Villegas, María S. Gheggi, and María G. Chaparro 2005 Hospitalidad e intercambio en los valles del noroeste argentino. Boletín de Arqueología PUCP 9:335–372. Zanolli, Carlos 2003 Los Chichas como mitimaes del Inca. Relaciones de la Sociedad Argentina de Antropología 28:45–60.

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Chapter 3

Metals for the Inka Mining, Power, and Religion in Qullasuyu Pablo Cruz (Translated by Allison Bigelow)

The southward expansion of the Inka and the consecutive formation of Qullasuyu have principally been studied in relation to the exploitation of the important and varied resources found in the vast region to the south, including the mineral deposits of gold, silver, and copper. However, in addition to the economic aspects of the exploitation of the mines of Qullasuyu, these activities held political, religious, and symbolic relevance that would prove important in the structuring of the empire. Bringing together archaeological data with information from early colonial historical sources, I address the importance of the expansion of the Inka and their establishment in the region in this chapter, focusing on the multiple meanings inherent in the production of metals. The Inka and Qullasuyu

In large part, colonial sources place the geographic expansion of the Inka and the colonization of Qullasuyu in the second half of the fifteenth century, during the reign of either Pachakuti Inka (ca. AD 1438–1471) or his son, Thupa Inka (ca. AD 1471–1493). Regardless of the chronology, the Inka domination of Qullasuyu was more than one event of conquest; it was the result of an extensive process of alliances and conflicts tied to the strategic interests and priorities of each Inka sovereign (see Murra 1986; Pärssinen 2005; Pease 1978; Platt et al. 2006). This process of conquest and colonization would have been consolidated, as the historical sources indicate, during the reign of Thupa Inka in the final quarter of the fifteenth century. In other words, the extension and limits of the southern quadrant of the Inka Empire were not very well defined. Significant differences exist in the information provided by colonial sources and the analyses of historians. The majority of colonial 35

writers agree that Qullasuyu was composed of 12 or 13 ethnic regions integrated under common rule and connected linguistically and culturally to the Collao sphere, which extended from south of Cuzco to the territory of Chichas. It was limited on the south by Tucumán and the southwest by Chile, both regions that were under the dominion of the Inka.1 The intensity of the Inka presence in these southern regions, according to colonial authors such as Solórzano y Pereira (1972 [1648]:70), led to their integration within Qullasuyu. According to these authors, the southern borders were ultimately expanded to the Río Maule in Chile, the Cuyo region of Argentina, and the eastern frontier of the plains of Chaco, also in modern-day Argentina. These different geographic assessments do not stem from incorrect interpretations of Indigenous accounts or from faulty readings of the documents. They reflect a Qullasuyu whose story (beyond which regions have been considered more central or more “peripheral”) was much more complex and ambiguous with respect to both the temporalities of the intensity of Inka colonization and the relationships of alliance and domination observed in the region. For this reason, I focus here on the parts of Qullasuyu that were later identified with the jurisdiction of Charcas, in present-day Bolivia. This is one of the principal mining regions of the Andes. Mining was a critically constitutive and fundamentally inseparable component in the formation of local landscapes and identities. To analyze the southern expansion of the Inka and the formation of Qullasuyu, it is necessary first to understand their connections to this particular geographic space. Indeed, various sources locate the mythic origins of the Inka in the area surrounding Lake Titicaca, a region that, as we shall see, maintained a special status within the structure of the empire. Colonial sources (at least those that we might reasonably consider reliable, such as Betanzos 1992 [1551]:51; Pizarro 1986 [1571]:45; and Cobo 1964 [1653]:62) refer to an Inka narrative that situates the mythical or ancestral origin of the Inka along the shores of Titicaca or in Tiwanaku. From there, they are said to have migrated to Tampu T’uqu and Cuzco. However, archaeological evidence from Caquiviri in Pacajes, located south of Titicaca, demonstrates the existence of ceramic styles and Inka architecture one century before the southern expansion of the Inka and their subsequent colonization of Qullasuyu (Pärssinen 2005; 36

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Pärssinen and Siiriäinen 1997). Thus, it is probable that the Inka-style ceramics found in Caquiaviri, including the Inka style known as “cuzqueño,” date to a time before the appearance of the Inka in the Cuzco area (Pärssinen and Siiriäinen 1997:266). This chronological gap might be explained by the theory offered by Julien (1993:190–198) on the influence of these ceramic styles of Titicaca on Inka patterns from Cuzco. This early southward expansion of the Inka appears to be corroborated in a recent study (Marsh et al. 2017) in which groups of radiocarbon and thermoluminescence dates from 10 sites with Inka occupations in Mendoza (Argentina) were analyzed using a Bayesian model, giving results that indicate an Inka presence in the region from 1350 to 1440. Without minimizing the importance of these results, I argue that they alone are not sufficient to confirm such an early Inka “occupation” of the region around Mendoza. Instead, these results appear to reinforce the idea that Inka expansion was an extended process that occurred over time and laid the groundwork for the later conquest and colonization of the region. Likewise, the results of comparative studies of mitochondrial DNA obtained from skeletal remains found in Cuzco and the regions surrounding Lake Titicaca suggest a genetic link between the two populations (Shinoda 2015). Finally, new ethnolinguistic analysis argues that Puquina, the language associated with the Collao realm and the Titicaca region, was the ancestral language of the Inka, intimately associated with the empire (Bouysse-Cassagne 2010; Cerrón Palomino 2012, 2013) and considered a “divine language,” according to some sources (Garcilaso de la Vega 1943 [1609]:88). This body of historical sources and new scholarship suggests that the conquest and annexation of Qullasuyu must have been more than a simple acquisition of new territory and resources for the Inka. Rather, it represented a return to their place of origin, to the place from which their mythical ancestors had first set out. This connection was reflected in the symbolic relevance of these southern regions within the structure of the empire. The region was home to several religious enclaves, including Copacabana, Isla del Sol, and Tiwanaku itself. In fact, Ramos Gavilán (1976 [1621]:20) relates that Thupa Inka had traveled to Isla del Sol to pay reverence to the supreme deity of the Qulla (Bouysse-Cassagne 2010:296) before the Inka annexation of Qullasuyu. But the Inka did not only

recognize these sites for their religious value and pay respect to the deities and wak’as of Qullasuyu. Rather, their cults were adopted and officialized within the structure of the empire. For example, Qhapaq Qulla, the priest of the Sun in the religious centers of Lake Titicaca, participated actively in the construction of the Qurikancha (principle Inka temple; Coricancha, Qorikancha) and several buildings (aposentos) of the wak’a of Pacha Yachachiq and the deity of Lightning (Bouysse-Cassagne 2010:295). The Inka conquest and colonization of southern Andean space was also related to the high esteem for metals, which were intimately incorporated into the consolidation of political and religious power. It is worth recalling that the major sources of metallic minerals and the most sophisticated development of metallurgical technologies required to process them were at this time found in the Southern Andean highlands, northern Chile, and northwestern Argentina. The Titicaca region, ancestral origin of the Inka and the home of their most important religious centers, would have been the portal into an expansive landscape full of these valuable resources. As Santos Escobar (1984, 1987) notes, under the reign of Thupa Inka, the administration of Qullasuyu established at Lake Titicaca was controlled by the panaqa (royal lineage; panaca, panaka) of Wiraqucha, called the Suqsu Panaqa. Apu Inka Sucsu, as a member of this panaqa, was named governor and high priest of the Templo del Sol of Titicaca; he was followed by his son, Apu Challku Yupanki, during the reign of Wayna Qhapaq. These governors of the Suqsu Panaqa served as the representatives of the Inka and the religious and economic structure of Qullasuyu and thus controlled the mines and metallurgical operations that stretched from south of Cuzco to Chile (Bouysse-Cassagne 2008). The Inka in the Mines of the Southern Andes

As Berthelot (1978:950–952) indicated, the Inka and the Sun possessed mines in nearly all of the provinces of Qullasuyu. The primary gold mines worked by the Inka, largely composed of alluvial deposits, were found in the following regions: Carabaya in the extreme northwest of the province of Puno; Chuquiago in Omasuyos de Pacajes; Tipuani in Larecaja; and Río San Juan in southern Chichas. Apart from these important gold deposits, the lands

located to the south of Titicaca were above all celebrated for their numerous rich deposits of silver minerals—some of the most extensive deposits in the known world. Documentary sources reveal a long list of silver mines worked by the Inka in this region: Porco, Potosí, Chayanta, Berenguela de Pacajes, Oruro, and Saipurú (bordering the Bolivian Chaco region) are among the most studied. These sources also tell us about the copper mines worked by the Inka, although they are viewed as less important. These include the mines of Curahuara and Caquingora, both in the Pacajes region. Ongoing prospecting in different Bolivian mining districts allows us to confirm information from colonial sources about mines worked by the Inka. As we engage in this work, we are also recording mines that were not included in colonial documents, such as Cerro Cuzco, Corocoro, Saitoco, and Calilegua. Combining information from colonial records with data from archaeological research provides a better understanding of the scale and intensity of mining activity in this part of Qullasuyu (figure 3.1, table 3.1). We also better understand the contours of the region itself; this new research indicates that the mining landscape of Qullasuyu included the eastern slope of the Andes, if we count the Saipurú and Calilegua (Cruz and Guillot 2010) mines located along the Chaco border. Two factors are relevant for understanding the ways in which the Inka exploited the mines of the Southern Andes. First, these mines were exploited by the Inka and many different local societies that preceded them, albeit on a smaller operational scale than during the colonial period. Consequently, the Inka would have considered the size of the deposit less important than the kind of mineral, the labor required to extract ore, and questions related to the worship of the wak’a. Second, the Inka did not carry out large-scale and significant prospecting but continued to exploit mines that had been worked before their arrival and in some cases intensified production at those mines. For example, previous Tiwanaku occupations and others associated with the Intermediate Period have been registered at the copper mines of Corocoro and the silver mines of Oruro, while the mines of Potosí, Porco, Berenguela, Chaquí, Saitoco, and others are located very near occupations from the Late Intermediate Period (Cruz et al. 2017). Significantly, recent studies in the Bay of Puno, on the northern shore of Lake Titicaca, provide evidence that metallurgy for silver Mining, Power, and Religion in Qullasuyu

37

Figure 3.1. Inka mines and metallurgical sites: 1. Chuquiago, 2. Corocoro, 3. Berenguela,

4. Caquingora, 5. Ulloma, 6. Curahuara, 7. Tipuani, 8. Oruro, 9. Chayanta, 10. Salinas Garci Mendoza, 11. Saitoco, 12. Cerro Cuzco, 13. Tholapampa, 14. Cerro Ubina, 15. Porco, 16. Potosí, 17. Salinas de Yocalla, 18. Andacava, 19. Chaquí, 20. Piquiza, 21. Malmisa, 22. Maragua, 23. Quiquijana, 24. Aquillane, 25. Chocaya, 26. Chilco, 27. Esmoraca, 28. Talina, 29. Tupiza, 30. Guayco Seco, 31. Abitanis, 32. Calilegua, 33. Saipurú, P. Pulac 050 site.

production, including refining procedures, was developed at the beginning of the Common Era (Schultze 2013). Meanwhile, the Inka did begin work at other sites in the region, such as the mines registered at the top of the Cerro Cuzco or those found in the Cerro Fundición in Calilegua, two sites that are directly related to important high-altitude shrines (Cruz 2010a; Cruz and Jara 2011; Cruz et al. 2013). In the majority of cases observed in the region, Inka mining followed superficial veins of minerals and worked through small exploitations, which 38

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tended to be shallow and narrow, largely following the model of vertical shafts or trenches. Nevertheless, several probable Inka mines identified in Oruro, in Cerro Fundición, and possibly in Guayco Seco (San Antonio del Nuevo Mundo) have larger, deeper galleries. Likewise, at Cerro Apu Porco we have identified different vertical shaft mines, one of which registered 30 m in depth (Cruz 2009, 2013). Importantly, the material extracted from the host rock of these shaft mines was employed in the construction of a crown-shaped platform that surrounded the site. Among the mines studied,

Table 3.1. Inka mines identified in the study area Mine

Mineral

Chronology

Evidence

Ceramic styles

Cult

Sources

Berenguela

Ag

L, C

D and A

I, P, C

–

1, 7, 15

Corocoro

Cu

MH, LI, L, R

A

T, I, P, A

–

7

Caquingora

Au

LI, L, C, R

D

–

–

1, 9

Chuquiago

Au

L

D

–

–

1, 10, 11, 12

Yulloma

Au

L

D

–

–

1

Curahuara

Ag

L

D

–

–

1

Larecaja

Tipuani

Au

L

D

–

–

1, 8, 14

Sora

Oruro

Ag

MH, LI, L, C, R

D and A

T, I, P, A

W, SH

17 and others

Quillacas Intersalar Region

Saitoco

Cu

LI, L

A

I, R

SH

–

Garci Mendoza

Ag

LI, L, C, R

A

I, P, R, A

SH

–

Charcas

Chayanta

Ag

P

D

–

–

1, 13

Potosí

Ag

LI, L, C, R

D and A

I, P, C, Q, T, R

W, H

1, 2, 3, and others

Porco

Ag

LI, L, C, R

D and A

I, P, C, Q, T

W, H, S

1, 2, 3, and others

Piquiza

Ag

P, C, R

D

–

SH

1, 3, 4

Malmisa

Ag

P, C, R

D

–

SH

4, 5

Maragua

Ag

P, C, R

D

–

SH

4

Salinas

Ag

LI, L, C

D and A

I, P, C, Q, A, R

W

1, 2

Chaquí

Ag

LI, L, C, R

D and A

I, P, C, Q, A, R

W, SH

1, 2, 3

Tolapampa

Ag

L, C, R

A

I, A

SH

Andacava

Ag

LI, L, C, R

D and A

I, P, C, Q, A

SH

1, 2, 3

Cerro Ubina

Ag

P, C

D and A

I, P, A, R

H, SH

1, 3

Cerro Cuzco

Ag

L

A

I, A, R

H, SH

–

Chocaya

Ag

L, C, R

D and A

I, A, R

–

1, 3, 6

Chilco

Au

P

D

–

–

1, 3

Talina

Au

P

D

–

–

2, 3, 5

Tupiza

Au

P, L

D

–

–

3, 5

Esmoraca

Au

P, L

D

–

–

1, 3

Abitanis

Ag

L

D

–

–

1

Guayco Seco

Ag

L, C

D and A

I, P, C, A, R

W, H

1, 5 (?)

Apoquiquijana

Au

LI, L

D and A

I, Y, R

W, S, H

4

Aquillane

Ag

P

D

–

SH

4

Saipurú

Ag, Cu

L

D and A

I, R, Y

–

16

Fundición Calilegua

Ag

L

A

I, R

H

–

Region

Pacajes

Porco

Chichas

Lípez

Yampara Eastern Andes Slope

Table 3.1. Inka mines identified in the study area (cont.) Minerals: Ag: silver, Au: gold, Cu: copper. Chronology: MH: Middle Horizon, LI: Late Intermediate, L: Late, C: Colonial, R: Republican, P: Prehispanic (general). Evidence: D: only in documentary sources, D and A: documentary sources and archaeology, A: only archaeology. Prehispanic pottery styles: I: Inka, P: Pacajes, C. Chilpe, Q. Qaraqara, A: Colla or Altiplánico, Y: Yampara-Presto-Puno, T: Tiwanaku, R: other regional styles. Cult: H: high-altitude Inka shrine, S: regional sanctuary, SH: sacred hill, W: wak’a. Sources: 1: Barba 1640, 2: Capoche 1585, 3: Cañete and Domínguez 1791, 4: Calancha 1638, 5: Vázquez de Espinosa 1629, 6: Mendoza 1629, 7: Mercado de Peñaloza 1583, 8: Cieza de León 1553, 9: Cobo 1653,10: Pizarro 1571, 11: Murúa 1613, 12: Sancho de Hoz 1535, 13: Garcilazo de la Vega 1609, 14: Torres 1657, 15: Ulloa 1748, 16: Alcaya 1600, 17: Felipe de Godoy 1606.

Oruro is particularly important, not only because of very precise documentary references to it but also because the site has been conserved in a kind of fossilized mining landscape. The report of Felipe de Godoy (Pauwels 1999), written in 1607 in regard to the official founding of the Villa de San Felipe de Austria, known today as the city of Oruro, offers a detailed description of the mineral mountains, veins, and mines that were known at the time. Godoy records at least 22 veins that were worked in ancient times by “Indians” and Inka, many of which were in disarray, obscured, and obstructed. Confirming these reports, all of the mountains of Oruro reveal numerous mine sites whose characteristics (small dimensions, lack of evidence of iron tools, and, to a lesser extent, red-hued or blackened walls) clearly distinguish them from later operations in the colonial and postindependence periods. In large part, these follow surface-level veins in thin lines that usually measure 0.5–1.5 m across and 0.5–5 m deep. Less often, small exploitations in shallow pits are found, such as linear troughs that range from 10 to 30 cm wide and 0.5 to 2 m deep (figure 3.2). Significantly, many of these trenches show signs of siltation, which confirms reports that such mines were later “covered up” (Cruz et al. 2017). Finally, rustic living quarters observed in close proximity to the mine sites in Oruro, Cerro Kari Kari (Potosí), and the peak of Cerro Cuzco suggest temporary or occasional mining camps. In the case of Cerro Cuzco, these structures, associated with high-altitude shrines, were dated by AMS (Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) to 465 +/- 30 BP, which corresponds to the calendar range of 1400–1465 AD (95.4 percent probability) and with the southern expansion of the Inka (Cruz et al. 2013) (figure 3.3). The mines of Cerro Fundición in Calilegua are found approximately 4 km from the Pueblito site, an Inka complex located midway along a path (Cruz 2010a). 40

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Complexes and Metallurgical Devices

Prehispanic mining in the Southern Andean region in general principally involved the exploitation of shallow ores. Metallurgy, in contrast, reached a high level of technological development. This sophistication is on full display at the site Pulac 050, a metallurgical complex located on the eastern edge of the Uyuni salt flat, dating to the ninth to thirteenth centuries AD (Cruz 2010b; Lechtman et al. 2012). This complex processed silver and copper extracted from the Pulacayo mine. It was composed of different sectors and workspaces, and archaeological evidence reveals that it once housed over 40 different metallurgical combustion structures. Among the devices recorded at the site was a complex, large-scale furnace (H1) composed of three chambers; two of these probably had domed covers, one of which contained two suspended shelving structures with ventilation ducts (figure 3.4; plate 3). Unlike the central Andes, where most prehispanic metallic objects were produced by sheet hammering (see Lechtman 1996, 2014), refiners in the Southern Andes employed different procedures, including casting. These techniques can be observed in the diverse forms of tin-bearing bronze objects and in fragments of molds and crucibles found in northwestern Argentina (González 2004) and northern Chile (Figueroa et al. 2013). It is clear from recent archaeological research together with information from certain colonial texts, like that of Álvaro Alonso Barba, that the Southern Andean region was a specialized and technologically diversified zone of prehispanic mining activity, with a variety of ovens used in the reduction of minerals and to refine already obtained ores. Among the devices employed, Andean wind ovens have received special attention in the literature. This category of refining device includes wayras (smelting furnaces, also called wayrachinas) as well as benchlike structures

a

b

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Figure 3.2. Prehispanic mines identified in sector 1 of Cerro San Felipe, Oruro, Bolivia: (a) and (b) mining cuts; (c) plan view.

called banquetas, which were used in the reduction of silver, lead, and copper minerals (figure 3.5). Wayra ovens were tubular combustion structures composed of piled stones, stones and mortar, or stones and clay; their walls contain a series of openings that serve to ventilate the oven. Examples of this type of oven have been recorded at Inka metallurgical sites in Bolivia such as Oruro, Potosí, Porco, and Jirira (Cruz and Téreygeol 2014; Van Buren and Mills 2005) and

at sites like Miño and Viña del Cerro in northern Chile (Salazar, Berenguer, and Vega 2013). Ovens recorded in Rincón Chico, Quillay, and Encrucijada in the Valliserrana region of Northwest Argentina are probably of the same origin (González 2010; Raffino et al. 1996; Rodríguez Orrego 1979). New evidence from experimental archaeometallurgy sheds light on these operations. Experimental smelting in wayra ovens, recorded in material sources from Potosí and Porco, allowed for Mining, Power, and Religion in Qullasuyu

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Figure 3.3. Plan view of the Inka mining camp located at the top of Cerro Cuzco, associated with mining cuts and a high-

altitude shrine.

the reconstruction of the operational sequence of silver-lead mineral processing. Researchers noted the high efficiency of these operations with respect to metallic output, given relatively low uses of fuel (Téreygeol and Cruz 2014) (figure 3.6; plate 4). Banquetas, the bench metallurgical structures also called “large stone wind-powered furnaces” (Mille et al. 2013:8-9), were rustic devices built of stone or mortar and stone, situated atop rocks, on small platforms, or directly above the ground. Although these are not described in colonial documents, they have been identified in metallurgical installations in the Intersalar region,2 where an Inka presence is documented. These types of metallurgical structures have also been identified at the sites of Ujina 8 and Ujina 10, which formed one of the principal metallurgical centers operated by the Inka in Chile (Figueroa et al. 2016; Mille et al. 2013). Recent experiments in the reduction of copper minerals in this type of device revealed that, despite the rustic nature of these ovens, their capacity is similar to that of wayras and at times surpasses them, reaching 800° and 900°C with winds below 1 meter per second (m/s) and more than 1200° with a wind speed of only 3 m/s. Although we have not yet found solid evidence in Inka contexts, we know that one type of reverberatory oven with natural ventilation systems, formed by a fire chamber and chimneys separated from a work chamber, was used extensively from the earliest moments of Spanish contact in the region. This rapid adaptation suggests prehispanic 42

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origins for the technology. It is worth recalling that the first references to this type of oven appear in Europe in the late seventeenth century, probably when this kind of Native American technology was brought to the Old World by Spanish metallurgical experts who had significant experience in the Andes, such as Barba. Colonial sources testify that these kinds of reverberatory ovens were found in the majority of mining communities that have been studied in Bolivia; several of these, such as Potosí, Porco, Berenguela, and Chocaya, are associated with Inka ceramic styles. A miniature model of this kind of oven was identified by Barba (1770 [1640]) as a tocochimpo, used to refine metals.3 Finally, we know that the Inka employed different types and models of metallurgical ovens in other regions of Qullasuyu. For example, in the metallurgical center of Quillay, located in the Valliserrana region of northeastern Argentina, the remains of at least 32 types of tubular ovens were found; these probably were forms of pit furnaces (Raffino et al. 1996). Notably, one model of this kind of oven contains interior benches with ventilation conduits (Spina and Giovannetti 2014), similar to the H1 furnace from the Pulac 050 site. The importance of the metallurgical knowledge and technologies put into practice by the different yet interconnected Inka societies in the Qullasuyu region was evident both in the spatial and technological continuities at the majority of known Inka metallurgical establishments and (contrary to what is often assumed about imperial structures)

Figure 3.4 (Plate 3). Plan view of sector 1 (top) of the pre-Inka site Pulac 050 (Escara, Uyuni) and photograph of furnace H1

from the same site (bottom).

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d

Figure 3.5. Wayras and other metallurgical features: (a) and (b) bases of wayras associated with the prehispanic mines at

Oruro, Bolivia; (c) a metallurgical feature on a bench, Saitoco, Intersalar region, Bolivia; (d) fragments of wayras from the mining centers of Potosí, Porco, and Oruro, Bolivia.

in the regional or intraregional variation seen at these complexes. For example, while Inka-operated wayras in Oruro were found in close proximity to the mines, Inka metallurgical installations in Potosí (like Tika Loma and Guaynacabra, which operated with wayra ovens) were found at great distances from the Cerro Rico of Potosí. Meanwhile, in the Jirira on the northern bank of the Uyuni salt flat, researchers have identified a small Inka metallurgical establishment where copper minerals were reduced using wayras built from clay and crucibles were used to refine the metals obtained from reduction. This complex is notably different in scale and technology from the two metallurgical installations identified at sites in the same Intersalar 44

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region (Saitoco and Loma Bajala). Both are associated with Inka ceramics but use only rustic interior banquetas to reduce minerals. Finally, the dispersed installations and small metallurgical establishments of the Inka registered in various regions of Bolivia contrast with well-known complexes and metallurgical centers of northern Argentina such as Rincón Chico and Quillay (González 2010; Raffino et al. 1996; Spina and Giovannetti 2014) or Miño, Ujina-Collahuasi, and Viña del Cerro in northern Chile (Niemeyer 1986; Niemeyer et al. 1983; Salazar, Berenguer, and Vega 2013). It is worth recalling that the metallurgical establishments identified in the north of Chile were also regional centers (Salazar, Berenguer, and Vega 2013:97–100).

Alliances, Mitmaqkuna, and Yanaconas

Colonial documents suggest that the Inka gained access to mines that had been operational before their arrival not only through mechanisms of imperial conquest and domination. This was the case among the Charka nations: unlike the people of Collao, they forged solid alliances and participated as warriors for the Inka in the conquest of Ecuador (Espinoza Soriano 2003; Platt et al. 2006:78, 81). Such alliances would have allowed the Inka to access important silver mines, such as those found in Porco, Potosí, and Oruro, among many other regions. The 1600 account of Felipe de Alcaya (in Meyer and Combès 2011:241) refers to an alliance formed between the Inka Guancané in Samaipata and Grigotá, lord of “fifty thousand Indians,” who was probably from the Chané people. He, in turn, informed the Inka about the location of silver and copper mines in Saipurú as well as gold deposits in Pampa Guanaco. Meanwhile, various sources suggest that the mines and metallurgical complexes in Charcas and Collao would have been administratively subject to various district and regional centers, many of which were in the capitals of other ethnic enclaves. Such was the case of the mines “revealed” by the Coya Cusihuracay connected with Vilcabamba, the mines of Saipurú and Pampa Guanaco linked to the mines of Samaipata, and the mines of Oruro tied to the center of Paria, the previous capital of the Sura. The mines of Porco were associated with the capital of the Wisijsa. Finally, the mines of Potosí were connected with those of

Chaquí, one of the heads of the Qaraqara people; the mines of Quillaca and the Intersalar region perhaps were associated with the Tambo de Sevaruyo (figure 3.7). Cieza de León (2005 [1553]:342) tells us that the Inka placed in their most important regional centers “temples of the Sun and refineries and many silversmiths, who during all this time never seemed to understand anything other than how to work rich pieces of gold and great vessels of silver.”4 As indicated at the beginning of this chapter, other sources suggest that these regional centers were subject to the administration of members of the Suqsu Panaqa of Wiraqucha, who governed the region of Qullasuyu on behalf of the Inka. Nevertheless, in the same process observed in agrarian production, the Inka and Sun—and probably also Lightning—possessed their own mines located throughout Qullasuyu. For example, the Inka Wayna Qhapaq and Vila Oma (supreme priest; Willaq Umu) exploited their own silver mines in the mountain of Porco,5 while the mountains of Potosí and Tarapacá had silver mines dedicated to the Sun (Bouysse-Cassagne 2004, 2008). Another relevant aspect of Inka exploitation of mines and metal production in this region of Qullasuyu was the empire’s use of the labor of mitmaqkuna, workers brought from other regions, most often Collao. For example, according to Alcaya (1961 [1600]), to work the mines of Saipurú and Pampa Guanaco, Guancané first brought a contingent of 1,000 mitmaqkuna Indians from the Andean highlands, followed after by another 5,000. According to the statements of Coya Cusihuarcay,

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b

c

Figure 3.6 (Plate 4). Photographs of functioning experimental wind-powered furnaces (note the different emanations of

light and color): (a) processing copper mineral in a stone-walled wayra; (b) structure on a bench processing copper mineral; (c) clay wayra processing argentiferous lead.

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Figure 3.7. Tambo de Sevaruyo, Oruro, Bolivia. Note how one of the openings frames Cerro Cuzco.

Sayri Thupa, the son of Manqu Inka Yupanki, had 4,500 Qulla at his service to work in the mines of Qullasuyu. The Inka brought an important group of mitmaqkuna laborers from the Qulla towns of Asillo, Azángaro, and Ñuñoa to the Carabaya mine (Berthelot 1978:952–953; Bouysse-Cassagne 2005:448). This kind of relocation may also explain how mitmaqkuna from Pakasa and Lupaqa arrived in the areas surrounding Potosí and how 4,000 Aymara miners came to the province of Lípez, as reported by Juan Machuca (1992 [1581]:30) for this region. With respect to the mines of Porco, Saignes (1981:157) refers to the presence of Lupaqa mitmaqkuna who most likely mined the site before the arrival of the Spaniards. Confirming these reports of the migration and relocation, in most of the Inka mining and metallurgical enclaves in Potosí, Oruro, Lípez, and Pacajes, we have observed a considerable amount of ceramics in the Pacajes, Chilpe, and Colla or Altiplánico styles (Cruz and Téreygeol 2014). The relation between the Inka and the people of the Collao with respect to mining and metal production not only was maintained in the first years of Spanish colonization but increased exponentially. 46

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We know from a document written in 1548 (Espinoza Soriano 1972:1) that some five hundred of these Indigenous workers were working for an encomendero in the region of Carabaya before going to Potosí, at a gold mine previously worked by the Inka. In early 1550 a notable contingent of indigenous mitmaqkuna originally from Copacabana was found in Potosí (Archivo General de Indias, Charcas, Justicia, 24.38.1; Espinoza Soriano 1972:14). Over time, with the increase in silver mining in Potosí, the contingents of Indigenous laborers originating from Collao multiplied. An ordenanza (ordinance) from 1571 (Cabrera 1571; Cruz and Téreygeol 2014), which referred to “yanaconas” (Indigenous laborers) as “guayradores” and “chojadores” who were found working in Potosí,6 showed that Indigenous workers came from 77 towns within the Andean Altiplano (49 of them in Collao and the Cuzco region). Notably, the law ordered that these yanaconas labor under the supervision of 42 alcaldes de doctrinas (mayors of church doctrines): the caciques and principal leaders of Collao during the Inka rule, as well as various members of the Inka elite who lived in and around Potosí.

Material records confirm the report in the document. Ceramic fragments in Inka, Colla, Chilpe, and Late Qolla I and Late Qolla II styles, all of which are connected with communities in the Collao (Cruz and Téreygeol 2014), were found associated with the remains of colonial-era wayra ovens in the mountains surrounding the city of Potosí (figure 3.8; plate 5). Likewise, in the region known as Jesús Valle, located just north of the city, a pottery workshop connected to the Inka was found and excavated, which contained ceramics in Late Qolla I and II styles (Cruz and Absi 2008). As seen in Potosí, in various other mining centers, such as Porco, Chaquí, Chocaya, Tatasi, San Antonio de Lípez, Garci Mendoza, Oruro, and Berenguela de Pacajes, researchers have found ceramic styles that are associated with the Inka and with Andean communities from the Lake Titicaca region (Cruz and Téreygeol 2014). Colonial documents provide other sources of evidence. According to Dávila’s report (1573), during the first years of the Spanish presence in the region, members of the Indigenous elite held rights to the mines of the Cerro Rico of Potosí. For example, Carlos Ynga, son of Paullu and nephew of Wayna Qhapaq, held rights to the mine named Veta del Estaño, while an Indian named Sacaca (possibly Juan Sacaca, a leader of Hilave) held claim to the Hinojosa mine, and a man named Quispe laid claim to the Trinidad mine. A few years later, Capoche (1959 [1585]) listed the names of 37 Indigenous holders of mine claims (31 on the Cerro Rico of Potosí and 6 not far from the Villa Imperial). The overwhelming majority of these Indigenous miners were originally from Collao and Cuzco, and they included some members of the Inka elite, such as Juan Yupanqui. The many laborers from the Collao and Cuzco areas who came to mine in Potosí during these first few decades undoubtedly formed the foundation upon which some members of the Inka nobility carved out a space of power and increased their wealth within the Spanish colonial regime. Their presence also suggests the deep experience of certain Indigenous miners in all aspects of mine work and the use of metallurgical ovens, in contrast with the lack of experience among Spanish colonists, and the low technical competencies of enslaved Africans and other Indigenous communities, such as the Uru, in these areas (Cruz and Téreygeol 2014). The esteem for the abilities of the Qulla and Aymara workers in metal production in

Potosí led to their overrepresentation in the mit’a (labor tribute obligation). Within a short time, their communities suffered significant population loss. This loss of life in Qulla and Aymara communities resulted in dramatic changes throughout the region, as confirmed by archaeological evidence found by Juan Albarracín-Jordán (1996) in the Tiwanaku region and by Bandy and Janusek (2005) in the Taraco peninsula. Miners and Worship in Qullasuyu

The production of metallic minerals in Inka times was actively and directly connected to the worship of mountains, which were considered to be physical manifestations of divine forces, if not divine in and of themselves. But beyond their intrinsic conditions, the symbolic worth of metals was in large measure related to the characteristics of the mountain wak’a who provided the minerals formed in its subterranean realm. In this way, Cieza de León (2005 [1553]:269) relates that the walls of the Qurikancha in Cuzco were decorated with sheets of native silver extracted from the mine-sanctuary of Porco, which was also utilized to construct the dais that Inka Wayna Qhapaq used when departing for battle (Ocaña 1969:445). This relationship was likewise expressed in well-studied Inka sanctuaries and sites of worship found high in the mountains. These were not only located almost entirely within the jurisdiction of Qullasuyu but also mainly found on mountains with deposits of metallic ores, many of which housed ancient mines (Cruz 2013). The religious character of these mineral mountains sacralized by the Inka is also expressed in their names, many of which refer directly or indirectly to divine figures or sacred spaces. For example, the mountains of Porco, Tanga Tanga, Potosí, Llipi, Illapa, Churuquella, and others are connected to the Lightning god. Likewise, Tunupa mountain is associated with the hero founder of the people from Lake Titicaca, Cerro Cuzco is associated with the capital of the Inka Empire, and one of the most important Inka siq’is crosses the Quiquijana mountain. Notably, many of the names of these sites are shared with mountains located in other regions, all of which are revered as sacred space by the Inka (Cruz 2009). These connections did not go unobserved by colonial church fathers, who alerted their officials Mining, Power, and Religion in Qullasuyu

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a

b

c

Figure 3.8 (Plate 5). The Inka at Potosí: (a) painting of the Virgen del Cerro (anonymous, eighteenth century, Casa de la

Moneda, Potosí) and area of detail showing the Inka Wayna Qhapaq on the slopes of Cerro Potosí, an allusion to the myth of the discovery of the silver mountain; (b) Wayna Qhapaq carries a sling with a gold projectile (illa, chukirumin), attributes of the prehispanic Lightning deity associated with the germination of the mines; (c) Inka sherds located at the site of Jesús Valle, north of the city of Potosí.

to the Indigenous miners’ devotion to mountains in terms like these: “also those who go to the silver or mercury mines or other metals worship the mountains and mines and beg them to give them metal, and for this they hold vigils throughout the night, drinking and dancing” (Alcobaza 1603:64).7 Mining 48

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cults extended to refineries, many of which were located in close proximity to the same mountain wak’as, where they worshipped metallurgical ovens and the metals that such ovens produced. Without doubt, the religious nature of mineral processing itself played a role in these religious practices.

Perhaps closer to magic or alchemy, these refining complexes were spaces in which elements extracted from the entrails of the earth were transformed through a series of treatments that radiated changes in sounds, colors, smells, and light (figure 3.6; plate 4). As Bouysse-Cassagne (2004, 2005, 2008) has analyzed in great detail, many of these sites and centers of worship associated with metal production were connected to the Sun. In fact, many of the most important pre-Columbian mines, such as those of Carabaya, Porco, Potosí, and Tarapacá, had veins reserved for the Sun (Berthelot 1978; Bouysse-Cassagne 2004, 2005, 2008). Nevertheless, many other accounts from sources link mining and metal production to the panAndean Lightning deity. The image of this divine figure was of a celestial shepherd-warrior wielding a warak’a (sling; huaraca) and a club (Murúa 1961 [1613]:109). The projectile thrown by Illapa, one of the deity’s names, caused metals to form underground when the fertilizing object made contact with the earth (Bouysse-Cassagne and Bouysse 2006:2; Ziółkowski 1984:49–52). Much like the Sun and Wiraqucha, the Inka understood the Lightning god as a three-part deity: Illapa (Lightning), Chuquilla (Lightning Bolt), and Catuilla (Thunder). All of these names contain the word illa (ylla), which signifies shine or brightness; this term suggests the metallic projectile that Illapa casts upon the earth and the illas or mamas, celebrated in colonial times as well as today, as the source of mineral generation (Absi 2005:84; Bouysse-Cassagne 2005:447; Murúa 1961 [1613]). Colonial writers like Guaman Poma de Ayala (1989 [1615]:265) suggest that Illapa was also known by the name Curi Caccha, which could be translated as “golden brilliance,” another allusion to the metallic projectile that the deity casts upon the earth. Betanzos (1992 [1551]:314) notes that Caccha “es el nombre del ídolo de las batallas” (is the name of their god of warfare). This name, which in the Puquina language is perhaps more accurately translated as “fire of the sky,” is associated with volcanoes; these, in turn, are connected with the generation of metals and the figure of Tunupa (Bouysse-Cassagne and Bouysse 2006), one of the principal deities of the high-mountain Qulla who is celebrated as the master of celestial fire and earthly water. In fact, today Tunupa is considered by Aymara people to be the deity of Thunder and Lightning, a convergence with the figure of Illapa

(Wachtel 1989:854). As we saw at the beginning of this chapter, worshippers of this deity in the regions surrounding Lake Titicaca considered themselves “children” and “descendants” of the Lightning deity (see Avendaño 1648:111; Hernández Príncipe 1923 [1621]). It is not strange that the Inka also recognized this deity, as they traced their ancestral origins to this very region. In fact, Vila Oma (Willaq Umu), the captain and high priest of the Sun at the time of the Spanish conquest, who had worked the mines that he possessed in Porco, was also called “the son of Thunder” (see Cobo 1964 [1653]:224). Moreover, Pachakuti Inka, who would go on to organize the Empire of the Sun and establish the worship of wak’as, also considered Illapa to be his wawqi (huaque, wawqe), meaning his twin or spiritual double (Ziółkowski 1984). This is perhaps why Pachakuti Inka was represented in the illustrations in Guaman Poma de Ayala (1989 [1615]:108) and Murúa (2004 [1590]: chap. 11) as brandishing a club with a shiny projectile, known as a chukirumin (brilliant stone; chuquirumin), in the image and likeness of the Lightning deity (figure 3.8b; plate 5b). In Potosí and its surrounding towns, the Lightning deity was likewise related to Porco, a name that designated a mountain wak’a and a mine sanctuary. Even the name of Potosí is related to this deity, derived from the Quechua term for “loud, disruptive sound” (potocchi, which means “that which violently erupts”). The mountain announced itself with that sound to Inka Wayna Qhapaq, in one of the most widely diffused myths of its discovery. The sound was thunderous, coming from the center of the earth as one of the physical manifestations of the tripartite Lightning deity. Notably, the two best-known versions of the painting of the Virgen del Cerro reference this colonial myth by representing Inka Wayna Qhapaq with a club and the golden projectile in hand, the same attributes used by the Lightning deity. The influence of the wak’a of Porco reached far beyond its mountain namesake and Potosí; it extended over a wide space that corresponded to the ancestral Qaraqara territory, marked by a group of mineral-bearing mountains that had long been considered sacred spaces by the Inka (Cruz 2009). A similar spatiality is found in the valleys of Chuquisaca, located to the east of Potosí, in the center of the ancestral territory of the Yampara people. As suggested by Augustine friar Antonio de la Mining, Power, and Religion in Qullasuyu

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Calancha (1978 [1638]:297–301), the 12 mountains located on the outskirts of the present-day city of Sucre were marked as sacred spaces and considered sources of mineral wealth, with the primary and most important mountain being Apoquiquijana, the name of a siq’i of Cuzco, whose peak is the location of an important prehispanic shrine (Cruz 2009). This group of sacred mountains appeared on a map that was produced in the first decades of the seventeenth century (Cruz 2015). Calancha (1978 [1638]) suggests that this concept of space was related to the wak’a of Tanga Tanga, which, as was the case in Porco, was a manifestation of the pan-Andean Lightning deity, whose temple was located next to a spring at the foot of the Churuquella mountain outside of the present-day city of Sucre (Abecia et al. 1939:17; Calancha 1978 [1638]). Calancha (1978 [1638]:301) suggests as much in his description of Churuquella mountain and its worship by local Indigenous peoples, relating these both to Lightning and to the generation of metals. In some of the cases referred to here, the mountains also featured high-altitude sanctuaries, located on the summits of the primary mineral-producing mountains in Potosí and its surroundings (Cruz 2009). These include the sanctuaries found on the mountains of Porco, Potosí, Cuzco, Mundo, and Quiquijana (figures 3.3 and 3.9). They are characterized by certain physical features, such as platforms, enclosures, and wood offerings, which correspond to the elevated Inka sanctuaries. On the mountain of Porco, for instance, a document edited by Hernán González de la Casa (Platt et al. 2006:182– 206) suggests that the wak’a of the same name was once located there and was venerated there by the Aymara people of the Charcas region, some of whom made pilgrimages to the site (Espinoza Soriano 1969). At the summit, above the mines and the current settlement, a series of platforms has been identified; one of these (as noted) took the form of a crown that enclosed two large vertical mine shafts. Meanwhile, the peak of the Cerro Rico of Potosí was also home to a sanctuary, although uninterrupted exploitation of the mountain for more than four hundred years has obscured all material traces of it. According to the testimony of Diego Guallpa, who formally deconsecrated the shrine with an Indian named Challco before revealing Potosí’s fabled mines to the Spaniards, a 30-foot “table” was located on the peak. Miners placed “offerings” of refined silver and gold on it, 50

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alongside other “things of little worth,” which were dedicated to the wak’a of Potosí (Fuente Sanct Ángel 1965 [1572]:358–359). Diego Guallpa was not only a yanacona held by the Spaniards to work in the mines of Porco. A native of the Yamqui region, he was the son of Alcaxuxa, the leader of the Hanansaya ayllu (large community with a common ancestor) in Chumbivillcas (Fuente Sanct Ángel 1965 [1572]:358–359). Before becoming a yanacona, he had served as official feather keeper under Inka Waskar. Notably, as Platt and Quisbert (2008) have shown, the Indian named Challco who climbed the mountain alongside Guallpa was none other than Baltazar Challco Yupanqui, a member of the Suqsu Panaqa of Wiraqucha. As the son of Apu Challco Yupanqui, governor of Qullasuyu and priest of the Sun in the sanctuary of Copacabana, Challco also served as mine administrator for the Inka. Final Reflections

As Raffino (1993) and various authors thereafter have suggested, the southern expansion of the Inka and the formation of Qullasuyu were deeply motivated by access to the region’s mineral resources. In light of new data, this hypothesis becomes both more convincing and more complex. On the one hand, Inka interest in the mines of the Southern Andes was not only motivated by the aim of increasing metal production, though this was certainly a result. The Inka could have increased the scale of production by exploiting a few key mineral deposits, such as the gold mines of Carabaya and Tipuani, the silver mines of Oruro and Potosí, and the copper mines of Corocoro, without having to expand into other mines and far-off regions. In this sense, it is important that none of the precolumbian mines that we know of show any signs of intensive mineral exploitation; we know of no cases of depleted mines. Rather, the web of relations and analogies of a religious order involved in the production of metals suggests that the value of these mines lay not in the quantity or quality of the mineral deposits but rather in the sacred nature of the mountain (see also Salazar, Borie, and Oñate 2013; Zori 2019). It is worth recalling that the dais on which Inka Wayna Qhapaq departed for war was covered in sheets of silver extracted from the mountain wak’a of Porco, no doubt due to the relation between this

a

b

Figure 3.9. Summit of Cerro Porco, Potosí, Bolivia: (a) circular platform that surrounds a mine shaft; (b) the mine shaft.

wak’a and the deity of Lightning and Warfare. In this sense, the exploitation of mines in the Southern Andes would have strengthened previously existing alliances between the Inka and these deities, especially the Sun and Lightning, and in turn reinforced the sacred nature of the sovereign and his lineage. On the other hand, as important as the mines themselves were the sophisticated technologies and knowledge held by local peoples in the Southern Andes. They were equally immersed in a religious domain, but their understandings would permit both the optimization of production

and amplification of the repertoire of objects to produce. In this sense, the mines and metals of the Southern Andes constituted one of the fundamental pillars of the Empire of the Children of the Sun. Nevertheless, the colonizing enterprise of the Inka in Qullasuyu cannot be reduced to this path of relations between mines and metals but must instead be understood in broader terms and was necessarily more complex. The incorporation of new territories and the subjugation of new communities legitimated the honor and glory of the Inka sovereigns (Ziółkowski 1997). This becomes even truer when Mining, Power, and Religion in Qullasuyu

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we consider that the southern expansion of the Inka and the consolidation of Qullasuyu also implied a return to the paths of their mythical ancestors in the Titicaca region. Nevertheless, not long after the consolidation of Inka rule in Qullasuyu, the Empire of the Children of the Sun began an unstoppable collapse. This stemmed first from fratricidal conflict between the descendants of Inka Wayna Qhapaq and then from the invasion of people from a distant, previously unknown empire who were hungry for treasure and metal wealth. It is not strange that the Inka and other Andean peoples, fully aware of the role that the sources of metal would play in this new setting, would hide or at least not immediately inform the Spaniards of the many deposits that they had exploited, as was the case with the mines of Potosí. Nonetheless, sooner or later the majority of the mines worked by the Inka in the Southern Andes, the metallic heart of a vast empire, would pass into Spanish hands. In turn, these mines became the engine of the Spanish enterprise in the Andes, where the Spaniards first launched and then developed in dizzying fashion a new Cuzco or center of the world around the fabled mines of the Cerro Rico of Potosí. During those first few years after the initial conquest, members of the Inka elite, as well as miners and refiners from the Collao associated with such nobles, continued to play key roles in the principal mining centers of what was then the Spanish Empire: Potosí, Porco, and Oruro. The collapse of the resistance in Vilcabamba and the death of Tupac Amaru in 1572, followed in quick succession by a series of ordenanzas established by Viceroy Francisco de Toledo and the application of a new method to amalgamate silver ores with mercury that allowed Spaniards to control all levels of the operational sequence, would progressively distance the Inka from their precious mines and metal production. It also sealed the destiny of many communities throughout the Andes. Notes 1. These ethnic regions, from north to south, are Kana, Kanchi, Lupaqa, Jatun Qulla, Pakasa, Karanka, Killaka, Sura, Chui, Charka, Qaraqara, and, by some accounts, Yampara. 2. This type of bench device was also identified in the preInka site of Pulac 050. 3. “El oro y plata se refinan en hornos de reverberación menores que en los que se funde, o en tocochimpos, cuando la

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materia es poca: sólo se diferencian en que el suelo del horno, en lugar del mazacote, se asienta cendrada, de la manera que en su lugar se dirá” (Gold and silver are refined in reverberation ovens smaller than those used for smelting, or in tocochimpos, for small amounts; their only difference is that on the oven floor, instead of antimony or alcohol [mazacote], refiners place smelting ashes [cendrada], as will be explained at the proper place) (Barba (1770 [1640]:135). 4. “[T]emplos del Sol y casa de fundición y muchos plateros que no entendían en todo el tiempo en más que labrar ricas piezas de oro y grandes vasijas de plata” (Cieza de León 2005 [1553]:342). 5. Testimony of Diego Cayo Inga, April 11, 1573, cited in Guillén Guillén (1978:54). 6. The spelling yanakuna is used for Inka retainers throughout this volume, while the hispanicized spelling yanacona (plural yanaconas) refers to Indigenous laborers in the Spanish colonial period and follows the spelling of sources from that time. The context and statuses are distinct. 7. “También usan los que van a las minas de Plata, o de Azogue, o de otros metales adorar los cerros y minas pidiendo les dé de su metal, y para esto velan de noche bebiendo y baylando” (Alcobaza 1603:64).

References Cited Abecia, Valentín, Nicanor Mallo, and Faustino Suárez 1939 Historia de Chuquisaca, con una monografía contemporánea de Nicanor Mallo y Faustino Suárez. Editorial Charcas, Sucre, Bolivia. Absi, Pascale 2005 Los ministros del diablo. PIEB-IRD, La Paz. Albarracín-Jordán, Juan 1996 Tiwanaku: Arqueología regional y dinámica segmentaria. Plural Editores, La Paz. Alcobaza, Diego de (attributed) 1603 Confessionario para los curas de indios: Con la instrucion contra sus ritos y exhortacion para ayudar a bien morir, y summa de sus priuilegios y forma de impedimentos del matrimonio. Concilio Provincial de 1583. Impreso en casa de Clemente Hidalgo, Seville, Spain. Avendaño, Fernando de 1648 Sermones de los misterios de nuestras Santa Fe Católica, en lengua castellana, y la general del Inca. Printed by Jorge López de Herrera, Lima. Bandy, Matthew, and John Janusek 2005 Settlement Patterns, Administrative Boundaries, and Internal Migration in the Early Colonial Period. In Advances in Titicaca Basin Archaeology, vol. 1, edited by Charles Stanish, Amanda Cohen, and Mark Aldenderfer, pp. 267–288. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA, Los Angeles. Barba, Álvaro Alonso 1770 [1640]  Arte de los metales. Imprenta del Reyno, Madrid.

Berthelot, Jean 1978 L’Exploitation des métaux précieux au temps des Incas: Annales. Economies, Sociétés, Civilisations (ESC) 33 (5–6):948–966. Betanzos, Juan de 1992 [1551]  Suma y narración de los Incas: Culturas aborígenes de América–UMSS. Cochabamba, Bolivia. Bouysse-Cassagne, Thérèse 2004 El sol de adentro: Wakas y santos en las minas de Charcas y en el Lago Titicaca (siglos XV a XVII). Boletín de Arqueología PUCP 8:59–97. 2005 Las minas del centro-sur andino, los cultos prehispánicos y los cultos cristianos. Bulletin de l’IFEA 34(3):443–462. 2008 Minas del sol, del Inka, y de la gente: Potosí en el contexto de la minería prehispana. In Minas y metalúrgias en los Andes del sur, entre la época prehispánica y el siglo XVII, edited by Pablo Cruz and Jean Vacher, pp. 278–301. IFEA-IRD, Sucre, Bolivia. 2010 Apuntes para la historia de los Puquina hablantes. Boletín de Arqueología PUCP 14:283–307. Bouysse-Cassagne, Thérèse, and Philippe Bouysse 2006 Montagnes de feu, montagnes sacrées. Archives Ouvertes HAL-SHS. Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe, CNRS, París. Cabrera, Gerónimo Luis de 1571 Orden que se dio en Potosí para que los indios no hiciesen fundiciones de plata y nombramientos de alcaldes que se hicieron en varias doctrinas. Biblioteca Nacional de España, BN 3040, fols. 167r-169v. Calancha, Antonio de la 1978 [1638]  Corónica moralizadora de la orden de San Agustín en el Perú. Crónicas del Perú, edited by Pastor Prado. Universidad Mayor de San Marcos, Lima. Cañete y Domínguez, Pedro 1952 [1791]  Guía histórica, geográfica, política, civil y legal del gobierno e intendencia de Potosí. Editorial Potosí, Potosí, Bolivia. Capoche, Luis 1959 [1585]  Relación general de la Villa Imperial de Potosí. Biblioteca de Autores Españoles. Ediciones Atlas, Madrid. Cerrón Palomino, Rodolfo 2012 Unravelling the Enigma of the “Particular Language” of the Inkas. In Archaeology and Language in the Andes, edited by Paul Heggarty and David G. Beresford-Jones, pp. 265–294. Proceedings of the British Academy 173. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 2013 Las lenguas de los Inkas: El puquina, el aimara y el quechua. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Cieza de León, Pedro 2005 [1553]  Crónica del Perú: El señorío de los Inkas. Biblioteca Ayacucho, Caracas.

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Espinoza Soriano, Waldemar 1969 El memorial de Charcas: Crónica inédita de 1582. Cantuta 4:117–152. 1972 Copacabana del Collao: Un documento de 1548 para la etnohistoria andina. Bulletin de l’IFEA 1(1): 1–16. 2003 El memorial de Charcas: Crónica inédita de 1582. Revised ed. Temas de Etnohistoria Boliviana. Producciones CIMA, La Paz.

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Lechtman, Heather, Pablo Cruz, Andrew Macfarlane, and Sidney Carter 2012 Procesamiento de metales durante el Horizonte Medio en el altiplano surandino (Escara, Pulacayo, Potosí). Boletín del Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino 15(2):9–27.

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XVII siècles). Mélanges de la Casa de Velázquez 17:147–182. Salazar, Diego, José Berenguer, and Gabriela Vega 2013 Paisajes minero-metalúrgicos inkaicos en Atacama y el Altiplano sur de Tarapacá (norte de Chile). Chungara 45 (1):83–103. Salazar, Diego, César Borie, and Camila Oñate 2013 Mining, Commensal Politics, and Ritual under Inca Rule in Atacama, Northern Chile. In Mining and Quarrying in the Ancient Andes: Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology, ed. Nicholas Tripcevich and K. J. Vaughn, pp. 253–274. Springer, New York. Sancho de Hoz, Pedro 2004 [1535]  Relación de la conquista del Perú. Asociación de Amigos de la Historia de Calahorra, Calahorra, Spain. Santos Escobar, Roberto 1984 Probanza de los Inkas Aucaylli de Copacabana, siglos XVI–XVII. Colección de Folletos Bolivianos de Hoy 8/2. Periódico Hoy, La Paz. 1987 La contribución de Apu Chalco Yupanki, gobernador del Kollasuyu en la expedición de Diego de Almagro a Copiapó, principio de Chile. Colección de Folletos Bolivianos de Hoy 3. Periódico Hoy, La Paz. Schultze, Carol 2013 Silver Mines of the Northern Lake Titicaca Basin. In Mining and Quarrying in the Ancient Andes: Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology, ed. Nicholas Tripcevich and K. J. Vaughn, pp. 231–251. Springer, New York. Shinoda, Kenichi 2015 Tracing the Origins of Inka People through Ancient DNA Analysis. In The Inka Empire: A Multidisciplinary Approach, edited by Izumi Shimada, pp. 55–66. University of Texas Press, Austin. Solórzano y Pereira, Juan de 1972 [1648]  Política indiana. Atlas, Madrid. Spina, Josefina, and Marco Giovannetti 2014 Metalurgia prehispánica en el Valle de Hualfín: Nuevos datos sobre Quillay. Intersecciones en Antropología 15(2):473–477. Téreygeol, Florian, and Pablo Cruz 2014 Metal del viento: Aproximación experimental para la comprensión del funcionamiento de las wayras andinas. Estudios Atacameños 48:39–54. Torres, Bernardo de 1657 Crónica de la provincia peruana del Orden de los Ermitaños de S. Agustín Nuestro Padre. Imprenta de Iulián Santos de Saldaña, Lima. Ulloa, Antonio de 1748 Relacion historica del viage a la America Meridional: Obra completa. Antonio Marin, Madrid. Van Buren, Mary, and Barbara Mills 2005 Huayrachinas and Tocochimbos: Traditional Smelting Technology of the Southern Andes. Latin American Antiquity 16(1):3–25.

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Vázquez de Espinosa, Antonio 1969 [1629] Compendio y descripción de las Indias Occidentales. Ediciones Atlas, Madrid. Wachtel, Nathan 1989 Les transformations de Tunupa: Restructurations religieuses dans les Andes Méridionales (XVIe–XVIIe siècles). Mélanges de l’École Française de Rome, Italie et Méditerranée 101(2):839–873. Ziółkowski, Mariusz 1984 La piedra del cielo: Algunos aspectos de la educación e iniciación religiosa de los príncipes Inkas. Antropológica 2:45–65. 1997 La guerra de los wawqis: Los objetivos y los mecanismos de la rivalidad dentro de la élite Inka, siglos XV–XVI. Ediciones Abya-Yala, Quito, Ecuador. Zori, Colleen 2019 Extracting Insights from Prehistoric Andean Metallurgy: Political Organization, Interregional Connections, and Ritual Meanings. Journal of Archaeological Research 27(4):501–556.

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Chapter 4

Copper Rich, Water Poor Atacama during Inka Rule Diego Salazar, José Berenguer R., Victoria Castro, Frances M. Hayashida, César Parcero-Oubiña, and Andrés Troncoso

Introduction

South of the Collao and Charcas, the Inka confronted an environmental and social context quite different from what they had found in their initial advance into Qullasuyu. The Southern Andes in the fourteenth century were characterized by lower demographic densities and non-state-level societies inhabiting agropastoral nodes separated by arid deserts, mountains, and salt flats (Nielsen 2013). Occupying the area from the Loa River basin in the north to the San Pedro de Atacama oases in the south, the Atacamenians—as they were later called by the Spaniards—inhabited part of the western flanks of this region, in one of the most arid environments of the Southern Andes (figure 4.1). They were thus probably one of the smaller ethnic groups in the circumpuna area, as indicated by both ethnohistorical and archaeological evidence. The seemingly marginal area occupied by the Atacamenians and the apparent lack of Inka material culture in the area originally led archaeologists to interpret Tawantinusyu’s domination as minimal and indirect (Aldunate et al. 1986; Llagostera 1976). A more direct and even territorial occupation had been recognized by the late 1990s, when most scholars agreed that the area’s mineral wealth was the main economic motivation for state expansion into the region. Hence it seems that Atacama as a copper-rich/water-poor area could have attracted the Inka either indirectly or fundamentally for the exploitation of its metallic ores. However, the wealth of archaeological knowledge currently available allows us to sketch a more complex picture of Atacama’s incorporation into Tawantinsuyu (Adán and Uribe 2005; Aldunate et al. 2003; Berenguer 2007; Berenguer and Salazar 2017; Castro and Uribe 2004; Castro et al. 1993; Cornejo 1999; Gallardo et al. 1995; Uribe 2004; Uribe et al. 2002; 57

Figure 4.1. Map of the Southern Andes showing the location of the Atacama region (modified from

Salazar, Berenguer, and Vega 2013).

Uribe and Adán 2004; Uribe and Sánchez 2016, among others). Minerals had been mined and used for thousands of years by local Atacamenians as an integral part of their ritual offerings to mountains and ancestors (Berenguer 2004), and therefore they were considered important substances for the reproduction of social and religious life. This situation apparently did not change during Inka times. Copper and turquoise minerals exploited by the Inka appear to have been regularly consumed at a local and regional level (Salazar 2008), not just exported and accumulated by elites elsewhere. Therefore, despite ample evidence for copper production under Inka rule in Atacama, here we argue that this production was deeply linked to ritual life in the Atacama and not only to the empire’s “wealth finance” (Earle and D’Altroy 1982). Furthermore, mining intensification under Inka rule required consolidating a wider web of relations involving locals, Inka, wak’as, and other nonhuman beings (Aldunate et al. 2003). The new web of relations organized under Inka rule involved propitiating the wak’as, restructuring ceremonial and productive landscapes, and mobilizing labor according to Andean institutions and political alliances and negotiations. Such social practices occurred on different spatial and temporal scales and ultimately transformed social life in Atacama. It is not possible to fully understand the extent of Inka transformations in Atacama solely from the ethnohistorical record. Documents for the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are scarce in the region and reveal little about the conditions of Atacama under Inka rule. However, the wealth of archaeological information available today does enable us to build a strong case study for the multidimensional nature of Inka expansion into Qullasuyu and the overall complexities of Tawantinsuyu as it encountered less-complex polities south of Charcas. The archaeological information synthesized here has been produced by at least four independent teams doing long-term research on the Inka during the last three decades in Atacama. Researchers have not only covered most of the area occupied by the Inka, especially in the Loa River basin (figure 4.1), but also produced an important archaeological database, including a comprehensive radiocarbon dataset (table 4.1). Archaeological research has favored a regional perspective as well as a systemic approach (Uribe and Sánchez 2016), not

concentrated solely on the biggest monumental sites but also on small-scale sites, giving us a more detailed understanding of the Inka settlement system organized around the Inka Road and its associated infrastructure (Berenguer 2007; Berenguer et al. 2005; Castro et al. 2004; Niemeyer and Rivera 1983; Sanhueza 2012; Uribe and Cabello 2005; Uribe and Sánchez 2016; Uribe and Urbina 2009). We believe this point is crucial since in other areas of the Andes, particularly in some well-known cases in the Central Andes, a predominant focus on monumental sites and the still-limited archaeological data available (due to the significant spatial dimensions and complexities of these sites) have meant that ethnohistory has played a more dominant role in the reconstruction of the organization and expansion of Tawantinsuyu. Where archaeological research has been more intense, however, it has begun to show a more complex picture of Inka origins, development, and organization than has been inferred from historical sources alone (for example, Bauer and Smit 2015; Uribe and Sánchez 2016). Most scholars agree that the Inka developed various and diverse ways to implement and materialize imperial rule in the provinces, linked to the demographic, ecological, and sociopolitical characteristics of local populations as well as the state’s interests in each province. It is therefore imperative to take an integrated approach to reconstructing the particulars of Inka-local interactions. To fully capture this variability within Tawantinsuyu and the particulars of the historical trajectories of interaction between the state and local communities throughout the empire, archaeology provides independent lines of evidence and a more complete diachronic perspective on Inka rule. Of course, we are fully aware that archaeological evidence alone has limitations. Accordingly, our discussion of Inka dominion over Atacama results from an integrated perspective, combining the rich archaeological record with the limited available ethnohistorical sources as well as firsthand local ethnographic knowledge accumulated over 40 years of research in the area (cf. Berenguer et al. 1984; Castro and Varela 1992; Castro et al. 2004, among many others). We address the integration of the hyperarid but minerally rich Atacama into Tawantinsuyu in the following sections, placing the economic dimension of Inka dominion revealed by archaeological evidence into a wider social and political context,

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reconstructed both from archaeological data and from an ethnographically enriched perspective. General Background: Late Intermediate and Late Periods in Atacama

During the Late Intermediate Period (ca. AD 950–1400), the Atacamenian economy was based on intensive irrigation agriculture, camelid herding, and the collection and processing of local algarrobo (Prosopis spp.) and chañar (Geoffroea decorticans) fruits and husks (Adán and Uribe 1995; Berenguer 2004; Castro et al. 2016; Schiappacasse et al. 1989; Uribe 2002). Water was a critical resource in this hyperarid environment, so settlements were organized around the San Pedro de Atacama oases and the Loa River basin, at drainages and springs with permanent fresh water for irrigation and pasture lands (figure 4.2). Through extensive caravan trade, goods and produce from distant regions (including Tarapacá to the north, the Pacific Coast to the west, and Lípez and northwestern Argentina to the east) were also available to local populations (Aldunate et al. 2003; Berenguer 2004; Castro et al. 2016; Schiappacasse et al. 1989). The settlement system was organized mainly around villages of ca. 100– 200 structures and pukaras (fortified hilltop sites) with up to 600 structures, strategically located next to principal water sources and grasslands (Schiappacasse et al. 1989; Urbina 2010). Besides these, scattered smaller sites at different altitudes were linked to more specific productive activities (pastoralism, agriculture, mining, caravan traffic) in the context of a microcomplementarity strategy well adapted to the variability of local ecosystems due to differences in altitude and climate (Adán and Uribe 1995, 2005; Berenguer 2004; see also Castro and Martínez 1996). Atacamenian communities were probably organized in corporate groups based on kinship (Adán and Uribe 2005), as documented for other parts of the Andes in both prehispanic and historic/ethnographic periods (Isbell 1997; Platt 1987). Until the late 1990s, most scholars agreed that the Inka did not have a marked interest in Atacama. It was mostly interpreted as a marginal province indirectly incorporated through the Inka conquest of Altiplano polities (which had exerted political control over parts of Atacama) or through imperial efforts to secure routes to the southern 60

Copiapó and semiarid Chilean provinces (see Uribe 1999–2000 for a synthesis). Systematic research carried out since the 1990s, however, has changed this perspective (see Adán 1999; Adán and Uribe 1995, 2005; Aldunate 1993; Aldunate et al. 2003; Ayala et al. 1999; Berenguer 2007; Berenguer et al. 2005; Berenguer et al. 2011; Berenguer and Salazar 2017; Castro 1992; Castro et al. 1993; Castro and Uribe 2004; Castro et al. 2004; Cornejo 1995, 1999; Gallardo et al. 1995; Lynch and Núñez 1994; Niemeyer and Schiappacasse 1998; L. Núñez 1999, 2006; P. Núñez 1991, 1993; Salazar 2008; Salazar, Berenguer, and Vega 2013; Salazar, Borie, and Oñate 2013; Sanhueza 2004, 2012; Uribe 1997, 1999–2000, 2004; Uribe et al. 2002; Uribe and Adán 2004; Uribe and Cabello 2005; Uribe and Carrasco 1999; Uribe and Sanchez 2016; Uribe and Urbina 2009 Varela 1999). The new data produced by this more recent wave of research show a more territorial-–albeit spatially discontinuous—strategy (sensu D’Altroy 2015a) with direct imperial control over local populations (Adán 1999; Adán and Uribe 2005; Berenguer 2007; Castro et al. 1993; Salazar 2008; Uribe 2004; Uribe and Adán 2004; Uribe et al. 2002; Uribe and Sánchez 2016). It is still unclear when Atacama was incorporated into Tawantinsuyu. According to traditional historical sources, this occurred under the rule of Thupa Inka, who succeeded Pachakuti in the year 1471 (Rowe 1945). However, archaeological research indicates that imperial expansion from Cuzco begun earlier than historical documentation suggests (Bauer 1992; Pärssinen 1992). Recent studies demonstrate an Inka presence beginning around AD 1400 in northern Chile (Berenguer 2007; Cornejo 2014; Schiappacasse 1999; Uribe and Sánchez 2016). Similar observations of early expansion have been made in other provinces of the empire as well (Marsh et al. 2017; Ogburn 2012; Pärssinen 1992; Williams and D’Altroy 1998). The ongoing debate is certainly linked to the different approaches deployed by archaeologists and historians, the kinds of dating methods used (for example, thermoluminescence [TL] or 14C), and the different samples and contexts being dated. Most scholars now agree that northern Chile was incorporated into the Inka Empire no later than the first half of the fifteenth century. The more than 70 radiocarbon dates currently available for Atacama support this position (table 4.1). Material evidence of an Inka presence and control over Atacamenian populations includes at

Salazar, Berenguer R., Castro, Hayashida, Parcero-Oubiña, and Troncoso

Figure 4.2. Map of the Atacama region showing known Inka remains and sites mentioned in the text.

least four main segments of the Qhapaq Ñan (Inka Road) as well as minor “regional” roads also built during the Late Period (Castro et al. 2004; Uribe and Sánchez 2016). These roads cross Atacamenian territory in several directions and connect most of the nuclear sites of the local populations to the sites built by the Inka during the Late Period, to strategic resources, and to neighboring regions, including

Tarapacá, Lípez, Chichas, and Copiapó (Berenguer 2007; Berenguer et al. 2005; Castro et al. 2004; González 2017; Hyslop 2014; Lynch and Núñez 1994; Nielsen et al. 2006; Niemeyer and Rivera 1983; Niemeyer and Schiappacasse 1998; Sanhueza 2004, 2012; Varela 1999). These roads are associated with various tampus (way stations), posts, and chaskiwasis (shelters for Inka messengers; chasqui Atacama during Inka Rule

61

Table 4.1. Radiocarbon dates from Inka Period Atacama Site

Inkawasi-Abra

AB-22/39

AB-38

AB-44

Lab code

Material

Radiocarbon age (BP)

Calibrated age1 (AD)

Reference (if previously published)

Beta-113507

Charcoal

290 +/– 50

1489–1808

Núñez 1999

Beta-166437

Charcoal

440 +/– 60

1425–1631

Salazar 2008

Beta-166438

Charcoal

510 +/– 40

1398–1489

Salazar 2008

Beta-330067

Camelid bone

320 +/– 30

1503–1665

Salazar, Berenguer, and Vega 2013

Beta-330069

Charcoal

340 +/– 30

1497–1653

Salazar, Berenguer, and Vega 2013

D-AMS 008360

Chañar seed

340 +/– 28

1500–1651

D-AMS 010135

Charcoal

344 +/– 22

1503–1646

D-AMS 014902

Charcoal

354 +/– 23

1497–1644

D-AMS 014903

Charcoal

325 +/– 28

1503–1661

D-AMS 018352

Charcoal

524 +/– 23

1412–1452

D-AMS 018353

Wood

323 +/– 20

1508–1652

D-AMS 014915

Charcoal

655 +/– 24

1300–1401

D-AMS 014916

Charcoal

670 +/– 29

1296–1397

D-AMS 014917

Charcoal

494 +/– 23

1418–1460

Beta-300551

Charcoal

380 +/– 30

1461–1630

Salazar, Berenguer, and Vega 2013

Beta-147523

Charcoal

640 +/– 80

1273–1451

Salazar 2008

Beta-339960

Fragment of hammer handle

440 +/– 30

1439–1623

Beta-339961

Fragment of wooden artifact

450 +/– 30

1435–1620

Beta-339962

Fragment of hammer handle

410 +/– 30

1451–1627

Beta-113506

Charcoal

510 +/– 70

1318–1627

D-AMS 014912

Charcoal

448 +/– 23

1443–1615

D-AMS 014913

Charcoal

626 +/– 30

1305–1420

D-AMS 014904

Charcoal

443 +/– 21

1446–1615

Beta-141874

Charcoal

420 +/– 50

1444–1630

Corrales 2017

Beta-141875

Charcoal

420 +/– 60

1436–1640

Corrales 2017

Núñez 1999

Lab code

Material

Radiocarbon age (BP)

Calibrated age1 (AD)

Reference (if previously published)

Beta-141876

Charcoal

460 +/– 40

1417–1623

Corrales 2017

Beta-141877

Charcoal

360 +/– 50

1458–1650

Corrales 2017

Beta-141878

Charcoal

1130 +/– 110

900–1015

Corrales 2017

AB-37

Beta-147522

Charcoal

380 +/– 70

1436–1794

Salazar 2008

AB-178

Beta-239856

Chañar seed

340 +/– 40

1465–1660

Ichunito

Beta-154632

Charcoal

170 +/– 120

1675–

Salazar2008

AB-73

Beta-184054

Charcoal

520 +/– 70

1315–1625

Salazar2008

UGAMS 5552

Charcoal

340 +/– 25

1501–1649

Uribe 2015

UGAMS 5551

Charcoal

280 +/– 25

1512–1800

Uribe 2015

Beta-44448

Charcoal

300 +/– 60

1458–1810

Aldunate 1993

Beta-44449

Charcoal

680 +/– 70

1233–1429

Aldunate 1993

Beta-44451

Charcoal

300 +/– 60

1458–1810

Aldunate 1993

Beta-44453

Charcoal

540 +/– 60

1315–1615

Aldunate 1993

Gd 5411

Charcoal

410 +/– 80

1410–1667

Aldunate 1993

Gd 4708

Charcoal

610 +/– 80

1275–1460

Aldunate 1993

Gd 6412

Charcoal

610 +/– 80

1275–1460

Aldunate 1993

DAMS-17721

Charcoal

625 +/– 18

1319–1409

Parcero-Oubiña et al. 2016

OS-114478

Charcoal

600 +/– 20

1323–1423

Parcero-Oubiña et al. 2016

DAMS-17722

Charcoal

582 +/– 31

1324–1440

Parcero-Oubiña et al. 2016

DAMS-17725

Charcoal

534 +/– 43

1325–1462

Parcero-Oubiña et al. 2016

DAMS-17719

Charcoal

530 +/– 28

1407–1452

Parcero-Oubiña et al. 2016

OS-114476

Charcoal

490 +/– 20

1424–1460

Parcero-Oubiña et al. 2016

OS-114475

Charcoal

455 +/– 20

1442–1612

Parcero-Oubiña et al. 2016

DAMS-17723

Charcoal

453 +/– 43

1420–1625

Parcero-Oubiña et al. 2016

OS-114482

Charcoal

350 +/– 20

1502–1643

Parcero-Oubiña et al. 2016

Beta-387476

Charcoal

340 +/– 30

1497–1653

Parcero-Oubiña et al. 2016

OS-114606

Charcoal

285 +/– 20

1513–1797

Parcero-Oubiña et al. 2016

Beta-178491

Charcoal

450 +/– 50

1419–1628

Berenguer and Salazar 2017

Beta-178492

Charcoal

460 +/– 60

1409–1628

Ibacache et al. 2016

Beta-300556

Charcoal

430 +/– 40

1440–1627

Ibacache et al. 2016

Beta-343718

Charcoal

390 +/– 40

1457–1631

Berenguer and Salazar 2017

Beta-343718

Charcoal

430 +/– 30

1445–1624

Ibacache et al. 2016

Beta-343662

Charcoal

330 +/– 30

1501–1661

Salazar, Berenguer, and Vega 2013

Beta-343661

Charcoal

550 +/– 30

1397–1450

Salazar, Berenguer, and Vega 2013

Beta-343660

Charcoal

490 +/– 30

1411–1489

Salazar, Berenguer, and Vega 2013

Beta-291622

Charcoal

490 +/– 40

1406–1614

Berenguer 2007

Beta-291621

Charcoal

520 +/– 30

1407–1455

Berenguer 2007

Site

AB-44

Turi

Paniri

Incaguasi Loa (LR-1)

Palpana

Miño 2

Table 4.1 Radiocarbon dates from Inka Period Atacama (cont.) Site

Miño 2

Miño 1

Toconce

Lab code

Material

Radiocarbon age (BP)

Calibrated age1 (AD)

Reference (if previously published)

Beta-291620

Charcoal

360 +/– 30

1483–1644

Berenguer 2007

Beta-291619

Charcoal

400 +/– 30

1455–1628

Berenguer 2007

Beta-291618

Charcoal

500 +/– 40

1402–1610

Berenguer 2007

Beta-291617

Charcoal

480 +/– 40

1409–1617

Berenguer 2007

Beta-291616

Charcoal

520 +/– 40

1395–1483

Berenguer 2007

Beta-203030

Charcoal

460 +/– 50

1410–1627

Berenguer 2007

Beta-203028

Charcoal

390 +/– 40

1457–1631

Berenguer 2007

Beta-343658

Charcoal

430 +/– 30

1445–1624

Berenguer et al. 2011

Beta-343657

Charcoal

480 +/– 30

1419–1611

Berenguer et al. 2011

Beta-343659

Charcoal

550 +/– 30

1397–1450

Berenguer et al. 2011

Beta-343655

Charcoal

500 +/– 30

1408–1480

Berenguer et al. 2011

Beta-263474

Human bone

490 +/– 40

1406–1614

Hubbe and Torres-Rouff 2011

1. Calibrated using OxCal 4.4 and the SHCal20 Southern Hemisphere calibration (Hogg et al. 2020).

huasi). Some of them were built with Inka-style architecture and layouts, including Miño 2, Chac Inga, Incaguasi Loa, Camar, and Peine, among others (figure 4.2) (Berenguer et al. 2005; Castro 1992; Castro et al. 2004; Niemeyer and Rivera 1983; Uribe and Sánchez 2016; Uribe and Urbina 2009). However, Inka architecture in Atacama is not limited to sites along the Qhapaq Ñan (Adán 1999, 2017; Aldunate 1993; Castro et al. 1993; Cornejo 1999; Gallardo et al. 1995). Recent research has identified the incorporation of Inka architectural traits at local sites, such as Lasana and Chiuchiu in the middle Loa basin (Berenguer 2007); Zapar, Peine, and Catarpe in the Salar de Atacama (Adán 2017; Lynch 1977; Lynch and Núñez 1994; Niemeyer and Schiappacasse 1998; Uribe et al. 2002); and most noticeably Turi in the upper Salado River basin, with its impressive adobe kallanka (figure 4.3) (Aldunate 1993; Aldunate et al. 2003; Castro et al. 1993; Cornejo 1995, 1999; Gallardo et al. 1995). Furthermore, other sites (especially those built during the Late Period) followed Inka-style plans and architecture, such as Miño 1, Miño 2, and Cerro Colorado in the Upper Loa (Berenguer 2007; Castro 1992; Urbina 2010; Uribe and Urbina 2009); Cerro Verde in Caspana (Adán 1999); and Licancabur and Chiliques in the Salar de Atacama basin (Barón and Reinhardt 1981; Moyano and 64

Uribe 2012) (figure 4.4). Some of these sites show buildings diagnostic of Inka architecture, such as kallankas in Miño, Turi, and possibly Cerro Verde (Berenguer 2007; Castro 1992; Castro et al. 1993; Cornejo 1995, 1999; Gallardo et al. 1995; Salazar, Berenguer, and Vega 2013); formal plazas; and RPCs (rectángulos perimetrales compuestos: rectangular compounds with perimeter walls) (Raffino 1981) in Miño 1, Cerro Colorado, Cerro Verde, Turi, Catarpe, Licancabur, and Chiliques, and the usnu of Cerro Verde (Adán 1999, 2017; Berenguer 2007; Berenguer et al. 2005; Lynch and Núñez 1994; Niemeyer and Schiappacasse 1998; Salazar, Berenguer, and Vega 2013; Uribe and Sánchez 2016; Uribe and Urbina 2009). Portable material culture also reflects changes introduced by the Inka in Atacama, particularly in pottery. Different nonlocal pottery styles associated with the Inka presence in Atacama usually appear in low frequencies, ranging from 1 percent to 10 percent in most Late Period sites (Uribe 1997; Uribe and Carrasco 1999). Cuzco Polychrome pottery has been recorded at a few sites, including Miño 2, Cerro Colorado, Chac Inga, and Turi (Berenguer et al. 2005; Castro et al. 2004; Uribe 1997; Uribe and Urbina 2009). Provincial Inka styles and Late Period local styles presumably mobilized by the Inka, such as the Inka-Pacajes or Saxamar style

Salazar, Berenguer R., Castro, Hayashida, Parcero-Oubiña, and Troncoso

Figure 4.3. Aerial view of Turi showing the Inka plaza, adobe kallanka, and adobe possible domestic

compound.

from the central Altiplano and circum-Titicaca areas, the Talapaca style from Lípez, the Yavi or “Yavi–La Paya” style from the Chichas area and Northwest Argentina, and even the Inka-Diaguita style from the semiarid north of Chile, have been recorded in higher frequencies (Uribe 1997; Uribe and Cabello 2005; Uribe and Carrasco 1999; Uribe and Urbina 2009). Like these foreign-style vessels, local pottery also underwent changes. Local raw materials and aesthetic codes (lack of decoration) were maintained in mixed local-Inka styles in the Late Period, but new vessel shapes appear, especially those associated with Inka commensality, such as aríbalos (Inka flared-rim jars), bird-handled plates, and pedestal-based pots (Uribe 1997; Uribe and Carrasco 1999; Uribe and Sánchez 2016; Uribe and Urbina 2009). As already stated, this diverse material evidence for Inka presence in Atacama has been understood

as the result of imperial expansion intended to control production of critical resources such as copper minerals. Ample archaeological evidence supports this interpretation, as seen in the Inka exploitation of turquoise and other copper minerals in El Abra, Conchi Viejo, and Cerro Verde, as well as metal production in Collahuasi. Copper ore extraction was integrated with the production of an agricultural surplus in Inka-controlled lands in Paniri, Socaire, and probably Toconce, showing the extent of imperial control over Atacama (Adán and Uribe 2005; Berenguer 2007; Berenguer et al. 2011; Berenguer and Salazar 2017; P. Núñez 1991, 1993; Parcero-Oubiña et al. 2016; Salazar 2008; Salazar, Berenguer, and Vega 2013, among others). We discuss this evidence in more detail below. Inka intervention in Atacama also includes several high-altitude shrines and ceremonial constructions at the summit of many of the most Atacama during Inka Rule

65

a

b

c

Figure 4.4. Plazas and RPC at Inka sites: (a) Cerro Verde (photo courtesy of Albane Buhrens); (b) Cerro Colorado (photo

courtesy of Fernando Maldonado); (c) Miño 1 (modified from Uribe and Urbina 2009).

important and prominent hills and volcanoes of the area (Aldunate et al. 2003). Some of these have Inka architecture and material culture at or near their summits (Licancabur, Pili, Quimal, Chiliques, among many others), while at Llullaillaco there is evidence of a qhapaq hucha child sacrifice (Castro and Aldunate 2003; Castro and Ceruti 2018; Ibacache 2007; Ibacache et al. 2016; Le Paige 1978; Moyano and Uribe 2012; Reinhardt 1983). Funerary evidence for the Late Period is not abundant in Atacama, but the presence of Inka materials at local tombs suggests the integration of at least some local communities into state ideology and sociopolitical institutions (Ayala et al. 1999). Even though the issue of whether or not there was an Inka style in rock art is still debated, changes seem to have occurred during the Late Period: local styles such as Santa Bárbara and Quebrada Seca appear to have decreased or disappeared (Berenguer et al. 2007; Sepúlveda 2004; Vilches and Uribe 1999). Social life, ritualism, and agricultural production must have been linked to the Inka calendar. Despite limited archaeoastronomical research in Atacama 66

(Castro and Varela 2004; Sanhueza et al. 2020), there is evidence for astronomical observations at several locations associated with the Inka. Perhaps most intriguing are the stone columns known as saywas, located at opposing sides at several locations along the Qhapaq Ñan (Cámar, Vaquillas, Lasana: Sanhueza 2012, 2017; Sanhueza et al. 2020). Even though stone piles and stone columns are common along the Inka Road (Hyslop 2014), research in Atacama has shown that they were aligned with the rising sun on equinox and solstice dates (Sanhueza 2004, 2012, 2017) and may point to specific ways in which the Inka marked, classified, and signified some places within Atacamenian territory (Sanhueza et al. 2020). Discussing the Inka Presence in Atacama: The Economic Dimension

As already stated, given the low agropastoral productivity of the Atacamenian valleys as compared to neighboring areas, most scholars agree that copper

Salazar, Berenguer R., Castro, Hayashida, Parcero-Oubiña, and Troncoso

minerals were the most important commodities extracted by the Inka in Atacama and the main interest of the empire in northern Chile (Adán and Uribe 2005; Berenguer 2004, 2007; Berenguer and Salazar 2017; Llagostera 1976; Núñez 1999, 2006; Raffino 1981; Uribe 1999–2000, Uribe and Sánchez 2016, among others). Data from the well-studied El Abra sites show that the production of copper minerals increased more than a hundredfold during Inka times and was directly linked to a change from dispersed to nucleated production (sensu Costin 2001), even though there was continuity in technology and the types of minerals exploited (Salazar 2008). The increase in the number of sites and especially their size, including the mines themselves and the main campsites, demonstrates an important reorganization of mining production during Inka times and the allocation of a significantly greater number of workers compared to previous times (figure 4.5). Imperial control over this mining center is shown by the presence of Inka-style architecture, a formal plaza in the center of the mining camp, Inka decorated pottery, including provincial styles from the Bolivian highlands and northwestern Argentina, and evidence for commensal-political activities and rituals, including the offering of Spondylus shells (Garrido and Salazar 2017; L. Núñez 1999, 2006;

Salazar 2008; Salazar, Berenguer, and Vega 2013; Salazar, Borie, and Oñate 2013). Several other copper mining and metallurgical sites associated with the Inka have been identified in Atacama, including Collahuasi (Berenguer et al. 2011; Figueroa et al. 2018; Salazar, Berenguer, and Vega 2013), Conchi, Cerro Verde (Adán 1999; Adán and Uribe 2005; Berenguer and Salazar 2017; Salazar, Berenguer, and Vega 2013), and possibly San Bartolo (Aldunate et al. 2006). With the exception of Cerro Verde, the remaining production sites are located in areas with little or no local agricultural production and thus had to be provisioned from outside. Such sites have been termed “extractive enclaves” (Berenguer and Salazar 2017). El Abra provides evidence of an effort toward self-sufficiency. Residents hunted using tools made from local lithic raw materials, which was aimed at producing at least part of the meat consumed at the mining camp (Salazar, Berenguer, and Vega 2013). However, archaeobotanical findings at the main campsite also include squash, pumpkin, chile, maize, quinoa, beans, chañar, and algarrobo, which are not locally available and had to be secured from sources 30 to 150 km away. Transport costs probably discouraged the importation of staples from distant provinces under Inka rule (D’Altroy 2015a; Earle and D’Altroy 1982), so the Inka likely reorganized

Figure 4.5. Inka mines from El Abra, on the Upper Loa River.

Atacama during Inka Rule

67

Figure 4.6. Inka fields from the site of Paniri.

agricultural production at a local and regional scale to provision the Atacamenian mining and metallurgical centers (Adán 1999; Adán and Uribe 2005; Aldunate 1993; Berenguer 2007; Berenguer and Salazar 2017; Llagostera 1976; L. Núñez 1999). Inka control of agricultural production in Atacama is suggested by the extensive field and canal systems recorded at Paniri (figure 4.6), Socaire, and probably Toconce and Caspana (Berenguer and Salazar 2017; P. Núñez 1991, 1993; Parcero-Oubiña et al. 2016), while evidence of Inka-style storage structures in Incahuasi-Inca (Caspana) suggests state control of surplus production of certain staples (Adán 1999; Adán and Uribe 2005). Even though the chronological and contextual evidence linking agricultural infrastructure to Tawantinsuyu is still unclear in most of these cases, recent research in Paniri has indicated the creation of new agricultural fields under state auspices (Parcero-Oubiña et al. 2016), including the incorporation of new technologies not known from local pre-Inka agricultural sites, such as the enigmatic rumimuqus (rubble mounds with retaining walls; rumimoqos; figure 4.7) (Alliende et al. 1993; Malim 2009; Parcero-Oubiña et al. 2016). Agricultural fields at Paniri are associated with nearly 50 inferred small storage 68

structures that have also been dated to the Inka Period (Parcero-Oubiña et al. 2016; Uribe and Sánchez 2016). Agricultural produce was needed not only to feed workers at state mines and metallurgical centers but also for the traditional Andean hospitality practices related to commensal politics (Berenguer and Salazar 2017). These were essential for the mobilization of labor in Tawantinsuyu, especially under the mit’a (rotational tributary labor) system (D’Altroy 2015a; Garrido and Salazar 2017; Morris and Thompson 1985; Murra 1989). As discussed later, several formal plazas were built at Inka administrative centers throughout Atacamenian territory to accommodate state hospitality activities. Various transportation routes were used to move agricultural produce from state farms to the mining and metallurgical sites and/or administrative centers. The different segments of the Qhapaq Ñan already mentioned were only one such route. The Inka Road passes through Collahuasi, Paniri, and Cerro Verde, so in these cases the Qhapaq Ñan served effectively to move produce, goods, and people to and from these production sites and connect them to the main administrative centers at Turi, Cerro Verde, Cerro Colorado, and Catarpe

Salazar, Berenguer R., Castro, Hayashida, Parcero-Oubiña, and Troncoso

(figure 4.2). Other roads linking mining sites to local villages or state farms were smaller and less formal (Berenguer et al. 2005; Castro et al. 2004). For example, San José del Abra and Conchi are located in the steep Cordillera del Medio, at least 25 km from the Inka Road, which runs northsouth parallel to the Loa River. The mining centers are connected to the tampus of the Inka Road by llama caravan trails and not by a segment of the Qhapaq Ñan (Corrales 2017; Garrido and Salazar 2017). Some of these trails seem to have been controlled. Every llama caravan traveling to and from the El Abra mining complex through the Conchi connection had to pass by small strategically placed Late Period stone structures (Salazar 2008). However, surveys along the caravan trails documented mostly local pottery styles and ritual sites characteristic of pre-Inka times, while some routes do not show any evidence of infrastructural control over the movement of people and goods (Corrales 2017). Therefore, it is likely that transportation was only partially controlled by the state and even when effectively controlled, caravan traffic was probably managed by local Atacamenians (Corrales 2017; Garrido and Salazar 2017). In fact, this activity could have been among the many mit’a

obligations of local Atacamenians to the Inka State (Berenguer 2007). Beyond the Economy: Sociopolitics and Ideology

D’Altroy (2015b:44) argued that “the Inkas innovated and transformed economic activities, but they were working within a framework in which property and its products were theoretically inalienable, resources were at least partially animate entities, labor was a social relationship, and no specie or markets existed.” In line with this proposal, previous research of Inka expansion into Atacama and Qullasuyu has interpreted the intensification of production as only part of wider multidimensional and extremely complex phenomena inseparable from the social and cultural dimensions of life in the Andes (Aldunate et al. 2003; Berenguer and Salazar 2017; P. Núñez 1991; Uribe 2004; Uribe and Adán 2004, among others). In fact, economic practices occurred within living landscapes inhabited by nonhuman beings (wak’as): it was therefore necessary to interact with, dialogue with, and propitiate them to achieve success in productive

Figure 4.7. Rumimuqus from the site of Paniri.

Atacama during Inka Rule

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activities. These wak’as were themselves organized in a hierarchy, with the most powerful being the mountain lords (mallkus) (Aldunate et al. 2003; Allen 2015; Castro and Aldunate 2003). Humans engaged with the wak’as on a daily basis and fed them with different substances in exchange for their well-being (Mannheim and Salas 2015). Economic practices also required the mobilization of human labor according to social institutions and political arrangements, which were negotiated, reproduced, and reinforced through ritual. This sociocultural dimension of the economy in Atacama under Tawantinsuyu could be deduced from ethnohistoric and ethnographic records from other parts of the Andes, but it is also clearly reflected in the archaeological record of the region, including production sites themselves. Local settlements and villages in pre-Inka times had open, clear areas within the sites rather than formal plazas for social congregation. In contrast, during the Inka Period we see formalized plazas introduced at the mining and metallurgical sites of Collahuasi, El Abra, Cerro Verde, and, to a lesser degree, Conchi. These formal plazas are usually located in the center of the domestic areas or adjacent to them (figure 4.8) and are spatially associated with Inka architecture and ceramics. At least at El Abra, the massive preparation of food—presumably for commensal practices—occurred on the “Inka” side of the site (Garrido and Salazar 2017; Salazar, Borie, and Oñate 2013). This implies that commensalism and social congregation were an integral component of production systems imposed by Tawantinsuyu, as a necessary ingredient for extracting ores and growing crops properly. According to ethnohistorical accounts, these commensal practices were carried out by the state as part of its economic/moral obligations to subjects in return for their labor and loyalty (D’Altroy 2015a; Morris 1986; Murra 1989). The situation at the agricultural sites is less clear from the standpoint of the archaeological record of Inka rule in Atacama. Paniri is the only well-dated Inka agricultural site, but its associated settlement (partly encircled by a wall with massive stones, reminiscent of the Inka perimeter wall at Turi) unfortunately has been intensely altered by subsequent occupations. Open areas for social congregation following Inka layouts were recently identified at a site on the lower slopes of Cerro Paniri (a high volcano mallku and source of irrigation water) a kilometer away from the Paniri fields. The lack of 70

formal plazas at agricultural sites (including Socaire: P. Núñez 1991) is not surprising, since ritual gatherings and feasts in modern farming communities in Atacama today take place mainly in the fields, on particular terraces or in areas that function like public spaces (Castro and Varela 1994; P. Núñez 1991). Ritual practices documented in Inka-carved stones associated with agricultural production in Atacama also suggest a small number of participants, the absence of Inka-sponsored commensality, and the establishment of different relations with local wak’as than in mining ritual sites (Troncoso et al. 2019). Therefore, we can suggest that social practices and commensalism at Inka production sites varied according to the kind of productive activity being performed, the degree of state control over production, and the specific role of nonhuman actors in the productive processes themselves. While mining sites establish direct relations with administrative centers, local and regional mountain shrines, and qaqas (sensu Cruz 2009), some of the agricultural ritual practices during Inka times show fewer participants, no evidence of architecture or Inka commensality, and in some cases even a lack of direct visual relation to mountain shrines (Troncoso et al. 2019). Regardless of their orientation and scale, agricultural and mining production sites such as those found in Chiuchiu, Paniri, Socaire, Collahuasi, Conchi, and El Abra demonstrate how productive activities were embedded in an animated landscape where a series of nonhuman beings intervened and were relevant to the realization of productive practices (P. Núñez 1991; Salazar, Borie, and Oñate 2013; Troncoso et al. 2019). Mining enclaves were spatially linked to the higher mountains and provide evidence of offerings to them at different places. Platforms were built at El Abra during Inka times, including one where offerings of Spondylus have been found (Salazar, Borie, and Oñate 2013; Soto and Salazar 2016). The rituals performed at these highly visible locations were probably linked to the “fertility” of the mines and the well-being of the workers, as suggested by ethnographic and ethnohistoric analogies (for example, Absi 2005). It seems some of the architecture of the mining camp at El Abra is aligned with certain astronomical phenomena of importance to the Inka, while most door openings at the mining camp are oriented toward the platform where the Spondylus was found or toward the Inka sector of the site. Day-to-day

Salazar, Berenguer R., Castro, Hayashida, Parcero-Oubiña, and Troncoso

Figure 4.8. Plan view of the Inkawasi-Abra mining campsite with its central plaza (modified from Salazar,

Borie, and Oñate 2013).

activities by local populations at the mining camp were therefore physically related to a wider concept of the relations of people, wak’as, the Inka, production, and material culture. Ethnohistoric and archaeological evidence from other regions of the Andes reveals how the Inka created and expanded state farmlands in the provinces through ritual practices that range in archaeological visibility from difficult to detect (offerings of llama blood and ground Spondylus to demarcate state lands) to highly visible (carved stone outcrops with depictions of fields and irrigation features) (Hayashida 2016). Within Atacama, Inka carved stones have been found at Chiuchiu, Cupo, and Toconce (Castro and Varela 1994; Gallardo and Vilches 2001; Troncoso et al. 2019), though not at the state fields at Paniri and Socaire. However, the presence of ritual features such as copper mineral offerings, wankas, and rumimuqus with circular pits at their summits in or near the fields at Paniri reveals the integration of agricultural economy and sacrality and provides an opportunity for further exploration. The significance of the high-altitude shrines found at the summit of mountains such as Paniri and León in the Turi basin is difficult to assess, because it is not yet clear whether all these shrines were Inka, pre-Inka, or historic. However, the importance of high-altitude shrines for the Inka and the role they played in the relationship between the state and local communities is well established (D’Altroy 2015a; Ibacache 2007; Ibacache et al. 2016; Reinhardt 1983). Assuming that at least some of these shrines were in use during the Inka Period, their presence suggests that powerful local wak’as (the mountain lords, mallkus) were integrated under Tawantinsuyu into a web of relationships, which included local populations and villages, productive activities, and the state, evidently organized in a hierarchical structure (Castro and Ceruti 2018). Most of the administrative centers built by the Inka in Atacama are in fact placed so as to have clear views of the highest or most significant mountains of the area where shrines have been found and are also linked to extractive enclaves and provincial centers through Inka roads and/or caravan trails (Salazar, Berenguer, and Vega 2013). The social and ritual dimensions of Inka rule in Atacama are seen in other contexts as well. For example, formal plazas are associated with Inka 72

architecture at the provincial centers of Miño, Cerro Colorado, Cerro Verde, Turi, Licancabur, and Chiliques (Adán 1999; Barón and Reinhardt 1981; Berenguer 2007; Berenguer et al. 2005; Castro 1992; Castro et al. 1993; Cornejo 1999; Le Paige 1978; Moyano and Uribe 2012; Salazar, Berenguer, and Vega 2013; Uribe and Urbina 2009). The wellknown double plaza from Catarpe Oeste is also from Inka times. It is oriented in a 63° to 66° direction, like the Qurikancha in Cuzco (Adán 2017; Lynch 1977; Santoro and Uribe 2018; Uribe et al. 2002). The presence of plazas marks these sites as places used for ceremonial congregation and festivities prompted by the state (Adán and Uribe 2005; Aldunate et al. 2003; Berenguer 2007; Castro et al. 1993; Salazar, Berenguer, and Vega 2013; Uribe 2004; Uribe and Adán 2004; Uribe et al. 2002), where staples and wealth items were probably stored and redistributed (Acuto 2013). However, these centers differ in an interesting way. According to the context of their location, we may distinguish between provincial centers built by the Inka inside Late Intermediate Period sites and those newly built by the Inka but segregated from local villages and in areas with no prior occupations (Adán 1999; Adán and Uribe 2005; Castro 1992; Castro et al. 1993; Berenguer et al. 2011; Hyslop 1990). Turi and Catarpe Oeste are the best-known examples of the first kind, while Miño 1, Cerro Colorado, Cerro Verde, Licancabur, and Chiliques are examples of the second. Turi is especially significant in this context, with its impressive 26 × 9 m adobe kallanka within a 41 × 50 m plaza (Aldunate et al. 2003; Castro et al. 1993; Castro et al. 2004; Cornejo 1995; Gallardo et al. 1995), Turi and Catarpe may have been the provincial centers from which the Inka administrated Atacama (Berenguer 2007; Lynch and Núñez 1994; Uribe and Sánchez 2016). At the side of the Inka plaza of Turi are remains of a probable domestic compound of adobe houses, which clearly contrasts with the rest of the site and may have functioned as the residence for the state’s representatives (Aldunate 1993; Aldunate et al. 2003; Castro et al. 1993; Cornejo 1999; Gallardo et al. 1995) (figure 4.3). In contrast, Miño 1, Cerro Colorado, Cerro Verde, Licancabur, and Chiliques did not house permanent residents but seem to have been activated only for specific ceremonial purposes. In fact, all of them have very light stratigraphic deposits and show no evidence of colonial reoccupation (unlike Turi and Catarpe), as

Salazar, Berenguer R., Castro, Hayashida, Parcero-Oubiña, and Troncoso

if they were immediately abandoned following the collapse of Tawantinsuyu (Berenguer 2007). The location of these provincial centers associated exclusively with ceremonial activities is interesting. As noted, they were far from local villages (Miño 1 nearly 80 km north of the nearest village and Cerro Colorado 50 km north of the nearest village). All are directly linked to special features on the landscape, oriented toward high mountains and volcanoes, most of them with evidence of shrines on their summits (Ibacache et al. 2016). Miño, Cerro Colorado, and Cerro Verde are located next to special geomorphic features, such as a red outcrop at Miño, a black outcrop at Cerro Verde, and an intriguing dune formation in the center of a small triangular hill at Cerro Colorado (figure 4.9; plate 6). Following Cruz (2009) and through the use of ethnohistorical and ethnographic analogies, we have interpreted these features as qaqas, doorways of communication with the underworld (Berenguer 2007; Salazar, Borie, and Oñate 2013). The relation between such places and mining/metallurgical centers is quite evident in the ethnographic record, because the nonhuman agents responsible for the fertility of the mines reside in the underworld (Absi 2005; BouysseCassagne 2005; Cruz 2009). Provincial centers were also located near the mining enclaves of Collahuasi, Conchi, El Abra, and Cerro Verde and connected to them through the Qhapaq Ñan or caravan trails. Different types of rituals and ceremonies were probably staged at these ceremonial provincial centers, but all of them featured Inka built-space and probably imperialsupported feasts. These were places where local populations commemorated their relations to the Inka and to the local and regional wak’as. Thus, feasting and commensal politics at these ceremonial provincial centers occurred in places segregated from daily life, where social space and relations of visibility were staged in order to create and reproduce explicit links connecting the productive activities, the wak’as, the Inka, and the local population in an organized and hierarchical system (Acuto 1999, 2013). The relationship between these provincial centers—including the ceremonial landscape they created—and the extractive enclaves suggests that fields, mines, and smelting sites were part of a landscape of production, sociality, and religious symbolism that was reproduced and probably negotiated

at these ceremonial centers as well as at the more administration-oriented centers of Turi and Catarpe. The Inka introduced changes and reorganized this complex and multilayered landscape and, in so doing, redefined the relations of local people, resources, wak’as, and the social, political, and religious dimensions of Tawantinsuyu. Discussion and Further Thoughts

Archaeologists have traditionally accepted that copper minerals were the main revenue sought by the Inka State in Atacama. The data currently available and synthesized in this chapter support this claim. However, our understanding of mining under Inka rule, and therefore the incorporation of Atacama in Tawantinsuyu, has to be approached more comprehensively (Adán and Uribe 2005; Aldunate et al. 2003; Berenguer and Salazar 2017; Gallardo et al. 1995; P. Núñez 1991; Salazar, Berenguer, and Vega 2013; Uribe 2004; Uribe and Adán 2004; Uribe et al. 2002). Exploiting minerals was evidently much more than a technological or economic affair. It involved propitiating wak’as, restructuring ceremonial landscapes (probably modifying ritual calendars), and mobilizing labor according to Andean institutions and political alliances and negotiations. Therefore, economic intensification occurred in Atacama as part of a wider web of social practices through which the relations of locals, Inka, wak’as, and other beings were reordered and reproduced during the Inka Period. The archaeological record clearly shows this multidimensional nature of production and Inka rule in Atacama. Through architecture, the organization of space, and ritual practices, the “economic” projects organized by the state gave special importance to the sociopolitical relations of people, places, and wak’as. For example, workers were housed in different compounds in various mining and metallurgical projects controlled by the state (El Abra, Collahuasi, Cerro Verde), thus creating or reproducing social difference. At the same time, plazas for social congregation were built in prominent places within or between these compounds in order to create a sense of community in which the Inka played the role of generous sponsor. Both the plazas and the compounds themselves were oriented toward significant places, including mountains, shrines, and constellations, which Atacama during Inka Rule

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a

b

c

Figure 4.9 (Plate 6). Possible qaqas: (a) sand feature at Cerro Colorado (photo courtesy of Albane Buhrens); (b) large black

outcrop at Cerro Verde; (c) large reddish outcrop at Miño (in the middle ground) as seen from the site of Miño with Cerro Miño in the background (photo courtesy of Carlos Angiorama).

were made part of these communities as locals and Inka representatives engaged with them. Such production sites were further linked to provincial centers, which themselves had plazas for social congregation oriented toward qaqas and other wak’as. At the same time, agricultural expansion was key to the imperial mining projects in Atacama. Not only were new agricultural lands claimed by the state and probably worked by local populations mobilized through Andean social institutions, but again agricultural practices were articulated with the landscape and nonhuman beings through ritual practices such as those performed at the Inka Period carved stones located near the important agricultural systems of Toconce and Chiuchiu (Troncoso et al. 2019). Other (archaeologically less visible) rituals similar to those recorded ethnographically in the Loa River basin and in Socaire (Castro and 74

Varela 1994; Nuñez 1991) likely also occurred in state-owned agricultural fields. Both mining and agricultural landscapes produced by the Inka established new and complex relationships involving local populations, the Inka, and nonhuman actors and were integrated into a new regional—and probably hierarchical—system of shrines that ultimately restructured the Atacamenian territory and its ritual calendar, inscribing the productive centers controlled by the state. It has been argued that the optimum strategy for imperial control over local provinces “should be in fact a combination of both forms of domination [territorial and hegemonic], in which low investment levels of imperial infrastructure (hegemonic strategy) are combined with significant changes in the local economies geared to ensuring large revenues for the empire (territorial strategy)” (Alconini

Salazar, Berenguer R., Castro, Hayashida, Parcero-Oubiña, and Troncoso

and Malpass 2010:283). The Atacamenian case study only partially fits this expectation. Large mineral and metallic revenues were in fact obtained by the state, but with what seems to be an equally important investment in infrastructure at a regional level aimed at reconfiguring local landscapes and social relations. Further research is needed to understand what Inka infrastructure represents politically. Who were, after all, the Inka in Atacama? Were they Inka lords, Inkanized provincial lords, or only Inkanized local leaders? This question is directly related to the extent of Inka investment in Atacama. However, we have limited funerary data from the region, even though the presence of Inkanized local leaders has been reported at least for the Cementerio de Los Abuelos in Caspana (Adán and Uribe 2005; Ayala et al. 1999; Berenguer and Salazar 2017). We do not yet know the final destination of all of the large mineral and metal revenues collected by the Inka in Atacama through economic intensification at El Abra, Collahuasi, Conchi, Cerro Verde, and elsewhere. For example, the mines of San José del Abra were an important Inka extractive enclave whose main product was turquoise. Unlike other copper minerals, turquoise is used not for metallurgy but is considered a semiprecious stone. Unworked, crushed copper minerals were a fundamental substance for rituals associated with agriculture, herding, and caravanning in Atacama long before the Inka (Berenguer 2004). They continued to be used intensively during the Late Period, probably at local sites and undoubtedly at provincial centers such as Turi and Catarpe. Copper minerals, and especially turquoise, were also used for producing beads used as personal ornaments and as part of other objects made of wood or textiles. Were mineral revenues during Inka times redistributed and consumed only locally or where they exported to other regions? From colonial sources we know Atacamenian turquoise beads were highly valued by the Chiriguano at least until the seventeenth century (Barba 1967 [1640]). Surplus production of Atacamenian turquoise could therefore have been used by the state as wealth items to be transported to other populations with which the Inka were negotiating or where the empire needed to finance its political economy (Earle 1994; Earle and D’Altroy 1982). But copper ore and even turquoise mines were not limited to Atacama. In northwestern Argentina and the Bolivian highlands, for example, copper ores including turquoise are

abundant, and many mines were probably exploited during Inka times (López et al. 2018). So does the exploitation of turquoise and other copper ores readily available in other provinces really explain Inka expansion and investment in Atacama? How much more “copper-rich” was Atacama in comparison to other south-central Andean areas when seen from the perspective of the relatively smallscale exploitations of the Late Period? Or was it the specific qualities of Atacamenian ores that attracted imperial interests in the region? Considering the importance of copper minerals and turquoise for local ritual practices in Atacama before the Inka, it is also probable that at least some of the surplus production of minerals and metals in Atacama was not “exported” but redistributed within the very region as yet another expression of Inka generosity and wealth. Alternatively, Inka ritualism also required copper ores to interact directly with local wak’as, as suggested by the extensive deposits of ground copper ore offerings found at ritual structures at the provincial centers of Turi and Catarpe (Castro et al. 1993; Niemeyer and Schiappacasse 1998). In this scenario, at least partially controlling the production of local copper provided the Inka with an abundant source of one of the most important substances for local Atacamenian social reproduction. The greenish crushed minerals and beads were an essential and irreplaceable element to propitiate those nonhuman agents participating in all processes involving fertility, well-being, and good fortune, such as mountain wak’as (Berenguer 2004; Castro and Varela 1992). By controlling this material, the Inka directly communicated with local wak’as and at the same time established themselves as intermediaries between these wak’as and local communities, as similarly proposed by Acuto (this volume) for Northwest Argentina. In agricultural ritual practices documented in Atacama, this same pattern of Inka mediation involving wak’as, local communities, and production has again been recorded (Troncoso et al. 2019). Conclusions

In the Atacama of the South-Central Andes, inhabited by comparatively small-scale populations, Inka imperial domination was manifold and expressed simultaneously at multiple levels. From a strictly archaeological perspective, materiality associated Atacama during Inka Rule

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with the Inka in Atacama is now recognized as abundant and varied (Uribe and Sánchez 2016). It permeated all aspects of local life, including economic production, mobility, cultural material, lived-spaces, social practices, and religiosity. We can therefore conclude that, as in other places intensely affected by imperial expansion, in Atacama key aspects of the local communities were transformed. Traditionally, it has been assumed that in Atacama the Inka reorganized local productive activities to extract copper ores for integration into the state’s political economy. However, economic interests alone may not be sufficient to explain state expansion and provincial administration. After all, the economy was just a part of life in Tawantinsuyu, and economic interests cannot be separated from a wider sociocultural context that includes cosmological narratives, nonhuman agents, and social practices and institutions, all woven together in landscape and experience (Aldunate et al. 2003; Castro and Aldunate 2003; D’Altroy 2015a; P. Núñez 1991). Given this ontological difference, perhaps we should not be asking ourselves what “the” purpose of Inka expansionism into Atacama was, as we may tend to find answers that are only meaningful in our own cultural context. We consider it important to encourage more bottom-up approaches to Inka provincial rule, attempting to see imperial rule in terms of the social practices through which it was materialized and reproduced. Additionally, given the known variability within Tawantinsuyu, we also believe that systematic archaeological research at different spatial scales as well as well controlled contextual and chronological databases are crucial for a more adequate understanding of the multidimensional relations by the Inka with local communities, their landscapes, and wak’as. This chapter is a step in that direction. References Cited Absi, Pascale 2005 Los ministros del diablo: El trabajo y sus representaciones en las minas de Potosí. IRD, IFEA, Fundación PIEB, La Paz. Acuto, Félix 1999 Paisaje y dominación: La constitución del espacio social en el Imperio Inka. In Sed Non Satiata: Teoría social en la arqueología latinoamericana contemporánea, edited by Andrés Zarankin and Félix

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Axel Nielsen, pp. 247–283. Encuentro Grupo Editor, Córdoba, Argentina. Bouysse-Cassagne, Thérèse 2005 Las minas del centro sur andino, los cultos prehispánicos y los cultos cristianos. Boletín IFEA 34(3):443–462. Castro, Victoria 1992 Nuevos registros de la presencia Inka en la Provincia de El Loa, Chile. Gaceta Arqueológica Andina 6(21):139–154. Castro, Victoria, and Carlos Aldunate 2003 Sacred Mountains in the Highlands of the South Central Andes. Mountain Research and Development 23:73–79. Castro, Victoria, José Berenguer, Francisco Gallardo, Augustín Llagostera, and Diego Salazar 2016 Vertiente Occidental Circumpuneña: Desde las sociedades posarcaicas hasta las preincas (ca. 1.500 años a.C. a 1.470 años d.C.). In Prehistoria en Chile: Desde sus primeros habitantes hasta los Incas, edited by Fernanda Falabella, Mauricio Uribe, Lorena Sanhueza, Carlos Aldunate, and Jorge Hidalgo, pp. 239–284. Editorial Universitaria, Santiago. Castro, Victoria, and Constanza Ceruti 2018 Los Incas y el culto a las montañas en los Andes. In Imperio Inka: Una aproximación multidisciplinaria, edited by Izumi Shimada, pp. 429–471. Ediciones Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima. Castro, Victoria, Fernando Maldonado, and Mario Vásquez 1993 Arquitectura en el Pukara de Turi. Actas del XII Congreso Nacional de Arqueología (Temuco, Chile) 1:79–106. Castro, Victoria, and José Luis Martínez 1996 Poblaciones indígenas de la Provincia del Loa. In Culturas de Chile, vol. 2, edited by Jorge Hidalgo, Virgilio Schiapacasse, Hans Niemeyer, Carlos Aldunate, and Pedro Mege, pp. 69–109. Editorial Andrés Bello, Santiago. Castro, Victoria, and Mauricio Uribe 2004 Dos dados de Caspana, el juego de la Pichica y el dominio Inka en el Loa Superior. Actas del XV Congreso Nacional de Arqueología Chilena. Special issue of Chungara (Arica, Chile). Castro, Victoria, and Varinia Varela 1992 Así sabían contar. Oralidad 4:16–27. 1994 Ceremonias de tierra y agua: Ritos milenarios andinos. FONDART, Fundación Andes, Kuppenheim, Santiago. 2004 De cómo camina el sol durante junio, de lo que se ve en el cielo y de lo que se comenta y se practica en la tierra. Oralidad y rituales en la subregión del Río Salado, Norte de Chile. In Etno y arqueo-astronomía en las Américas, edited by Maxime Boccas, Johanna Broda, and Gonzalo Pereira, pp. 285–298. Congreso Internacional de Americanistas, Santiago.

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Cornejo, Luis 1995 El Inka en la región del Río Loa: Lo local y lo foráneo. Actas del XIII Congreso Nacional de Arqueología Chilena, pp. 203–212. Sociedad Chilena de Arqueología, Universidad de Antofagasta, Chile. 1999 Los Incas y la construcción del espacio en Turi. Estudios Atacameños 18:165–176. 2014 Sobre la cronología del inicio de la imposición cuzqueña en Chile. Estudios Atacameños 47:101–116.

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Corrales, Paulina 2017 Complejo minero San José del Abra: Vialidad, producción y administración en el Alto Loa. Bachelor’s thesis. Departamento de Antropología, Universidad de Chile. Costin, Cathy 2001 Craft Production Systems. In Archaeology at the Millennium, edited by Gary Feinman and Douglas Price, pp. 273–327. Kluwer, New York. Cruz, Pablo 2009 Huacas olvidadas y cerros santos: Apuntes metodológicos sobre la cartografía sagrada en los Andes del sur de Bolivia. Estudios Atacameños 38:55– 74. D’Altroy, Terence 2015a The Incas. 2nd ed. Blackwell Publishing. Malden, MA. 2015b The Inka Empire. In Fiscal Regimes and the Political Economy of Premodern States, edited by Andrew Monson and Walter Scheidel, pp. 31–70. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Hayashida, Frances M. 2016 Fields, Sacrifice, Farmers and the State in the Inka Provinces. To be published in Technology and the Making of Andean Societies, edited by Bill Sillar. University College of London Press, London. Hogg, Alan G., Timothy J. Heaton, Quan Hua, Jonathan G. Palmer, Chris S. M. Turney, John Southon, Alex Bayliss, Paul G. Blackwell, Gretel Boswijk, Christopher Bronk Ramsey, Charlotte Pearson, Fiona Petchey, Paula Reimer, Ron Reimer, and Lukas Wacker 2020 SHCal20 Southern Hemisphere Calibration, 0–55,000 Years cal BP. Radiocarbon 62(4):759–778. Hubbe, Mark, and Christina Torres-Rouff 2011 Avances en la contextualización cronológica de la ocupación humana de los oasis atacameños. In Temporalidad, interacción y dinamismo cultural: La búsqueda del hombre, edited by André Hubert, José Antonio González, and Mario Pereira, pp. 247–268. Ediciones Universitarias, Universidad Católica del Norte, Antofagasta, Chile.

Earle, Timothy 1994 Wealth Finance in the Inka Empire: Evidence from the Calchaquí Valley, Argentina. American Antiquity 59(3):443–460.

Hyslop, John 1990 Inka Settlement Planning. University of Texas Press, Austin. 2014 Qhapaq Ñan: El sistema vial inkaico (1984). Ediciones Copé, Lima.

Earle, Timothy, and Terence D’Altroy 1982 Storage Facilities and State Finance in the Upper Mantaro Valley, Perú. In Contexts for Prehistoric Exchange, edited by Jonathon E. Erickson and Timothy K. Earle, pp. 265–290. Academic Press, New York.

Ibacache, Sebastián 2007 Ascensos en el volcán Paniri: Reconocimiento exploratorio de un adoratorio de montaña en la región de Antofagasta. Memoria para optar al Título de Arqueólogo, Departamento de Antropología, Universidad de Chile, Santiago.

Figueroa, Valentina, Benoit Mille, Diego Salazar, José Berenguer, Andrew Menzies, Pía Sapiains, Ariadna Cifuentes, and Delphine Joly 2018 A Major Prehispanic Copper Production Center Identified at Collahuasi, Southern Tarapacá Altiplano (Chile). Chungara 50(4):557–575.

Ibacache, Sebastián, Gabriel Cantarutti, José Berenguer, and Diego Salazar 2016 Adoratorios de altura y dominación incaica en el Alto Loa, norte de Chile. Intersecciones en Antropología 17:173–186.

Gallardo, Francisco, Mauricio Uribe, and Patricia Ayala 1995 Arquitectura Inka y poder en el pukara de Turi, norte de Chile. Gaceta Arqueológica Andina (Lima) 24: 151–171.

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González, Carlos 2017 Arqueología vial del Qhapaq Ñan en Sudamérica: Análisis teórico, conceptos y definiciones. Boletín del Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino 22(1):15–34.

Isbell, William 1997 Mummies and Mortuary Monuments: A Postprocessual Prehistory of Central Andean Social Organization. University of Texas Press, Austin.

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Le Paige, Gustavo 1978 Vestigios arqueológicos incaicos en las cumbres de la región Atacameña. Estudios Atacameños 6:36–52. Llagostera, Agustín 1976 Hipótesis sobre la expansión incaica en la vertiente occidental de los Andes meridionales. In Homenaje al Dr. R. P. Gustavo Le Paige, compiled by Lautaro Núñez, pp. 203–218. Universidad del Norte, Antofagasta, Chile. López, Gabriel, Federico Coloca, Mariana Rosenbusch, and Patricia Solá 2018 Mining, Macro-regional Interaction and Ritual Practices in the South-Central Andes: The First Evidence for Turquoise Exploitation from the Late Prehispanic and Inca Periods in North-western Argentina (Cueva Inca Viejo, Puna de Salta). Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 17:81–92. Lynch, Tom 1977 Tambo incaico Catarpe-Este (informe de avance). Estudios Atacameños 5:142–147. Lynch, Tom, and Lautaro Núñez 1994 Nuevas evidencias Inkas entre Kollahuasi y Río Frío (I y II regiones del norte de Chile). Estudios Atacameños 11:145–164. Malim, Tim 2009 Tears of the Sun: Condensation and Irrigation in the Andes. In The Archaeology of People and Territoriality, edited by George Nash and Dragos Gheorghiu, pp. 116–136. Archaeolingua, Budapest. Mannheim, Bruce, and Guillermo Salas 2015 Wak’as: Entifications of the Andean Sacred. In The Archaeology of Wak’as: Explorations of the Sacred in the Pre-Columbian Andes, edited by Tamara Bray, pp. 47–72. University Press of Colorado, Boulder. Marsh, Erik, Ray Kidd, Dennis Ogburn, and Víctor Durán 2017 Dating the Expansion of the Inca Empire: Bayesian Models from Ecuador and Argentina. Radiocarbon 59 (1):117–140. Morris, Craig 1986 Storage, Supply, and Redistribution in the Economy of the Inka State. In Anthropological History of Andean Polities, edited by John Murra, Nathan Wachtel, and Jacques Revel, pp. 59–68. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Morris, Craig, and Donald E. Thompson 1985 Huánuco Pampa: An Inca City and Its Hinterland. Thames and Hudson, New York. Moyano, Ricardo, and Carlos Uribe 2012 El volcán Chiliques y el “morar-en-el-mundo” de una comunidad atacameña del norte de Chile. Estudios Atacameños 43:187–208. Murra, John 1989 La organización económica del Estado Inca. Siglo XXI Editores, Madrid.

Nielsen, Axel 2013 Circulating Objects and the Constitution of South Andean Society (500 BC–AD 1550). In Merchants, Trade, and Exchange in the Pre-Columbian World, edited by Kenneth G. Hirth and Joanne Pillsbury, pp. 391–420. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC. Nielsen, Axel, José Berenguer, and Cecilia Sanhueza 2006 El Qhapaqñan entre Atacama y Lípez. Intersecciones en Antropología 7:217–234. Niemeyer, Hans, and Mario Rivera 1983 El camino del Inca en el despoblado de Atacama. Boletín de Prehistoria de Chile 9:91–193. Niemeyer, Hans, and Virgilio Schiappacasse 1998 Patrones de asentamiento incaicos en el Norte Grande de Chile. In La frontera del Estado Inca (1987), edited by Tom D. Dillehay and Patricia J. Netherly, pp. 114–152. Fundación Alexander Von Humboldt, Editorial Abya-Yala, Quito, Ecuador. Núñez, Lautaro 1999 Valoración minero-metalúrgica circumpuneña: Menas y mineros para el Inka Rey. Estudios Atacameños 18:177–221. 2006 La orientación minero-metalúrgica de la producción atacameña y sus relaciones fronterizas. In Esferas de interacción prehistóricas y fronteras nacionales modernas: Los Andes surcentrales, edited by Heather Lechtman, pp. 205–260. IEP-IAR, Lima. Núñez, Patricio 1991 Sobre economía prehispánica de Socaire, norte de Chile. Actas del XI Congreso Nacional de Arqueología Chilena (Santiago) 2:201–210. 1993 Posibilidades agrícolas y población del Incario en el área atacameña, norte de Chile. Actas del XII Congreso Nacional de Arqueología Chilena (Temuco, Chile) 1:259–267. Ogburn, Dennis 2012 Reconceiving the Chronology of Inca Imperial Expansion. Radiocarbon 54(2):219–237. Parcero-Oubiña, César, Pastor Fábrega-Álvarez, Diego Salazar, Andrés Troncoso, Frances Hayashida, Mariela Pino, César Borie, and Ester Echenique 2016 Ground to Air and Back Again: Archaeological Prospection to Characterize Prehispanic Agricultural Practices in the High-Altitude Atacama (Chile). Quaternary International 435: 98–113. Pärssinen, Martti 1992 Tawantinsuyu: The Inca State and Its Political Organization. Societas Historica Finlandiae, Helsinki. Platt, Tristan 1987 Entre Ch’axwa and Muxsa: Para una historia del pensamiento político aymara. In Tres reflexiones sobre el pensamiento andino, edited by Thérèse BouysseCasagne, Olivia Harris, Tristán Platt, and Verónica Cereceda, pp. 61–132. Hisbol, La Paz.

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Raffino, Rodolfo 1981 Los Inkas del Kollasuyu. Ramos Americana Editora, La Plata, Argentina. Reinhardt, Johan 1983 Las montañas sagradas: Un estudio etnoarqueológico de las ruinas en las altas cumbres andinas. Cuadernos de Historia (Santiago) 3:27–61. Rowe, John 1945. Absolute Chronology in the Andean Area. American Antiquity 10:265–284. Salazar, Diego 2008 La organización de la producción minera en San José del Abra durante el Período Tardío Atacameño. Estudios Atacameños 36:46–72. Salazar, Diego, José Berenguer, and Gabriela Vega 2013 Paisajes minero-metalúrgicos inkaicos en Atacama y el Altiplano sur de Tarapacá (norte de Chile). Chungara 45 (1):83–103. Salazar, Diego, César Borie, and Camila Oñate 2013 Mining, Commensal Politics and Ritual under Inka Rule in Atacama, Northern Chile. In Mining and Quarrying in the Ancient Andes: Sociopolitical, Economic and Symbolic Dimensions, edited by Kevin J. Vaughn and Nicholas Tripevich, pp. 253–274. Springer, New York. Sanhueza, Cecilia 2004 Medir, amojonar, repartir: Territorialidades y prácticas demarcatorias en el camino incaico de Atacama (II Región, Chile). Chungara 36(2):483–494. 2012 Las “sayhuas” del Inca: Territorio, frontera, geografía sagrada y “cartografía” oral en el Desierto de Atacama. PhD dissertation, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago. 2017 Las saywas del Inka en el Desierto de Atacama: ¿Una inscripción del calendario en el Qhapaq Ñan? Boletín del Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino 22(2):133–152. Sanhueza, Cecilia, José Berenguer, Carlos González, Cristián González, Juan Cortés, Sergio Martín, and Jimena Cruz 2020 Saywas y geografía sagrada en el Qhapaq Ñan del Despoblado de Atacama. Chungara 52(3):485–508. Santoro, Calogero, and Mauricio Uribe 2018 Inca Imperial Colonization in Northern Chile. In The Oxford Handbook of the Incas, edited by Sonia Alconini and Alan Covey, pp. 355–374. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Schiappacasse, Virgilio 1999 Cronología del Estado Inca. Estudios Atacameños 18:133–140. Schiappacasse, Virgilio, Victoria Castro, and Hans Niemeyer 1989 Los desarrollos regionales en el Norte Grande (1000 a 1400 d.C.). In Culturas de Chile: Prehistoria desde sus orígenes hasta los albores de la conquista, edited by Jorge Hidalgo, Virgilio Schiappacasse, Hans

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Niemeyer, Carlos Aldunate, and Iván Solimano, pp. 181–220. Editorial Andrés Bello, Santiago. Sepúlveda, Marcela 2004 Esquemas visuales y emplazamiento de las representaciones rupestres de camélidos del Loa Superior en tiempos incaicos: ¿Una nueva estrategia de incorporación de este territorio al Tawantinsuyu? Chungara 36:437–449. Troncoso, Andrés, Diego Salazar, César Parcero-Oubiña, Frances Hayashida, and Pablo Larach 2019 Maquetas incaicas en Chiu-Chiu: Paisaje y ritualidad agraria en el Desierto de Atacama. Estudios Atacameños 63:3–23. Urbina, Simón 2010 Asentamiento y arquitectura: Historia prehispánica tardía de las quebradas altas del Río Loa. Actas del XVII Congreso Nacional de Arqueología Chilena (Valdivia, Chile) 2:119–131. Uribe, Mauricio 1997 La alfarería de Caspana en relación a la prehistoria tardía de la subárea circumpuneña. Estudios Atacameños 14:243–62. 1999–2000  La arqueología del Inka en Chile. Revista Chilena de Antropología (Santiago) 15:63–97. 2002 Sobre alfarería, cementerios, fases y procesos durante la prehistoria tardía del Desierto de Atacama (800– 1600 DC). Estudios Atacameños 22: 7–31. 2004 El Inka y el poder como problemas de la arqueología del Norte Grande de Chile. Chungara 36: 313–324. 2015 Sobre nuevos datos para la arqueología del Inca en el Norte Grande de Chile (Andes Centro Sur). Actas del XIX Congreso Nacional de Arqueología Chilena (Arica, Chile) 1:405–410. Uribe, Mauricio, and Leonor Adán 2004 Acerca del dominio Inca sin miedo, sin vergüenza. Chungara, special volume: 467–480. Uribe, Mauricio, Leonor Adán, and Carolina Agüero 2002 El dominio del Inka, identidad local y complejidad social en las tierras altas del Desierto de Atacama, Norte Grande de Chile (1450–1541 d.C.). Boletín de Arqueología PUCP 6:301–336. Uribe, Mauricio, and Gloria Cabello 2005 Cerámica en el camino: Los materiales del Alto Loa (Norte Grande de Chile) y sus implicancias tipológicas y conductuales para la comprensión de la vialidad y expansión del Tawantinsuyo. Revista Española de Antropología Americana 35:75–98. Uribe, Mauricio, and Carlos Carrasco 1999 Tiestos y piedras talladas de Caspana: La producción alfarera y lítica en el Período Tardío del Loa Superior. Estudios Atacameños 18:55–87. Uribe, Mauricio, and Rodrigo Sánchez 2016 Los Incas en Chile: Aportes de la arqueología chilena a la historia del Tawantinsuyo (ca. 1.400 a 1.536 años d.C.). In Prehistoria en Chile: Desde sus primeros habitantes hasta los Incas, edited by Fernanda Falabella, Mauricio Uribe, Lorena Sanhueza, Carlos

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Aldunate, and Jorge Hidalgo, pp. 529–572. Editorial Universitaria, Santiago. Uribe, Mauricio, and Simón Urbina 2009 Cerámica y arquitectura pública en el camino del Inka del Desierto de Atacama (Río Loa, Norte Grande de Chile). Revista Chilena de Antropología 20:227–260. Varela, Varinia 1999 El camino del Inca en la cuenca superior del Río Loa, Desierto de Atacama, norte de Chile. Estudios Atacameños 18:89–105. Vilches, Flora, and Mauricio Uribe 1999 Grabados y pinturas del arte rupestre tardío de Caspana. Estudios Atacameños 18:73–88. Williams, Verónica, and Terrence D’Altroy 1998 El sur del Tawantinsuyu: Un dominio selectivamente intensivo. Tawantinsuyu 5:170–178.

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Chapter 5

Landscape, Social Memory, and Materiality in the Calchaquí Valley during Inka Domination in Northwest Argentina Verónica I. Williams

Introduction

During the last 30 years, investigations centered on Tawantinsuyu have provided new data regarding the nature and characteristics of the empire and have shown variability in the processes of conquest and consolidation based on interdisciplinary approaches linking archaeology, history, paleoenvironmental studies, geography, and toponymy, among others. I explore the micropolitical processes of a sector of Northwest Argentina (NWA) that was part of Qullasuyu in this chapter, with the goal of understanding Tawantinsuyu as a dynamic political entity that faced particular circumstances in every region, while recognizing that the differential development of archaeological research in the Andes may have accentuated or attenuated evidence for the empire and its consequences for local processes. I am also interested in showing the integration of a new corpus of data from some NWA regions using the concepts of materiality, landscape, and social memory. In the last few years some have argued that the Inka conquest had a marked symbolic/ritual character: state colonization was manifested through the construction of a new landscape, based on Inka ideology (Meddens 2002; Sánchez et al. 2004; Troncoso 2001; van de Guchte 1999). With this in mind, we have to ask how the Inka conceptualized space and the material practices that could have occurred in a political order, on an ethnic map, or in a socialized landscape in which the Inka were interested in acting as mediators between people or ethnic collectives and their history. If we consider space as a social construction, the concept of landscape is then understood as the conjunction of natural and artificial features and a particular type of spatial rationality that could be modified over time. The perception, signification, and construction of landscapes involves acts of memory that link senses, histories, and life 83

experiences (Ingold 1993). This memory is anchored in cultural identity or correspondence with a specific territory. Following Raffestin (1986:177), we understand territory as the social appropriation of a determined space via the arrangement of those economic and symbolic resources that structure the practical conditions of existence of a collective that self-identifies with that space. In examining the southern part of the empire, we need to mention the scarcity of relevant information from the Peruvian chroniclers. While historical factors may have been linked to the type of Spanish occupation, information on the Inka conquest is quite vague in its details, especially the particularities of their dominion of this region. Both the resistance that the prehispanic people of NWA put up against the Spanish and the absence of riches that would have attracted a greater number of conquistadors contributed to the absence of early chronicles written by eyewitnesses. The information provided by Cieza de León (2005 [1518–1553]), Garcilaso de la Vega (2009 [1609]), and Montesinos (1920 [1644]), among others, is scarce and almost circumstantial, which undoubtedly also adds to the image of the region’s marginality. Consolidation of the empire was not simple, as seen in reports of the violent suppression of rebellions against Inka hegemony. The chronicles of Betanzos (1968 [1551]) and Cieza de León (2005 [1518–1533]) narrate the arduous process of imperial consolidation, but only a few archaeological investigations have provided material evidence for the study of rebellions across Tawantinsuyu, especially for the southern empire, including what is now NWA (Arkush 2006; Lozano 1874). Also relevant is the lack of a refined Inka chronology for much of Tawantinsuyu, which makes it impossible to differentiate the stages of state expansion and creates an impression of a homogeneous state without regard for regional differences. As argued elsewhere, Inka occupation in NWA would have been selectively intensive in strategically located productive sectors or islands (Tarragó 2000; Williams and D’Altroy 1998: 175). Investigations of the southern valleys and the puna (high-altitude grasslands) of Jujuy, the Hualfín Valley in Fiambalá in western Catamarca, and the high quebradas (ravines) of the middle Calchaquí Valley in Salta show an Inka occupation with particular characteristics. These studies suggest the importance of these valleys and quebradas in providing resources from 84

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the yungas (lowlands), the valleys, and the puna, all zones related to the maintenance of the imperial political economy. Another characteristic of Inka rule in NWA is the difference between Inka and local perception, use, and management of space (spatiality). The Inka built their centers in the Calchaquí Valley (discussed more fully later) in highly visible places, in contrast to earlier inaccessible and concealed major local settlements. Furthermore, throughout NWA the Inka appropriated local spaces with previous occupations and histories, a strategy of legitimation based on social memory, here defined as “individual experiences fused with those acquired through images of a collective past” (Orgaz and Ratto 2015:221, following Halbwachs 2011; my translation). Sacred spaces that served as repositories of memory included sepulchers, plazas, volcanoes, mineral sources, carved stones, pukaras (hilltop sites), and rivers, among others (L. Cornejo 1999; Nielsen 2010; Reynoso et al. 2010; Williams and Castellanos 2011). In the remainder of the chapter I discuss these dynamics as seen in the middle Calchaquí Valley (NWA) before and during the Inka occupation (figure 5.1). The middle Calchaquí Valley is located in the province of Salta between the Molinos basin to the north and Angastaco basin to the south (figure 5.2). The archaeology here has provided data, particularly for the Late Intermediate Period (LIP, twelfth to fifteenth centuries) and the Inka Period (fifteenth to sixteenth centuries), complemented by published and unpublished historical information from the eighteenth century and travelers’ accounts from the nineteenth century. It has been suggested that the LIP was characterized by the emergence of local traditions, ethnic groups or political entities within the so-called Santamariano cultural tradition, and the appearance of the pukaras, a special settlement type defined by difficult accessibility.1 From an environmental point of view, the middle Calchaquí Valley can be considered a heterogeneous landscape with resources in different altitudinal zones that start at the bottom of the Calchaquí River valley and its tributaries (between 1,900 and 2,200 masl), a suitable area for mesothermic irrigated crops. The middle and upper portions of the tributary quebradas (between 2,600 and 3,400 masl), the head of the main valley, and the piedmont, with permanent watercourses, are optimal for irrigation. Mesothermic and microthermic

Figure 5.1. Tawantinsuyu and the location of the middle Calchaquí Valley, Northwest Argentina (map by Luis Coll).

crops prosper there. The areas above the agricultural zones provide herding, hunting, and metal resources, as indicated by nineteenth-century historical sources (A. Cornejo 1945). To date we have located nine pukara settlements (Gualfín, Tacuil, Punta Peña, Peña Alta, La Cruz, Angostura, Pueblo Viejo de Pucara, Angastaco, and Loma Bola) in the high quebradas of the

middle Calchaquí Valley,2 distributed over 149 ha; two small villages at the base of pukaras (Tacuil and Gualfín); dispersed occupations among agricultural fields (Corralito and Pucarilla); and large agricultural systems (terraces, platforms, canchones [enclosures], and canals) (figure 5.3). This scenario contrasts with the situation in the main Calchaquí Valley, where we found some large LIP settlements

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Figure 5.2. Location of Inka sites in the middle Calchaquí Valley, Salta, Northwest Argentina (map by Paula Villegas).

or centers (markas) such as La Paya, Guitián, El Churcal, and Tolombón (Williams and Castellanos 2011; Williams and Villegas 2013). One aspect worth mentioning is the recurrent spatial and/or cultural association between the LIP pukaras, agricultural lands, and outcrops with petroglyphs, shrines, apachitas (cairns), and rock art (Williams 2010). Between Cachi and Molinos, the large archaeological sites corresponding to the LIP can be grouped into two sectors, showing a transversal integration of regional populations linked to access to agriculturally productive territories and other economic resources and to the control of communication routes between zones (Baldini and De Feo 2000:94). Ethnohistorical sources indicate that the Sicha parcialidad (sociopolitical subdivision) was located south of Molinos during the sixteenth and

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seventeenth centuries and occupied small, dispersed settlements (Lorandi and Boixadós 1987–1988). Late historical documents indicate the exploitation of resources from different ecological floors by different groups. Ethnohistorical records suggest that prehispanic societies in the main valley of the Calchaquí also extended their rights across transversal transects (which allowed them to have access to complementary resources from higher areas) or that societies located in the high ravines also had rights to resources in the main valley bottom (Lorandi and Boixadós 1987–1988).3 The logic behind the settlements in the high quebradas (Quiroga 2010) would have been linked to subsistence practices and social reproduction associated with seasonal and altitudinal management of these areas, especially agricultural seasonality of the Calchaquí (Amigó 2000; Quiroga 2010:193). The agricultural potential of this area

is evidenced by the presence of terraced surfaces (bench terraces and other forms), enclosures (canchones), stone piles from clearing fields,4 and irrigation systems (canals and ditches) covering a surface of more than 350 ha (Albeck 2003–2005). The terrace complexes in Mayuco (approximately 30 ha), La Campana–Roselpa–La Despensa (approximately 125 ha), Corralito (approximately 101 ha), Pucarilla (5 ha), Gualfín (36 ha), Gualfín Las Cuevas (20 ha), and Tacuil (30 ha) are some of the agricultural sectors between Luracatao and Angastaco (figure 5.4).

A survey across four agricultural sites (Quebrada Grande, Gualfín 2, Corralito 4 and 5) allowed us to determine that these sites were continuously farmed from the Formative through the colonial periods, based on architecture, the presence/absence of irrigation infrastructure, and radiocarbon dates from sediments at the base of fieldstone piles (table 5.1) (Korstanje et al. 2010). To explain the diversity and spatial logic of the occupation of the Andean valleys, a hypothesis based on verticality and ecological complementarity

a

b

c

d

Figure 5.3. Location of Late Intermediate Period (labeled RDP) sites in the middle Calchaquí Valley and views of some

pukaras: (a) Pukara de Tacuil; (b) Pukara de Gualfín; (c) Pueblo Viejo; (d) Peña Alta de Mayuco (map by Paula Villegas, photos by Verónica I. Williams).

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Figure 5.4. Agricultural terrace complexes in the study area (map by Verónica I.

Williams).

has been suggested (Murra 1972): the use of different ecological floors can be understood as an adaptation that benefits the whole community. Some critics of this model note that the establishment of resource exploitation islands located far from principal population centers in many cases was related to sectarian interests of the dominant elite (Van Buren 1996). Alternatives to the traditional characterization of sites in the high quebradas of the middle Calchaquí Valley as small and dispersed settlements linked to the large conglomerated sites of the LIP in the Calchaquí Valley could be suggested. We should explore other possibilities, such as interregional 88

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migrations, interaction, ethnic interdigitation, and seasonal occupation and consider the high quebrada sites to be independent units that did not necessarily function as satellites of the larger conglomerated sites found in the main valleys. Spaces and Territories under the Gaze of the State: The Inka in the Middle Calchaquí Valley

Inka occupation of the middle Calchaquí was focused on both the main valley and the puna, with a lesser presence in the high quebradas. Detecting

Co4Dsp1

Co5Dsp1

Ga2Dsp1

Corralito 5, fieldstone pile

Gualfín 2, fieldstone pile

PANC42daExtN3

Pukara de Angastaco

Corralito 4 fieldstone pile

ATOR2N3

Tambo Angastaco

CpRPC1R3N2

ATOR1N1

Tambo Angastaco

Compuel RPC

ATOC1N8

AC-0270

Midden, Stratum 3, Layer 11

La Paya

Tambo Angastaco

AC-0271

Midden, Stratum 3, Layer 4

La Paya

Beta-232250

Beta-232249

Beta-232248

UGA 5943

GX-32997

Beta-239861

Beta-239860

Beta-239859

Beta-203739

AC-0273

Midden, Stratum 2, Layer 15

La Paya

ANGLP1Y2

AC-0272

Midden, Stratum 2, Layer 2

La Paya

Tambo Angastaco

AA85656

–

Churcal

–

Lab. ID

–

Excavation unit

Churcal A

Site

700 +/– 40

390 +/– 40

590 +/– 40

430 +/– 25

660 +/– 40

570 +/– 60

420 +/– 60

300 +/– 60

530 +/– 70

620 +/– 100

780 +/– 80

830 +/– 95

985 +/– 80

511 +/– 42

740 +/– 50

Calculated radiocarbon age (BP)

820 +/– 40

480 +/– 40

700 +/– 40

–

–

550 +/– 60

420 +/– 60

290 +/– 60

570 +/– 70

–

–

–

–

–

–

Conventional radiocarbon age (BP)

–17.7

–19.5

–18.3

–20.3

–22.1

–23.6

–25.3

–25.2

–22.7

–

–

–

–

–

–

13C/12C ‰

1225–1275

1426–1479

1291–1386

1453–1497

1310–1395

1393–1452

1449–1622

1509–1797

1323–1447

–

–

–

–

1418–1452

1064–1284

Calibrated age1 (1 δ, 68.2 %) (AD)

1187–1290

1407–1615

1282–1393

1445–1621

1293–1403

1305–1491

1436–1637

1460–1938

1292–1482

–

–

–

–

1397–1488

–

Calibrated age (2 δ, 95.4%) (AD)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

1330 +/– 100

1170 +/– 80

1120 +/– 95

965 +/– 80

–

–

Uncalibrated published ages (AD)

sediment (AMS)

sediment (AMS)

sediment (AMS)

bone

charcoal (AMS)

charcoal

charcoal

charcoal

charcoal

charcoal

charcoal

charcoal

Korstanje et al. 2010

Korstanje et al. 2010

Korstanje et al. 2010

Williams 2010

Williams 2008

Williams 2010

Williams 2010

Williams 2010

Williams 2008

Baldini 1980

Baldini 1980

Baldini 1980

Baldini 1980

McCormac et. al. 2004

premolar human bone charcoal

Raffino et al. 1976

References

wood

Material

Table 5.1. Radiocarbon dates from Late Intermediate and Inka Period residential and agricultural sites from the middle Calchaquí Valley mentioned in the text

TACRBDAAR15c2n16h1

TACRBDAAR20n6t2

TACRBDAAR15c2n12h2

Tacuil, lower rooms

Tacuil, lower rooms

Tacuil, lower rooms ICA18C/0768

ICA18C/0767

ICA 18C/0769

UGA 5942

UGA 5941

Beta-278207

UGA 5944

UGA 5940

UGA 5939

Beta-232251

Lab. ID

760 +/– 30

590 +/– 30

610 +/– 30

580 +/– 25

630 +/– 25

370 +/– 40

460 +/– 25

830 +/– 25

630 +/– 25

1240 +/– 40

1. Oxcal v4.2 (Bronk Ramsey 2009) and SHCal13 (Hogg et al. 2013).

PAMayDAAR11N5T3

FGuf Trompeta

Pukara de Gualfín, bone trumpet

Peña Alta de Mayuco

FGufRBR9C1N4T5

Pukara de Gualfín, lower rooms

CoIVR3N25–35cm

FGufR15C1N2

Pukara de Gualfín

Corralito 4, rooms

FTacDAAR1S1N2T5

Qg1Dsp1

Quebrada Grande, fieldstone pile

Pukara de Tacuil

Excavation unit

Site

Calculated radiocarbon age (BP)

760 +/– 30

590 +/– 30

610 +/– 30

480 +/– 40

1360 +/– 40

Conventional radiocarbon age (BP)

–18.7

–11.2

–18.5

–18.8

–24.6

–23.8

–17.5

13C/12C ‰

1210–1290

1290–1420

1290–1410

1399–1422

1322–1401

1426–1479

1443–1478

1228–1267

1322–1401

659–765

Calibrated age1 (1 δ, 68.2 %) (AD)

1326–1439

1311–1413

1407–1615

1434–1610

1213–1279

1311–1413

644–837

Calibrated age (2 δ, 95.4%) (AD) Uncalibrated published ages (AD)

charcoal

charcoal

charcoal

bone

bone

bone (AMS)

bone

charcoal

charcoal

sediment (AMS)

Material

Williams 2010

Williams 2010

Williams 2010

Williams 2010

Williams 2010

Williams 2010

Williams 2010

Williams 2010

Williams 2010

Korstanje et al. 2010

References

Table 5.1. Radiocarbon dates from Late Intermediate and Inka Period residential and agricultural sites from the middle Calchaquí Valley mentioned in the text (cont.)

state presence is not always an easy task, but my discussion starts with the most conspicuous evidence. Six sites with Inka affiliations have been identified in the basins of Angastaco and Molinos: Pukara and Tambo de Angastaco, Compuel, Tambo Gualfín, the “cells” (celdas) of Gualfín 1 and 2 and Amaicha II, in addition to the agricultural sites of Corralito and Mayuco (figure 5.5). One of the most studied sites is the Pukara and Tambo of Angastaco, located on the right margin of the Calchaquí River, at 1,862 masl, next to the north-south Inka Road (now Route 40) and another road going west to Gualfín and Pueblo Viejo (Williams and Villegas 2017). This 4.5-ha site has a subquadrangular outline and a perimeter wall with quadrangular watchtowers and is located about 30 m above the bottom of the valley on easily traversed terrain, unlike the earlier pukaras.5 The view from the Angastaco pukara encompasses a large section of the Calchaquí River valley to the north and the south, as well as the mouth of the Angastaco quebrada, a natural route to the puna that passes by some of the pukaras (Tacuil, Peña Punta, and Gualfín). Tambo Gualfín is a state facility located along the Gualfín River in El Angosto, which is directly associated with an Inka road of the cleared type (sensu Vitry 2000) that leads up to Cerro Cuevas. Although this site is placed on an alluvial cone with a gentle slope and is far from local population centers, its position provided visual control of the wide western valley, including the entry to the quebrada of Gualfín and the Pucarilla gap, where large agricultural fields from different chronological periods (Gualfín, Potrerillos, Pucarilla, and Corralito) have been documented (table 5.1). Although we have not found any conclusive evidence for ceramic material with an Inka affiliation, the architecture of this site and its association with an Inka road type suggest the possibility that Tambo Gualfín functioned as an intermediate point in the east-west road connecting the bottom of the Calchaquí Valley to the puna. The Inka also may have intensified agricultural production by creating large areas of new fields and building canals, dams, and storage structures, as seen at Corralito 4 and 5 and Pucarilla. Corralito 4 and Corralito 5 are very close to each other but located on different lithological substrates (figure 5.6). The sites also differ in how they were built. Corralito 5 is on the western side of a small tributary of the Pucarilla River, with an average slope of 45 percent. The regular distribution of its walls

and terraces as well as the neatness of its fieldstone clearing piles differentiate this site from the rest of the agricultural sites in the study area, which are heterogeneous and diverse. In contrast, the site of Corralito 5 has the most standardized layout of field systems observed to date in the study region. The fieldstones in clearing piles are fairly homogeneous in size, and some form linear walls oriented perpendicular to the slope. A single ditch would have irrigated this site, but it is curious that one of the largest fieldstone clearing piles crosses the ditch, indicating that the pile postdates the ditch and would have impeded the flow of water to downstream fields.6 An Inka settlement near Corralito 5, in Pucarilla, was studied by Ambrosetti (1896). He excavated a Late Inka tomb containing nine individuals and Santamariano and Inka objects (an aríbalo neck and tweezers), and three pyroengraved gourds, two with representations of anthropomorphic characters with headdresses and unkus (tunics; uncus, unkhus) and the third with a design of two-headed snakes. Ambrosetti (1896) described the setting as a “settlement with fieldstone-wall (pirca) constructions extending from the hilltops to the base of the valley, with agricultural terraces and, at least, one irrigation ditch” (quoted in Gentile 2013:93). The town of Pucarilla is located halfway between the Inka sites of Pukara de Angastaco and Compuel and can be accessed via the road that goes west from Angastaco toward the high ravines. Some have proposed that this site could have functioned as the location of a qhapaq hucha (Inka rite involving human sacrifice) to make offerings to a wak’a and keep track of local populations (Gentile 2013:108). Three other settlements in the zone have Inka architecture: Amaicha II, located on the valley of the Amaicha River and formed by a kancha (large rectangular enclosure) and some circular structures (Raffino and Baldini 1983); the sites of Gualfín 1 and 2 with cellular architecture in the higher sector of the Gualfín quebrada (Raffino and Baldini 1983; Villegas 2006; Williams 2010);7 and finally Compuel, located at 3,384 masl on the puna (Villegas 2014; Williams and Villegas 2017). This Inka site has five groupings of structures, including cellular architecture associated with a kancha, and is located on a plain near the current course of the river (Williams 2010).8 The site is strategically located at the interface between the southern sector of the Salar de Atacama or Alto Loa, the Catamarca

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a

b

c

d

a

b

Figure 5.6. Agricultural sites in the middle Calchaquí Valley: (a) Corralito 4; (b) Corralito 5.

puna, and the mesothermal valleys of Calchaquí. Ethnographic studies indicate that Compuel was a stop on the route between Antofagasta de la Sierra and Molinos/Quebrada de Gualfín, being located at “the third or fourth day of travel to those valleys”

Figure 5.5. Map showing the distribution of Inka sites and

roads in the middle Calchaquí Valley: (a) paved section of the Colomé road; (b) section of the Pukara de Angastaco road; (c) Pukara de Angastaco’s perimeter wall; (d) Compuel site overview (map by Paula Villegas, photos by Verónica Williams).

(García et al. 2002:11). Long-distance travel and economic ties were reinforced by kinship relations between the puna and Atacama Desert Indigenous populations during the colonial period (Molina Otarola 2011:180). García et al. (2002) registered kinship links between inhabitants of Antofagasta de la Sierra in Catamarca’s puna and those living in Compuel in the Calchaquí Valley. Circulation from the valleys to the puna and yungas, and vice versa, is widely illustrated by historical and ethnographical data. Archaeology has also been able to provide information regarding circulation systems since the late eighteenth

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Figure 5.7. Paths and communication routes between the valleys and puna (created by Paula Villegas with image from

Google Earth).

century. A large number of paths and roads have been detected in the study area by using remote sensing techniques, although we were only able to confirm eight of these in the field. We have located segments with Inka components, corresponding to stone-paved paths (Compuel), paths where the surfaces have been cleared of stone (Tambo Gualfín), and paths with embankments and contention walls (Angastaco-Pukara, Gualfín, and Corralito). Remote sensing techniques allowed us to register six paths toward several locations in the puna, some with offerings or high-altitude shrines (figure 5.7) (Olivera 1991; Villegas 2014). These paths cross through the Luracatao quebrada and pass through Cerro Blanco and Cerro Gordo and also along the Los Patos River, the Nevado de Compuel, and the Guasamayo River, to access the current puna of Catamarca and Salta (Bertrand 1885; García et al. 2002; Levillier 1926; López and Coloca 2015; López 94

Verónica I. Williams

et al. 2015; Martel 2014; Olivera 1991; Philippi 1860; Sprovieri 2013:54; Strube Erdmann 1963; Tschudi 1967 [1858]). Ritual/Symbolic Practices and Materialities as Legitimating Elements of Territorialities

Several practices linked to mechanisms of conquest and domination required actions to subjugate areas and populations, including the appropriation and transformation of space, the legitimation of practices, and symbolic marking (Hernández Llosas 2006). The Inka State displayed a diversity of strategies across its territory. In some cases, the reorganization of local spaces and the creation of new ones was important; in others, a fundamental role was played by the incorporation of new meanings and symbols related to the empire (Williams 2008:63).

carved stones, and maquetas (stone models or doubles of landscapes). A series of rocks in Tacuil, Mayuco (Punta Peña), and Quebrada Grande displays engraved abstract motifs depicting meandering lines joined to circular or ovoid depressions and natural rocks or cliffs with stepped edges (Mayuco) as part of the terrace walls (figures 5.8 and 5.9; plate 7) (Williams et al. 2005). These figurative and abstract motifs are similar to the ones found in Quebrada de Humahuaca (Antumpa) (Hernández Llosas 2006), Antofagasta de la Sierra (Vigliani 2004), northern Chile (Valenzuela et al. 2004), the Chicha/Soras Valley (Bolivia), and the Tunupa volcano in Bolivia (Cruz 2015). Valenzuela et al. (2004:430–434) suggested that this “abstract pattern of lines and holes” constitutes a local variant of the chakra (agricultural field; chacra) motif, a key element associated with Inka expansion and

The Inka established new approaches to the complex relationship with their material world. Many of the things that Western societies considered inanimate, lacking action or thought, were instead considered by Andean people to be as social in their nature as humans. A well-known example is the belief that the conscious characteristics of the landscape, such as mountains or stones, inhabit a social domain parallel to the human sphere. The Andean world was also full of objects that could be endowed with a kind of vitality (kamaqin/camaquen) or well-being that was transferable to other objects, so that many elements were capable of acting in social contexts (Sillar 2009). I have noted the close spatial link between the pukaras and the agricultural areas. These in turn are associated with certain notable elements, such as natural cliffs or rocky blocks with petroglyphs,

a

b

c

d

Figure 5.8. Blocks with petroglyphs, quchas, and snakelike designs in the middle Calchaquí Valley: (a) Quebrada Grande;

(b) Mayuco; (c) and (d) Tacuil (photos by Verónica I. Williams).

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a

b

d c

e

Figure 5.9 (Plate 7). Engraved stones and remains from metal production: (a) engraved rocks with snakelike lines and cupules

in Pukara de Alianza, Intersalar region (photo by Pablo Cruz); (b) block with quchas and meandering lines in Tacuil (photo by Verónica Williams); (c) block with cupules, Intersalar region, Pukara Loma Acalaya (photo by Pablo Cruz); (d) block with cupules at the base of the Pukara de Tacuil (photo by Verónica Williams); (e) refractory materials from Tacuil’s lower settlements: molds, spoons (cucharas), and crucibles (photos by María Cecilia Castellanos).

administration in the South-Central Andes. Partly due to their direct spatial relation with agricultural areas, some of these motifs have been interpreted as the representation of agricultural fields, quchas (lakes or reservoirs), and irrigation ditches, like votive images for the fertility of the land and agricultural production (Williams 2008; Williams et al. 2005; Williams and Villegas 2017). It is interesting to point out that these Inka features have not been documented in the extensive inferred Inka field system at Corralito in the high quebradas but are instead associated with terraces or sites dating to the previous LIP (pukaras) or agricultural sites with origins in the Formative Period (Quebrada Grande). The carved stone design known in Bolivia as tatala purita is considered tangible proof of the action of lightning,9 whose image is represented over a rocky surface in the form of a superficial fulgurite. These visual productions are often associated with sacralized mountains, mining operations, and agricultural areas, probably related to ancient cults dedicated to the prehispanic divinity of Lightning (Cruz 2015). In some mining enclaves in the Bolivian Altiplano, Cruz (2016) has detected a visually distinctive rock art style. It is characterized by depressions and meandering lines without a clear order on rocky blocks associated with mining activities dating back at least to the Inka Period and associated with mined mountains containing Inka high-altitude shrines (for example, San Antonio de Lípez, Cerro Tunupa, and Tholapampa). Particularly interesting is his comment on “the relation with sacralized mountains, metal ore deposits, and to a lesser extent agricultural fields, probably functioning as geo-symbolic markers” (Cruz 2015:56, my translation). We have registered likely evidence for metallurgical production in Tacuil, both on the surface and in excavations, such as crucibles and refractory material (figure 5.9e; plate 7e). The presence of “visual productions” (sensu Cruz 2016:101) on dispersed blocks alongside Tacuil’s low enclosures merits further comment. The formal similarities between the blocks observed in Potosí and those in Tacuil led me to wonder if the ones in Tacuil were not also part of a landscape related to mining activities in the high quebradas. At the same time, Toscano (1898) mentioned that the Calchaquí people used to place upright stones to guard their crops. Some of these engraved and perfectly polished stones were placed in the agricultural fields

to ask for abundant and timely water, because they were thought to have the special virtue of producing rain (Toscano 1898:73). Without making direct extrapolations, we may wonder about the hypothetical role of the blocks found in Tacuil. Were they incorporated with the productive (agricultural, mining, herding) and daily landscape of the inhabitants as part of ritual activities associated with the fertility and productivity of herds, fields, and mining/metallurgy? Rock art is another type of representation seen in the late prehispanic period. It became standardized in the Late Intermediate Period and Inka Period, featuring two elements: shieldlike motifs and anthropomorphic figures. These two types are widely represented in northwestern Argentina and occur in sites with older rock art representations, such as Antofagasta de la Sierra and the middle Calchaquí Valley (Martel et al. 2012). The most common anthropomorphic motifs depict warriors (human figures wearing decorated robes, protected by shields or bronze plaques) and also appear on the necks of pottery vessels and on pyroengraved gourds. Examples include the shieldlike motifs found on gourds from Inka funerary contexts in Pucarilla (Ambrosetti 1896); northern Chile (Berenguer 2004); Alero Los Viscos, Valle del Bolsón, and Catamarca (Ávila and Puente 2008); and possibly in the fragments found in a late Inka funerary context in Payogastilla, south of Angastaco (Vasvári 2014:75). The shieldlike motifs and anthropomorphic figures with attire including unkus can be found at Pucarilla, Pucara, Gualfín, Tacuil, and Quebrada Grande. In Gualfín/Quebrada Grande we documented a large engraved panel, the Panel de los Suris (Panel of the Rheas), with anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, and geometric designs associated with irrigation ditches (figure 5.10a).10 We detected a panel with T-shaped human figures in Tacuil engraved on one of the walls near the hilltop and on large blocks at the base of the outcrop. One block had a representation of an Aguada style mask/face and a Late Intermediate Period anthropomorphic figure, while the other had a cigarshaped figure, characteristic of the Formative Period (figure 5.10d; plate 8d). According to De Hoyos (2011), the diffusion of Santamariano motifs increased during Inka rule in Argentinian territory, not only in rock art but also in other materials. In addition, pottery

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a

b

d c

Figure 5.10 (Plate 8). Rock art in the study area: (a) shieldlike motifs from Quebrada Grande (Panel de los Suris);

(b) anthropomorphic representations from Alero Huaycohuasi; (c) anthropomorphic designs from El Fuertecito; (d) shieldlike motifs in Pukara de Tacuil (photos by Verónica I. Williams).

iconographic studies note that the appearance of warriors on vessel necks coincides with the arrival of the Inka in Northwest Argentina (De Hoyos 2011:64). These warriors in rock art are usually associated with rows of llamas facing in a single direction and ascending or descending an irregular virtual landscape (Aschero 2000). The engraved figure in “El Fuertecito” (the little fortress) near the 98

Verónica I. Williams

agricultural fields of Gualfín 2 seems to reinforce the idea of this sector’s importance as a transit area between the valleys and the puna during the Inka Period (figure 5.10c; plate 10c). This theme, while following standardized canons and design patterns, appears repeatedly not only in the Santamariano area but also in distant locations, notably in the quebradas

that connected different ecological floors, as in the case of Angastaco and Molinos (De Hoyos 2011:64). In Huaycohuasi (also known as Cueva Tres Copas), near one of the routes connecting the Calchaquí Valley with the puna in Barrancas, we registered a large panel with a great scenographic display of painted and engraved motifs including camelids, caravans, anthropomorphic figures (warriors, feathered characters, horseback riders) (figure 5.10b; plate 8b), zoomorphic figures, and designs resembling khipus (quipus), many of them superimposed on each other, possibly representing different chronological moments or different local/regional situations. It is also worth mentioning that an anthropomorphic figure wearing a black and white unku whose head is represented by a tumi (knife with a semicircular blade) is visually highlighted. Representations of human figures wearing clothing (unkus) and with other attributes (such as headdresses or flags), as well as rock engravings possibly representing prestige emblems such as T-shaped axes or diadems, suggest the intervention of these designs in the symbolic marking of territorial jurisdiction and political power, consistent with Tawantinsuyu’s centralized structure. Discussion and Final Considerations

I have presented a summarized overview of the archaeology of the middle Calchaquí Valley between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries. The preponderance of archaeological studies in the large valleys and quebradas of Northwest Argentina since the twentieth century has neglected these forgotten spaces, where both Inka and Spanish domination reconfigured prehispanic territories as in many parts of the Andes (Presta 2013). An interesting subject in regard to the LIP in the middle Calchaquí Valley is the concentration of pukaras in the high ravines, which suggests that local populations had a particular interest in achieving a visual dominance over spaces and routes toward the puna and/or the valleys. But this changed during Inka times. The Inka landscape reconfiguration started with the installation of state facilities on the valley floor and puna, as landscape markers. Some have suggested that pukaras would not have necessarily defended and/or controlled the paths of communication, given the multiplicity of routes in the Andes (Nielsen 2007). I propose that

their enhanced topographic location on defended hilltops supports the control hypothesis. I also believe that locals and the Inka had different reasons for the placement of sites. Local populations occupying this area between 900 and 1450 AD wanted to hide from potential enemies and keep an eye on their environment while avoiding being observed by those traveling along the quebradas and the valley bottom, through the construction and use of the pukaras. This contrasts with the Inka, who were instead interested in building their centers in highly visible places. I have proposed that Tawantinsuyu was interested in this sector of the valley because of the vast agricultural lands developed by local societies. The Inka invested energy to maximize agricultural areas, administered the production of resources and services from their state centers, and expanded agriculture to higher altitudes (Corralito and Mayuco) (Korstanje et al. 2010; Villegas 2014; Williams et al. 2010). Moreover, the absence of local sites with intrusive Inka architecture in the middle Calchaquí Valley, in contrast to the areas located immediately to the north (La Paya and Guitián sites) and south (Animaná site) of this study area, could suggest that local groups were treated differently or that the Inka imposed a certain distance (sensu Gallardo et al. 1995). This is similar to the situation observed in the southern valleys and southern extreme of the Quebrada de Humahuaca and also in the Río Potrero valley in the Calchaquí Norte (D’Altroy et al. 2000), where the Inka State designed a strategy to control an area without previous occupations. We cannot yet confirm whether the pukaras were a response to local or interregional conflicts prior to Inka conquest. Nevertheless, they should be considered not only places of refuge and resistance used by native populations during the LIP and beginnings of the colonial period (with the development of the Calchaquí Wars against the Spanish) but also spaces that were not totally abandoned or forgotten during Inka times. Their enduring significance is evidenced by the presence of imperial markers such as shield and chakra motifs, maquetas, and carved stones. Inka sites in the high quebradas are often found segregated from local populations, in areas without evidence of large preexisting conglomerated villages except for the pukaras and their small associated settlements. The state not only colonized new spaces but also appropriated locations—the

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pukaras, hills, and agricultural lands—that were known, significant, and valued by the local populations through the visual language of rock art, carved stones, and maquetas. The largest concentration of these features, generally located on elevated geoforms with excellent visibility of the surroundings, can be found on the routes between valleys and the puna. As noted, state settlements in this sector of the valley are highly visible, possibly representing “a change in the structure of the local landscape” (Williams and Villegas 2017:91). We could be seeing different landscapeappropriation strategies used by the empire according to local conditions, which may highlight the negotiating capacity of local groups and the preservation of their autonomy. The first strategy, more symbolic, could be represented by the artistic intervention of blocks and panels in areas directly associated with important local sites, pukaras, and their associated lower settlements, for example, in Tacuil with the T-shaped anthropomorphic figures and engraved quchas and meandering designs which could have functioned as symbolic territorial markings of local groups (Sanhueza Tohá 2008). The second strategy is more direct and was used in sectors without evidences for pukaras, as in the case of the agricultural fields in Corralito, which likely became true productive enclaves of the Inka State. Even if this site was within the territorial orbit of a pukara (for example, Pukara de Gualfín), given the distance between pukaras and fields, it is possible that the Inka decided to apply a more direct strategy. They appropriated space, building new agricultural areas and reusing or remodeling roads linking Compuel with the chakras of Pucarilla and Corralito, which could have become Inka productive enclaves. Recurrent references to the high quebradas and the people living there in sixteenth-century documents, together with colonial representations of these spaces, can be understood as signals of disputes over the control of zones, resources, and social networks. The Spanish considered the high quebradas to be areas of refuge and resistance used by native populations. However, as Quiroga (2010:191) suggested, these were not remote areas of little interest to Spanish ambitions. The importance of the high quebradas as fertile areas in the middle Calchaquí Valley is evidenced by the existence of large agricultural systems on the landscape and grazing lands during historical times. In addition, 100

Verónica I. Williams

these spaces were inhabited by a large population that could be transformed into a workforce and also formed natural corridors linking the puna, the mesothermal valleys, and the yungas. Some twentieth-century ethnographic investigations highlighted the importance of the quebradas for puna-valley circulation, citing the example of commercial journeys between Antofagasta de la Sierra and mountain valleys such as the Calchaquí. They were also important for long-distance travel, for example, underlying commercial networks with Chile (Strube Erdmann 1963). Despite a wide array of possible routes registered in the area, during Inka times the southern sector appears to have been the most used, linking Angastaco and Compuel via a route that could have led toward the region of Antofagasta de la Sierra in Catamarca’s puna (Martel 2014; Olivera 1991; Villegas 2014). The chain of hills signaling the entrance to the puna from the valleys is crowned by high-altitude shrines, as in the cases of Cerro Luracatao, Cerro Galán, Compuel, and others.11 The possible qhapaq hucha of Pucarilla, with nine individuals and both Inka and local funerary goods, may represent a state mechanism to delimit borders and control the different ethnic groups of the empire (Gentile 1996:52). This could also imply the incorporation of local cults and sanctuaries into the Inka sphere. Places and landscape features such as the high passes (abras) and hills (Compuel, Galán, Luracatao, Acay, Apunado); the apachitas found at transitional points of the landscape; the distinctive topography at places such as Pampallana, Jasimaná, Mayuco, and Angastaco; and the caves/rock shelters at Barrancas and possibly Ichiu are particularly important in the Andean ritual world (Nielsen et al. 2006). The presence of an important transversal route communicating with the puna in this area could explain the location of the Angastaco and Compuel pukaras. Placing a site with the characteristics of the Angastaco pukara along this route could correspond to state logistics (movement of goods and troops, among others) and administrative concerns, while at the same time perhaps functioning as a landmark to demonstrate state power to local populations. In this sense, the Inka appropriation of the middle Calchaquí Valley may have resulted in an “Inkanized” local landscape incorporating landmarks that constituted not only the political and economic inclusion of this area but also its

symbolic appropriation. These landmarks included the installation of new settlements and the construction of roads, the incorporation of a characteristic imperial style in material culture, and the appropriation of productive spaces by using art. These constructions, objects, and art undoubtedly defined and gave meaning to unique and particular spaces in the area that could be conceptualized as places with highly symbolic capital and, in this sense, sacred (Troncoso 2002). This does not imply that other routes stopped being used, but this seems to have been the one utilized for “official” matters. Previous research has documented predominant use of Ona obsidian (from Catamarca’s puna) as raw material along this route during the Inka Period as well as the use of obsidian from the Salar del Hombre Muerto and Laguna Cavi during the LIP (Chaparro 2009:535). This may have implied state regulation of the sources, but perhaps more certainly a reduction of free movement in the area, which in turn could have influenced obsidian procurement during Inka rule. We can now raise new questions regarding the role of state and local roads during Inka domination of this zone. How did the state influence the local circuits and interaction networks and the generation of new spaces and individuals involved in their management? The presence of raw materials and objects (such as obsidian, metal, and gourds as well as regional ceramic styles like Black Polished from the LIP, Pacajes, and Yavi) from other places in the high quebradas and in settlements and spaces attached to the Inka suggests that the prestige of these objects was similar to the prestige of state goods. In this sense, Black Polished pottery, typical of the local LIP, widened its circulation during Inka times and can be found in settlements of the northern Calchaquí at La Paya, in the middle sector in El Churcal, in the high quebradas at Tacuil, and south of Angastaco in Payogastilla, in addition to other spaces like the Quebrada del Toro (Baldini and Sprovieri 2009). This new corpus of data from Northwest Argentina regarding Tawantinsuyu shows the state’s versatility in adapting general policies to local conditions with the objective of securing the Inka’s central interest but also local interests and demands, while taking action in the ideological sphere. In this sense, I propose that state expansion throughout Qullasuyu used a new visual discursive resource,

expressed as the incorporation of new motifs and designs both in rock art and in manufactured objects, in addition to the presence of state architecture and the resignification of space. Acknowledgments

I want to thank Frances Hayashida, Andrés Troncoso, and Diego Salazar for their invitation to the workshop and the reviewers for their timely comments and observations. I would like to thank the Dávalos (Tacuil) and Bonner (Gualfín) families for permission to work on their land and for their kindness to us. I also thank the communities of Gualfín, Tacuil, and Angastaco and the Museo de Antropología de Salta for institutional support, as well as colleagues and students at the Universidad de Buenos Aires and the Universidad Nacional de Salta who collaborated on the fieldwork. I thank María Paula Villegas and Luis Coll for their help in preparing the images and Pablo Cruz for lending me a few photographs. The research was funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (USA), the Fondo para la Investigación Científica y Tecnológica (FONCyT), and the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) in Argentina. Notes 1. The available 14C dates corresponding to the nine pukaras from the study area indicate an occupation from the beginning of the LIP until the Early Conquest (table 5.1). 2. I use the term “high quebradas” for tributaries of the Calchaquí Valley that form natural access corridors to the puna, with elevations between 2,600 and 3,400 masl. 3. The Gualfín apparently had the right to lands in Angastaco in the middle Calchaquí Valley in 1659, as they went there to plant their crops. But the Sicha also shared lands in this oasis next to the Calchaquí River, thus probably indicating that Angastaco was a multiethnic territory (Relación Anónima, Archivo General de Indias, Charcas 121, in Lorandi and Boixadós 1987–1988:317). 4. These stone piles are sometimes found as part of the lateral contention walls adjacent to flights of bench terraces. 5. The ceramic material recovered from excavations is a variable assemblage of styles, with those of clear Inka affiliation representing more than 50 percent of the sample. 6. Microfossil evidence (pollen, microcharcoals) for the agricultural use of these terraces is scarce, except for the occurrence of tuber starch granules (especially Solanum sp. and others yet to be identified), which are very frequent in some

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samples, and an interesting amount of calcium carbonate spherulites (residues of animal origin, associated with dung) (Korstanje et al. 2010). 7. “Cellular architecture” refers to enclosures subdivided into a row or grid of roughly square rooms of similar size. The cells of Gualfín 1 are located at 2,896 masl and are formed by a row of structures measuring 146 × 22.5 m subdivided in eight units, associated with prehispanic agricultural fields. Continuing upstream, at 3,648 masl, I found the cells of Gualfín 2: a single row of rooms measuring 123 × 16.2 m, currently being used as a corral. 8. The decorated ceramic materials found in the excavations include fragments of the following styles: Inka Provincial, Cuzco Polychrome, Santamariano, polished monochromes, and a single Pacajes or Saxamar-style fragment. 9. According to Cruz (2015:54): “Entre los rasgos más evidentes encontramos que se trata de imágenes producidas mediante técnicas de grabado por raspado y por termo-alteración” (Among the most obvious features, we find that these are images produced by engraving through scraping and thermalalteration techniques; my translation). 10. It has been suggested that the production of rock art assemblages with highly symbolic motifs (such as shield-like motifs and T-shaped human figures) that could refer to individuals or groups with a certain social power and are usually superimposed over others could signal not only a change in representational patterns but also a change in their relation with preexisting images and, consequently, with their meaning for observers. This situation has been defined as an “iconographic imposition” (Martel and Aschero 2007:330). 11. More intensive research is undoubtedly needed in the high quebradas, examining the simple concepts of natural corridors or satellite sites of the large LIP conglomerates found in the Calchaquí Valley, given that we have recognized subsistence and reproduction practices characteristic of the Late Period and possibly Formative Period in these areas.

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Chapter 6

Agency and Sociopolitical Dynamics of the Qullasuyu Inka Frontiers Sonia Alconini

Inka Qullasuyu

Qullasuyu was one of the most populous and prosperous quarters of Tawantinsuyu. It was incorporated at the onset of the empire during the reign of Pachakuti or perhaps earlier (A. Meyers 2019; Pärssinen 2003; Platt et al. 2006). It held a variety of resources and was ethnically diverse: before the Inka, the regional elites owned sizable agricultural and pasture lands in the Titicaca Basin and valuable mineral sources in the southern cordillera in Chile and Argentina (Berthelot 1986; González 1979; Julien 1982; Scattolin and Williams 1992; Stanish 2003; Ventura 1985). Therefore, the study of Qullasuyu provides us with the unique opportunity to understand the mechanics of Tawantinsuyu in its early phase, as it rose to become one of the largest empires of the precolumbian world. Of particular importance are the eastern Qullasuyu frontiers, highly contested spaces where contending social segments leveled their differences. This situation produced complex processes of competition, conflict, and alliances between the empire and the native populations and crystallized into unique opportunities for emerging frontier lords to enhance their own power and wealth. I explore the importance of these frontier spaces as the catalysts of broader socioeconomic transformations in this chapter. Using a bottom-up perspective, I hope to reveal the agency of competing elite factions in shaping the frontier dynamics and, ultimately, to show how the Inka Empire adapted to diverse local circumstances. Inspired by the study of frontier expansion elsewhere, I distinguish two kinds of frontier colonies (Dietler 2010; Paynter 1985; Smith 2003; Steffen 1980). On the one hand, dependent and more conservative colonies strongly relied on the support of the imperial heartland and as a result were economically specialized. They often exploited resources valued 107

by the metropolitan capitals, such as minerals or exotic materials. Therefore, these colonies were often established for a limited time. As a consequence, the duration of these settlements was somehow related to the time required to deplete such valuables. Because of their strong ties with the metropoles, such state-sponsored colonies were often conservative in their cultural practices and economic orientation. Interaction with indigenous populations was limited. The leaders of such implanted colonies were expected to maintain their privileged status thanks to strong economic, political, and social ties with the core. They were often charged with the administration of the frontier production and extraction of resources for the imperial economy. Consequently, most of the economic surplus was shipped far away, often to the distant imperial heartland (Dietler 2010; Paynter 1985; Steffen 1980). In contrast, other colonies were more independent and relatively autonomous in orientation. They were often established for a considerably longer time and as a result developed more diversified economies. Varying in size and composition, many of these colonies maintained different forms of interaction with neighboring indigenous populations. This included exchange, marriage and kinship ties, and mutual acculturation and ethnogenesis (Dietler 2010; Smith 2003). Because local elites maintained their status and power thanks to strong local support, one key regional strategy was to foster the growth of the frontier regions. Hence most of the surplus was reinvested locally, whereas resources flowing to the heartland were kept limited (Paynter 1985; Steffen 1980). Although the two frontier elite strategies are admittedly at the opposite ends of a broader spectrum of possibilities, these categories are useful to tease out the complexity of the Inka frontier dynamics (for a broader discussion, see Alconini 2020). It is likely that indigenous lords played a more significant role in the Inka Empire than expected and that the frontier colonies maintained varying levels of interaction with the heartland. Such variations are discussed in more detail in the following sections.

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The Frontiers of Qullasuyu: A Comparative Overview

As the Inka Empire expanded over the eastern flanks of Qullasuyu, it incorporated a myriad of political organizations. Among those dwelling in the cold highlands and upper Titicaca Basin were the Aymara señorios (polities led by local elites) such as the Pacaje (or Pakasa), Lupaqa, and Qulla, whereas in southern Bolivia was the multiethnic Charka confederation of the Chicha, Charka Chui, and Yampara, among many others (Barragán Romano 1994; Espinoza Soriano 2006 [1600]). Farther south in what is today Argentina and Chile were Tucumán and the province of Chicoana, inhabited by a myriad of groups like the Pulare, Calchaquí, Aconcagua, and Diaguita (Cremonte et al. 2005; D’Altroy 2002; Ventura 1985; Williams et al. 2009). They maintained different forms of interaction with Inka representatives, which could range from open rebellion to calculated diplomacy to strategic alliances. Depending on the kinds of resources available along the edges of imperial expansion and the degrees of resistance offered by outer tropical populations, many Inka frontier segments of Qullasuyu were carefully protected. Strings of fortifications were also strategically placed along important nodes of communication. They served to deter potential invasions and, perhaps more important, to monitor the production and transfer of valuable resources that had flowed across the interecological corridors since antiquity. For example, the fortified segment between Cortaderas and Tastil guaranteed the extraction, production, and transport of metal ingots (D’Altroy et al. 2000; Williams et al. 2009), whereas the defense system along the Tucumán Yunga mountains served to protect valuable trading routes that penetrated deep into the eastern tropics (Cremonte et al. 2005; Oliveto and Ventura 2009; Ventura 1985). Similarly, in southeastern Bolivia, the presence of a number of defensive installations and storage tampus between Inkallajta and the frontier center of Samaipata along the imperial road reveals growing Inka imperial concerns in protecting these territories against intermittent Guarani-Chiriguano attacks (Alconini 2004, 2016, 2018; A. Meyers 2005). Despite these confrontations, in many frontier regions of Qullasuyu there were consistent efforts to incorporate outer frontier populations. In the fortification of Cuzcotuyo on the

Figure 6.1. Map showing the two Inka frontier segments discussed in the chapter.

Cordillera de Chiriguanos, for example, Guaraní segments participated in state-sponsored celebrations, whereas Araucano leaders in northern Chile were buried with status Inka materials (Alconini 2008, 2016; Dillehay and Gordon 1988). Such varying reactions deserve to be further explored. Understanding the ways in which competing indigenous factions navigated such volatile landscapes, as well as the often-unexpected consequences of such imperial and local entanglements, is of primary importance. Moreover, it is critical to examine the distinct strategies used by indigenous elites to maintain their status in light of the

competing demands posed by the state and their own polities. Along those lines, I compare two frontier regions of Qullasuyu in this chapter. The first is located in the southeast in what once was the land of the Yampara, a region that was part of the broader multiethnic Charka confederation. The second region is in the central frontier in the Kallawaya province, east of the Titicaca Basin (figure 6.1). This comparison is based on regional-scale pedestrian surveys, excavation of selected Inka facilities, and analysis of architecture and cultural materials that my team and I did over the past years. It is intended to highlight major developments for each region studied. Agency and Sociopolitical Dynamics of Inka Frontiers

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More research results can be found in other publications (Alconini 2016, 2018, 2020). In order to shed light on the varying elite frontier strategies utilized, I compare (1) the nature of the competing elite segments in each frontier region; (2) the changes in indigenous settlement patterns prompted by the arrival of the empire; (3) the scale of the staple economy in both regions; (4) the changes in the exchange networks; and (5) the nature of the state-sponsored commensal celebrations. At a broader level, this facilitates an examination of Inka State involvement in the regional socioeconomy and expands our knowledge of the frontier dynamics using agent-oriented perspectives. I compare the two frontier regions in the next section, taking into consideration each line of evidence. Elite Frontier Competition

The Southeastern Inka frontier in the Charcas region was inhabited by a range of ethnicities that maintained different forms of affiliation with western Aymara-speaking polities and eastern Arawak tropical tribes (figure 6.1). This produced a gradient of ethnic groups sharing similar cultural traditions, languages, and ways of life. At least three competing elite segments can be identified: (1) the tribal Arawak-related leaders, who were central in the interregional frontier exchange networks like the Payzuno and Chané; (2) the native Yampara Chui elite, who shared cultural similitudes with Arawak-related populations and bolstered their status through their privileged alliance with the empire; and (3) the intruding Guaraní tribal leaders from the eastern tropics (Alconini 2016; Barragán Romano 1994; Julien 1995). This situation not only led to the encroachment of the Yampara on two fronts but also tested the stability of the empire in this frontier segment. In fact, ethnohistoric accounts report that the Yampara lords struck an alliance with the Inka in order to form a common defense block against the invading Guaraní. The cacique Francisco Aymoro, for example, received a large contingent of foreign mitmaqkuna warriors to populate the frontier region. In exchange, he distributed land and resources to the newly established military colonies and administered part of the Southeastern frontier installations on behalf of the state. In doing so, he 110

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gained the status of Inka-by-privilege and obtained help from the government to defend the region (Barragán Romano 1994). Likewise, the indigenous Yampara warriors acquired the title “soldiers of the Inka” owing to their valuable service along the frontiers (Espinoza Soriano 2006 [1600]). By comparison, the Central frontier ran along the rugged Andean foothills to the east of the Titicaca Basin, and the narrow temperate valleys (figure 6.1). Before the Inka, this region was populated by the Kallawaya, conceivably of Arawak-Puquina origins. Interspersed were a set of highland colonies of Aymara affiliation like the Omasuyu and Qulla, established there to ease the transfer of valuable resources to the Titicaca Basin. Upon their arrival, the Inka struck a successful alliance with the local Kallawaya, resulting in the expulsion of many highland colonies from the Kallawaya lands (R. Meyers 2002; Saignes 1985). This region was rich in alluvial gold and optimal for the production of corn and prized coca leaves. It was also a natural corridor that went north to southwestern Amazonia. As a result, the empire invested heavily in state infrastructure, including the construction of an extensive system of agrarian terraces. Supplementing these efforts, the state also promoted the massive influx of foreign mitmaqkuna farming colonies. In this process, local Kallawaya populations, known as skilled traveling shamans, herbal healers, and traders, became instrumental in expanding the exchange networks across the tropics on behalf of the empire. They were also valued cultural brokers with Arawak-speaking Chuncho tropical tribes. The Kallawaya were also charged with opening a road through Apolo that linked the Inka fortification of Ixiamas with southwestern Amazonia (Bastien 1978; R. Meyers 2002; Oblitas Poblete 1978). A drawing by Guaman Poma de Ayala (2006 [1613]:304–305) depicts the Kallawaya as carrying the royal litter of the Sapa Inka (the Inka king) and his quya (queen; coya). This was an honor reserved for few trusted ethnicities (figure 6.2). Settlement Changes

Archaeological research reveals that the Inka arrival in the Southeastern Inka frontier region did not significantly change the existing settlement structure. Instead, earlier trends were enhanced and expanded. This was the case in the Oroncota Valley,

Figure 6.2. Drawing from Guaman Poma de Ayala (2006 [1613]:304–305) depicting the Kallawaya as

trusted royal litter bearers. The text states: “Andas del Inga Qvispi Ranpa [andas de piedras preciosas]. Topa Ynga Yupanqui/Mama Ocllo, coya. Llevan al Ynga los yndios Callawaya, espacio a pasearse. Paséase el Ynga” (Royal litter with precious stones. Topa Ynga Yupanqui/Mama Ocllo, queen. The Callawaya Indians carry the Ynga for a parade).

Figure 6.3. Inka Period settlement pattern in the Oroncota Valley (left) and the fine architectural style of the Oroncota

building complex (right).

within the frontier region, where most of the small sites (84 out of 92) were on the Pucara Plateau. The few largest sites were located on the valley floor as a strategy to maximize the use of fertile land (Alconini 2004, 2008, 2016). This trend started in the earlier Classic Yampara Period and continued later during 112

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the Inka era. Therefore, instead of promoting radical settlement transformations as the state did in other regions, the Inka adapted and expanded indigenous settlement preferences. In this context, the main Oroncota center was established on the Pucara Plateau in the midst of two local settlement

congregations, perhaps to optimize political control. It was supplemented by auxiliary facilities, including a defensive installation on the eastern flank of the plateau, while a support center on the valley floor oversaw the agrarian production. Although relatively small, the main Oroncota building complex (also known as Inkarry) followed the fine architecture of the capital city, Cuzco. It was built with cut stones in the pillowed style, with body-sized wall niches and elegant double and triple jambs (figure 6.3) (Alconini 2004, 2016). Ethnohistoric accounts attribute the conquest of Oroncota to Thupa Inka Yupanki (Cobo 1993 [1582–1657]). In contrast, on the Central Inka frontier in the land of the Kallawaya, the imperial presence significantly altered the native settlement structure. With the influx of agrarian colonies came a substantial increase in the number of residences, including the construction of storage facilities and shelters (phullus) along the agrarian terraces (figure 6.4). In comparison with the earlier Late Intermediate Period, the number of sites grew exponentially (from 397 to 1,694 sites). The camelid corrals on the upper puna, an area with extensive pastures and water reservoirs, were also enlarged. One of the most important imperial transformations of this once agropastoral economy was the separation of agriculture and pastoralism, now in the hands of specialized ethnic groups. Despite the proliferation of small sites, the largest settlements took the form of protected citadels (ciudadelas), as a continuation of earlier trends (figure 6.5). The few Inka centers like Kaata Pata and Camata were strategically placed on top of earlier sites along the imperial road. They were relatively small in comparison with indigenous centers. Therefore, the administration of storage was delegated to support settlements established nearby (Alconini 2011, 2020). Circulation of Status Goods

Distant regions, particularly those at the margins, were an important economic nexus for the imperial heartland. The Inka sponsored the production of status goods in many provinces, in order to encourage trade and vertical alliances (Murra 1980; Rostworowski 1988; Rowe 1946). The Southeastern Inka frontier has provided limited evidence of specialized craft production and state-sponsored exchange of valuable goods. Most of the local

ceramic assemblages were in the Yampara style (figure 6.6). By comparison, the few Inka ceramics or copper tupus (pins for fastening clothing) were only found in imperial installations or elite residences. Their low frequency is insufficient to suggest a thriving Inka prestige-goods economy (Alconini 2016). As revealed in the excavations at Yoroma, an elite indigenous Yampara center on the valley floor, the residents engaged in relatively horizontal forms of exchange before the Inka. Imported ceramics like those in the Huruquilla or Yura styles were used as mortuary paraphernalia (figure 6.6). These imported materials changed their function in the Inka Period, becoming markers of individual status and wealth. They were found in association with indigenous elite residences. This suggests that emerging regional lords thrived due to their alliances with the empire and redirected the exchange networks for their own benefit. In addition, some of the specialized lithic production continued under the supervision of the Yampara lords, although the Inka center of Inkarry Moqo was in close proximity (Alconini 2010). In contrast, on the Central Inka frontier to the east of the Titicaca Basin, my research revealed a bimodal distribution of imperial goods (Alconini 2011, 2020). That is, most of the population continued using pottery in the Yunga tradition, common in the tropical piedmont and valleys of the region (Alconini 2016b). They were produced in the local Charazani Slate style, consisting of a variety of forms with decorative incisions and painted motifs (figure 6.7; plate 9). Even though a ceramic workshop was established near Amarete, it produced pottery utilized by the new mitmaqkuna colonies. By comparison, the affluent residents of the Inka imperial installations like Kaata Pata enjoyed access to fine polychrome imperial pottery, whether made locally or imported. In fact, chemical analysis using a p-XRF (portable X-Ray Fluorescence) unit revealed that a portion was produced in the state workshop of Milliraya at the northeastern shores of the Titicaca Basin. Elaborate styles like the Urcosuyo Inka Polychrome and Taraco Inka Polychrome variants were produced there for further distribution in the Qullasuyu quarter (figure 6.8; plate 10) (Alconini 2013; Spurling 1992). It is likely that some of the residents at Kaata Pata also engaged in the modest refinement of metals considering the proximity of the Carabaya and Mapiri mines (Berthelot 1986). Agency and Sociopolitical Dynamics of Inka Frontiers

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Figure 6.4. Example of the terracing system in the Kallawaya region (top) and example of the storage

phullu facilities (bottom).

Figure 6.5. Inka Period settlement distribution in the Kallawaya region.

Figure 6.6. Local Yampara-style pottery (left) and an example of an imported Huruquilla ceramic (right) excavated in the

center of Yoroma (Oroncota Valley).

Redistributive Feasting

Commensal celebrations and redistributive feasting were part of an important Inka imperial strategy of political annexation and acculturation. They were conducted in the plazas and adjacent kallanka halls of the Inka provincial centers. Chicha corn beer was lavishly distributed at these events, served in fine vessels decorated in the imperial styles (Morris and Thompson 1985; Murra 1980). These celebrations also served to facilitate diplomacy and political negotiations in provincial and frontier situations. The main Inka center of Oroncota in the Southeastern frontier region was the scene of such celebrations, although Inka serving wares were nearly absent. Instead, decorated local Yampara serving vessels were used to dispense chicha corn beer and food (Alconini 2016). In a similar fashion, the 116

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fortification at Cuzcotuyo on the frontier fringes sponsored diplomatic celebrations that included serving wares in the local and Guaraní styles. It is feasible that this situation reflected an absence of accessible state workshops that could produce Inka ceramics. Alternatively, the deliberate inclusion of indigenous materials may possibly have eased cultural integration. I argue that this unexpected use of local materials in state-sponsored events might have provided emerging Inkanized lords with the opportunity to advertise their status and position in the emerging social order. Such an unanticipated combination of local and imperial practices and materials also highlights the complex ways in which imperial institutions were used, adapted, and transformed in the farther provinces. By comparison, the state sponsored copious celebrations in the Inka facilities in the Central frontier

Figure 6.7 (Plate 9).

Local Charazani slate ceramic style, Kallawaya region.

Figure 6.8 (Plate 10). Examples of ceramics in the Taraco Inka Polychrome style recovered in the Inka center of Kaata Pata,

Kallawaya region.

region to the east of the Titicaca Basin. This was the case at the Inka center of Kaata Pata, whose residents enjoyed access to fine Inka imperial pottery. Large amounts of camelid meat were served in the plaza and adjacent spaces in finely elaborate Inka serving vessels, in addition to chicha corn beer. As explained, a portion of the vessels were produced in fine polychrome Inka styles in the state workshop of Milliraya (Alconini 2011, 2020). Whether this center was inhabited by royal families from the imperial core or by Inkanized local lords, the use of such imperial symbols served to advertise their status and allegiance to the empire. Scale of the Staple Economy

A staple economy is an important element for the development of a sustainable state financial system (Costin and Earle 1989; D’Altroy 1992). For the Inka, a staple-based economy provided the resources to fund a range of state activities in the vast provincial regions, whether political or religious in nature. Depending on how the surplus generated was invested, these resources could also be converted into political capital whenever needed. Agrarian production in the Southeastern 118

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frontier region was restricted to the lower alluvial floor along the Pilcomayo River. The Inka facilities of this region also had a limited number of warehouses in comparison to other provinces of the empire. A similar situation was documented in the easternmost Cuzcotuyo fortification, considering the limited number of storage qullqas. Therefore, it is likely that the agricultural production in this frontier segment was mainly destined for local state use (Alconini 2016). In contrast, on the Central Inka frontier to the east of the Titicaca Basin there was a substantial modification of the landscape: the construction of an extensive system of farming terraces and canals. At least 55 km2 of terraces were documented across a chain of narrow valleys, including a total of 28 ha of storage facilities (Alconini 2011, 2020). The circular stone constructions known as phullus were distributed along the terraces in this region and used for storage and as temporal shelters for the transient workers. I conservatively estimate that only two-thirds of the 2,290 phullus documented were utilized for storage (around 1,500 units in 937 sites). This massive scale of production far exceeded the local requirements. It is likely that a portion was transferred to the inner provinces, while the rest financed the eastern imperial expansion.

Conclusions

Comparison of two frontier regions reveals important aspects of the Inka political economy and the role that the indigenous elite played in the implementation of the imperial project. The two frontier elite strategies outlined at the onset of the chapter were useful to tease out the different regional trajectories. To summarize, independent and more autonomous frontier lords developed in the southeastern Inka region, enhancing their own status thanks to strong local support. This is manifested in (1) the limited expansion of the local economy, which was mainly destined to finance the state regional needs, and in (2) the expansion of existing settlement trends instead of radical changes prompted by the Inka arrival. Along with these changes we see (3) the reorientation of existing exchange networks aimed to benefit the regional elite, (4) the near absence of an Inka prestige-goods economy based on imperial goods, and (5) the use of local serving vessels in state-sponsored celebrations, perhaps to ease indigenous cultural integration. Despite the seemingly limited changes, the architecture was of fine execution. It might have commemorated the military triumph of Thupa Inka Yupanki. As stated in the ethnohistoric narratives, the Yampara were valuable allies and imperial warriors who manned and defended the Qullasuyu frontiers. They played an important role along the frontiers, serving as valued soldiers, allies, and sometimes “Inka-by-privilege.” In comparison, we see the development of more dependent and conservative frontier elite segments on the Central Inka frontier, bolstered by direct imperial support. The native Kallawaya elites there were charged with facilitating the administration and transfer of strategic resources on behalf of the state. As a result, Kallawaya leaders gained a privileged status and enjoyed access to valuable Inka imperial materials. This is evidenced in (1) the significant changes in the settlement structure and in the influx of specialized mitmaqkuna producers, and (2) the substantial modification of the landscape with the expansion of a sizable system of agrarian terraces and camelid pastoralism to maximize production. Along with these changes, we see (3) the significant investment in a staple economy destined for export, (4) the privileged use of fine Inka pottery to advertise status and Inka imperial affiliation, and (5) the organization of

commensal celebrations with fine Inka serving vessels aimed to disseminate the imperial power. Such contrasting situations highlight the evolution of different kinds of provincial elites in Qullasuyu. These frontier lords, whether originally from the Inka heartland or Inkanized indigenous leaders from elsewhere, cunningly expanded their own power base under the imperial umbrella. Such varying strategies responded to a number of factors, including different local socioeconomic arrangements, the degree of economic interest of the state, and the manner in which these elite factions navigated the existing political landscapes. Even though it is hard to assess how long mitmaqkuna colonies stayed in the regions, it is apparent that the imperial representatives were successful in integrating disparate populations into the emerging imperial order. These elite segments also differed in the ways in which they adhered to imperial institutions and practices. For example, members of the Kallawaya elite were relatively more conservative than their Yampara elite counterparts, perhaps because they maintained stronger ties with the state. Sumptuous state celebratory events were periodically conducted in the Inka center of Kaata Pata in the Kallawaya territory, conspicuously utilizing fine Inka serving vessels. This facility was built with common intermediate style architecture. It is likely that such events provided members of the emerging elite with the opportunity to advertise their allegiance to the Inka Empire. In contrast, elite segments in the Yampara lands celebrated commensal events in the Inka center of Oroncota built with strict imperial architectural canons and utilized local-style serving vessels. It is possible that this strategy provided regional lords with the opportunity to incorporate indigenous symbols into imperial practices. This unexpected variation also highlights the different ways in which public architecture and portable materials were utilized in disseminating the imperial project and how local and state practices were creatively combined and amalgamated, often in unexpected ways (for a larger discussion on cultural hybridity, see Alconini 2020). Despite the different strategies utilized, provincial elite segments were pivotal in the state administration and in materializing the imperial program. This translated into broader opportunities to enhance their own status and power. Frontier regions offered emerging lords with the opportunity to amass significant amounts of wealth and power. Agency and Sociopolitical Dynamics of Inka Frontiers

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This research shows how the study of Qullasuyu frontiers and borderland regions can help to elucidate the sociopolitical organization of the Inka Empire, the manner in which imperial institutions and practices were adapted and transformed, and ultimately the multifaceted nature of imperialism. Acknowledgments

I wish to thank the National Science Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, and the National Geographic Society for their constant support over the years. Without their financial support, this research would simply have been impossible. Many colleagues and friends have participated in the different phases of my research in the Yampara and Kallawaya regions, including local Aymara, Quechua, and Guaraní communities. I am deeply grateful to them. This work is dedicated to all of them.

Barragán Romano, Rossana 1994 Indios de arco y flecha?: Entre la historia y la arqueología de las poblaciones del norte de Chuquisaca (siglos XV–XVI). Asur 3. Antropólogos del Surandino (ASUR), Inter-American Foundation (IAF), Sucre, Bolivia.

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Saignes, Thierry 1985 Los Andes Orientales: Historia de un olvido. IFEA and CERES, Cochabamba, Bolivia. Scattolin, María Cristina, and Verónica Williams 1992 Actividades minero metalúricas en el N.O. argentino: Nuevas evidencias y significación. Bulletin de l’Institut Français d’Études Andines 21(1):59–87. Smith, Stuart Tyson 2003 Wretched Kush: Ethnic Identities and Boundaries in Egypt’s Nubian Empire. Routledge, New York. Spurling, Geoffrey E. 1992 The Organization of Craft Production in the Inca State: The Potters and Weavers of Milliraya. PhD dissertation, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. Stanish, Charles 2003 Ancient Titicaca: The Evolution of Complex Society in Southern Peru and Northern Bolivia. University of California Press, Berkeley. Steffen, Jerome O. 1980 Comparative Frontiers: A Proposal for Studying the American West. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman. Ventura, Beatriz N. 1985 Metalurgia: Un aspecto poco conocido en la arqueología de las Selvas Occidentales. CONICET-UBA, Buenos Aires. Williams, Verónica, Calogero Santoro, Álvaro Romero, Jesús Gordillo, Daniela Valenzuela, and Vivien G. Standen 2009 Dominación Inca en los valles occidentales (sur del Perú y norte de Chile) y el noroeste argentino. Andes 7:615–654.

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Chapter 7

Between Subordination and Negotiation for Local Autonomy Regional Perspectives in the Study of Societies in Los Cintis, Southern Bolivia, under Inka Domination Claudia Rivera Casanovas

Introduction

The development of expansive states in the Andes was a cyclical process that generated state experiences with commonalities and particularities, which manifested themselves in several historical moments. The Inka State was the latest and most complex example. Its emergence, consolidation, and expansion constituted a phenomenon without precedent in the Andes, putting in place a vast empire between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Its territory was divided into four suyus, or major regions, Qullasuyu being the southernmost. Expansion and domination over this territory took place during the fifteenth century through early alliances followed by an increasingly aggressive process of political and administrative incorporation through military conquest and the subordination of territories and their populations. The study of these processes in Qullasuyu has generated an increasingly comprehensive view of its multiple local and regional facets (Covey 2000; Meyers and Combès 2015; Stanish 2001, 2003; Williams et al. 2009). In Bolivia these investigations deepened in the last decades (Albarracin-Jordan and Matthews 1990; Alconini 2008a, 2008b, 2016; Angelo 2003; Cruz 2007, 2009; Gyarmati and Condarco Castellón 2014; Gyarmati and Varga 1999; Janusek 2008; Lecoq and Céspedes 1997; Lima Tórrez 2000, 2014; Meyers and Combès 2015; Michel López et al. 2007; Rivera Casanovas 2004, 2010, 2013, 2014; Stanish 2001, 2003; Van Buren and Presta 2010). Common features of these works are the use of ethnohistorical sources as frames of reference to suggest hypotheses and interpretations as well as regional studies on different scales, focused on landscapes, settlement patterns, and settlement systems. Of equal importance are ceramic studies of styles as markers of ethnic or group identities and their changes and persistence under Inka domination. 123

A frequent theme is the attempt to understand the nature of Inka control over conquered territories and the complex interrelations produced by the incorporation of new social groups into the empire. As clearly remarked by Stanish (2003), the rich and productive Titicaca Basin was the demographic and cultural center of Qullasuyu. Its incorporation into the empire took place through negotiation and intrigue with the local political groups: Lupaqa, Qulla, Pacaje, and other minor groups, all in constant conflict, followed by a military conquest. The forms of provincial control included territorial strategies involving the establishment of military outposts, the resettlement of populations in strategically and economically important areas, the imposition of mitmaqkuna (state colonists) in the region, and the co-option of local elites. The appropriation of ideological authority is evidenced in the establishment of one of the three most important sanctuaries of the empire, which included the Islands of the Sun and the Moon and Copacabana (Stanish 2003). Similar strategies were employed to the south, such as an alliance with the Caranga to conquer the Pacaje and negotiations with confederacies such as the Quillaca and the Charka, followed as in the previous case with a military conquest to subdue their resistance and subordinate them (Platt et al. 2006). These works shed light on the nature of the Inka presence and control in different regions, contrasting data to understand the characteristics of these processes and how local responses varied in the case of alliances, imposition, and military conquest. Regional studies provide a top-down view that must be supplemented at the local level by a bottomup approach that takes local perspectives into account. Inka Domination in Los Cintis: Understanding the Strategies of Imperial Control and Local Responses from a Regional Perspective

The expansion of the Inka Empire in Qullasuyu was a gradual process. Military conquest was preceded by negotiations and alliances with local polities, with great variation in particular circumstances. Conquered territories were governed through a range of strategies, incorporating mechanisms of direct and indirect control characterized 124

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by their flexibility (D’Altroy 1992; Schreiber 1987). From this perspective, it is important to consider the hegemonic territorial model (Hassig 1985), which indicates that territorial strategies include more direct control and governance of a territory, while the hegemonic strategies of the state allow client polities, with various degrees of autonomy, to be responsible for the implementation of imperial policies, resource extraction, and local security (D’Altroy 1992; Stanish 2003). The nature of Inka occupation in the conquered territories and its effects on local societies are the subject of great debate (D’Altroy 1992; Morris 1998). In this discussion, it is key to understand the degree to which that occupation produced changes in the economy of local polities (Stanish 2001, 2003). Considering the different regions of the empire, both archaeologists and historians support two basic positions: (1) indirect control with minimal intervention and (2) more direct control with profound diachronic changes (D’Altroy 1992; Schreiber 1987; Stanish 1997; Williams et al. 2009). Under indirect control linked to hegemonic strategies, a reduced level of extraction of local resources would be expected. In that scenario, the Inka would have employed local leaders to govern indirectly. Conversely, more direct forms of control tied to territorial strategies would imply a high state investment to maximize resource extraction, including the presence of Inka functionaries to manage the activities when no significant local organization existed. It is possible that a mix of these strategies existed, with a combination of military, political, and ideological control (Alconini 2008a). Recent research has amplified the theoretical reach of these models, emphasizing that dichotomies about direct and indirect and territorial and hegemonic control must be considered not absolute categories but extremes in a continuum of forms of control (Malpass and Alconini 2010:5). Studies on different provinces of the empire emphasize diverse forms of control, in which local agents or officials played a significant role. These local leaders used varied degrees of Inkanization as instruments of legitimation, imperial imposition, and competition among elites. It is therefore crucial to understand the relationship between local elites and the Inka lords to define the forms of imperial control (see also Alconini, this volume). The Inka employed a combination of direct and indirect strategies to govern territories in

Plate 1. Cortaderas Bajo site: (a) view of Cortaderas Bajo’s plaza from the usnu platform; (b) view of Cerro Meléndez from the usnu platform; (c) standing stones (wankas).

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Plate 2. El Apunao site: (a) map and 3D reconstruction of platform and receptacle; (b) stone receptacle; (c) petroglyph.

Plate 3. Plan view of sector 1 (top) of the pre-Inka site Pulac 050 (Escara, Uyuni) and photograph of furnace H1 from the same site (bottom).

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Plate 4. Photographs of functioning experimental wind-powered furnaces (note the different emanations of light and color): (a) processing copper mineral in a stone-walled wayra; (b) structure on a bench processing copper mineral; (c) clay wayra processing argentiferous lead.

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Plate 5. The Inka at Potosí: (a) painting of the Virgen del Cerro (anonymous, eighteenth century, Casa de la Moneda, Potosí) and area of detail showing the Inka Wayna Qhapaq on the slopes of Cerro Potosí, an allusion to the myth of the discovery of the silver mountain; (b) Wayna Qhapaq carries a sling with a gold projectile (illa, chukirumin), attributes of the prehispanic Lightning deity associated with the germination of the mines; (c) Inka sherds located at the site of Jesús Valle, north of the city of Potosí.

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Plate 6. Possible qaqas: (a) sand feature at Cerro Colorado (photo courtesy of Albane Buhrens); (b) large black outcrop at Cerro Verde; (c) large reddish outcrop at Miño (in the middle ground) as seen from the site of Miño with Cerro Miño in the background (photo courtesy of Carlos Angiorama).

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Plate 7. Engraved stones and remains from metal production: (a) engraved rocks with snakelike lines and cupules in Pukara de Alianza, Intersalar region (photo by Pablo Cruz); (b) block with quchas and meandering lines in Tacuil (photo by Verónica Williams); (c) block with cupules, Intersalar region, Pukara Loma Acalaya (photo by Pablo Cruz); (d) block with cupules at the base of the Pukara de Tacuil and block with quchas in Tacuil, Salta, Northwest Argentina (photo by Verónica Williams); (e) refractory materials from Tacuil’s lower settlements: molds, spoons (cucharas), and crucibles (photos by María Cecilia Castellanos).

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Plate 8. Rock art in the study area: (a) shieldlike motifs from Quebrada Grande (Panel de los Suris); (b) anthropomorphic representations from Alero Huaycohuasi; (c) anthropomorphic designs from El Fuertecito; (d) shieldlike motifs in Pukara de Tacuil (photos by Verónica I. Williams).

Plate 9. Local Charazani slate ceramic style, Kallawaya region.

Plate 10. Examples of ceramics in the Taraco Inka Polychrome style recovered in the Inka center of Kaata Pata, Kallawaya

region.

Plate 11. Late Quillaca ceramics.

Plate 12. Fragments of Inka vessels from the Discard Zone.

Plate 13. Small ceramic qiru cup reconstructed from pieces recovered during archaeological excavations at El Tártaro.

Plate 14. Anthropomorphic-zoomorphic Diaguita vessels.

Plate 15. Standing stones (left) and a Diaguita-Inka vessel (right) at Loma Los Brujos.

Plate 16. Toasts between the Inka and the lord of the Qulla (Qiru VA63959, Ethnologisches Museum, Berlin, in Wichrowska and Ziółkowski 2000).

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Plate 17. Chuku motifs: (a) quiru with a central band of chuku (helmet) motifs (Museo Arqueológico Universidad Nacional de San Agustín, Arequipa) (drawing by Clara Yáñez, FONDECYT Project 1130431); (b) detail of one of the chukus painted at the palace of Sayri Thupa (photo by Marco Arenas, FONDECYT Project 1130431).

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Plate 18. Chullpas with Inka textile designs: (a) chullpa decorated with an X-shaped design, Lauca River, with four embedded qirus (photo by Constanza Tocornal, Fondecyt Project 1130431); (b) Inka unku tunic with an X-shaped cross design (Museo Arqueológico San Miguel de Azapa, Arica, in Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino [1985:46–47]); (c) chullpa on the Lauca River with rows of diamond decorations and two embedded qirus (photo courtesy of Gilles Riviere); (d) Inka unku with a similar design (Cleveland Museum 1977.35.10).

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Plate 19. Late Intermediate Period chambers and rock art at Oqañitaiwaj: (a) plan of the chullpas in the cave; (b) main rock art panel P1; (c) general view of the cave.

Plate 20. Intrusive towers built on the ruins of the early Late Intermediate Period village of Itapilla Kancha. In the background is the modern town of Santiago K, built on top of the Inka–early colonial settlement of Chuquilla. Detail on the left: glass bead and fragments of the turquoise ornament found inside and outside of the tower to the left.

Qullasuyu, confronting innumerable challenges related to social complexity, regional diversity, and local dynamics. Regions that were critical to Inka interests in terms of resources and security were governed more directly, such as those containing important mining and agricultural resources. Foreign populations were forcibly settled in those regions to work for the empire. Some of the bestknown cases of agricultural exploitation in the South-Central Andes are the Cochabamba Valley, Coctaca in the Quebrada de Humahuaca, and several other sites, such as those in the Lerma Valley (D’Altroy 2002). These top-down visions conceived from an imperial perspective, however, must also take into account that the subjected populations were not passive and displayed their capacity for negotiation and resistance in changing political contexts (Sánchez Canedo 2014). After a region was conquered, the state had to negotiate with the populations and their leaders in order to secure effective control of the new territories. This implied persuasion and even conceding to certain demands, as in the Cochabamba Valley, where whole populations were displaced and thousands of mitmaqkuna from different parts of the empire were settled. The local populations were offered advantages and positions of prestige in exchange for their departure, in contrast to the populations forced to move in (Sánchez Canedo 2014). In such changing contexts, groups and individuals found new opportunities to gain power and prestige, acting in order to obtain them. In some cases, such actions took the general well-being of the group into account; in others, they emphasized personal or group privileges that went against the interest of the rest of the population, increasing inequality, as in the Calchaquí Valley (Acuto 2010). Research in the Los Cintis region allows us to explore the processes of conquest and territorial control from a regional perspective and to recognize, through several indicators, how the different political groups of the Qaraqara federation negotiated their position within the new established order with varying efficacy.

The Charka Confederacy through Ethnohistory and Archaeology

Ethnohistorical studies indicate that the polities of southern Bolivia were organized in multiethnic federations before the arrival of the Inka. The Charka Confederacy became a prominent organization constituted by at least four regional federations: Charka, Qaraqara, Chuy, and Chicha (Bouysse-Cassagne 1986; del Río 1995b; Espinoza Soriano 1969 [1582]; Saignes 1986). While it has been stated that a confederacy on such a scale could have resulted from Inka policies of territorial reorganization, it is posited that a preexisting organization existed (Platt et al. 2006). The main groups that constituted the confederacy had an inclusive organization in which regional polities, with their diverse degrees of sociopolitical integration, were macro-integrated regionally (Rivera Casanovas 2004). Those entities would have had an ayllu-type organization, with inclusive hierarchical levels and a dual organization and markas (regional centers) (Platt et al. 2006). Qaraqara territory was between the territory of the Charka and the Chicha (del Río 1995a), in a mountainous region of valleys interspaced with high plateau areas. The Qaraqara had eight distinct ethnic groups (Macha, Wisijsa, Chaquí, Moro Moro, Colo-Caquina, Picachuri, Cara-Cara, and Tacobamba), who occupied distinct nuclear territories as well as multiethnic areas (del Río 1995a). Archaeological studies in the Qaraqara territory before 1990 established cultural areas and ceramic styles and characterized their settlements (Ibarra Grasso 1944, 1973; Vignale and Ibarra Grasso 1943). More recent investigations are exploring their late political organization by relating ethnohistorical territories to the distribution of ceramic styles as expressions of group identities and polities (Alconini 2002; Cruz 2007; Lecoq 2003; Rivera Casanovas 2004, 2013, 2014). The Yura, Huruquilla, Chaqui, and Central Potosí styles would represent the groups living in the southern part of the federation, while the northern styles still require more research, having been conflated within the ceramic traditions of Northern Potosí.

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Inka Expansion and Domination over Qaraqara Territory

Inka expansion in the south of present-day Bolivia took place though diplomatic relations with the confederacies during the reign of Pachakuti, prior to their conquest (Platt et al. 2006). According to Cieza de León (1880 [1553]), the members of the Charka Confederacy resisted the Inka advance by fighting and fortifying the bastion of Oroncota. Nevertheless, they were conquered by Inka Thupa Yupanki. After the conquest, a period of negotiation and incorporation of the confederacy within the imperial structure ensued, marked by the establishment of new alliances with a strong ritual component (Platt 1988). To ensure loyalty, the Inka had the most important kuraqas (local lords; curacas, kurakas) marry women of the royal panaqas (kin groups) from Cuzco. In that manner, dominion was reinforced by kinship ties, familial loyalties, and control over the Qaraqara lords (del Río 1995b; Platt 1988). The Memorial de Charcas reflects these processes by mentioning that the groups who integrated that political entity received special status as Inka warriors due to their participation in the empire’s military campaigns. The Inka awarded them the honorific title of Charka Blanco and they were considered warriors of dawn. They also occupied positions protecting the eastern frontier against the Chiriguano (Espinoza Soriano 1969 [1582]:125; Platt et al. 2006). The Qaraqara were exempt from tribute, although documents indicate that in mining areas they did pay tribute in the form of silver (del Río 1995b; Espinoza Soriano 1969 [1582]). The data suggest that the sociopolitical organization of the federation and the capacity for negotiation of the Qaraqara leadership after the Inka conquest were important factors in the establishment of strategies of provincial control. Certain areas enjoyed an indirect control, in relation to local political structures, while others, especially mining areas, endured more direct control. Two case studies from the region of Los Cintis in Chuquisaca can help us to understand the characteristics of imperial control and the local responses to it on a finer regional scale (figure 7.1).

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The Cinti Valley

This valley in southwestern Chuquisaca is in a mountainous area dissected by valleys. This valley is a natural corridor 80 km long connecting the puna with the valleys to the east and the Andean foothills. It is divided into the upper valley (2,700– 3,600 masl) and the canyon (2,600–2,200 masl), with a warmer and drier climate. The semiarid valley, with xerophytic vegetation, has a high agricultural potential, with an average annual rainfall of 476 mm, distributed irregularly. The average temperature is 17ºC, with a maximum around 35–41ºC in summer and minimum as low as –10ºC during the winter (ZONISIG 2000). Systematic regional prospection in an area of 253 km² was conducted in 2000. It permitted a diachronic evaluation of the processes of increased social complexity in the valley and a better understanding of the changes in social organization during the Inka domination of the region (Rivera Casanovas 2004, 2010). The regional organization was explored, as well as the strategies of control of staples and wealth. To that end, the characteristics of the Late Regional Development Period (AD 800/900–1430) and Late Period (AD 1430–1540) were examined. The Late Regional Development Period

Regional population growth and nucleation occurred during this period. A polity developed in the valley as part of a process started in the previous period. It would have formed part of the Qaraqara federation (Rivera Casanovas 2013). The regional organization represents a continuation of the hierarchy in the upper valley, as in the previous period. Jatun Huankarani (C-48), with an area of 17 ha, emerged as a dominant center in the valley. The number of large villages, which probably served as subsidiary centers in the upper valley system, increased (figure 7.2). The settlement patterns suggest a regional hierarchy of three levels: one regional center on top, followed by several local centers or large villages, then small villages and hamlets. A rank size analysis of the entire valley shows an almost perfect logarithmic pattern, in which the system is integrated under Jatun Huankarani, followed by the local centers. This log-normal distribution suggests a well-integrated settlement system in the valley. The canyon, in

Figure 7.1. Los Cintis study area in the southern Bolivia valleys.

contrast, has a two-hierarchy level formed by local centers and small villages. Rank size distribution of sites in the valley shows a convex pattern, with little horizontal integration among the lower sites, suggesting that articulation to a larger system, if it existed, happened through interaction with the

upper valley settlements. The regional center and some of the local centers present a more elaborate layout as well as sectors with fine architecture with a greater investment in labor, suggesting the presence of “neighborhoods” for groups of a higher status (Rivera Casanovas 2004, 2010). Between Subordination and Negotiation for Autonomy

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Economic patterns show the existence of complex agricultural patterns throughout the valley, reflected in an investment in agricultural intensification: the construction of terraces with irrigation channels is associated with the settlements’ growth (figure 7.3). This growth could also be related to sociopolitical factors, such as political competition or perhaps tribute flow. An intrasite analysis of ceramic materials revealed no strong differences in proportions of serving vessels among sites. However, sites located in the upper valley and in the northern section of the canyon had higher proportions of serving vessels than sites located farther south in the canyon, suggesting a differential engagement in activities using serving wares such as larger eating activities (Rivera Casanovas 2004:120– 121). Settlement patterns, site hierarchy, and different clusters of sites identified in the valley suggest a higher level of complexity in the northern part than in the southern part. If feasting or serving activities were important for leadership strategies, this would suggest that higher-social-status households may have been concentrated in the northern part of the valley. In terms of storage vessels, centers have higher proportions than villages on average, suggesting a differential involvement in storage/surplus accumulation (Rivera Casanovas 2004:121–122, table 1). The patterns of intrasite assemblages run parallel to other lines of evidence (architectural and spatial) for a marked social differentiation in the regional center of Jatun Huankarani as well as in some local centers in the upper valley. Variability among sectors in this site in terms of serving vessels and fineware correlates with the degree of investment in domestic architecture, especially in sector 3, identified as a high-status residential area. Its inhabitants were involved in serving/feasting activities. Intrasite variability in proportions of storage vessels and grinding technology, together with the presence of storage structures in some of the high-status areas of the site, suggests some form of staple finance strategy for controlling agricultural production (Rivera Casanovas 2004:134–136). The elites in this period would not be accumulating large amounts of agricultural surplus, even though the evidence in Jatun Huankarani suggests that they were more involved than other households in Figure 7.2. Late Regional Development Period settlement

pattern, Cinti Valley.

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Figure 7.3. Agricultural terraces in the Cinti Valley.

storing, processing, and serving staple products. On the other hand, no evidence of wealth strategies was found, as manifested in the concentration of prestige goods in the centers, control of craft production, or a differential association of llama corrals with the centers, which would indicate some control of exchanges (Rivera Casanovas 2004). The Late Period

This period is defined by Inka domination in the region. In the Cinti Valley there was continuity in the settlement patterns previously described (figure 7.4). The regional and local centers grew in size, with population growth and expansion and the dispersion of small settlements along the valley as well as agricultural intensification with the extension of terrace systems. An expanded preexisting road system that connected the majority of the large settlements and the areas of agricultural terracing was more heavily used. Regional organization during the Inka occupation of the valley maintained a three-tiered hierarchy in the upper valley. In contrast, for the first time in the sequence, a three-tiered level hierarchy developed in the canyon, with the rise of large secondary centers, different from the two levels of the previous period. This indicates the canyon’s complete integration within the settlement hierarchy.

The rank size analysis of the whole region obtains a normal logarithmic pattern almost identical to that of the previous period, indicating continuity in the settlement pattern, with Jatun Huankarani, with a surface of 23 ha, at its head. Architectural patterns are similar to those of the previous period (Rivera Casanovas 2004, 2010). Internal segmentation was maintained in the regional center and some of the local centers. In Jatun Huankarani a massive 1-km-long stone wall surrounding the southern part of the settlement might have been built during this period. This could amount to an element of status, similar to others described in Late Horizon centers in many parts of the Andes (Alconini 2002; Niles 1987). However, there is no evidence of settlements of buildings constructed according to Inka canons in the valley, suggesting an indirect imperial presence. Local elites did not copy or identify with identifiable Inka patterns through the adoption of that kind of architecture, maintaining their local tradition. Economic patterns show an increase in agricultural intensification, as evidenced by the extension of terracing systems throughout the valley. With the increase in population, 1-km catchment zones around many centers became insufficient for their sustenance. Therefore, they depended on the surplus produced in other sites, indicating the existence of some mechanism to secure agricultural Between Subordination and Negotiation for Autonomy

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produce and even some system of tribute flow. Sites with corrals appear in association with local centers and villages in this period, suggesting an increase in goods and their distribution through the centers (Rivera Casanovas 2004). This suggests that the Inka had some level of control over the exchange movements. The intersite ceramic analysis for this period or for a predominant occupation during it shows great variation in the proportions of serving vessels in the Late Huruquilla and Huruquilla-Inka styles. The high proportions of serving vessels are not limited to the centers but are also present in smaller sites such as C-16 and C-53, associated with the expansion of agricultural areas (Rivera Casanovas 2004:122–123, 244, figure 4.22, table 1). This could be related to the activities that took place there, probably minka (collective) labor with large work groups, under the auspices of the local elites, implying some type of feasting to feed them (figure 7.5). The small village C-68 would represent a specialpurpose site, being an area of corrals associated with some structures that could have lodged llama caravans transporting goods. This site is associated with a prehispanic road that leads to a local center and continues to the east. It is possible that activities involving serving vessels took place there or that the vessels moved as goods. A significant percentage of serving vessels in this site are imported, suggesting that those products were received there then transported to El Patronato (C-70), a nearby local center, for distribution (Rivera Casanovas 2004:123). A similar pattern exists for sites with corrals in Tupiza, in the Inka site of Chuquiago located along the Inka road network (Raffino 1993). There are marked differences in the proportions of domestic storage vessels between sites. In contrast to the previous period, small villages have more storage vessels than large sites, suggesting a change in storage patterns (Rivera Casanovas 2004: 123, 238, figure 4.23, table 1). In order to explore the intersite differences in preference for imported ceramics, the two late periods (LRD and LP) were merged, because it was not possible to distinguish between imported styles according to period. Their distribution shows an interesting pattern structured partly by the Inka presence in the region and local incorporation into Figure 7.4. Late Period settlement pattern, Cinti Valley.

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Figure 7.5. Huruquilla and Late Huruquilla pottery styles.

the system of exchange controlled by the Inka. The most common imported style is Chicha, coming from the neighboring areas to the south and southwest of the Cinti Valley. Although some of this material dates from the previous period, it is more common in the late occupations. This would reflect the proximity of the Chicha territory, 20 km south of the study area, which could influence the use and distribution of those ceramics. The collections showed a small percentage of Yampara ceramics in different hierarchy sites, as well as Pacaje-Inka, Tarija, Provincial Inka, and poorly defined styles from the highlands. The centers did not show higher percentages of imported goods than sites of lower hierarchical settlement level. The intersite differences in the distribution of imported ceramics seem to indicate population movements and proximity to exchange routes (Rivera Casanovas 2004:123, table 1). Late Period intrasite patterns show an important change in relation to the previous period, with an increase in all the percentages of serving vessels,

not only in the regional center but also in other settlements, including small sites (Rivera Casanovas 2004:153, table 2). This change would be related to Inka policies that affected the local sociopolitical organization, as occurred in other areas of the Andes (D’Altroy 1992; D’Altroy et al. 2000). The increase in serving vessels would be related to practices of reciprocity and hospitality as well as to communal eating activities that were part of the state ideology and political economy.

The Region of San Lucas

The region of San Lucas is located in southwestern Chuquisaca, 45 km north of the Cinti Valley. It has foothills or upper valley (2,900–3,200 masl), high plateau (3,200–3,600 masl), and high mountains (3,600–4,000 masl), allowing distinct microenvironments. The area has semiarid characteristics, Between Subordination and Negotiation for Autonomy

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with an average annual rainfall of 500 mm and temperatures fluctuating from 23ºC in summer to 12ºC during the winter in the valley foothills. The vegetation is xerophitic, with queñua forests (Polylepis sp.) in the mountains (Navarro and Maldonado 2004). Geologically, the region presents an extensive marginal polymetallic strip with three kinds of metal deposits: (1) vetiform deposits of antimony-gold, zinc, lead-silver, and copper associated with sedimentary series; (2) polymetallic vetiform deposits; and (3) alluvial banks of gold. The vetiform deposits are subdivided in three types by their contents: antimony-gold, zinc-lead and subordinate silver, and copper (Troëng et al. 1996:92–93, 115). Archaeological fieldwork conducted in 2006 included a regional survey, the mapping of sites, surface collections, and limited excavations. An area of 125 km² was covered in the San Lucas Valley and 55 km² in the region of Palacio Tambo, recording 145 sites and 6 prehispanic roads. With this information, we studied the relationship between the prehispanic settlements with the local resources and diachronic changes through time, emphasizing the Late Period in order to understand the nature of Inka occupation in the region and its impact on local populations (Rivera Casanovas 2014). The Late Regional Development Period

The regional organization in this period shows long-term tendencies, with the development of site clusters in different parts of the valley. The main ones are in the localities of Quirpini, around the town of San Lucas, in Yapusiri, and in Molle Pampa. These sites are associated with areas of agricultural potential and permanent sources of water as well as rocky outcrops with mineral veins (figure 7.6). Each cluster contains a settlement of more than 4 ha that seems to constitute a regional center. Big settlements such as Quirpini (SL-41), Tambo Mokho IV (SL-16), Chimpa Llajta I (SL-1), and Challchaque (SL-32) present areas of platforms with residential structures and public areas with patios. The structures are rectangular, with double course foundations and stone walls. Settlement pattern analysis suggests three settlement levels in the region: regional centers, villages, and hamlets. However, no clear settlement hierarchy seems to exist in the valley, just several centers that are not integrated. Nor is any regional 132

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center predominant over the others, even though Chimpa Llajta I (SL-1) is the largest in the valley, at 9 ha. A rank size analysis reveals a convex pattern, suggesting that the whole valley was not politically integrated but contained several centers around which smaller sites were grouped (Rivera Casanovas 2014:78). Only two lithic workshops and no settlements were identified for this period in the area of Palacio Tambo. The population was congregated in the western part of the region, beyond the survey area, which contains large settlements in sheltered zones near rivers and agricultural land. The economic patterns show that site clusters are associated with sectors of agricultural land. In this period the agricultural systems expanded through the valley base and the foothill areas. Irrigation systems, not clearly identified due to erosive processes, employed slopes in the terrace sectors. Mining exploitation in the region of San Lucas during this period is evidenced by the presence of cupper mineral (malachite and azurite) as well as iron and tin, in addition to slag and ornaments such as bells or needles on the surface of the sites (Rivera Casanovas 2008). These elements suggest metallurgical practices at a domestic level. The mineral veins lie close to the settlements, in a radius of 2 to 5 km. The dominant ceramic style during this period is Huruquilla, while extraneous Yura, Yampara, and Central Potosí are also present in low percentages (Rivera Casanovas 2011a). The ceramic assemblages show that an ample range of domestic activities took place in the settlements, from food preparation and storage to feasting and commensal activities, as reflected by the serving vessels (cups, bowls, small jars, and pitchers). The regional centers show a higher diversity of fine ceramics and proportions by sectors, suggesting the higher status of its inhabitants. The intrasite analysis of ceramic remains does not show the presence of highlands styles such as Quillaca, foreign to the region, which suggests that no highland populations lived in San Lucas during this period, contradicting the territorial information provided by the Qaraqara caciques (Espinoza Soriano 1981).1 In terms of exchange, the populations of San Lucas maintained contacts with groups from the Chaco foothills, as evidenced by necklace beads and ornaments made with the snail Strophocheilus oblungus Müll. It is possible that metal ornaments

Figure 7.6. Late Regional Development Period settlement pattern, San Lucas region.

Figure 7.7. Late Period settlement pattern, San Lucas region.

were exchanged for products from the lowlands. Foreign ceramics suggest contacts with populations northwest and northeast of San Lucas. The La Palca gorge constitutes a natural passageway northeast from the San Lucas Valley toward the region of Oroncota and the Pilcomayo River in Yampara territory, a frontier area with the Qaraqara (Alconini 2008b). The Late Period

This period is marked by the Inka occupation and dominion over the region.2 According to ethnohistorical sources, the Inka employed strategies of direct territorial control, settling Quillaca-Asanaque populations in the region and in lower valleys close to the Pilcomayo River (Espinoza Soriano 1981). These foreigners coexisted with the locals in a new sociopolitical order reflected in settlement patterns, the exploitation of resources, and material culture. Regional organization shows that settlements clusters along the valley remained, with growth in the number of hamlets spread across the landscape, generally in association with agricultural land (figure 7.7). A four-tiered settlement hierarchy is present: a larger regional center, four secondary centers, villages, and hamlets. The rank size analysis points to a process of political integration in the valley, in which a principal center, Sacapampa, integrated all the other settlements, although a convex pattern, similar to that of the previous period, is maintained (Rivera Casanovas 2014:83). Sacapampa (SL-17) is the largest settlement in the valley, spread over 11 ha, and clearly had an administrative function. It contains a ceremonial platform (usnu) inside a large esplanade (kancha), a series of large spaces surrounded by walls, platforms, and foundations of diverse structures (figure 7.8). There probably was a kallanka (great hall), poorly identifiable today. Sacapampa was built in an uninhabited area, near Markawi (SL-42), a secondary center in the settlement cluster of Quirpini (SL-41). Quirpini was the regional center in this section of the valley in the previous period and was abandoned in the Late Period, suggesting that political power had moved to Sacapampa and Markawi, reflecting an Inka strategy of domination similar to the one employed in other regions of the Andes (Alconini 2008a). Other regional centers with Inka architecture such as Querquewisi (SL-48) and Kewayuni (AU-1) also were built in areas not previously

Figure 7.8. Regional center of Sacapampa.

occupied by settlements, close to or within settlement clusters. Challchaque (SL-32) clearly constitutes an exception, as it was an important regional center in the previous period and maintained its hierarchy under the Inka, who built a major structure (probably a kallanka), platforms, and at least 30 buildings in ruins at the present (Ibarra Grasso and Querejazu Lewis 1986:330, 337). Between Subordination and Negotiation for Autonomy

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The relationship between the major regional centers, which would have had administrative functions in the imperial structure, and the territory of the present ayllus in the valley is notable. These centers were probably linked to the three ayllus of the Quillaca-Asanaque confederacy, settled by the Inka: Asanaque, Quillaca, and Yucasa.3 The Inka road network, built over a preexisting one (see figure 7.6), has several branches that enter the valley from the region of Pucapampa to the west and reach the site clusters to join the major settlements and then continue east by crossing the mountains to Palacio Tambo and beyond toward the frontier areas close to the Pilcomayo River (Rivera Casanovas 2011b). The Late Huruquilla style predominated in the region, albeit with technological changes. More widespread use is made of gray slips in fine ceramics, vessels are more globular and have more everted rims, and bowls and cups with thin walls predominate. There is less investment in the production of domestic ware, using rough, less selected pastes and less accomplished finishes. This suggests that local potters had less time for this line of work, perhaps because they had to fulfill other obligations. Economic patterns reveal intensification in agricultural production, including an increase in terracing over vast areas, with or without irrigation throughout the region. Several roads of the regional network cross these agricultural sectors and connect them with the valley settlements (Rivera Casanovas 2011b). Agricultural production would have been destined for local or regional consumption, as no large concentrations of storage structures or qullqas for state storage were found. One possibility is that the storage structures used were not permanent but portable ones made of reed, such as the ones used today in the region. The presence of settlements with corrals and loading areas in different parts of the valley suggests the movement of goods carried by llama caravans, probably related to Inka policies, just as in the Cinti Valley. Quillaca Ethnic Enclaves

The presence of foreign populations, brought in by the Inka, is documented in historical sources (Abercrombie 1986, 1998; Espinoza Soriano 1981; Platt et al. 2006; Presta 1995). Their displacement to this area from the southeast of the modern Department of Oruro was probably linked to mining and 136

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agricultural activities as well as to the protection of the eastern frontier, 100 km to the east of the San Lucas Valley. Archaeologically, the presence of those populations is visible through the occurrence of Quillaca-Inka or Late Period ceramics (figure 7.9; plate 11) in several settlements, from regional centers down to small hamlets (Rivera Casanovas 2014). Two female figurines or lawraqis found in Challchaque (SL-32) and Pututaca (PT-1) also indicate the presence of the Quillaca population. These ornaments, hanging from the end of females’ braids, were used by populations in the aquatic axis of Lake Titicaca, the Desaguadero River, and Lake Poopó in Quillaca territory. The Quillaca populations would have been involved in mining and metallurgic activities in the region. In the regional centers such as Sacapampa and in smaller settlements there is an association between distribution areas of Late Quillaca ceramics and evidence of mineral processing and metallurgy (Rivera Casanovas 2008). The regional centers are near a number of veins and mineral outcrops, exploited through open-air trenches or in some cases tunnels. It is possible that the Quillaca expertise in mining was taken advantage of by the Inka, as it happened in other mining regions of the highlands (Cruz and Téreygeol 2014; Van Buren and Presta 2010). The data suggest an intensification of mining production and metallurgy for the production of ornaments (tupus, lawraqis), axes and throwing spheres (boleadoras), as well as other objects. Both the local and foreign populations were involved in these activities. A notable example in the region of Palacio Tambo is the metallurgic settlement of Pututaca (PT-1) (Rivera Casanovas 2014). In that site, covering 8 ha, we identified the different steps in the metallurgic production chain in four sections of the settlement, from ore smelting in possible wayras to assaying and artifact workshops (figure 7.10). In that settlement, we identified Late Huruquilla, Yura, and Chicha-style ceramics, with a predominance of Late Quillaca and Provincial Inka styles. In addition to this settlement, remains of a few hamlets and several wayras for the smelting of metals, localized in high areas and on hills, as well as mines and a few sectors of agricultural terraces were identified. The data heretofore presented demonstrate significant changes in the region during the Late Period. The settlement patterns and ceramic

Figure 7.9 (Plate 11). Late Quillaca ceramics.

Figure 7.10. Map of Pututaca (PT-1).

materials associated with the settlements indicate that the local population continued living in the valley, in large and small settlements. The Late Quillaca style is distributed especially in the regional centers, associated with the Provincial Inka and Late Huruquilla styles, and in small hamlets in areas of agricultural production, especially in the areas of hills and gullies that were occupied by the Quillaca. Quillaca ceramics represent 6 to 20 percent of the collections in the regional centers, and significantly more in small settlements and farms (0.2–80 percent) (Rivera Casanovas 2014:90). This suggests that people of different ethnicities lived in the large settlements, while many small hamlets seem to have been inhabited by Quillaca families 138

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established separately: the most common pattern. Of the 98 sites registered for this period in the region, 38 contain Quillaca material, accounting for 39 percent of the sites in the region. These patterns are consistent with the establishment of enclaves or colonies in territories inhabited by local populations (Rivera Casanovas 2014). Late Quillaca ceramics were introduced in the region of San Lucas by Quillaca populations. Their paste corresponds to clay sources from the highlands (fine pastes with sand, mica, and quartz), like the paste of Provincial Inka ceramics found in San Lucas. This suggests that the region of Quillacas, in Oruro, had a center for ceramic production that supplied the Quillaca in both styles. The most

recurrent Quillaca ceramic forms in the San Lucas collections are dishes, bowls, and small pitchers. Most representative of the Provincial Inka style are dishes with duck heads, small pitchers, vessels with pedestals and high vertical handles, and aríbalos. In both cases, these highly visible serving vessels must have been used in social contexts charged with political and ethnic identity. It is possible that the Late Quillaca ceramics were part of prestige local styles, such as Pacaje Inka, circulating in some areas of the empire. They may have been used in local social contexts related to the status of the group associated with the ceramics (as opposed to the local groups) and their position of privilege in the Inka Empire. Imperial Strategies: Continuity and Change during Inka Domination

Regional archaeological studies in Los Cintis have proved to be of great utility in understanding the dynamics of incorporation and domination of their populations by Tawantinsuyu. Systematic regional surveys allow us to explore diachronically changes and continuities in the forms of sociopolitical organization, the management of economic resources, and product exchange in this region of southern Bolivia under the Inka. The analysis of surface collected materials and limited excavations has made it possible to identify several types of activities pursued in the settlements and make intrasite and intersite comparisons, which, when combined with the diachronic analysis, show changes in time linked to economic strategies on different scales. Ceramic analysis focused on style and variations has allowed us to explore aspects of group identity and hybrid styles that reflect processes of incorporation, acculturation, and the development of new identities. These large-scale, top-down views provide a panorama of the late historical processes that must be complemented by more detailed studies at the site level. It is necessary to explore public, domestic, funerary, and other contexts to get clues as to the local dynamics of negotiation, acceptance, or resistance from a local and communal, bottom-up perspective. These two case studies constitute examples of the variability in the strategies of imperial control in Qullasuyu. The distance between the Cinti Valley and the region of San Lucas is only 45 km, so it is

remarkable that very different strategies of control were deployed in each of these regions: indirect in the first case and much more direct in the second. Following the approach taken by Alconini (2008a) to the forms of provincial control in terms of investment and yields, investment was minimal in the Cinti Valley, while the gains were probably high. The empire had obtained an optimal level of control, managing the region and extracting resources through the local elites. In contrast, in the region of San Lucas both investments and yields were high. Control over the region was achieved by transferring foreign populations and establishing an administrative system through foreign intermediary elites, leading to more direct territorial control. The different types of control were the result of the sociopolitical structure in each of these regions and their leaders’ capacity for negotiation, as well as the state’s interest in agricultural and mining resources and their proximity to the eastern imperial borders. Indirect control was sufficient in the Cinti Valley and did not produce noticeable breaks in the regional tendencies, although there were changes. For instance, the reduction in the proportions of storage vessels in the regional centers and increase in small sites suggest that the elites did not control surplus as in the previous period. It is possible that some of that surplus left the valley as part of the empire’s political economy or that storage practices changed (for instance, with the use of qullqas) or that the strategy changed, with an intensification of production to pay tribute to the state rather than to the local elites. These topics must still be investigated. The strategies of wealth control (of craft production or prestige goods) did not change during the Late Period, even though there was an increase in the number of corrals in sites close to centers, suggesting a movement of goods via llama caravans. It is possible that the Inka exerted a tighter control on those caravans, reorienting the movement of goods, as has been reported for other regions (Costin and Earle 1989; Santoro 1995; Sejas 2014). The data suggest that the Qaraqara leaders of the Cinti Valley were able to maintain their sociopolitical organization under Inka domination due to their levels of internal organization and their ability to negotiate. However, a progressive integration of the region into the empire and its administrative structure is also evident. Inka domination caused changes that seem to have affected the local Between Subordination and Negotiation for Autonomy

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elites’ ability to control the agricultural surplus, suggesting a reordering of the systems of regional exchange. The increase in feasting activities in settlements at different levels of the hierarchy would indicate changes in local organization. Furthermore, technological and morphological changes in the ceramics suggest that members of the local population actively adopted Inka canons while keeping their own expressions, generating hybrid styles such as Huruquilla-Inka and Late Huruquilla (Rivera Casanovas 2004, 2011a). In contrast to the Cinti Valley, in San Lucas the Inka incorporated the region and its population into their state structure in a more direct manner, producing important changes at the local level. The lack of regional political integration would have affected the forms of leadership and the negotiating ability of those leaders. The Inka administered the region through intermediary elites, transferring highland Quillaca populations to establish ethnic enclaves and intensify agricultural and miningmetallurgic production. These decisions led to dramatic changes for the local population. The local Qaraqara leaders lost their political power and autonomy, being reduced to a subordinate status. The local administration was delegated to Quillaca elites favored and trusted by the Inka, who negotiated advantageous positions in their access to territories and resources. Documents from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries show a hereditary succession of caciques in San Lucas who belonged to the lineage of the Colque Guarachi, principal lords of the Quillaca-Asanaque federation under Inka domination (Abercrombie 1986; Canedo Gutiérrez 2011:38–44). They were “second in command” (segunda personas) to the principal caciques of the Oruro highlands, an indicator of their high political and social hierarchy. Qullasuyu in Tawantinsuyu

Research on the Inka presence in the south of present-day Bolivia suggests that the Inka incorporated that territory into Tawantinsuyu by employing a variety of territorial and hegemonic strategies. The data presented in this chapter show a complex reality with a high level of regional variation, which must be investigated by using different analytical scales. The forms of provincial control based on investment and yields (Alconini 2008a) widen 140

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our understanding of these processes and allow us to contrast the evidence with other regions of Tawantinsuyu. For instance, research conducted in the coastal valleys of southern Peru (Covey 2000) shows that parts of that region, rich in agricultural and marine resources, were incorporated directly into the administrative structure of Lake Titicaca through ethnic enclaves from the highlands, while other coastal elites continued to manage a complex economy in a region partially controlled by the Inka. This created a varying mixture of forms of optimal provincial control, territorial and hegemonic. Comparative interregional research conducted by Williams et al. (2009) shows that Inka domination of the western valleys of southern Peru and northern Chile, as well as in the Argentine northwest, was fairly direct, looking for a variety of agricultural, mineral, and other resources. Material and administrative variations in those regions would reflect different degrees of intensification in the functioning of the structures of power and administration. It remains to be determined whether those forms of territorial and hegemonic control were phases of the same process or separate processes. The process of imperial expansion and the formation of Qullasuyu have been conceived mainly from a political and economic perspective. However, it is increasingly evident that ideological and symbolic aspects were also part of the mechanisms of power. The incorporation of one of the most important wak’as of the Andes (Lake Titicaca and its islands) into the empire, including the construction of a first-order sanctuary in the region, is evidence of this dimension in the dynamics of expansion. Similarly, the mining-metallurgical activity that was central to the Inka southward expansion developed within a culturally sacralized landscape. Mountains and their minerals, conceived as supernatural beings who protected their regions and life in them, were integrated in a new sacred landscape that could be “read” in large areas and observed from a constellation of geographic locations (see Cruz, this volume). The imperial road network (Qhapaq Ñan) integrated those landscapes, articulating settlements and resources with the empire and its sacred structure.

Acknowledgments

References Cited

Research in Los Cintis was conducted with the support of the National Science Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, the Center for Latin American Studies– University of Pittsburgh, the Heinz Foundation, the French Institute of Andean Studies, and the Swedish Agencia Sueca de Cooperación para el Desarrollo Internacional (ASDI/Arec) through the Project of Cultural Self-Definition of the Anthropological and Archaeological Research Institute, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés in La Paz. The Sociedad Agroindustrial y Ganadera de Cinti (SAGIC SA) also supported this research. I would also like to thank the authorities of the Unidad Nacional de Arqueología for issuing the research permits and the municipal authorities of Camargo, Villa Abecia, and San Lucas as well as the original authorities and communities of Los Cintis for their support. Also, thanks to all the individuals who in one way or another participated in the research projects. I am grateful to Ari Zighelboim for translating the first version of this chapter into English. Finally, allow me to thank Frances Hayashida, Andrés Troncoso, and Diego Salazar for their invitation to participate in the workshop “Rethinking Tawantinsuyu from Qullasuyu.”

Abercrombie, Thomas 1986 The Politics of Sacrifice: An Aymara Cosmology in Action. PhD dissertation, University of Chicago. 1998 Pathways of Memory and Power: Ethnography and History among an Andean People. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison.

Albarracin-Jordan, Juan, and James Matthews 1990 Asentamientos prehispánicos del valle de Tiwanaku. Producciones CIMA, La Paz.

Notes

Angelo, Dante 2003 La cultura Chicha: Aproximación al pasado prehispánico de los valles surandinos. Gobierno Municipal de Tupiza, Tupiza, Bolivia.

1. We must be careful about testimonies in colonial conflicts over land, as they may constitute interested versions aiming to show an “immemorial” occupation to consolidate ownership rights over them. These territories were often established by the Inka as part of their policies of movements of mitmaqkuna or occurred early in the colonial period. 2. Two AMS datings from Sacapampa (SL-17) provide the following data: (1) occupation floor closest to the present surface, Unit 1, Level 1, 451 +/- 41 BP (calibrated 2δ AD 1424–1512 and AD 1547–1622), sample ANSTO OZK822; (2) cist (Trait 3), Unit 2, 645 +/- 40 BP (calibrated 2δ AD 1297–1410), sample ANSTO OZK823 (Rivera Casanovas 2014). 3. By comparing the archaeological data with the information collected by Professor Carlos Arancibia in his maps of present-day territories and settlement distribution of ayllus in the region of San Lucas, it may be inferred that the centers of Sacapampa and Kewayuni were related to Ayllu Jatun Khellaja, Challchaque and Querquewisi to Ayllu Asanaque, and the settlements around the present-day town of San Lucas to Ayllu Llajta Yucasa. Pututaca, near Palacio Tambo, would correspond to Ayllu Cantu Yucasa.

Acuto, Félix A. 2010 Living under the Imperial Thumb in the Northern Calchaquí Valley, Argentina. In Distant Provinces in the Inka Empire: Toward a Deeper Understanding of Inka Imperialism, edited by Michael A. Malpass and Sonia Alconini, pp. 108–150. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City.

Alconini, Sonia 2002 Prehistoric Inka Frontier Structure and Dynamics in the Bolivian Chaco. PhD dissertation, University of Pittsburgh. 2008a Dis-embedded Centers and the Architecture of Power in the Fringes of the Inka Empire: New Perspectives on Territorial and Hegemonic Strategies of Domination. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 27:63–81. 2008b (ed.)  El Inkario en los valles del surandino boliviano: Los Yamparas entre la arqueología y la etnohistoria. BAR International Series 1868. BAR, Oxford, UK. 2016 Southeast Inka Frontier Boundaries and Interactions. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.

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Presta, Ana María 1995 Hacienda y comunidad: Un estudio de la Provincia de Pilaya y Paspaya, siglos XVI–XVIII. In Espacio, etnías, frontera: Atenuaciones políticas en el sur del Tawantinsuyu, siglos XV–XVIII, edited by Ana M. Presta, pp. 79–95. Antropólogos del Sur, Sucre, Bolivia.

Santoro, Calogero 1995 Late Prehistoric Regional Interaction and Social Change in a Coastal Valley of Northern Chile. PhD dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.

Raffino, Rodolfo A. 1993 Inka: Arqueología, historia y urbanismo del altiplano andino. Corregidor, Buenos Aires. Rivera Casanovas, Claudia 2004 Regional Settlement Patterns and Political Complexity in the Cinti Valley, Bolivia. PhD dissertation, University of Pittsburgh. 2008 Aproximación inicial a la explotación minera y metalurgia prehispánica en la región de San Lucas, Chuquisaca. In Mina y metalurgia en los Andes del Sur: Desde la época prehispánica hasta el siglo XVII, edited by Pablo Cruz and Jean-Joinville Vacher, pp. 139–162. IRD-IFEA, Sucre, Bolivia. 2010 Forms of Imperial Control and the Negotiation of Local Autonomy in the Cinti Valley of Bolivia. In Distant Provinces in the Inka Empire: Toward a Deeper Understanding of Inka Imperialism, edited by Michael A. Malpass and Sonia Alconini, pp. 151–172. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City. 2011a Estilos cerámicos como indicadores cronológicos en la región de Cinti, Chuquisaca. Textos Antropológicos 16(1):137–154. 2011b Redes viales prehispánicas e interacción en la región de Cinti, sur de Bolivia. In En ruta: Arqueología, historia y etnografía del tráfico surandino, edited by Lautaro Núñez and Axel Nielsen, pp. 151–176. Encuentro Grupo Editor, Córdoba, Argentina. 2013 Dinámicas regionales prehispánicas entre los siglos XIV–XVI: Las provincias de Pilaya y Paspaya (Cinti) ¿Territorio Qaraqara? In Aportes multidisciplinarios al estudio de los colectivos étnicos surandinos, edited by Ana María Presta, pp. 89–116. IFEA-Plural Editores, La Paz. 2014 Estrategias de control imperial, movimientos poblacionales y dinámicas regionales durante el período Tardío en la región de San Lucas, Chuquisaca. In Ocupación Inka y dinámicas regionales

Schreiber, Katharina 1987 Conquest and Consolidation: A Comparison of the Wari and Inka Occupations of a Highland Peruvian Valley. American Antiquity 52:266–284. Sejas Portillo, Alejandra 2014 Cambios en las redes de interacción durante el período Tardío al sur del lago Poopó, Bolivia. In Ocupación Inka y dinámicas regionales en los Andes (siglos XV–XVII), edited by Claudia Rivera Casanovas, pp. 197–222. Instituto Francés de Estudios Andinos/Plural Editores, La Paz. Stanish, Charles 1997 Nonmarket Imperialism in a Prehispanic Context: The Inka Occupation of the Titicaca Basin. Latin American Antiquity 8(3):1–18. 2001 Recent Regional Research on the Inka. Journal of Archaeological Research 9(3):213–241. 2003 Ancient Titicaca: The Evolution of Complex Society in Southern Peru and Northern Bolivia. University of California Press, Los Angeles. Troëng, Björn, Carlos Riera-Kilibarda, and Reinhard Rößling 1996 Mapas temáticos de recursos minerales de Bolivia. Boletín 8. Servicio Geológico de Bolivia, La Paz. Van Buren, Mary, and Ana Maria Presta 2010 The Organization of Inka Silver Production in Porco, Bolivia. In Distant Provinces in the Inka Empire: Toward a Deeper Understanding of Inka Imperialism, edited by Michael A. Malpass and Sonia Alconini, pp. 173–192. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City. Vignale, Pedro J., and Dick E. Ibarra Grasso 1943 Culturas eneolíticas en los alrededores de Potosí. SUR (Potosí) 1:79–119. Williams, Verónica, Calogero Santoro, Álvaro Romero, Jesús Gordillo, Daniela Valenzuela, and Vivian Standen 2009 Dominación Inca en los valles occidentales (sur del Perú y norte de Chile) y el noroeste argentino. Andes 7:615–654.

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Chapter 8

The Inka Construction of Space in the South Sacred Landscapes, Celebrations, and Architectural Orientation at El Shincal de Quimivil (Catamarca, Argentina) Marco A. Giovannetti

The material evidence is never a self-evident manifestation of human practices in the past; we are therefore inevitably thrown back on the corpus of anthropological theory. I say this not to reopen the old discussion on the specificity of archaeology but to take a personal position with respect to the large theoretical corpus produced in recent decades, especially relating to the “ontological turn” (Descola 2013; Latour 1993; Viveiro de Castro 2013)—an area in which I have a particular interest. A focus on how to conceive the beings that exist in the world and how they interrelate is a fundamental aspect of an anthropological epistemology in the search for an understanding of “otherness.” Here I consider that any attempt to explain Tawantinsuyu without understanding how the Inka conceived the complex cartography of beings who coexist in the world would be misleading, imposing on the Inka readings of their worldviews that belong more to the occidental models from which researchers produce knowledge. Perhaps this explains the recent proliferation of articles and edited volumes (for example, Bray 2015) dedicated to producing knowledge about the wak’a entities that partially covered the time of the Inka, when wak’as governed the world jointly with human beings. This appreciation can best be seen in the particular perception of Mannheim and Salas Carreño (2015) and their description of the other beings that intervened in the life of the inhabitants of the Andes. Any entity (human, animal, plant, place, topographical feature, and so forth) is a possible agent, with common attributes like thought, capacity for action, and intentionality. Interaction occurs through commensalism, family connections, and sharing space, given that co-residence is a fundamental constituent part of Andean life today as in the past. The ontological turn provides the theoretical foundation for a logic that problematizes conceptions about human and nonhuman beings and 145

their relations. Examples from Andean ethnography and archaeology (Allen 2016; Bray 2012, 2015; Dean 2015; Mannheim and Carreño 2015), as well as my own ethnographic experience, enable me to reason from a strong empirical base about Andean notions of time and space, focused particularly on perspectives of spatiality (Giovannetti 2018). To do this, I analyze one of the most important Inka sites in Qullasuyu, El Shincal de Quimivil, located in the heart of the Argentine province of Catamarca. Interpreted as an Inka administrative center (Raffino 1981, 2004), the site has been studied by archaeologists for over fifty years. El Shincal de Quimival is located on an alluvial cone crossed by the Quimivil and Hondo Rivers on a relatively flat surface surrounded by hills in all directions except south. It is spread out over more than 20 hectares, with a total of 20 architectural sectors distributed around a central plaza (figure 8.1). Only eight architectural sectors consisting of approximately 50 rooms appear to have been used for housing; the remainder were used for worship. In addition to constructions on top of low hills destined for cultic practices, a number of public buildings stand out surrounding the plaza, several of them kallankas (Inka great halls). The plaza is notable for its size: a square measuring 175 m on each side. A ceremonial platform (usnu), with an entrance facing west and access stairways, was erected in the center. It is possible that groups of government agents and possibly priests lived permanently at the site, but it was designed primarily for large state festivals. The importance of its special architecture and the state practices developed at El Shincal are analyzed here from the perspective of the construction of sacred landscapes. The study reveals in part the logic underlying human and nonhuman interactions, not only in the study area but also in other parts of Tawantinsuyu. I examine the materiality of acts of Inka sacrality involving human and nonhuman agents, especially in relation to spatiality. The nonhuman agents include mountains, springs, and blocks of rock that could be defined as wak’as. Bray (2012, 2015) demonstrates how a context of interaction (for example, with rocks) can be distinguished archaeologically, especially when related to ritual

Figure 8.1. Location of the study area in the Inka Empire

and map of El Shincal.

commensalism. If we follow the proposal of Dean (2015), attention to this aspect is fundamental, as the true connection of the Inka with a territory to which they laid claim occurred in a merging of identities between human beings and the “natural” manifestations of local geography. I would add that these contexts can be recognized together with many more in which the sacred is clearly manifested. Indeed, I believe that whole sites were placed at the service of the spiritual practices of bonding with the most powerful nonhuman beings. The types and distribution of architectural structures, the presence of “natural” elements in or beside transformed spaces, the remains of their votive practices, and the materiality of their festivals expose some of the ontological scaffolding of the Inka Andean world. This does not imply that political or organizational practices of the economic spheres have not been developed; in fact, they must have been an important part of the operation of this site. Through this review of the most conspicuous referents of rituality and the evidence of ancient festivals in El Shincal, I hope to show an example that will be much more eloquent than an individual case study. This site, like so many others in Tawantinsuyu, forms part of the spatial weft of sacredness in the world and in life, as recounted in the myth of Wiraqucha as the qumpi kamayuq (master weaver) of the universe (Pease 2000). Andean Sacredness and Spatiality

Ample ethnographic and archaeological evidence from the Andes demonstrates that spatial experience is a question of sacredness rather than solely a strategic economic factor (Arnold et al. 2014; Bray 2015; Göbel 2000–2002; Sánchez Garrafa 2014; Van Kessel 1996; Wachtel 2001). Zuidema (2010) dedicates a large part of his work to trying to understand how the city of Cuzco manifested a complex of invisible connections (siq’i lines) that connected, divided, and organized the city and surrounded wak’a sites in a radial organization. The repetition of this spatial arrangement in other Inka sites was dictated by the idea of copying Cuzco as a strategy for legitimizing Inka authority—mediated by logics inserted in a relational ontology—by building a landscape in the image and likeness of Inka cosmology: a micromodel of an ideological geography that was replicated at different scales (Christie 2016). The Inka Construction of Space in the South

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Taking the form of a microcosmos replicating the macrocosmos of powerful deities and spirits—a characteristic compatible with what Descola (2013) reserved for the analogous ontological mode—the kay pacha, the world inhabited by human beings, overflows with divine manifestations of many forms and characteristics. Andean space is an “other” that demands attention through different forces or beings (Vilca 2010), with hierarchically differentiated sacred densities (Rosing 2003) recognized as powerful wak’as that share experience, receive names, and dine with humans (Mannheim and Salas Carreño 2015). Among Quechua speakers in Amarete, Bolivia, Rosing (2003) observed that the power of a defined space can be determined by the intervention of natural forces such as lightning or by the ritual repetition of human beings. This form of power, defined as a force that can intervene in the destiny of other beings, coexists in all forms of existence, but not with the same density. I myself have observed in the practices of Andean migrants (in the Argentinean campus of the Academia Mayor de la Lengua Quechua [AMLQ]) how a given space becomes a power referent, a wak’a to which participants take their petitions, prayers, permissions, and thanks (Giovannetti 2018). The force of the place increases with the repetitive actions of those carrying out rituals. They not only believe in its efficacy but also attribute the stamp of memory (yuyay) to it. Such sites do not possess power independent of human practices; if forgotten, they lose sacred density. Wachtel’s (2001) ethnography of the Uru Chipaya of Bolivia shows the strong relation between the geographical distribution of their villages and their social organization. Four families are grouped into two halves, which in turn are conceptualized as part of a single territorial group. Inclusive plans of articulated microcosms make up a single integrated universe that culminates in a large-scale territorial image in which the people stand at the intersection of a huge cross made up of four lines of shrines and chapels arranged in rows aligned with the four cardinal points. The dualities and oppositions of the space reflect an overall organization of a sacralized microcosm, manifested through rigid repetitions and regularities. In this case, in the words of the Wachtel, we can identify a remnant of the siq’i system found in Cuzco. Although similar spatial geometries cannot be found today in all parts of the Andean territory, the relationship of a divinized 148

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experience with an environment emanating vital energy is common. Conceiving the sacredness of space in the Andean world inevitably requires the establishment of levels or dimensions that include one another in the manner of fractal shapes (Mannheim and Salas Carreño 2015). This idea is well developed by Allen (2016), who introduces the concept of a fractal person to explain the partition of powerful beings as an example of distributed personhood: that is, such beings extend their vital force and selves into different bodies that are mutually constituted. In this sense an extensive territory may be the home of the apu, entities that establish political and religious boundaries at the same time (Sánchez Garrafa 2014). They are ordered spatially, are classified in gender pairs, possess power and memory, and are identified with communities. The same may be expected to apply to heavenly beings (Sánchez Garrafa 2014). At the other end of the scale, a family home is constructed on the same harmonic basis. It is a space packed with ritual references, possesses a memory constituted from past experiences (Göbel 2000– 2002), and is conceived as a map of the cosmos that contains all beings (Arnold et al. 2014). Thus, ethnographic work among the Aymara allows us to recognize that a close relationship exists between architectural construction and social organization through parental connections, the economy, and most of all, cosmology. This is the point that particularly interests me: I start from the hypothesis that the most important Inka sites reveal a cartography not only of spatial organization as a scheme of social ordering but of the Andean cosmos as a form of interacting and intervening in the sacred fabric of existence flowing through its own universe. The Architectural Dimension: A First Approach to Relations between the Human and the Nonhuman

El Shincal de Qumivil is located in the northwestern region of Argentina (province of Catamarca, figure 8.1). It lies at the distal edge of an alluvial fan, distinguishable by its green vegetation thanks to a permanent water supply from the Quimivil River. From site visitor overlooks, the view across the plain to the southeast extends for many kilometers toward a horizon marked by a serrated line of mountain peaks. Forests of algarrobo (Prosopis

sp.), chañar (Geoffroea decorticans), tala (Celtis tala), and hundreds of other species of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants, including dozens of medicinal plants (many of them psychoactive), dominate the phytogeographical landscape. It is easy to see the marked contrast with the dry, open countryside only a few kilometers away, which surrounds this oasis of relative abundance where the Inka site is located. From a purely economic perspective, the intentionality of setting up a center of political and administrative importance (sensu Raffino 2004) in a space of abundant natural resources seems obvious. After all, it is not hard to see the advantages of having edible wild fruit, land with farming potential, wood, and water. It is undeniable that these resources are readily available there in comparison to nearby regions. But I believe that the Inka had much stronger reasons for choosing this particular space related to their perceptions of the sacred and consecrated, in particular the figure of the surrounding hills and mountains. Many publications discuss the layout of the site (Farrington 1999; Giovannetti 2016; Raffino 1981). The size of the principal plaza and the presence of a subcentral usnu (ceremonial platform) were—and still are—the subjects of meticulous description and discussion. The square layout, the monumental dimensions, and the distinctive construction with dressed stone barely detract from the plaza’s position as the nerve center of four low hills located at the four cardinal points. The central position of the usnu and the plaza that contains it coincides exactly with marks carved on buildings and rocks on top of each of these hills (figure 8.2). In an aerial photograph, two perpendicular lines can be projected between the pairs of opposite hills; the usnu stands exactly at the point where they cross. All four hills have been modified to a greater or lesser degree, and a specific referent of particular ceremonial significance is found at the exact points at which the lines would originate. Finally, I note that the layout of the archaeological site cannot be explained except in relation to these four referents located at the cardinal points. We must therefore consider the possibility that the settlement was planned with conscious, premeditated coordination between the architecture and the hills.

The Presence of Nonhuman Beings Stone Beings

In the Inka Empire, and more generally in the Andes, powerful beings with whom people sought to communicate were embodied in various forms. Blocks of rock, or “petrified beings,” undoubtedly played a predominant role, as can be observed in Inka sites of the central Andes (Bray 2012; Dean 2015; Meddens 2015) or in ritual spaces of Northwest Argentina (Acuto, this volume; López and Coloca 2019). I have detected no fewer than ten of these rocks with clear intentional human intervention. Five of them form a group in the Cerro Aterrazado Occidental (Western Terraced Hill), an indication of its sacred character; three more are at the Cerrito Norte, while the other two are in Archaeological Complexes 9 and 19. The last was discovered during excavation, while the others are visible at the surface. The stones at the Cerro Aterrazado Occidental show varying degrees of intervention (figure 8.3). At the center is a stone with worked sides (W-1). A few meters away is another rock pitted with shallow depressions (wak’a mortero [wak’a mortar]) that may be related to grinding, although it cannot be explained solely as an instrument for grinding grain (Giovannetti 2017). The location and technical characteristics indicate a different type of activity, which the context suggests is ritual in nature. Below it is a smaller, ovoid stone (W-4) on the northwest side of the hilltop that is part of a zigzag perimeter wall. The stone, which is worked at the base, marks an inflection point in the wall. Reports of the adoration of ovoid rocks have appeared in the past in works on Andean archaeology (Meddens 2015). The quintet is completed by two other blocks: one (W-2) in its natural position on the hill with deteriorated marks where its surface has been worked; and the other (W-3) brought from the so-called Wak’a 1, extracted by force with evident difficulty and moved over a distance of 12 m. It is very suggestive that an observer standing on this block at sunrise on December 21 will see the sun rising exactly over the middle of Wak’a 1. Stone wak’as also occur in the form of bolones, upright stones or monoliths of striking aspect. They are interpreted as part of a sacralized landscape, as they appear in special spaces such as usnus, in The Inka Construction of Space in the South

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Figure 8.2. Plaza and usnu positions with reference to the four surrounding hills.

caves, or at high-altitude sites (López and Coloca 2019; Meddens 2015; Stehberg 2016). In the case of Cerrito Norte, a granite block with an elongated hole pecked into the center was found at the top (figure 8.4a). At the Cerro Aterrazado Oriental (Eastern Terraced Hill) is a rounded bolón meticulously surrounded by other rocks, forming a semicircle (figure 8.4b). This location can be connected with a straight line to the usnu and, beyond that, Wak’a 1 of the Cerro Aterrazado Occidental. Another feature of interest involving a rock is found in Complex 9 in the northwest sector of the site. The structure is defined by a perimeter wall consisting of three rectangular spaces of different 150

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sizes and a large enclosure with a black pyramidal rock with flat faces that may have been worked to obtain this shape (Moralejo 2013). The intentionality of its presence seems indisputable, although it has yet to be determined was placed there by the Inka or whether it was already in place in pre-Inka times. Neither of the two possibilities would invalidate its importance in this architectural complex. The last case was discovered during excavation of Complex 19 in 2017. Complex 19 is an architectural structure on top of a low hill where two enclosures standing north and south of one another have symmetrically opposing doors that open onto the interior of an open area (figure 8.5). Excavation within

a

b

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d

e

Figure 8.3. Western Terraced Hill: (a) map; (b) Wak’a Rock 1 (W-1); (c) Wak’a Rock 3 (W-3); (d) Wak’a Rock 4 (W-4);

(e) Wak’a Mortero.

a

b Figure 8.4. Special upright stones or monoliths: (a) an upright stone found at the Cerrito Norte; (b) bolón surrounded by rocks in semicircle in the Cerro Aterrazado Oriental.

the open area revealed a big, partially worked block of stone with many cavities, hollows, and channels. Also, a circular dry-masonry construction about 30 cm in diameter was identified. The ritual use of this space is further suggested by the scarcity of other archaeological remains. For example, only about 15 fragments of ceramic were found, very few in comparison to other excavated contexts at the site. No remains of carbon or ash were found, indicating the absence of fire in the rites. But it is highly likely that water or some other liquid was involved. Miniature tunnels and channels, no more than 2 cm wide, connected hollows and openings in the form of little “caves” carved into the stone. Empirical tests carried out with water show that the channels led by two different routes to two caves located side by side. This invites comparison with sites like Qenqo or Tipón (now called the Water Temple) and other sites with similarly worked stones, commonly called maquetas (Troncoso et al. 2019; Williams, this volume). It is possible that rites carried out in El Shincal replicated similar ceremonies recorded in other parts of Tawantinsuyu.

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The Connection with Pachamama: Basins for Drinking

In the excavations of the usnu carried out in the 1990s (Raffino et al. 1997), various groups of mounds consisting of small round pebbles were—in my opinion—misunderstood. Although they were also recognized as offerings, the presence of the pebbles was interpreted as a cobble floor. But the original context, which clearly involved the presence of mounds, was unknown. Today we understand that one of the significant features defining an usnu is the presence of basins or pits filled with stones that received poured chicha (beer) offerings for the earth, the ancestors, and the sun (Pino Matos 2010). Ancient accounts give rise to the idea of an usnu more complex than the mere identification of architectural platforms. Big rocks, and indeed these basins or pits, would play an analogous role in communicating with powerful spirits. The relationship with the earth being, Pachamama, in the Andes today may be expressed in various ways, but one in particular predominates, especially in the celebrations of the month of August (Van Kessell 1996). A hollow is made in the earth in which offerings of food and drink are placed. The accounts of Spanish chroniclers suggest that the practice goes back at least to Inka times

(di Salvia 2013). I think that El Shincal provides proof that votive rituals were carried out on more than one occasion, which involved making holes in the ground. These spaces are recognized as hollows filled with stones, which at El Shincal are found in at least three places, apart from the central usnu: Complex 20, Cerro Loma Larga, and Complex 17 (figure 8.6). Complex 20 was likely an elite residence. A mound of small, carefully selected rocks in the central enclosure was surrounded by other flat rocks placed on edge. This is interpreted principally as a basin for libations. But the location of this mound is also significant. It might perhaps be recognized as a reference point from which orientation lines that help in understanding and ordering space emanated radially; alignments can be identified that are clearly marked by passages and doorways (Giovannetti 2016), similar, albeit on a smaller scale, to what is understood by the siq’i system. A similar libation basin, filled with small round pebbles, was found at the top of the hill at Cerro Loma Larga, which forms the southern terminus of the north-south axis that crosses the site and passes through the usnu. There are also several constructions, mostly from the pre-Inka period. They represent the local Middle Period, known as

the Aguada Period (AD 500 to AD 950). However, one construction stands out from the rest due to its morphology and construction features. A rectangular room has an entrance that was apparently trapezoidal, and its four walls are aligned with the cardinal directions. A few meters outside the room is a mound of stones similar to those described above. The architecture, very similar in morphology and construction to that at El Shincal, indicates that it is an Inka building. Complex 17 is a construction surrounded by a wide perimeter wall of irregular trapezoidal shape. A structure stands in isolation in a central position. When the enclosure was excavated, a small stonepaved path was found that ran from the entrance to the other end of the room, where there were two basins lined with big flat-faced blocks. It is difficult to say whether these basins were filled with pebbles, as a closure event was identified through the scattering of pebbles throughout the room. Pebbles were found on top of the path and the basins as well as covering the floor of the basins. The rest of the room provided very good evidence of ritual commensalism. Luxurious objects circulated, including ceramics from the other side of the Andes: fragments in the Diaguita Inka style were identified.

Figure 8.5. Plan of Complex 19. The worked stone can be observed at the center of the enlarged photo on the left.

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a

b

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Figure 8.6. Cobble mound and rock-lined holes for liquid libation offerings: (a) Complex 20; (b) Loma Larga Hill (photo by

Gregoria Cochero); (c) Complex 17.

Links with Inti Tayta, the Sun

To complete the list of empirical referents, my team and I detected very specific solar orientations at the site. Links between architecture and the movements of the stars have been found at various sites in Tawantinsuyu, such as Huánuco Pampa (Pino Matos 2004), where the most significant structure in this respect is the usnu. The usnu of El Shincal has always been an enigma, because the orientation of its walls differs from the orientation of the plaza in which it is set. Tests carried out recently show that the deviation of almost 7° fits exactly with the alignment of the sun at the equinoxes (Corrado and Giménez 2018). On the days of those astronomical events, the sun rises exactly in the east, but the human eye will see it in that direction only if the observer is looking over a completely flat horizon. In mountainous environments, the real horizon is altered by the peaks and sides of mountains, which intervene between the observer and the rising star. Thus, the exact orientation of the sun rising behind the mountains is not due east but deviates by precisely the 7° by which the usnu is rotated at the site. From the tiyana, the stone bench placed on the north wall of the usnu, the sun rises exactly to the left of the observer (figure 8.7) and sets exactly to their right. Anyone seated there must necessarily be looking south (left side facing due east and right side facing due west). I have often observed in Andean ceremonies of the AMLQ that the left side is associated with beginnings or openings and the right with endings or closures. This practice has also been observed in other Andean ethnographic contexts and tends to be noted as a structuring concept of cosmogony

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(Arnold et al. 2014; Sánchez Garrafa 2014). Excavations of this ceremonial platform have recovered a wide set of materials, including maize, algarrobo seeds, chañar fruit, beans, prepared foods, bones, valuable ceramics, metal, Spondylus shells, rocks and minerals, and fragments of human remains (Lynch et al. 2013; Raffino et al. 1997). This evidence has been interpreted as offerings to the earth. Astronomical alignments related to the solstices (December 21 and June 21) have been recognized on the Cerro Aterrazado Occidental. The December solstice was marked by the arrangement of the wak’a rocks described above. The so-called Wak’a 1 rock was split to allow an elongated block, 1.5 m high, to be extracted. This was placed in such a position that an observer standing behind it on December 21 will see a line of objects between his or her eye and the rising sun formed by four intermediate points: first, the Wak’a 3 rock; second, the central point of the Wak’a 1 rock; third, the peak of a small hill in the Serranía de Belén range; and fourth, Cerro Ambato, an important peak more than 300 km away that is only visible early in the morning. Two straight stone alignments at the southeast end of the Cerro Aterrazado Occidental have always puzzled researchers. We have recently found that they act as calendar markers. One, although short, consists of a line of well-defined rocks aligned directly with sunrise on the June solstice (figure 8.8). The other is aligned with sunrise on February 13 and October 29, when the sun rises at the same point of the horizon in its annual cycle. This has no particular significance for the Catamarca region, but it does for Cuzco. These dates coincide with the passage of the sun through the zenith, a date

festivals during Inka rule (Jennings and Bowser 2008; Jennings and Duke 2018; Moore 1996; Morris and Thompson 1985; Orgaz et al 2007). A classic example is the case of Huánuco Pampa, one of the largest and most prestigious provincial Inka sites in Tawantinsuyu. Morris and Thompson (1985) showed that for much of the year a small population lived at the site, which filled with pilgrims during state festivals. The large plaza, the storehouses on the hillsides, and many of the buildings played a role in the production of feasts and ceremonies. Similarly, Dillehay (2003) showed that Inka festivals formed part of their multiple colonization mechanisms. A better understanding of the complex links between the Inka and local groups can be achieved if we consider the phenomena of political, ritual, and festival commensalism, in which maize chicha (beer) would have played an important part (see also Alconini, Martínez C., and Pavlovic et al., this volume). The example of Huánuco Pampa was very useful for my own investigations of El Shincal. Parallels can safely be drawn because of the structure of the site, with large open spaces such as the plaza and the nonresidential buildings surrounding it: the kallankas, the possible temples, and the big central usnu. Ceramic evidence also supports the interpretation of El Shincal as a site for state feasting. An analysis of the ceramic assemblages from seven contexts shows an abundance of utilitarian

discussed in depth by Zuidema (2010) in his study of important dates in the Inka calendar. The sun does not cast a shadow at midday on that day, which was considered a special moment in the behavior of the royal star. However, this phenomenon only occurs at latitudes within the intertropical belt (north of the Tropic of Capricorn and south of the Tropic of Cancer). Outside this belt the sun never passes through the zenith. This is the case in Catamarca, so the findings in other parts of Peru where the local zenith position (different from the position in Cuzco due to the difference in latitude) is marked by some architectural feature could not be repeated here (Pino Matos 2004). Finally, I would note that the arrangement of these lines of stones on the hilltop as pointers defining a calendar-related angle recalling these two dates might have played an important role in festivals at the site. Festivals: Mass Display of Ritual, Political, and Celebratory Practices

The importance of festival practices has generated much interest in anthropology and archaeology. Dietler and Hayden (2001) define festivals as occasions for commensalism, meetings, and scenographic displays that—and this is their defining feature—are distinct from everyday practices. In the archaeology of the Andes, many works discuss

a

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Figure 8.7. Usnu position in relation to the equinox sunrise: (a) schematic plan; (b) picture captured on March 21, 2015, from

one end of the tiyana.

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Figure 8.8. Solar alignments on the Western Terraced Hill: (a) aerial view, showing the corresponding

sunrise dates; (b) sunrise, June 21; (c) sunrise, February 13.

cooking pots within a number of the enclosures. Provincial Inka style pottery were less numerous in these spaces. However, this proportion was radically inverted in the sector called the “Discard Zone” (see figure 8.1), where an abundance of decorated pots used for eating and drinking at feasts was found (Giovannetti 2016). Their quantity exceeded the numbers recorded in any other part of the site. A sample of more than 1,000 fragments from the Discard Zone showed that over half of the pieces 156

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presented decoration typical of Inka designs (figure 8.9; plate 12). Also, the distinctive Inka flared-rim jars commonly called aríbalos were by far the most common of the Inka types. Almost 70 percent of these fragments could be accurately identified as jars for serving liquids, while nearly 30 percent were from plates or other similar open vessels. The high frequency of aríbalos can be associated with the serving of chicha in the different types of ceremonies and acts of hospitality (Bray

2004). However, the striking abundance of these vessels found in the Discard Zone is directly linked to mass festivals, a form of hospitality but on a much larger scale than any other type of meeting. Sites of Large-Scale Chicha Production

As I have shown, studies of the numbers and circulation of some types of ceramics provide data on festivals. However, the strongest evidence is found elsewhere, at several locations with notable assemblages of mortars pecked into big blocks of stone. I have studied 24 multiple mortar groups within a radius of 3 km around El Shincal. Carbon-dating and contextual analysis of the associated archaeological materials suggest that they were constructed and used at the time of the Inka (Giovannetti 2015). These mortars are homogeneous in their morphology and types of depressions, although the number of depressions per block varies—some had more than 60, while others had no more than 15 (figure 8.10). These mortar blocks were related to the festivals held at El Shincal, specifically the consumption of

large quantities of chicha. The excavation of contexts very close to two of the most striking assemblages revealed spaces for the production of various kinds of chicha. The presence of hearths with abundant carbonized botanical macroremains and sherds (most with signs of exposure to fire) enabled me to recognize several steps involved in producing chicha. Briefly, the ground waste of fruits and seeds found in these cooking contexts suggests that the mortar assemblages were centers of beer production (for details, see Giovannetti 2015, 2017). The mortars were found not in the area of storehouses but close to natural or artificial watercourses, as large amounts of water are needed for large-scale production. These contexts of chicha manufacture also contain remains of pots, including fragments of aríbalos probably used to ferment, transport, and serve the beverage. The potential magnitude of chicha production is apparent when we consider that this number of blocks with a random arrangement of mortar depressions is uncommon. Considering the characteristics of the mortars (size, number,

Figure 8.9 (Plate 12). Fragments of Inka vessels from the Discard Zone.

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Figure 8.10. Examples of large stones with mortars from different locations at El Shincal.

emplacement), I have calculated that up to 170 people could have worked at the same time (Giovannetti 2017). Alcoholic beverages made from maize and algarrobo were produced to meet the demand for the events at El Shincal. There are no traces of living quarters close to the mortars, so I can say that chicha was only produced for the needs of festivals and celebrations under a process of work that would fit the Inka tribute system described by Murra (1978) as rotating service (mit’a). The types of beverage consumed in the Inka period have been identified from the direct evidence of plant remains. The sample consists of fragments of algarrobo pods, remains of maize kernels, and chañar and molle (Schinus molle) fruits, although the first two elements make up the majority of the volume. This is hardly surprising: maize chicha is one of the most widely found drinks throughout the Andes, whereas aloja made of 158

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algarrobo has had a strong regional association with northwestern Argentina since prehispanic times. Both drinks played a very important role in maintaining the prestige of local leaders both in the eyes of their own subjects and in negotiations with the Cuzco elite (Orgaz 2012). One other aspect of the types of beverage produced has interesting implications. We have recently been able to identify around 50 carbonized remains of Datura stramonium. This is a plant of the Solanaceae family (common name chamico) that contains a powerful hallucinogen. In high doses it is lethal, while in lower doses it produces intoxication, as reported by the chronicler Bernabé Cobo (in Elferink 2008). Chamico contains tropane alkaloids like scopolamine and hyoscyamine, which provoke altered states of mind for periods up to several hours, depending on the amount consumed.

Microcosmos, Macrocosmos, and Inka Festivals

The purpose of this detailed discussion of empirical referents at the El Shincal site is to underline fundamental aspects of Inka religiosity and ceremonialism. Although they are here manifested locally in a provincial space, they remain strongly anchored in the original worldview of Cuzco, perhaps acting as a pillar holding up the framework of what Tawantinsuyu signified. I do not believe that Inka spirituality played an instrumental role of ideological dominion solely for the purpose of conquering, subduing, and controlling subject populations. The resignification of space through forced imposition of foreign architectures in isolated sites of local populations must have played a fundamental role in reconfiguring identities and power relations (Acuto and Gifford 2007; Acuto, Alconini, Pavlovic et al., and Salazar et al., this volume). But in my opinion the installation and evolution of Tawantinsuyu constituted a much more complex phenomenon. We must understand its ontological realities before we can attempt a precise approach to its own logics. Perhaps this is the spectrum of meanings that we must understand when we think of the Andean wak’as and their enormous influence on people’s lives (Bray 2015). El Shincal suggests at least three angles from which to approach these meanings. First, I would like to explore the idea proposed by Arnold et al. (2014) that the Andean worldview appears to be manifested in architecture (in its most basic form as the house) and linked to Allen’s (2016) ideas of distributed personhood and fractal persons (see also Wachtel 2001). Christie (2016) has argued that spatial patterns of Inka settlements beyond the heartland followed those of Cuzco, including the division into four parts, siq’i lines, and the use of particular kinds of buildings. The spatial arrangement of El Shincal follows such a cosmological layout, in which landscape and architecture are coordinated. The usnu, for example, harmonically centered the space linking architectural, topographical, and astronomical components, like a plane of the microcosmos reflecting elements of the macrocosmos in which it is contained. The usnu is the center of an arrangement of hills that were not constructed artificially but perceived by eyes that looked for cardinal regularities and a special division of space into four parts. These four hills located at the four cardinal points were “dressed” by the Inka with constructions such as

walls, enclosures, and carvings on prominent rocks. But they did not alter preexisting structures, as at Loma Larga. The bases of the ruins of old buildings dating back at least 500 years before Inka rule were respected. The Inka room and libation basin were built on a sector with no other constructions. Following Dean (2015), I interpret this decision as an attempt to appropriate the old wak’a, to assimilate its power as a being that could reclaim its right of preexistence even if the Inka imposed their sovereignty over it. Similar appropriation processes have been recognized in other sites in Argentina (Ratto and Orgaz 2009). Second, ritual practice may be perceived in most of the spaces at El Shincal. Many complexes (such as C9 and C20) can be interpreted primarily as habitations, although they have specific spaces reserved for ritual use such as the libation basins or the special rocks in enclosures. However, others (such as C17 and C19) appear to have been erected exclusively for holding rituals and ceremonies. This idea is clearly supported by the usnu or the Aterrazado hills. Even recognizing the possibility of everyday life being carried on in some of the enclosures, it is surprising to find that the alignment of walls and enclosures in general is identified with cosmological ideas of the sacredness of space. This is clearer in the Cerro Aterrazado Occidental and its astronomical alignment marking particular dates of the Inka ritual calendar, such as Inti Raymi and the passage of the sun through the zenith at Cuzco, even though the relevant astronomical phenomena were not visible locally. Festivals occurred on these dates in a large part of Tawantinsuyu, transferring Inka religiosity to many provinces. El Shincal’s participation is evident from the architectural and astronomical evidence already presented. This should not be read as a simple form of ideological imposition to achieve greater power and control over the local people. Nor is it simply a pursuit of hegemonic reality that disdains the perspectives of subjects. The third and last line of analysis is devoted to festivals. I have presented evidence for the imposing apparatus for preparing festivals at El Shincal, especially the large-scale production of alcoholic beverages. As Dietler (2005) notes, alcohol was the most widely used psychotic substance in rites, ceremonies, political events, and social gatherings of all kinds in the past. It acted as a catalyst, producing direct effects on the participants’ bodies. Cummins The Inka Construction of Space in the South

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(2002) highlights the political and ideological aspects of festivals in Cuzco during the Inka period. In a context of abundant food and especially chicha, the power emanating from the sovereign— represented in the figure of the Inka, as protector and organizer, generous and omnipresent—is openly or symbolically demonstrated in the various festivals, such as the sit’uwa (citua, situa) ceremony at Cuzco. The provinces took part through their emissaries, generally higher-ranking elites. Gifts signifying the renewal of alliances and fidelity and objects charged with symbolism expressing the magical-religious power emanating from Cuzco show the complex system of links that bound the conquerors to their subject peoples. Cummins (2002) argues that Tawantinsuyu was constructed not solely through relations of coercion but more generally through links expressed with glowing enthusiasm in the effervescence of the festival. I believe that all this is applicable to the festive events of El Shincal. But I would add that heavy reliance on a ceremonial apparatus—with the transformation of spaces to produce communication with powerful nonhuman entities—also incorporated mass festivals. I refer to an expression used by Axel Nielsen (quoted in Varsavsky 2017) about one of the most important Andean peregrinations of northwestern Argentina, Cabra Corral in Jujuy. He commented that the ritual behavior of Andean people has always been linked to the celebration of life not bound by the rigidity and solemnity of the Judeo-Christian tradition. To this I would add that the festivals were obligatory for local leaders, who were expected to show their commitment by coordinating and financing them as agents of the state. It was a commitment in the name of reciprocity, in which the communities were repaid for their work. But it was also a commitment to reciprocity with the nonhuman entities that made life possible or intervened in human destinies. Alcohol was never spared in these festivals, and drunkenness was not considered shameful. Arnold et al. (2014) found that it is essential to get drunk at community festivals in Bolivia today to avoid breaking the rules of good conduct. A whole set of paraphernalia was made available for the consumption of alcohol in the Inka Period, and the production and distribution of qiru beakers was a matter of state policy (Cummins 2002; Martínez C., this volume). I maintain that the large quantities of alcohol made in the mortars and served in the Inka 160

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aríbalos at El Shincal were intended to produce total alteration of the senses through drunkenness. I also believe that at certain moments, access to alcohol and drugs was permitted to large numbers of people. I return to the finding of chamico, a powerful hallucinogenic used to produce a state of intoxication, according to the chronicles. As noted, it was found in contexts of chicha production for mass consumption, not in restricted spaces. This opens paths of reflection in which we can rethink the role and scope of strong drugs in prehispanic life, a phenomenon generally associated with exclusive or specialized contexts. Conclusions

There is a large body of accumulated material about the structuring of Andean space: its complementary nature, hierarchization, and opposition. In this presentation on El Shincal, I have tried to show how it was possible to recognize the structuring of space using archaeological investigation of concrete, highly visible referents linking human and nonhuman beings. The blocks of rock, the orientation of buildings and alignment of rocks with the sun, the springs, the hollows in the ground, and the hills compose the Inka evidence at El Shincal for this world of human interaction with the power of other beings. The description in each section of this chapter is intended not as a tedious list but as a dialectic movement between a theoretical proposal and an ineludible empirical base. The sacredness of Andean space, mentioned so often by anthropologists and archaeologists writing about the Andean worldview, is evident. This perspective fits very well with part of the discourse proposed by the “ontological turn.” This allows us to stand at the frontier, as Haber (2012) says, and switch our focus away from the preestablished models on which archaeologists of the Andean world—and many other archaeological domains—have punctiliously focused for so long. It is this that gives force to models such as that proposed by Philippe Descola. In other words, the scientific approach enables us to construct just one of many possible ways of producing knowledge about the world, which has no more legitimacy or power of truth than the rest.

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Dillehay, Tom 2003 El colonialismo Inka, el consumo de chicha y los festines desde una perspectiva de banquetes políticos. Boletín de Arqueología PUPC 7:355–363. di Salvia, Daniela 2013 La Pachamama en la época incaica y post-incaica: Una visión andina a partir de las crónicas peruanas coloniales (siglos XVI y XVII). Revista Española de Antropología Americana 43(1):89–110. Elferink, Jan 2008 Ethnobotany of the Incas. In Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology and Medicine in NonWestern Cultures, edited by Helaine Selin, pp. 840– 848. Springer, Dordrecht, Germany. Farrington, Ian 1999 El Shincal: Un Cusco del Kollasuyu. In Actas del XII Congreso Nacional de Arqueología Argentina, vol. 1, edited by Cristina Diez Marín, pp. 53–62. Editorial de la Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina. Giovannetti, Marco 2015 Agricultura, regadío y molienda en una capital inkaica: Los sitios El Shincal y Los Colorados, noroeste argentino. BAR S2702, South American Archaeology Series No. 22, Archaeopress, Oxford, UK. 2016 Fiestas y ritos Inka en El Shincal de Quimivil. Editorial Punto de Encuentro, Buenos Aires. 2017 Morteros múltiples, oquedades rituales y fiestas inkaicas: La molienda a gran escala de El Shincal de Quimivil. In Actualizaciones en el estudio de piedras tacitas: Nuevas perspectivas, edited by Carolina Belmar, Lino Contreras, and Omar Reyes, pp. 117–149. Serie Monográfica VI. Sociedad Chilena de Arqueología, Santiago. 2018 La espacialidad ritual andina a través de enfoques etnográficos y arqueológicos: Confluencias cosmogónicas en la constitución de espacios sagrados entre El Shincal de Quimivil y ceremonias actuales de origen cusqueño. Comechingonia 22(1):295–338. Göbel, Bárbara 2000–2002  Identidades sociales y medio ambiente: La multiplicidad de los significados del espacio en la Puna de Atacama. Cuadernos del Instituto Nacional de Antropología y Pensamiento Latinoamericano 19:267–296. Haber, Alejandro 2012 Tiempo de carnaval: Colonialidad de la arqueología y semiopraxis de la serpiente. Complutum 23(2): 117–126. Jennings, Justin, and Brenda Bowser 2008 Drink, Power, and Society in the Andes: An Introduction. In Drink, Power, and Society in the Andes, edited by Justin Jennings and Brenda Bowser, pp. 1–27. University Press of Florida, Gainesville. Jennings, Justin, and Guy Duke 2018 Making the Typical Exceptional: The Elevation of Inca Cuisine. In The Oxford Handbook of the Incas,

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edited by Sonia Alconini and Alan Covey, pp. 303– 321. Oxford University Press. Latour, Bruno 1993 We Have Never Been Modern. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. López, Gabriel, and Federico Coloca 2019 Prácticas rituales incas en el noroeste argentino: Hallazgo de un monolito en una estructura ceremonial en Cueva Inca Viejo, Puna de Salta, Argentina. Relaciones de la Sociedad Argentina de Antropología 44(1):179–186. Lynch, Julieta, Marco Giovannetti, and María Páez 2013 Ushnus of the Inca Provincial Region: An Analysis of Two Ceremonial Platforms from Inca Sites in Catamarca (Argentina). Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 32:97–108. Mannheim, Bruce, and Guillermo Salas Carreño 2015 Wak’as: Entifications of the Andean Sacred. In The Archaeology of Wak’as, edited by Tamara Bray, pp. 47–72. University Press of Colorado, Boulder. Meddens, Frank 2015 Hermanos, montañas y plataformas: Control incaico del paisaje andino. In Concepto de lo sagrado en el mundo andino antiguo: Espacios y elementos panregionales, edited by Alden Yépez, Viviana Muscovich, and César Astahuamán, pp. 258–286. Centro de Publicaciones, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Quito. Moore, Jerry 1996 The Archaeology of Plazas and the Proxemics of Ritual: Three Andean Traditions. American Anthropologist 98(4):789–802. Moralejo, Arnaldo 2013 La Piedra Hincada de El Shincal de Quimivil. Comechingonia 17(2):295–301. Morris, Craig, and Donald Thompson 1985 Huánuco Pampa: An Inca City and Its Hinterland. Thames and Hudson, New York. Murra, John 1978 La organización económica del estado Inca. Siglo XXI Editores, Mexico City. Orgaz, Martín 2012 Chicha y aloja: Inkas y autoridades locales en el sector meridional del Valle de Yocavil–Catamarca–Argentina. Second section of the Prohal Monográfico, vol. 2, no. 2. Surandino Monográfico, Buenos Aires. Orgaz, Martín, Norma Ratto, and Anabel Feely 2007 La cerámica como expresión de los aspectos sociopolíticos, económicos y rituales de la ocupación Inka de los valles de Chaschuil y el Valle de Fiambalá. In Procesos sociales prehispánicos en el sur andino, edited by Axel Nielsen, Clara Rivolta, Verónica Seldes, María Vásquez, and Pablo Mercolli, pp. 237–257. Editorial Brujas, Córdoba, Argentina.

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Pease, Franklin 2000 Los Incas. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima. Pino Matos, José 2004 Observatorios y alineamientos astronómicos en el Tampu Inka de Huánuco Pampa. Arqueología y Sociedad 15:173–190. 2010 Yllapa usno: Rituales de libación, culto a ancestros y la idea del ushnu en los Andes según los documentos coloniales de los siglos XVI–XVII. Revista Arqueología y Sociedad 21:77–108. Raffino, Rodolfo 1981 Los Inkas del Kollasuyu. Ramos Americana Editora, La Plata, Argentina. 2004 El Shincal de Quimivil. Editorial Sarquís, San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca, Argentina. Raffino, Rodolfo, Diego Gobbo, Rolando Vázquez, Aylén Capparelli, Victoria Montes Darío Iturriza, Cecilia Deschamps, and Marcelo Mannasero 1997 El ushnu de El Shincal de Quimivil. Tawantinsuyu 3:22–39. Ratto, Norma, and Martín Orgaz 2009 Poder, control y volcanes: El Estado Inca en el volcán Incahuasi. In Entrelazando ciencias: Sociedad y ambiente antes de la conquista española, edited by Norma Ratto, pp. 157–175. Eudeba Editores, Buenos Aires. Rosing, Ina 2003 Religión, ritual y vida cotidiana en los Andes: Los diez géneros de Amarete. Editorial Iberoamericana, Madrid. Sánchez Garrafa, Rodolfo 2014 Apus de los cuatro suyus. Instituto de Estudios Peruanos y Centro Bartolomé de las Casas, Lima. Stehberg, Rubén 2016 Plataforma ceremonial ushnu Inca de Chena, Valle del Maipo, Chile. Chungara 48(4):557–588. Troncoso, Andrés, Diego Salazar, César Parcero-Oubiña, Frances Hayashida, Pastor Fábrega Álvarez, and Pablo Larach 2019 Maquetas incaicas en Chiu-Chiu: Paisaje y ritualidad agraria en el Desierto de Atacama. Estudios Atacameñas 63:3–23. Van Kessel, Juan 1996 Los Aymaras contemporáneos de Chile. In Etnografía: Sociedades indígenas contemporáneas y su ideología, pp. 169–187. Editorial Andrés Bello, Santiago de Chile. Varsavsky, Julián 2017 La Virgen y la Pachamama. Página 12 (Buenos Aires) (April 2): https://www.pagina12.com.ar/29243-la -virgen-y-la-pachamama. Vilca, Mario 2010 Piedras que hablan, gente que escucha: La experiencia del espacio andino como un “otro” que interpela, una reflexión filosófica. In Biografías de paisajes y seres: Visiones desde la arqueología sudamericana, edited by

Darío Hermo and Laura Miotti, pp. 67–74. Grupo Editor Encuentro and Facultad de Humanidades de Catamarca, San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca. Argentina. Viveiro de Castro, Eduardo 2013 La mirada del jaguar. Tinta Limón Ediciones, Buenos Aires. Wachtel, Nathan 2001 El regreso de los antepasados: Los indios urus de Bolivia, del siglo XX al XVI. Colegio de México y Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico City. Zuidema, Tom 2010 El calendario Inca: Tiempo y espacio en la organización ritual del Cuzco, la idea del pasado. Fondo Editorial del Congreso del Perú/Fondo Editorial de la PUCP, Lima.

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Chapter 9

Rituals and Interactional Dynamics Segmented Societies and Tawantinsuyu in Southern Qullasuyu Daniel Pavlovic, Rodrigo Sánchez, Daniel Pascual, and Andrea Martínez

In order to contribute to current understandings of the organization and functioning of Tawantinsuyu, we characterize the interactional dynamics between local populations and the Inka in the Aconcagua Valley (Central Chile) by examining the results of a regional study that included the investigation of local sites and Inka-affiliated sites. Given that the Inka would have had to pursue their objectives in the zone in a local sociopolitical context of decentralization without consolidated elites, we propose that the Inka representatives had to seek out or create instances that would allow them to establish relations with members of many different family units living in the zone. Using traditional Andean forms of hospitalityreciprocity and local practices of negotiation and collective agreements as a foundation, the local populations were invited to regular widely attended banquets, festivities, and ceremonies, thereby enabling the representatives of Tawantinsuyu to create and reinforce relations and agreements with local groups. Comparing these results with those recorded for other parts of Qullasuyu and elsewhere in the Inka Empire could contribute not only to current understandings of the relationship among these entities but also to the understanding of its initial stages in different regions, both of which are complex processes that are difficult to reconstruct from the archaeological record. There is broad consensus today that the relational dynamics between representatives of Tawantinsuyu and local communities were diverse, significantly influenced by the sociopolitical contexts of different regions and the degree of agency and negotiating power of native populations (Hayashida 2013; Llagostera 1976; Malpass and Alconini 2010; Siiriäinnen and Pärssinen 2001; Williams and D’Altroy 1998). Within this framework, different types of ritual and political commensalism events would have been central. On the one hand, this conclusion is 165

Figure 9.1. Map of the upper Aconcagua River basin showing the main watercourses, contour lines, sub-

basins, present-day localities, and archaeological sites mentioned in the text.

the result of anthropological analyses of the role of festivities, banquets, and receptions in the sociopolitical structures and dynamics and the archaeological identification and study of them (Dietler and Herbich 2001; Giovanetti et al. 2013; Kaulicke 2005). On the other hand, it is based on the ethnohistoric study of the economic and sociopolitical importance that the Andean cultural tradition has had and still has in the region (Farrington 1998; Gose 1993; Rostworoski 1999). One emblematic case is the reevaluation of Huánuco Pampa (Morris and Thompson 1985) as a nonpermanent space of Inka-sponsored social congregation oriented to ritual events, especially festivities and the consumption of fermented corn chicha (beer). One of the central mechanisms through which the Inka maintained their authority was a calendar of festivities that entrenched their power as mediators and regulators of the living, the ancestors, and the deities (Dillehay 2003; Kaulicke 2005; Morris 1998). Although most of the information on those dynamics refers to zones in the Central Andes, there is clear evidence that these festivities occurred throughout Tawantinsuyu, including the southern part, Qullasuyu (Acuto 1999; Giovanetti et al. 2013; Martínez 2011; Uribe 2000; Williams and D’Altroy 1998). 166

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Based on data obtained in a regional study, in this chapter we address the central place of collective ritual activities in the interaction between Tawantinsuyu and local populations in a valley situated in the far south of Qullasuyu, the Aconcagua (33° latitude S). In this zone, these events were held preferentially in architectural sites situated on the summits of mountains close to the valley plain and visually connected with summits of greater or lesser altitudes considered sacred by the Inka, in this case most notably Mount Aconcagua (figure 9.1). Given the decentralized sociopolitical situation and the low inequality among social units—no elites with whom the Inka could forge permanent political alliances—these sites would have been used by the representatives of Tawantinsuyu to hold widely attended events that included the many autonomous family units living in the area. Thus the Inka took into account traditional Andean forms of hospitality and reciprocity and local practices of negotiation and collective agreement, translating these into ceremonies with multiple meanings.

The Aconcagua Valley: Geography and PreTawantinsuyu Stage

The Aconcagua River basin (12,200 km2) runs east to west and originates in the high ranges of the Andes, most notably Mount Aconcagua (6,959 masl). The river flows 150 km from the mountains to the Pacific Ocean, watering several sub-basins and valleys flanked on the north and south by mountain chains of medium altitude, including the Putaendo Valley (figure 9.1). The Aconcagua Valley has a Mediterranean climate with two well-defined seasons, one long and dry (September to April) and the other short and rainy (May to August). This, combined with the pluvial-nival regime of its tributaries, produces mesomorphic ecosystems characterized by spiny scrub and sclerophyllous arborescent vegetation formations as well as a wide variety of endemic fauna (Quintanilla 1983). In the period before to the Inka presence (the Late Intermediate period, AD 1000–1450), the inhabitants of this zone had a dispersed settlement pattern, inhabiting the plains or gentler slopes of the valleys with sedentary segmented communities with low levels of inequality and autarchic domestic units. Their subsistence was based on intensive cultivation, hunting and gathering, and the incipient herding of camelids for meat and wool (Falabella et al. 2016; Farga 1995; Pavlovic, Troncoso, et al. 2008). Despite their autonomy, these many domestic units would have interacted with each other and come together regularly for social events held in monumental funerary spaces such as mound cemeteries and rock art sites, generally situated beyond the low-lying areas occupied for domestic activities (Sánchez 2000, 2004; Troncoso 2004). Analysis of differences in ceramic traditions, rock art, and burial practices has led to the hypothesis that pre-Inka times were characterized by cultural heterogeneity, with at least two cultural traditions: one occupying the Aconcagua Valley, related to the groups of the culture of the same name (Aconcagua), and the other identified in the Putaendo Valley, with particular characteristics and linked to communities settled in valleys located to the north (Falabella et al. 2016; Pavlovic, Sánchez, et al. 2006).

The Inka Presence in the Aconcagua Valley Local Population

Local domestic and funerary patterns displayed few modifications during the Inka presence. The bulk of residential sites and some of the mound cemeteries on mountain hillsides and funerary spaces on riverside terraces continued to be occupied in the same way (Pavlovic, Troncoso, et al. 2010). Subsistence patterns also display strong continuity, as reflected in site contexts (stone working and crushing), in plant species (archaeobotanical records), and in the isotope analyses conducted, which indicate a mixed diet favoring the consumption of wild and domesticated plants (Pavlovic, Pascual, et al. 2013; Pavlovic, Sánchez, et al. 2013; Pavlovic, Troncoso, et al. 2008). Nevertheless, we can glimpse transformations in certain evidence, including the presence of foreign raw stone material such as obsidian (Glascock et al. 2010), local ceramics with foreign decorative elements, and the presence and/or evidence of the production of Inka-style ceramics and metallurgical objects at some sites (Martínez 2011; Pascual 2015; Plaza and Martinón-Torres 2015). New mortuary spaces emerged in funerary practices in the lowlands, apparently without the use of mounds and with more ceramics among the grave goods, predominantly in the Inka and local-Inka styles (Durán and Coros 1991; Pavlovic, Troncoso, and Sánchez 2010). Motifs, techniques, and placement were also transformed in the local rock art tradition (Troncoso 2004), not only in zones where that tradition has been identified for pre-Inka periods (Putaendo Valley), but also in areas where this type of expression was previously absent. In the middle reaches of the Aconcagua, blocks with petroglyphs are found in spaces with a direct line of sight to the summit of Mount Aconcagua (Pavlovic, Pascual, et al. 2013; Pavlovic, Sánchez, et al. 2013). Inka Sites in the Aconcagua Valley

These sites are unique in the region in terms of their context, placement, and characteristics and include sections of the Inka road network and its associated architectural sites as well as architectural complexes situated on the summits and slopes of mountains near the valley (Acuto et al. 2010; Rituals and Interactional Dynamics

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Letelier 2010; Martínez 2011; Pascual 2015; Pavlovic, Pascual, et al. 2013; Pavlovic and Rosende 2010; Pavlovic, Sánchez, et al. 2013; Pavlovic, Troncoso, and Sánchez 2010; Pavlovic, Troncoso, et al. 2012; Rodríguez et al. 1993; Sanguinetti 1975; Stehberg 1995; Troncoso et al. 2012) (figure 9.1).

Inka Road Network The road segments consist essentially of simple trails that cut across interfluvial zones, including the mountains flanking the valley (Garceau et al. 2010) as well as foothill zones (Pavlovic, Troncoso, et al. 2012). These connected the Aconcagua River with trans-Andean zones and with valleys farther north and south. Only some segments have been cleared to a width of 1 to 3 m, with rocks lining one or both sides and with retaining walls, all aspects of the Inka pattern. These features, coupled with the fact that the segments that display a greater investment in labor are situated near the flatter parts of the valley, point to widely recognized Inka roadway patterns (Hyslop 2014). Two sites with Inka architecture associated with these segments of road have been identified to date: Ojos de Agua (Garceau et al. 2010) and El Tigre (Pavlovic, Troncoso, et al. 2012). Although both were interpreted as tampus (way stations), they were most likely multifunctional sites (logistical and ritual at the same time) and display evidence of practices incorporating beliefs and ceremonies of Cuzco origin. In fact, El Tigre was part of a ritual complex of sites associated with the sacralization of Cerro Orolonco (2,333 masl), the most important summit in the Putaendo Valley, which is in direct visual contact with Mount Aconcagua, the highest Andean peak and a major Inka wak’a with a qhapaq hucha human sacrifice in the region (Schobinger 1985). These included a road network, orthogonal architecture of the tampu on the slope of El Tigre, and rock art blocks on the summit of Orolonco, situated in a mountain chain that defined the boundary between zones of distribution of the two local cultural traditions identified for the period before the Inka presence in the upper Aconcagua River basin (Falabella et al. 2016; Pavlovic, Sánchez, et al. 2006). The place-name “El Tigre,” the proposed Quechua origin of “Orolonco” (Otorongo or Uturunku: the mottled feline) (Strube 1959), and the motifs found in the rock art at the mountain’s summit (which may metaphorically represent the 168

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animal’s skin) seem to confirm the symbolic association of this mountain with the jaguar and its mediating role (Pavlovic, Troncoso, et al. 2012). The use of these kinds of “frontier” spaces among different local groups has been recognized as one of the Inka strategies in interactions with local communities; in effect, they positioned themselves as mediators who were above local differences and occupied the liminal spaces between different realities that corresponded to sacred zones in the Andes (Acuto, this volume; Perales 2004).

Architectural Complexes on Mountain Summits A series of architectural complexes was built during the Inka stage, distributed in the different subbasins of the Aconcagua Valley, always on the summits of easily recognized mountains (figure 9.1). Interpreted originally as forts (Pavlovic, Troncoso, et al. 2004; Sanguinetti 1975; Stehberg 1995) or as administrative and productive sites (Rodríguez et al. 1993), today they are all considered spaces fundamentally oriented to ritual activities in which local groups and representatives of Tawantinsuyu participated (Pavlovic, Pascual, et al. 2013; Troncoso et al. 2012). The features of the three sites for which in-depth studies have been conducted are outlined in the following discussion. The El Tártaro Architectural Complex (Complejo Arqueológico el Tártaro, CAET) is situated on the summit of Cerro El Castillo near the Putaendo Valley at 1,250 masl and 200 m above the fluvial terraces. It has a commanding view of much of the valley, the Andes Mountains, and Cerro Orolonco, which was sacralized by the Inka, as noted (figure 9.2) (Pavlovic, Troncoso et al. 2012). Covering an area of approximately 17,000 m2, this site corresponds to a planned architectural complex consisting of 25 structures grouped into three sectors with two perimeter walls. An exterior wall circles the entire summit and surrounds the entire site, while an interior wall surrounds the highest part of the site, where the structures grouped into sector 1 are situated. That sector is the area of greatest hierarchy within the site’s spatial layout, with restricted access, enclosures oriented archaeoastronomically (to the moon), and a series of structures that surround a plaza of 300 m2 (figure 9.3) (Albán 2015; Letelier 2010; Pavlovic, Troncoso, et al. 2004; Sánchez 2004). The perimeter walls and structures contained in sectors 1 and 2 present double-faced walls of lightly worked stone,

Figure 9.2. Panoramic photo from the El Tártaro site of the middle Putaendo Valley.

while sector 3 includes a total of 13 circular and subcircular enclosures defined by simple, worked stone walls that might have been the foundations of mudbrick qullqas (figure 9.4) (Albán 2015; Letelier 2010). The material recovered is not what would be expected of a permanent domestic occupational site and instead points to limited but intensive collective events that involved the consumption of food prepared outside of the site and the likely intentional breaking and discarding of artifacts. The first thing noticeable about the artifact assemblage is the frequency of decorated ceramics: 46.8 percent of the total assemblage (table 9.1). This is much higher than for habitational sites in the valley, where decorated pieces do not exceed 10 percent of the total. This assemblage includes sherds attributable to Inka styles (local-Inka, mixed-Inka, and possibly Paya-Inka) as well as those from local ceramic traditions (Putaendo Red on White type) and those from communities inhabiting nearby valleys (Diaguita).1 In regard to the pieces in the Inka style, formal categories identified include serving dishes (low-walled plates), aríbalos, and small qirus. A complete specimen of a cup was found (apparently as an offering) in sector 1 of the site. This piece is unique in the Aconcagua Valley and

is one of the few qirus recorded in Central Chile as a whole, including three ceramic qirus and one wooden one identified in the Maipo River valley (figure 9.5; plate 13) (Pascual et al. 2018). It is important to note that local decorative ceramics at the El Tártaro site are primarily restricted vessels like pitchers and pots. That is the exact opposite of what is found at habitational sites, in which decorated vessels are primarily open (serving dishes). Instead, the highly visible serving dishes are Inka in style (extremely rare at local sites), emphasizing the role of the state as the provider of food and drink. The less visible vessels used to transport and prepare food remain in local styles. For its part, the stone assemblage consists of just 20 artifacts that point in a very fragmented way to the chaîne opératoire in evidence at nearby habitational sites. Most are finished pieces (projectile points), with scant waste from knapping. These characteristics indicate that the flaked stone artifacts arrived at the site in their finished or almost finished form. At the same time, instruments associated with everyday activities (such as knives, scrapers, chisels, and sharpeners as well as other items related to manufacture, including cores and percussive tools) were also absent. Mortar bases and Rituals and Interactional Dynamics

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Figure 9.3. Topographic plan of the El Tártaro site.

fragments of artifacts made of raw materials that occur rarely or not at all in the zone were found, however (a stone bowl with reticulated incisions, stone antaras [panpipes], and copper-ore beads). A set of 14C dates and seven thermoluminescence dates clearly situate the site during the period of Inka presence in the zone (table 9.2). The El Tártaro site is associated with other expressions from the same period, such as rock art (engravings) on blocks found on the slopes of the same mountain and in neighboring zones as well as local habitational sites, most notably the Tártaro 170

D. Pavlovic, R. Sánchez, D. Pascual, and A. Martínez

20 site. This site was linked to CAET based on its proximity, the presence of Inka-style ceramics, the evidence of a potential ceramic production area, and the presence of ceramic sherds from large vessels, which were unusual in local contexts and could have been associated with food and beverage storage on a larger scale than seen in local pre-Inka contexts (Albán 2015; Pavlovic, Pascual, et al. 2013). Sections of Inka roadways found near the site were corroborated archaeologically and ethnohistorically. They connected CAET with zones to the northwest and with the Inka site of El Tigre, some 13 km

Table 9.1. Relative percentages of ceramic types found at Inka architectural complexes in the Aconcagua Valley Percentages of types by site Ceramic Types

Mercachas (n = 183)

CAET (n = 1,262)

Total

La Cruz (n = 2,553)

n

%

Inka or nonlocal decorated Local-Inka

54.1

2.3

8.1 –

6.4

255

0.05

2

Inka–La Paya

–

0.2

Diaguita

–

1.0

0.3

0.5

20

Local Culture Aconcagua (Local) types

–

0.6

4.1

2.8

112

New Inka-period local styles

–

6.3

2.7

3.7

149

Local decorated

Indeterminate decorated (Inka, nonlocal, or local decorated) Red Slipped

–

32.4

15.3

19.9

799

Bichrome/polychrome indeterminate

–

4.0

3.0

3.1

127

Total decorated

54.1

46.8

33.5

36.5

1,464

Total undecorated

45.9

53.2

66.5

63.5

2,534

Total

100%

100%

100%

100%

3,998

southeast (Contreras 2000; Pavlovic, Troncoso, et al. 2012). All this indicates that the site was the setting for collective ceremonial events in which participants (including members of permanent communities located in the nearby valleys) consumed food and intentionally disposed of artifacts. It is quite possible that the most important and most well-attended events were held in sector 1 and its plaza. This sector may have played a leading role in the general operation of the site and been the focal point from which the site’s other enclosures and activities were planned, organized, and arranged. In that context, the presence of the qiru and other nonlocal vessels could indicate activities in which an indeterminate number of individuals shared food and drink— probably chicha, as indicated by the presence of corn starch, quinoa, and algarrobo pods inside the cup itself (Albán 2015; Pascual et al. 2018). Thus it can be argued that the El Tártaro site was the central focal point of the Inka occupation of the Putaendo Valley and one of the most significant sites in the entire Aconcagua River basin and

Central Chile (Albán 2015; Letelier 2010; Pavlovic, Troncoso, et al. 2004; Sánchez 2004). Cerro Mercachas is situated on a mountain whose summit stands at approximately 1,600 masl and 700 m above the Aconcagua Valley in the Andean foothills. The broad, flat summit of Mercachas rises well above the lowlands, making it a major geographic landmark (figure 9.6) (Sanguinetti 1975; Troncoso et al. 2012). The summit also offers a commanding view of the valley and the Andes, including Mount Aconcagua. The Mercachas site has a perimeter wall that completely encircles the broad, flat summit (120,000 m2), with more than 43 structures of varying sizes and layouts inside. Most were made by simply piling rocks together without mortar and are so small that they could have accommodated only one or two individuals inside. Others cover an area of more than 150 m2 (E1: 247 m2 and E2: 165 m2), with layouts and building techniques more similar to Inka architectural typologies, including double-faced walls with two to four courses of stones. One of the three other walls is Rituals and Interactional Dynamics

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Table 9.2. Absolute dates obtained for Inka architectural complexes in the Aconcagua Valley Lab Code

Site

Material

C age years BP

UGAMS 8274

CAET

wood charcoal

360 +/– 25

UGAMS 8283

CAET

wood charcoal

440 +/– 25

1443 (81.8%) 1505

1590 (13.6%) 1616

UGAMS 5530

El Tigre

wood charcoal

310 +/– 30

1502 (51.4%) 1594

1613 (44.0%) 1668 1611 (23.3%) 1648

14

Calibrated age ranges AD1

Source

1487 (95.4%) 1639

Pavlovic, Sánchez, et al. 2013

UGAMS 5980

El Tigre

camelid bone

340 +/– 25

1500 (72.1%) 1598

UGAMS 5981

El Tigre

camelid bone

370 +/– 30

1465 (0.9%) 1468

1477 (94.5%) 1636

UGAMS 5983

El Tigre

camelid bone

440 +/– 25

1445 (81.8%) 1505

1590 (13.6%) 1616

BETA 261194

La Cruz

wood charcoal

500 +/– 40

1401 (95.4%) 1497

Martínez 2011

Lab Code

Site

Material

Thermoluminescence age years BP

Date AD (base year: AD 2000)

Source

UCTL 1249

CAET

pottery

600 +/– 50

1400 +/– 50

UCTL 1250

CAET

pottery

630 +/– 50

1370 +/– 50

UCTL 1251

CAET

pottery

420 +/– 40

1580 +/– 40

UCTL 1252

CAET

pottery

555 +/– 60

1445 +/– 60

UCTL 1253

CAET

pottery

640 +/– 60

1360 +/– 60

UCTL 1254

CAET

pottery

480 +/– 50

1520 +/– 50

UCTL 1255

CAET

pottery

500 +/– 40

1500 +/– 40

UCTL 1405

Mercachas

pottery

610 +/– 60

1390 +/– 60

UCTL 1406

Mercachas

pottery

525 +/– 50

1475 +/– 50

UCTL 1407

Mercachas

pottery

350 +/– 30

1650 +/– 30

UCTL 1994

La Cruz

pottery

560 +/– 50

1445 +/– 50

UCTL 1995

La Cruz

pottery

720 +/– 70

1285 +/– 70

Sánchez 2000

Pavlovic, Sánchez, et al. 2013 Martínez 2011

Note: BETA: Beta Analytic; UCTL: Laboratorio de Termoluminiscencia Universidad Católica de Chile; UGAMS: Center of Applied Isotope Studies, University of Georgia. 1. Calibrated with OXCAL 4.3 (Curve: ShCal 13).

26 m long, oriented almost exactly to the north (3° deviation), and contains small circular spaces free of stones in the interior. Both this wall and other enclosures at the site are astronomically oriented to the solstice (figures 9.7 and 9.8) (Troncoso et al. 2012). Also identified at the site were 13 blocks with rock art. Most of them have been attributed to the local Inka-stage style, with only a single block possibly from the previous period. That block includes 172

D. Pavlovic, R. Sánchez, D. Pascual, and A. Martínez

the only example of overlapping figures, in which Inka-era motifs were executed on top of earlier ones. One of the blocks is part of the wall of one of the largest structures at the site (E2). The material assemblage recovered from the site consists mainly of ceramic sherds, stone pieces, and some animal bone remains. The ceramics (table 9.1) represent a significant quantity of decorated sherds (54.1 percent of the total) corresponding entirely to Inka-style ceramics (primarily aríbalo jars and

Figure 9.4. Excavations and wall at the El Tártaro site.

serving dishes). The stone assemblage recovered includes only 27 pieces, most core flakes, although a single core and a triangular projectile point preform were also found. These characteristics indicate that the site was not inhabited permanently but was occupied during short-term events, possibly with food and beverages prepared elsewhere and brought to the site to be consumed during those events. The ceremonies held there may have been associated with smaller or more exclusive rituals related to the worship of the wak’a of Aconcagua and celebrations linked to the astronomical calendar (Troncoso et al. 2012). The three absolute dates obtained by thermoluminescence confirm that the site was in use during the Inka presence in the zone (table 9.2). A significant number of sites with evidence of occupation during the period of Inka presence have been identified in the area surrounding the mountain, such as mound cemeteries with local-Inka pieces (Santa Rosa, El Sauce) and pottery in local styles from the Inka period (Los Guindos). One possible social gathering site in the valley (El Castillo) contains Inka material and is associated with a hypothetical section of the Inka Road that connected the region with what is now the Argentinean

province of Mendoza (Pavlovic, Pascual, et al. 2013; Pavlovic, Sánchez, et al. 2013). The Cerro La Cruz site is situated on a spur of Cerro El Conejo (894 masl) with less prominent slopes. The mountain is part of the range that flanks this part of the valley on the north and visually dominates an extensive area of lowlands alongside the course of the Aconcagua River.

Figure 9.5 (Plate 13). Small ceramic qiru cup reconstructed

from pieces recovered during archaeological excavations at El Tártaro.

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Figure 9.6. Cerro Mercachas (flat-topped mountain), where the site of the same name is located, as seen

from the Aconcagua Valley.

Following the topography of the hill upon which it sits, the site has four sectors, all with poorly preserved structures with no facing or mortar. Sector 1, an upper level situated at 547 masl and 100 m above the valley plain, contains two small structures (27 m2 and 2 m2) and a perimeter wall linked to natural rock outcrops with openings that are probably astronomically oriented (to the solstice). It is important to note that this sector offers an unparalleled view of Mount Aconcagua, which is not visible from the lower parts of the site or from the valley bottom (figure 9.9). Sector 2 is situated on a slope that connects the upper plateau with a lower plateau where isolated walls form platforms and two small structures. Sector 3 corresponds to the flat summit of a hill delimited by a perimeter wall, consisting of an interior space or plaza of 3,900 m2, which may have functioned as the site’s main gathering space. It is situated at 487 masl and some 30 m above the valley floor (figure 9.10). Sector 4 is defined by the southern slope of the same hill and corresponds to the southern edge of the site. A perimeter wall encloses a smaller interior plaza or space than in sector 3, covering just 254 m2. 174

D. Pavlovic, R. Sánchez, D. Pascual, and A. Martínez

Excavations have enabled the differentiation of zones in terms of the density and variability of cultural materials. Extensive areas of the site present few cultural materials, owing to its functions, cleaning during its use, or postdepositional factors. Cultural materials of significant quantity and quality have been identified only in the interior space of sector 4 and near the perimeter walls surrounding sector 3 (Martínez 2011). The material recovered indicates that activities performed there included the preparation and consumption of food and drink and the disposal of objects and instruments that would have been highly valued for ritual activities. Nearly 34 percent of the ceramic assemblage (table 9.1) consists of vessels decorated in the Inka style (aríbalo jars, serving dishes, pots, and possible paqchas [pacchas], vessels with narrow channels or spouts used for ritual libations) or the local style. Other material includes diverse metallurgical pieces made mainly of copper and silver (such as chisels, bells, axes, earrings, and flakes: see Plaza and Martinón-Torres 2015), and a stone assemblage consisting primarily of manufactured pieces without any signs of usage (projectile points) as well as lapidary pieces (fragments

of stone flutes, necklace beads). Camelid bone remains, seashells, and the carbonized remains of quinoa and corn from fire pits were also recovered (figure 9.10) (Martinez 2011). The information recorded indicates that the site was spatially organized around the geomorphological features of the hill on which it sits, which includes two slopes and two flat areas occurring alternately as one ascends the hillside. The broad spaces delimited by walls and the large quantity of cultural materials found indicate that the lowest sectors (3 and 4) were used as social gathering spaces. The situation changes as one ascends, with the highest sector (sector 1) having the capacity to hold only a few individuals and containing small structures and few material remains. That sector also has a view of the lower interior spaces, the entire valley, and the surrounding Andean peaks, including Aconcagua. It has been proposed that this placement of sectors may have been associated with strategies of social control and possible differentiation based on the latitudinal orientation of the mountain, with a clear south-to-north axis extending from the lowest to the highest sectors of

the site and a consequent reduction in the number of people who would have had access to the activities in sectors 1 and 2 in the highest part of the site (Martínez 2011). Three absolute dates have been obtained for this site (two by thermoluminescence and one by 14C), which place its occupations during the period of Inka presence (table 9.2). Some contemporary sites have also been identified around Cerro La Cruz, such as local habitational settlements and funerary sites that continued to be used during the Inka Period and rock art sites with a view of Mount Aconcagua. The rock art sites are extremely interesting, given the scant evidence of such expressions in the zone in previous times (Pavlovic, Pascual, et al. 2013; Pavlovic, Sánchez, et al. 2013).

Figure 9.7. Georeferenced plan of the Mercachas site and Wall 3 detail (Troncoso et al. 2012).

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175

Figure 9.8. Series of enclosures at the Mercachas site (Troncoso et al. 2021).

Relational Dynamics between Local Populations and Tawantinsuyu in the Aconcagua Valley

The information laid out here suggests that ritual activities played a central role in the relational dynamics between representatives of Tawantinsuyu and local populations of the Aconcagua Valley, enabling the latter to be absorbed into and remain within the Inka sociopolitical construct. Judging by the architectural evidence and material contexts, some of the most significant of those ritual activities were held at sites situated on the summits or spurs of nearby mountains. The importance of these is attested by the scale of the three sites, the investment in labor required to build them, and the pattern and techniques used for their construction. In general, the layouts display very particular features, including perimeter walls encircling groups of enclosures and isolated walls, as well as structures with possible archaeoastronomical orientations. Their characteristics and singular contexts point to use by large groups of people, 176

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as indicated by the large enclosures situated at the center of the sites and the high priority given to controlling circulation within each site. All of these enclosures have low walls (three to four courses of stone at most), which suggests that the walls were structures that defined the space rather than actual barriers, at least in the large enclosures. At the periphery of these extensive spaces but within the perimeter walls are smaller enclosures large enough to hold a few people (Albán 2015; Troncoso et al. 2012). Among the materials found at the site are artifacts of great symbolic importance that are absent or very rarely found in habitational sites. These include Inka-style ceramics, metal instruments, panpipes made of talc rock, and a large quantity of beads. Also notable are the results of archaeobotanical analyses of samples obtained from sediment remains and ancient fire pits, stone vessels, and instruments, which point to corn processing and consumption. Decorated ceramics are also remarkable and represent between 33.5 and 54.1 percent of all ceramic

Figure 9.9. Mount Aconcagua as seen from sector 1 of the Cerro La Cruz site.

Figure 9.10. Sector 3 of the Cerro La Cruz site, showing the interior space or plaza in

the foreground and sectors 1 and 2 in the background.

pots in each site. This assemblage includes Inkastyle pieces (such as aríbalos, aysanas [another Inka jar form], serving dishes, and qirus). Judging by macroscopic, clay, and neutronic activation analyses, these were manufactured locally (Albán 2015; Pavlovic, Sánchez, et al. 2013). Sherds of ceramic pieces from the local traditions were also found, both items from the pre-Inka period that remained

in use (Aconcagua and Putaendo ceramics) and others from the Inka stage (Slipped Tricolor). While scant, some evidence of vessels of foreign manufacture was also found: Diaguita from the semiarid north of Chile and Inka-Paya from Northwest Argentina (table 9.1). It is important to point out that these sites confirm what previous studies established for Rituals and Interactional Dynamics

177

habitational sites: the relation between Tawantinsuyu and local Aconcagua communities was not mediated by an outside ethnic group brought to the zone by the Inka, as has been proposed for the Inka’s use of the Diaguita population in Central Chile (Stehberg 1995). This implies not that foreign groups were absent but rather that we have no evidence that large-scale contingents of groups from other regions were brought to work as skilled ceramicists, metallurgists, or administrators in a hypothetical Inka conquest. In terms of their absolute chronologies, however, the three sites coincide with the period of Inka occupation in Central Chile. The dating of these and other sites mentioned in the article (El Tigre, habitational and burial sites) would seem to indicate that Tawantinsuyu was present in the zone prior to the time traditionally suggested (after AD 1470: Rowe 1944). This is consistent with the proposals of authors who date the initial Inka presence to AD 1400 (Cornejo 2014; Stehberg 1995). In this context, our information indicates that the Inka presence can be confirmed from at least approximately AD 1450 (table 9.2). The differences detected at the contextual and architectural levels indicate that the activities at these sites were social gatherings of various individuals for different purposes and apparently involved varying levels of inclusion/exclusion. Local cultural materials seem to have had a more limited presence at the Mercachas site, which could mean that the activities conducted there limited the participation of local groups or that the rituals involved the exclusive use of Inka-style vessels. This is reinforced by the site’s privileged view of Mount Aconcagua as well as by the architecture associated with archaeoastronomical observation. In contrast, CAET and Cerro La Cruz have a significant presence of local materials, which are seemingly excluded only from certain very limited spaces, generally sectors associated with archaeoastronomical observation or zones where the most important activities were held. It is worth recalling that the sites were situated on lower-altitude summits, which could have made them more easily accessible to members of local communities. The participation of local valley-dwelling groups in these events is not only reflected in the materials recorded for the sites. It is also indicated by the sites’ proximity to settlements, cemeteries, and blocks of rock art that were in use during the Inka 178

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Period. Although it is obviously impossible to confirm that all of these sites were functionally associated with the Inka sites or that they were occupied synchronously, the similarities among their material contexts indicate that they were related in some way to the Inka-sponsored social gatherings at least in part. Analysis of the distribution and placement of these Inka sites indicates that they were not random or unplanned but corresponded to the different “sub-basins” in the larger Aconcagua River basin. Each of these zones has at least one architectural complex of importance, generally in locations with commanding views and significant settlements in the nearby lowlands during the Inka and pre-Inka periods. In addition, all of the sites offer a privileged view of Mount Aconcagua or a secondary summit from which it can be seen (CAET and Cerro Orolonco: see Pavlovic, Troncoso, et al. 2012). That feature makes these sites privileged locations for holding ceremonies in which some or all participants could have a direct or indirect view of the summit of the highest peak of the Andes as well as for astronomical observations linked to the Inka calendar. This seems to point to the generation of a ritual landscape that would have included the principal Andean summits and the most prominent peaks in each of the valley’s sub-basins. The importance of these collective rituals would have been based on the need to assemble a large number of people to achieve Tawantinsuyu’s aim of forging and strengthening relations and commitments to local groups. Given the decentralized nature of the local sociopolitical scene, no elites or leaders had authority over large segments of the population with whom the Inka could build alliances through banquets or intermarriage (Pärssinen 2002). The Inka representatives had to forge ties with individuals representing kin groups or the heads of the many autonomous family groups in order to incorporate them into the Inka cosmovision and obtain their support for building and maintaining the road network, its associated sites, and the architectural complexes, among other activities. In this framework, stone architecture, which had been virtually unknown in the zone, served to delimit and symbolically separate the ritual spaces from spaces used daily by the local population. Stone structures also made it possible to set rules

and restrict mobility within the sites themselves and ultimately to demonstrate the organizational and technical capacity of Tawantinsuyu. At the same time, it can be assumed that these collective interactions facilitated the implementation of other Inka strategies identified in Aconcagua (the appropriation of borders between different local groups, the sacralization of summits, the intentional discarding of artifacts) to create a complex dynamic of ritual relations between the representatives of Tawantinsuyu and local indigenous groups. This need for large assemblies for ritual negotiation activities is validated by ethnohistoric sources. Although local leaders had authority over large groups of people at the time of the Spanish conquest, the decentralized, relatively nonhierarchical nature of the communities in Central Chile did not change. This is evidenced by the extensive gatherings of the local population that the Spanish conquistadors convened in order to negotiate an end to uprisings and to convince the locals to return to their agricultural activities, which were indispensable for supplying the first Spanish settlements and consolidating their control of the region (Bibar 1979 [1558]). Discussion: The Aconcagua Valley and Qullasuyu

The importance of ritual activities in establishing and sustaining the Inka presence has been recorded not only in the Aconcagua Valley but in other parts of Qullasuyu. These Inka-sponsored activities included large-scale events at new sites reflecting the Inka canon in zones not previously occupied, rebuilding parts of older sites, and appropriating established sacred spaces and creating new wak’as on summits, at freshwater springs, in rock formations, and in other places. Similar events have also been recorded in Northwest Argentina (Acuto 1999; Ceruti 2003; Cremonte and Gheggi 2012), the central Peruvian sierra (Perales 2004), Atacama (Adán and Uribe 2005; Cornejo 1999), the Bolivian and Peruvian Altiplano (Pino and Moreano 2014), valleys of southwest Bolivia (Alconini 2008), and elsewhere. Inka architectural complexes in these regions, originally classified as administrative centers, forts, or large tampus but now widely reinterpreted as

ritual spaces, are situated in high-altitude zones and far from the areas most densely occupied by the local population. At the same time, they indicate that the Inka sought out places with particular geomorphological characteristics that also offered a privileged visual connection to the high Andean summits sacralized by Tawantinsuyu. This situation has been explained in different ways. Based on studies in the Calchaquí Valley of Northwest Argentina, Acuto (1999) proposed that the Inka thus managed to Inkanize the landscape, by imposing a Cuzco vision of the world upon the local inhabitants and transforming indigenous sociopolitical structures and relations of power. Combined with the reorganization of local settlement patterns to connect them with the Inka road network and visually link them to Andean wak’as, this contributed to the Inka domination of local groups. Furthermore, based on her work in the Bolivian zone of Oroncota, a frontier of Tawantinsuyu at the time of European contact, Alconini (2008) proposed that these architectural sites constituted “dis-embedded centers.” According to her model, these sites occupied the middle ground on a continuum from the territorial to the hegemonic, displaying a high architectural investment. Although these spaces attracted local groups, they were not related to the administration of large-scale agricultural activities or handicraft production. In other words, they present a low level of resource extraction and production. Aconcagua has produced no evidence of restructuring of local settlement patterns or controlling their density, as seen in the Calchaquí Valley. Although it is not possible to analyze the Inka presence there with a model based upon concepts such as “investment” and “extraction,” as has been done for Oroncota, the Aconcagua Valley reveals some clear similarities in the type of Inka sites and the spatiality that they express. One way of explaining these similarities could be that Tawantinsuyu generated what has been called an “architecture of power” (Gasparini and Margolies 1980) in Aconcagua, Calchaquí, and Oroncota. Buildings were constructed by a state to facilitate holding civil, religious, and military events of a public nature. This architecture would have been used not only to maintain the authority of the “ruling class” but also as a way to indoctrinate and control the population and disseminate state propaganda (Alconini 2008). Rituals and Interactional Dynamics

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While we have found no evidence in Aconcagua of the kinds of indoctrination and control proposed for the other regions mentioned, it is possible that an architecture of power with a strong impact on local populations was in force there as well. The Inka introduced stone architecture to the valley for the first time in history. Given the absence of large contingents of Inka or mitmaqkuna (state colonists), they managed to convince the local inhabitants themselves to build those stone structures, as the evidence shows. At the same time, the primarily ritual congregational nature of these spaces is indirectly supported by the absence of evidence that these architectural complexes were used for the forceful coercion of local groups or to support military action. We can thus propose that these sites in Aconcagua were built and used as part of what we could call a second stage of Inka presence in the region. Bonds of interaction, reciprocity, and commitment had already been forged between the representatives of Tawantinsuyu and the indigenous communities that provided the labor to build these complexes. Final Reflections

The organization of ceremonial activities at sites where architecture was used as a mechanism of control, domination, or negotiation has been put forward as a long-standing sociopolitical dynamic in the Andes (Ikehara and Shibata 2005; Tantalean 2016). This was part of the Inka strategy of relating to local groups in different zones of Tawantinsuyu (Acuto 1999; Dillehay 2003; Morris 1998; Pease 1979; Uribe 2000). The Aconcagua River basin is no exception: such events played a major role in the zone. Large gatherings were held, preferably on the summits of mountains that had been appropriated and given new meaning ideologically by the Inka through the use of architecture and visual or spatial correlation to summits sacralized by the Inka State. These events also had a deep symbolic content, both as rituals and as acts of redistribution and negotiation that involved the emblematic exhibition, consumption, and disposal of certain cultural goods and foods. These practices of political appropriation and commensalism were linked to the introduction of foreign cults, as the place-names and ethnohistoric

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evidence in Aconcagua indicate (Stehberg and Sotomayor 2002–2005; Strube 1959). We have no evidence for domination of the zone by direct military force through the installation of foreign mitmaqkuna contingents, so the representatives of Cuzco would have needed to build trust and obtain commitments from at least some local groups in order to fulfill their objectives. Inviting them to rituals that included banquets and festivities, ritual breakage, and other activities generated obligations and commitments between the local groups and representatives of Tawantinsuyu that furthered the objectives of the Inka State in the zone. These events would have been held regularly to reinforce and update the reciprocal obligations and commitments forged over time. At the same time, a combination of several factors—the discontinuous presence of Tawantinsuyu, the cultural heterogeneity of the zone, the absence of political centralism at the local level, and the consequent autonomy of each group in determining how it would interact and negotiate with the Inka—could have led to differentiated processes of interaction and integration and the gradual generation of sociopolitical differences. The emergence of those differences, with certain kinship groups maintaining various forms of interaction with Tawantinsuyu, would necessarily have had an impact on local ways of life. Communities most closely tied to Tawantinsuyu may have been involved in the construction and maintenance of the Inka sites and perhaps had preferential access to them. They are also included in broader spheres of extraregional interaction associated with the production of sumptuary goods from foreign raw materials or local materials rarely used in earlier times (obsidian, metals for metallurgy, ceremonial ceramics). Changes in artifactual traditions and ritual practices (transformations in burial practices, new rock art motifs, techniques, and placements, and new classes of sites) would also have emerged. Other groups, however, may have had little interaction with Tawantinsuyu and kept their previous ways of life and sociocultural dynamics intact, with the Inka presence reflected only in small changes in local ceramic traditions. Judging by the absolute dates obtained in the Aconcagua region (Cornejo 2014; Pavlovic, Troncoso, et al. 2004, 2012; Sánchez 2004), Tawantinsuyu may have been present in Central Chile before

the traditional date of AD 1470 (Rowe 1944); it is more likely that the initial presence of the Inka in the zone was around 1450 Cal AD. Nonetheless, it is very likely that the earliest Inka dates obtained so far for the zone reflect events that occurred when the Inka had already consolidated their presence, the architectural complexes were already in use, and those interactions had already had a major impact on the local populations. Everything seems to indicate an earlier date for the first stage of contact, when the initial interactional dynamics between local groups and the representatives of Tawantinsuyu that enabled the Inka to consolidate their presence in the region were established. The very nature of that initial stage would have left a scant material record, making it very difficult to identify and assign absolute dates. Hypothetically, however, it would have occurred prior to AD 1450, which is consistent with the date that Cornejo (2014) proposes for the initial presence of the Inka in Central Chile, circa AD 1400. Recognizing the importance of ritual events in the functioning of Tawantinsuyu and the difficulties in determining the objectives of incorporating zones very distant from Cuzco, it may be better to interpret these findings within a framework that considers the Inka sociopolitical system to be a “monolithic and flashy apparatus of power” (Pease 1979:116). This sociopolitical system, which elevated a particular ethnic group with a tribal organization to the level of a state (Ziołkowski 1996), was incipient or transitional (Rostworowski 1999). It was based on kinship and ancestor worship, which, as Ramírez (2008) affirms, functioned as a group of followers of a state-sponsored religion. Its central figure was the Inka ruler, and its objective was the symbolic hegemony of the Cuzco ethnic group. Notes This study is based on research supported by the Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico (FONDECYT 1090680, FONDECYT 1140803) and by a grant to Félix Acuto from the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. We wish to thank the organizers of the workshop “Rethinking the Inka” (Frances Hayashida, Diego Salazar, and Andrés Troncoso), all of our colleagues who participated in the fieldwork and analysis, and the owners of the land on which the sites are located.

1. The Diaguita were contemporary with the Aconcagua, inhabiting the valleys of the semiarid north of Chile, a region that begins some 80 km north of the Aconcagua River basin.

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2004 Por cerros, valles y rinconadas: Investigaciones arqueológicas sistemáticas en el Valle del Putaendo, cuenca superior del Río Aconcagua. Actas del XV Congreso Nacional de Arqueología Chilena, vol. 2, pp. 847–860. Sociedad Chilena de Arqueología/ Departmento de Antropología, Universidad de Tarapacá, Santiago/Arica. Pavlovic, Daniel, Andrés Troncoso, and Rodrigo Sánchez 2010 Cultura material, ritualidad funeraria y la interacción con el Tawantinsuyo de las poblaciones locales del Valle de Aconcagua durante el Período Tardío. Actas del XVII Congreso Nacional de Arqueología Chilena, vol. 1, pp. 383–392. Sociedad Chilena de Arqueología/Universidad Austral de Chile, Dirección Museológica/Ediciones Kultrún, Santiago/Valdivia. Pavlovic, Daniel, Andrés Troncoso, Rodrigo Sánchez, and Daniel Pascual 2012 Un tigre en el valle: Vialidad, arquitectura y ritualidad incaica en la cuenca superior del Río Aconcagua. Chungara 44(4):551–569. Pease, Franklin 1979 La formación del Tawantinsuyu: Mecanismo de colonización y relación con las unidades étnicas. Histórica 2:97–120. Perales, Manuel 2004 El control Inka de las fronteras étnicas: Reflexiones desde el Valle de Ricrán en la sierra central del Perú. Chungara 36:515–524. Pino, José, and Wendy Moreano 2014 El ushnu, el Qhapaq Ñan y las huacas del altiplano del Chinchaycocha: Una aproximación a las estrategias de apropiación y control territorial Inca, desde la lectura de los paisajes rituales y la astronomía. Revista Haucaypata 8:64–90. Plaza, María Teresa, and Marcos Martinón-Torres 2015 Metallurgical Traditions under Inka Rule: A Technological Study of Metals and Technical Ceramics from the Aconcagua Valley, Central Chile. Journal of Archaeological Science 54:86–98. Quintanilla, Victor 1983 Biogeografía. Instituto Geográfico Militar, Santiago. Ramírez, Susan 2008 Negociando el imperio: El Estado Inca como culto. Bulletin de l’Institut Français d’Études Andines 37(1):5– 18. Rodríguez, Arturo, Ramón Morales, Carlos González, and Donald Jackson 1993 Cerro La Cruz: Un enclave económico administrativo incaico, curso medio del Río Aconcagua. In Actas del XII Congreso Nacional de Arqueología Chilena (Boletín del Museo Regional de la Araucanía no. 4, Temuco, Chile), vol. 2, pp. 201–222. Rostworoski, María 1999 Historia del Tahuantinsuyu. Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, Lima.

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Chapter 10

Relational Communities, Leaders, and Social Reproduction Discussing the Engagement between Tawantinsuyu and Local Communities in the Southern Part of Qullasuyu Andrés Troncoso

The Inka State, Tawantinsuyu, was the political entity that covered the largest territory in the Andes prior to the arrival of the Spaniards. Its success was based on a number of factors, particularly the flexibility of its political strategies and its adaptation to the local situations identified in each annexed region (Malpass and Alconini 2010; Morris and Covey 2006). Recognition of this fact has led researchers to stress the role played by the local communities and their leaders in this political process (for example, Alconini 2010; D’Altroy 1992; Murra 1980). For this reason, Tawantinsuyu must be understood not as a monolithic, homogeneous entity centered on Cuzco but rather as the result of a historical process involving the articulation of the ruling elites with the various provincial communities incorporated into the state’s system. This kind of relationship is reflected in the archaeological record in the different provinces of Tawantinsuyu. In general, the models used to explain the occupation of provincial spaces by the state have concentrated on assessing aspects such as administrative dynamics, the functioning of the bureaucratic apparatus, the costs and benefits of annexing new territories, and how state strategies adapted to the social complexities of the local communities (Alconini 2008, 2010; Burger et al. 2007; D’Altroy 1992; Llagostera 1976; Stehberg 1976, 1995). More recently, the models of phenomenology and landscape archaeology have addressed the political use of regional landscapes by the state and the articulation of these processes with the “Inkanization” of the territory and the installation of new “cuzcos” (Acuto 2010; Coben 2006; Meddens 2014). The combination of these approaches has reinvigorated our understanding of Inka presence and occupation of the different regions of Qullasuyu, assigning a special role to ceremonialism and the symbolic domination of territory (Acuto and Gifford 2007;

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Figure 10.1. Map of the study area indicating the main Inka administrative-ceremonial facilities in the

Choapa and Limarí River basins.

Acuto et al. 2012; Giovannetti 2015; Sánchez 2001; Stehberg 2006; Troncoso, Pavlovic, et al. 2012). As I indicate, local leaders play a central role in these models as the operators of Inka domination and intermediaries between Tawantinsuyu and the local communities. Alconini and Malpass (2010:284) suggest that the Inkanization of local leaders was one of the priorities in the state’s political strategies, because they “had to create alternative ways to legitimize the new situation by intensifying hospitality celebrations and feasts, the circulation of imperial gifts, and the insertion of a new religious ideology.”

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Despite this recognition, we still need to improve our understanding of the strategies and practices deployed by local leaders in these processes and how they relate to the political, economic, and ceremonial aspects of Inka domination. In this chapter, therefore, I assess the role played by local leaders in the Inka occupation of the semiarid north of Chile (Limarí and Choapa River basins), part of southern Qullasuyu (figure 10.1). My work is based on spatial and visual study of rock art, integrated with the contextual evidence available for the region. Although this type of material record has been little discussed in the context of the sociopolitical processes occurring

in Tawantinsuyu, in the study region it is one of the most recurrent and widely available forms of material evidence for the period (Troncoso 2012; Troncoso, Vergara, et al. 2014). Moreover, recent investigation throughout Tawantinsuyu shows the manufacture of rock art by the Inka State (Berenguer 2013; Christie 2005, 2015; Falcón 2013; van de Guchte 1990) and the provincial communities that it annexed (Berenguer et al. 2007; Gallardo and Vilches 2001; Hernández Llosas 2006; Sepúlveda 2004, 2008; Valenzuela et al. 2004; Vilches and Uribe 1999). This situation suggests that the practice and materiality of rock art were related to social processes occurring at this time. My approach is based on two interrelated theoretical assumptions that have not been widely discussed in combination. On the one hand, I recognize that social reproduction strategies played a central role in the relations and integration processes between the state and local communities. Political commensalism is known to have been one of the main tools used by Tawantinsuyu in negotiations with local communities and their leaders (Bray 2008b; Dillehay 2002; Giovannetti 2015). However, we know little about how commensal dynamics were articulated with the reproduction strategies of local communities and how local leaders made use of their participation in these ceremonies within their political dynamics. The political process associated with the incorporation of new territories into Tawantinsuyu was based not exclusively on human practices and agencies, however, but also on a series of nonhuman actors. Various authors have discussed the political and social importance of these beings and phenomena in Tawantinsuyu (Bray 2009, 2015; Dean 2015; Mannheim and Salas 2015). The annexation and incorporation of a series of local communities necessarily involved articulation and political integration between two different relational communities (Harris 2013): in this case the Inka and the Diaguita. In this context, the known practice of suppressing local divinities in favor of Inka sacred beings and the collection of provincial object-divinities in the Qurikancha reflect the importance of integrating these nonhuman beings into the Tawantinsuyu political project. Communities are relational assemblages in a constant process of becoming; they do not exist only in the form of relationships established between humans (Harris 2014; Pauketat 2001, 2008; Yaeger

and Canuto 2000). In these relational communities, nonhuman beings play an active part of the social and political collective, as has been recognized ethnographically in different Andean spaces (Allen 2002, 2015; De la Cadena 2010; Sillar 2009). For this reason, understanding how local leaders articulated their local communities with the state by means of social reproduction strategies requires an understanding of how a series of politically and socially active actors (human and nonhuman) were articulated and deployed. Likewise, it was through continuous action on these social reproduction strategies that relations between the state and local peoples were constructed and reproduced over time. Finally, I believe that it is of interest to highlight that my case study occurred near the southern periphery of Tawantinsuyu. In this region the demographic levels and sociopolitical organization of the prehispanic communities were less centralized than in the Central and South-Central Andes. This situation helps to explain how the Inka State articulated its domination through leaders whose political power was considerably weaker than in other provinces. This work also expands and explores in greater depth ideas expounded previously (Troncoso 2018). The Study Area and Social Life during the Late Intermediate Period

My study area is located in the southern part of Qullasuyu, specifically the Limarí and Choapa River basins in central northern Chile (figure 10.1). I have surveyed extensive areas of the zone (approximately 150 km2 in Limarí and over 100 km2 in Choapa), recording an important number of prehispanic settlements and rock art sites (Troncoso Vergara, González, et al. 2014; Troncoso, Vergara, Pavlovic, et al. 2016). The landscape in the region is characterized by narrow, east-west river valleys at moderate altitude (500 to 2,000 masl), sharply divided by spurs of the Andes rising to heights between 3,000 and 4,500 masl. The valleys are interconnected by secondary ravines that cut through the mountain spurs. As a result of this spatial configuration, each valley enjoys a certain degree of spatial and productive independence that appears to be related to its prehispanic sociopolitical configuration, considering the intervalley variation observed in the material Relational Communities, Leaders, and Social Reproduction

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Figure 10.2. Diaguita petroglyphs with nonfigurative (a–c), anthropomorphic (d–e), and camelid (f) motifs.

contexts (González 2013a; Troncoso, Vergara, Pavlovic, et al. 2016). Between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries AD, the territory was inhabited by the Chilean Diaguita culture (Ampuero 1994; Troncoso, Vergara, Pavlovic, et al. 2016). This was an agricultural community with a dispersed settlement pattern based on settlements on fluvial terraces suitable for agriculture. The domestic contexts suggest that each site corresponded to an economically self-sufficient family unit, with no presence of imported goods or allochthonous raw materials observed. There was little spatial integration among Diaguita communities, and the level of face-to-face interaction between their members was low. Furthermore, the homogeneity of the funerary and habitational contexts and the absence of monumental works or architectural formalization of central spaces to form plazas indicate little social differentiation and hierarchization (Ampuero 1994; Troncoso 1999; Troncoso, Vergara, Gónzalez, et al. 2014; Troncoso, Vergara, Pavlovic, et al. 2016). These populations present intensive production of rock art: I have so far recorded over 3,000 188

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engraved rocks, with a total of nearly 20,000 motifs. This art takes the form of petroglyphs, predominantly nonfigurative designs using a combination of circles, squares, and lines (figure 10.2). Figurative motifs are scarce, consisting basically of (1) zoomorphs, mainly four-footed camelids not associated with scenes representing interaction with humans and/or pastoralism (Troncoso 2012), and (2) anthropomorphs, simple images of humans formed of lines and circles but not represented in scenes of specific activities, with objects in their hands, or wearing headdresses or other elements that could be interpreted as clothing (Troncoso 2011). Faces are exceptional in the anthropomorphic motifs. They are rectangular or circular and are created by following complex systems of visual symmetry, with greater technical care and investment of labor than in the rest of the carvings (Vergara et al. 2016) (figure 10.3). As indicated in previous works (Troncoso, Armstrong, et al. 2019; Troncoso, Vergara, Pavlovic, et al. 2016), petroglyph sites were essential public spaces for the social reproduction of Diaguita communities, including both humans and a series of

nonhuman beings. In brief, this proposal is based on the high intensity of the marking practices found in the region; the homogeneity of petroglyph production in spatial, visual, and technical terms; the development of rock art sites as organized spaces associated with mobility; and their use as mediation spaces on different scales. I found that rock art sites acted as mediators between the different human members of the Diaguita community, who visited the sites and interacted through the images and rock carvings. They mediated between different spaces by marking the transition between sites occupied repeatedly by the Diaguita (fluvial terraces with abundant material record) and those occupied only occasionally (ravines and hills with no identified Diaguita material record). This mediation would also have occurred between the territories of one community and another, as the petroglyph sites are associated with the routes leading into and out of each valley. These characteristics imply that these sites are located at points separating and segregating two different spaces. Following proposals for Andean ethnography (Cereceda 1988; Harris and Bouysse-Cassagne 1988; Mariscotti 1978), and the notion of analogistic ontology proposed by Descola (2012), these mediation points between different halves articulate not only different spaces but also a broader social collective made up of different types of human and nonhuman beings that work together in these central or

mediation spaces. Descola (2012) proposed that cosmos and society are equivalent in these analogist ontologies, formed of a large number of items fragmented into a multitude of instances and definitions; the same situation is recognized in the Andes (Allen 2002; Harris and Bouysse-Cassagne 1988). Both the ethnographic records and the proposals of Descola (2012) indicate that these nonhuman beings are organized in opposed, mutually complementary halves, a principle of spatial organization that is found in the decoration of Diaguita ceramics (González 2013a). Because rock art sites are public spaces, they display political discourses on the community and its leadership. I have suggested that the sites propose discourses on a corporate community with no major differences between the subjects; this is expressed in the simplicity of their anthropomorphic representations, which lack headdresses or elements of material culture associated with the images. This corporate focus is likewise observed in funerary practices. Nevertheless, the presence and the importance of the representation of heads play a special role in this scenario. Head representations are the only images with a standardized position in the sites (located in a space associated with a break in visibility or movement), generating a dual organization in the sites. This particularity means that they constitute a center—that again mediates between two spaces—within another center, the

Figure 10.3. Diaguita petroglyphs depicting heads.

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Figure 10.4 (Plate 14). Anthropomorphic-zoomorphic Diaguita vessels.

rock art site. A similar characteristic can be recognized in the representations of heads in Diaguita ceramics. Although the decoration in the majority of painted Diaguita pottery is organized in two design fields with nonfigurative motifs, vessels bearing representations of heads are organized in three fields, with the faces appearing between two fields decorated with nonfigurative motifs and contrasting colors or motifs (figure 10.4; plate 14) (González 2013a). On this basis I understand these to be the heads of important subjects, community leaders, because they are established in the design as a center capable of mediating and articulating the different forces, beings, energies, and components of the world and of the communities (Troncoso, Armstrong, et al. 2019). The leadership qualities of these subjects would therefore be founded on their prestige and their particular capacities to maintain a balance between the two halves of the world, allowing the reproduction and integration of communities. Funerary evidence shows an important homogeneity in tomb offerings, which consist primarily of ceramic vessels. However, some individuals are also buried with hallucinogenic snuff paraphernalia, thus conveying their qualities as mediators possessing knowledge obtained from the use of these substances. In fact, some pieces of this paraphernalia have iconography related to felines and designs conveying mediation (opposition of halves). This evidence complements the depictions of heads in petroglyphs and pottery, suggesting a particular kind of person within the Diaguita community that we can interpret as a leader (Troncoso, Armstrong, et al. 2019). 190

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Inka Occupation and Local Communities

The presence of Tawantinsuyu in this region is documented in a wide range of evidence such as the Qhapaq Ñan (Inka Road) and associated road facilities, administrative centers, high-altitude sanctuaries, mines, and assemblages of material culture (mainly ceramic and metallurgical products) that reproduce shapes and decorations typical of Tawantinsuyu and Inkanized groups from Northwest Argentina (for example, Cantarutti 2004, 2013; Niemeyer 1969; Stehberg 1995; Troncoso 2011). Despite this rich and varied evidence, the incorporation and domination strategies deployed by Tawantinsuyu in this territory have been little discussed. Hypotheses have concentrated on understanding the role of the Inka Road in the political domination of the territory (Stehberg 1995) and on assessing the direct or indirect nature of the presence of the Cuzco culture in the region (Llagostera 1976). Nevertheless, different authors agree that the operational annexation of this territory was carried out by Inkanized populations from Northwest Argentina who set up political chieftainships in the Limarí and Elqui basins (Cantarutti 2004; Troncoso and Pavlovic 2013). Independently of these factors, the particular nature of this Inka domination can be recognized in the region. The absence of pukaras and the symbiosis found between Diaguita and Inka pottery suggest an important political alliance between the two communities, with no evidence of violence. The presence of Diaguita ceramics in provincial spaces outside their territory (Copiapó, Central Chile, Mendoza, Northwest Argentina, and San

Pedro de Atacama) reflects this. Various authors agree that this political alliance between the Inka and Diaguita peoples resulted from the actions and political capabilities of local leaders (Castillo 1998; Stehberg 1995). Castillo (1998) proposed that this alliance may have satisfied the prior ambitions of local leaders to expand their fields of action. Despite the recognition of this capacity for action among Diaguita populations, and especially their leaders, the models applied have focused on a top-down approach, relegating local populations to the role of mere spectators of the process. On the one hand, there has been no discussion of how the local communities articulated their practices with the state; on the other, we do not know what strategies and practices were deployed by local leaders in this process of articulation between a local tradition and the state. Based on the information already cited, we need to understand how local and Inka social reproduction spaces and practices were articulated during this period, because links between the communities were produced and reproduced in these political spaces.

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Making Communities under Inka Rule

As in other regions of Qullasuyu (Berenguer et al. 2007; Gallardo and Vilches 2001; Hernández Llosas 2006; Sepúlveda 2004, 2008; Valenzuela et al. 2004; Vilches and Uribe 1999), Diaguita communities continued to manufacture rock art during the Inka epoch, replicating traditional techniques, as is shown by the reuse of sites, the maintenance of production techniques, and the primacy of nonfigurative designs (Troncoso 2011, 2012; Troncoso Vergara, et al. 2016). However, various modifications were introduced into the visual attributes of this traditional practice. Elements typical of Tawantinsuyu motifs are incorporated into the nonfigurative motifs, such as clepsydras, Inka frets, and double crosses. Furthermore, the new principles of symmetry adopted are typical of Inka art, such as double specular reflection and rotation (figure 10.5) (González 2013a). Both these stylistic elements are reproduced in the decorations of Diaguita pottery from the Inka Period (González 1998, 2013b). The figurative motifs start to contain scenes such as representations of herding and humancamelid interaction. Greater variation is found in the anthropomorphic designs, some of which have objects like axes, tumis, bows, and headdresses.

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Figure 10.5. Inka-Diaguita petroglyphs with nonfigurative (a–b), camelid (c), and anthropomorphic (d–g) motifs, including the

Santamariano Human-Shield motif (d) and heads (e–g).

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The volume of the bodies in the representations of humans increases, allowing textilelike decoration. Anthropomorphs foreign to the region also start to appear, such as the Human-Shield figures from Northwest Argentina (Troncoso 2011). The faces, too, become more complex with the use of the principles of symmetry and elements of Inka design (figure 10.5). As noted, new carvings continue to be created in petroglyph sites, while the old marks are neither erased nor destroyed. On the contrary, the new engravings are integrated with the old in the sites, with the spatial and visual structure being reproduced and maintained. Also, superposition and the erasure of previous images are nearly absent (less than 1 percent). This continuity with changes also occurs in other aspects of the social and material life of the Diaguita culture, including decorated ceramics, the reuse of cemeteries that contain tombs with pottery in the different styles of the Diaguita, the Inka, and groups in Northwest Argentina, and the reoccupation of residential sites. The contexts during the Inka period suggest greater exploitation of the environment, however, possibly associated with more intense production as state tribute (Cantarutti 2004; González 1998, 2013a; Troncoso 2004; Troncoso, Vergara, et al. 2016). This indicates that the Diaguita groups continued to carry out their practices in their traditional spaces of social reproduction, extending a tradition and a way of creating their community to unite humans with one another and with a series of nonhuman beings. However, the discourses and imaginaries that were produced and reproduced in these spaces underwent modifications due to the incorporation of the new Inka visual references and symmetries. This is not surprising, for it is known that the state promoted the circulation and appropriation of some visual and symbolic elements belonging to Tawantinsuyu by local communities (Bray 2008a; Morris 1995). The maintenance of traditional practices of social reproduction implied that heads continued to play a central role in these sites. The continued use of the same designs on pottery indicates that the local leaders maintained their central position in the Diaguita sociopolitical fabric (Troncoso 2018). However, the iconographic modifications that occurred reflect the appropriation of visual elements from Cuzco by these subjects. Through this transformation, the self-representation and the 192

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expression of local leaders are associated with the Inka culture, becoming integrated into Tawantinsuyu in a construction and mediation process carried out between human and nonhuman members of the Diaguita community. The merging of local and Inka visualities, narratives, and imaginaries in these sites inserts a state presence in the traditional public spaces of local communities and in the sociopolitical dynamics of the populations. The technical and spatial procedures were maintained, suggesting that it was the human members of the Diaguita communities who introduced these Inka elements (Troncoso 2018). This transformation of the Diaguita visual tradition is accompanied by a parallel political process, the “decorporatization” of the social group. The incorporation of new forms of human representation generates heterogeneity in the corporate group, either through the presence of foreign subjects (Human-Shield figures: see Williams, this volume), the differentiated possession of elements of material culture (axes, tumi), the differentiation of social practices (hunting, grazing), or the subjects’ clothing (Troncoso 2018). Thus, this process promotes the production of new subjectivities within the social group, because the fragmentation that occurs helps to break down the existing visual homogeneity. It is no longer only local leaders who are particularized in the petroglyphs but also a series of other social actors who were previously unknown. These two situations show how the local communities themselves, through their traditional practices and spaces of social reproduction, transformed the discourses and imaginaries associated with the social collective. Although we do not yet really know how these processes occurred, it is reasonable to suppose that it was the local leaders themselves who permitted and promoted this situation. The importance of these subjects in the sociopolitical dynamic of the Diaguita and in the social reproduction of their communities may suggest that they themselves supported this process of intervention in traditional public spaces—a process accepted and practiced by the different human members of the Diaguita social collective. In contrast to that situation, Tawantinsuyu built its own public spaces, segregated from the rock art sites and the local dwelling spaces. Two administrative-ceremonial centers have been recognized in the region: Loma Los Brujos in the Choapa River basin and Huana in the Limarí River basin (figure 10.6)

Figure 10.6. Inka administrative-ceremonial facilities: (above) Loma Los Brujos; (below) Huana.

(Becker et al. 2004; Niemeyer 1969). Both sites contain a set of large open areas located in spaces not occupied previously, with excellent visibility and overlooking the surrounding area. The segregation of these installations is a strategy imposed by the state for all its architectural manifestations, as can also be seen in the route of the Qhapaq Ñan and associated road installations (Stehberg 1995). As a result, Tawantinsuyu constructed a new network of spatial relationships—superimposed on the traditional local landscape—that promoted

segregation between local and Inka elements and produced a multiscale landscape that at once combined and separated Inka and Diaguita elements. The material recovered from the excavations in Huana and Loma Los Brujos indicates that a set of practices associated with the political commensalism promoted by Tawantinsuyu was carried out in both sites. The pottery assemblages from the two sites present the classic culinary repertoire of Inka ceramics (Bray 2003, 2008b), consisting in these cases of aríbalos, flat plates, and qirus. These pieces Relational Communities, Leaders, and Social Reproduction

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Figure 10.7 (Plate 15). Standing stones (left) and a

Diaguita-Inka vessel (right) at Loma Los Brujos.

were accompanied by different bowls of local shapes, but with decorations combining Diaguita and Inka elements. The two contexts also showed signs of large hearths and abundant zooarchaeological remains, principally belonging to camelids (Becker et al. 2004; Niemeyer 1969). The characteristics of the pottery assemblages show that Inka pots were associated with consumption of liquids (aríbalos and qirus). We may relate this situation to the political aspects of the commensal practices, the object of which was to produce social differences through the act of drinking (Dillehay 2002). The presence of Diaguita ceramics reflects the incorporation of the local culture into these commensal practices, which is consistent with the way the state used these activities to establish social and political relationships with the representatives (leaders) of the local communities (Bray 2003, 2008b; Dillehay 2002). In this way the administrative-ceremonial centers of Huana and Loma Los Brujos were connected with the production of an Inkanized landscape in the region, which superseded the local culture and effected political articulation between the state and local leaders. At the same time, they also integrated into these practices and spaces a series of nonhuman beings that were important in the social and political life of Tawantinsuyu. On the one hand, we know that architecture, and the stones of buildings, had important animating capacities in the Inka world, playing a central role in the material, topographical, and symbolic reformulation of the landscape and articulating it with the historical-mythical memory of the state (Dean 2010; Kosiba 2015; Morris 1995; Nair and Protzen 2015). On the other, Inka constructions generally present astronomical alignments associated with the sun (solstices), moon (lunistices), and other 194

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astronomical elements such as the Pleiades (Bauer and Dearborn 2003; Ziółkowski et al. 2015; Ziółkowski and Sadowski 1992; Zuidema 1981, 1983). For our study zone, however, no archaeoastronomical research has been carried out due to the poor state of preservation of the two sites. Astronomical orientations have been recognized in Inka installations in neighboring regions (Leibowicz et al. 2016; Moyano 2010; Moyano and Díaz 2015; Troncoso, Pavlovic, et al. 2012), suggesting that such alignments also existed in Huana and Loma Los Brujos. Nevertheless, a feature identified in Loma Los Brujos was excavated below the level of the occupation floor of the kancha. It consisted of two conical, vertically placed stones and a nearly complete ceramic bowl with decoration that combined Diaguita and Inka elements below them (figure 10.7; plate 15). The integrity and particular character of this feature suggest that it was an offering. Meddens et al. (2010) and McEwan (2014) described stone offerings similar to this under an usnu in the Incapirqa/Waminan site and also in high-altitude sanctuaries such as on Cerro Mercedario mountain, located in this region. These stones have been understood as stone ancestors that mark the landscape and form a portable world axis, allowing the integration and articulation of multiple places and spaces of Tawantinsuyu (McEwan 2014; Meddens et al. 2010). They are thought to articulate a series of nonhuman actors, especially celestial beings, because they are “intimately linked to the times when the sun was resting or sitting. . . . They served to reinforce the vertical connections among celestial, earthly, and chthonic realms, linking the deities of the sky above (the sun, moon, thunder, and creator deity, among others) with the people and contemporary world and with the world of the ancestors down below. These performances revolved around the Inka in his role as the axis mundi or, in his place, the stone ancestors” (Meddens et al. 2010:191). Without suggesting the existence of an usnu at Loma Los Brujos, the feature identified at the site presents some similarity with those described by Meddens et al. (2010) and McEwan (2014). On the one hand, the shape of the stones at Loma Los Brujos is similar to that of stones found on Cerro Mercedario by these authors. On the other, although there is no record of any usnu or similar construction at Loma Los Brujos, this offering is a feature excavated intentionally below the surface to

connect the site with subterranean spaces, like the feature they described. These similarities suggest that these objects are likewise stone ancestors. The absence of such vertically placed stones in pre-Inkaic Diaguita contexts indicate that they were introduced by Tawantinsuyu. Although pre-Inkaic stone beings have been recognized in other Andean spaces (for example, Páez and Marinangeli 2016), nothing similar has been identified in Diaguita territory. Thus, the presence of the conical stone offerings in Loma Los Brujos reflects the participation of a series of nonhuman beings in the commensalism practices at the site. The placing of a Diaguita-Inka vessel in this feature reaffirms the articulation and the relationship between the state and the local community, but it also replicates the hierarchical difference between them, as the stone ancestors (Inka) are placed above the vessel (local). Different authors have stated that the vertical ordering of items is associated with notions of hierarchy and power in Tawantinsuyu (McEwan 2014; Zuidema 1992). However, in this same process of hierarchical ordering, the Inka and Diaguita elements are integrated: the conical stones and the vessel are both parts of the same package of offerings. The action of these nonhuman beings in commensal practices is complemented by the action of qirus and aríbalos, which were object-beings for Tawantinsuyu (Bray 2008a), where “each object is brought into being and exists with all others, participating phenomenologically in the events of the world” (Cummins 2015:182). Finally, we may reasonably suppose that an important set of celebrations occurred at both sites in relation to particular dates of the metropolitan calendar (Ziółkowski and Sadowski 1989). This situation, which allowed articulation with a series of nonhuman actors, also allowed the Diaguita territory and leaders to be integrated into a larger-scale community: the whole Inka State. Thus, the presence and joint participation of celestial beings, architecture, and pottery vessels create and construct a large-scale relational community that went beyond the Diaguita region, incorporating it into the whole Inka territory, while its existence is reflected in each of the commensal spaces. All this occurs in a place segregated from local spaces, in which local leaders are integrated into a broader social collective than the Diaguita. This integration was also accompanied by practices,

performances, and the creation of an atmosphere (sensu Sørensen 2015) in which the experiences of the leaders differed substantially from those occurring in the spaces of local reproduction, allowing them to act and interact on a plane that was not open to other members of the Diaguita community. Reframing Local Leadership under Inka Rule

In the preceding pages I have discussed how local communities and the Inka State established and deployed different public spaces and practices oriented toward the production and reproduction of the bonds of a relational community consisting of a set of beings that are more than human. This process set in motion two different relational communities and generated a multiscale landscape in which Inka public spaces were segregated from their local equivalents. At the same time, while the local is observed in these Inka spaces, the same occurs in reverse in local public spaces. This situation implies that, while each of these communities developed its own social reproduction dynamics, they remained in some way interconnected. As I have indicated, local leaders were a central element of this interconnection, because they were the means of mediation between the local communities and Tawantinsuyu, leading to a form of political alliance that was unusual within Qullasuyu. I think that the success of this process not only resulted from the political abilities of the local leaders but also reflected the qualities that defined them as social subjects and in their relationship with their community. As I have indicated, the prestige and power of the Diaguita leaders were based on their ability to convene and maintain a relational community with little spatial integration. In achieving this objective, the leaders showed their ability to articulate and negotiate with a series of human and nonhuman subjects that made up these communities. This capacity for constant articulation and mediation between different beings and subjects, in the final instance, was what made possible the reproduction and maintenance of the social and world collective. Descola (2012) indicates that the reproduction of these collectives depended on keeping the halves segregated in order to prevent them from combining and thus disappearing as separate entities. This is what makes the centers essential spaces and subjects for social and world Relational Communities, Leaders, and Social Reproduction

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reproduction. From a different perspective, the ethnographic works of Cereceda (1988) and Harris and Bouysse-Cassagne (1988) show how this principle is reproduced in different settings, materials, and practices in the Andes. Similarly, Kantner (2010) suggested that one of the particularities upon which the leadership of societies like the Diaguita was built was the confidence of community members in the decisions made by the leader, especially in unusual situations or those that were crucial for the social reproduction of the collective. In this context, the actions of local leaders during the Inka period responded to the needs and demands imposed by their position: mediating. Insofar as Tawantinsuyu in the region took the form of an extended community consisting of a number of diverse beings, it was the local leaders who had to articulate and mediate with the state in order to maintain balance and reproduce the community and the world. Their ability to articulate with a series of nonhuman actors, therefore, allowed them to negotiate and relate with the set of other beings who formed part of the Inka State, who were of great sociopolitical importance, as we have seen. This privileged ability of local leaders placed them on a special plane when they came into contact with Tawantinsuyu, enabling them to increase their prestige, power, and authority. On the one hand, by participating and playing a role in Inka ceremonies they reaffirmed their capacity and abilities to articulate with other collectives and a set of nonhuman beings; on the other, this situation introduced them to experiences and practices that were not open to the rest of the Diaguita community, which helped to mark them out as different. At the same time, this capacity of the local leaders to articulate with Inka public spaces was accompanied by their ability to maintain the dynamics of social reproduction particular to the Diaguita communities. On the basis of this process, these leaders maintained the bonds that permitted the continuance of the local social collective and the practices on which their social reproduction and the reaffirmation of their social position were based. Their increased importance during the Inka Period was due principally to the fact that the local community continued to conceptualize their role as that of a mediating and integrating center. This discourse and imaginary are reproduced in the rock art sites dating from the period. The capabilities and 196

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strategies of local leaders explain the positive alliance between the Diaguita and Inka and the success of Tawantinsuyu intervention in the region. This process by which local leaders grew in importance and hierarchical status went hand in hand with the fragmentation of the corporate group through the production and reproduction of multiple subjectivities in petroglyphs. The same situation has been recognized in the funerary practices of the time, in which important differences are observed in tomb offerings. This process may also have been supported and legitimized by local leaders insofar as they represented discourses and imaginaries that were incorporated and reproduced in local reproduction spaces and which also impinged on the repositioning of the leaders. The incorporation of Human-Shield figures originating in Northwest Argentina should be noted in this context. On the one hand, these representations possessed high symbolic value in their local spaces, being associated with notions of leadership and prestige (Nielsen 2007; Tarragó et al. 1997); on the other, in rock art sites they were incorporated following the same principles as heads but were never placed on the same rock. In other words, they were placed in critical spaces associated with the entry/exit points of the rock art sites or with changes in directional movement within them and thus replicate the notion of mediation attached to heads. This placement is indicative of an equivalence between the Human-Shield figures and heads. In this context, Human-Shield figures can be understood as images related to relevant subjects from Northwest Argentina engaged in the Inka occupation of this study region. The similar placement of Human-Shield figures and heads is significant, because it puts the local leaders on the same plane of importance as the subjects from Northwest Argentina. This strategy in turn shows the state’s versatility in using local procedures and traditions to construct and affirm its social position. All these features reflect how Inka political strategy was implanted and executed in direct relationship with the traditional practices and spaces of the local communities. While this Inka logic is generally understood as the imposition of a new spatial and political order, I reiterate my view that this order could not be effective if it was not articulated and integrated in some way with the social, spatial, and material dynamics of the local communities.

Castillo (1998) suggested that this process would have been strengthened by the expansionist ambitions of local leaders. His proposal fits well with a model in which leaders were aggrandizers who followed and developed their own political projects. Without rejecting this hypothesis, I think that other possibilities could also be explored. In particular, we cannot rule out that empowering was neither sought nor desired by local leaders in the Inka Period but was rather the result of a historical process that placed them in a privileged position at that moment due to their particular skills. Although it is known that the state sought to empower local leaders (Alconini and Malpass 2010; D’Altroy 1992; Murra 1980), I believe that two other factors were needed for this to occur: first, the consent of the community, possible in this case because the nature of their position required the leaders to mediate and interact with Tawantinsuyu; and second, the empowering of the leaders themselves as social subjects, which resulted from the situation and practices indicated earlier. I think that the convergence of these different situations occurred in the case of the Diaguita, since this repositioning of their leaders was made possible only by their reconceptualization of their subjectivity and their relationship with the social fabric. In this context, I think that economic gain was not the principal driver for the aggrandizement of local leaders. Although the circulation of new, foreign raw materials and goods—recognized in the area—has an economic dimension, it also encompasses many other social aspects, including in this case the production of these new subjectivities and the generation of difference within the social collective. It is this situation that is reflected in the iconography of rock art. Finally, this whole sociopolitical process also involved repositioning the nonhuman members of the community. The segregation of Inka public spaces from petroglyph sites appears to relegate the nonhuman members of local communities, present in these sites, to a secondary plane. This process likewise gives greater centrality and importance to their Inka equivalents in the Inka community, articulating them on a wide territorial scale, as is shown by the stone ancestors and the spatial connectivity that they generate (McEwan 2014). Thus, the social fabric of the region was reordered through this process, integrating local humans and nonhumans into the state. At the same time, it produced and

promoted hierarchical differentiation between them that placed Tawantinsuyu in a privileged position over the local human and nonhuman community. Conclusions

Alconini and Malpass (2010) discussed the key role played by local leaders in the operational implementation of Inka domination in provincial spaces. Among the changes that they promoted was the dismantling of community solidarity in favor of a class structure. My case study fits this situation, in terms of both the implementation of Inka domination and the fragmentation of the local community. However, this fragmentation required the maintenance of certain aspects at the same time that hierarchization was promoted, in order to reproduce the legitimacy of Diaguita leaders. This reflects the important role played by the local communities in the formation and reproduction of Tawantinsuyu and emphasizes the need to understand Inka expansion as a historical process in which the political proposals of the state were articulated with those of local communities. Indeed, if communities and their social lives were in a permanent process of becoming, the political alliances involving the state, local leaders, and provincial communities were in a constant process of formulation. In this process, local leaders necessarily had to maintain, reproduce, and negotiate local traditional and ceremonial dynamics. In the past, recognition of the capacity for action of local leaders has been discussed for more central spaces in the Andes (for example, Alconini 2010), in which the local communities presented greater demographic density and more hierarchical institutional systems. In the extreme south of Qullasuyu, however, this was not the case. In this zone we find weaker leadership structures and smaller populations than in other regions, such as among the Diaguita. In this context, leaders continued to play a key role in Tawantinsuyu, but the whole political process required continued reaffirmation of these leaders before the community. This meant that local spaces of social reproduction continued in use without suffering a major intervention or even destruction by the state, as occurred in other provinces of Tawantinsuyu. It was as a result of this intervention by the state that leaders acquired greater power and a higher position in the hierarchy Relational Communities, Leaders, and Social Reproduction

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of the social group. In this context, the necessary articulation between the Inka and local spaces of social reproduction was the key piece that allowed the occurrence of this important social transformation, accompanied by the production of new subjectivities to promoting the differentiation and hierarchization of the social group, as occurred in other provinces (Bray 2008a). Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Cristian Becker, Jorge Rodríguez, Daniel Pavlovic, and Frances Hayashida as well as the whole team of the Limarí research project. Our work was financed by FONDECYT grant 1150776. References Cited Acuto, Félix 2010 Living under the Imperial Thumb in the Northern Calchaquí Valley, Argentina. In Distant Provinces in the Inka Empire: Toward a Deeper Understanding of Inka Imperialism, edited by Michael Malpass and Sonia Alconini, pp. 108–150. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City. Acuto, Félix, and Chad Gifford 2007 Lugar, arquitectura y narrativas de poder: Relaciones sociales y experiencia en los centros Inkas de los Andes del sur. Arqueología Suramericana 3(2):135–161. Acuto, Félix, Andrés Troncoso, and Alejandro Ferrari 2012 Recognising Strategies for Conquered Territories: A Case Study from the Inka North Calchaquí Valley. Antiquity 86(334):1141–1154. Alconini, Sonia 2008 Dis-embedded Centers and Architecture of Power in the Fringes of the Inka Empire: New Perspectives on Territorial and Hegemonic Strategies of Domination. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 27:63–81. 2010 Yampara Households and Communal Evolution in the Southeastern Inka Peripheries. In Distant Provinces in the Inka Empire: Toward a Deeper Understanding of Inka Imperialism, edited by Michael Malpass and Sonia Alconini, pp. 75–107. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City. Alconini, Sonia, and Michael Malpass 2010 Toward a Better Understanding of Inka Provincialism. In Distant Provinces in the Inka Empire: Toward a Deeper Understanding of Inka Imperialism, edited by Michael Malpass and Sonia Alconini, pp. 279–299. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City.

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Chapter 11

Visual Strategies Used in Relations between Tawantinsuyu and the Societies of Qullasuyu Iconographic Negotiations, Power, and Memory José Luis Martínez C.

Qiru Cups in Inka Policy and Qullasuyu And so , the Capac of the Hatun Collas attended the wedding celebrations, he came on a litter and brought his nobles and his guard and brought his idol and guaca, with much decoration, and many times he defied the Inka, saying: cam Cuzco capaca ñuca Colla capaca hupyasu, micussu, rimassu, ama pi rima etc. ñuca collque tiya cam chuqui tiya, cam uiracocha pachayachi [sic] muchha ñuca inti muchha. (Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamaygua 1993 [1613?]:217)

Those were the words of Chucchi Qhapaq, the mallku (lord) of the Qulla people, on the northeast shore of Lake Titicaca. He invited Wiraqucha Inka—who until that time had been merely the ruler of Cuzco and its environs—to eat and drink, in preparation for political conversations between the two leaders. Both were seated ritually in their respective seats (one of gold, one of silver), in the presence of their respective deities (wak’as). Itier (1993:146–147) proposes the following translation of the mallku’s words: cam Cuzco capaca/qam Qusqu qhapaqqa/You, king of Cuzco, ñuca Colla capaca/ñuqa Qulla qhapaqqa/I, king of the Colla, hupyasu/upyasun/let us drink, micussu/mikhusun/let us eat, rimassu/rimasun/let us speak.

The gestures made by Chuchi Qhapaq can be qualified as “insolent”: he allows himself (in the story) to be placed in a position of superiority relative to the Inka, inviting him to drink rather than waiting to be invited, and draws a “false” 203

Figure 11.1 (Plate 16). Toasts between the Inka and the lord of the Qulla (Qiru VA63959, Ethnologisches Museum, Berlin, in

Wichrowska and Ziółkowski 2000).

equivalence of deities and types of seating. This brief account illustrates several key ways in which ritual toasts and the objects used for them were intimately tied to the strategies of alliance-making, domination, and expansion in the Andes. The memory of this encounter and the gesture of sharing a ritual drink was also recorded in visual texts that circulated during the colonial period on the decorated sides of qirus, the same kind of cups that the Inka and the Qhapaq Qulla used for their drinks. In fact, several of these wooden cups can invoke the memory of that event (see figure 11.1; plate 16).1 Both leaders can be seen seated with their respective retinues of soldiers, servants, and women serving the fermented beverage chicha. While each leader holds a single cup in his hand, another figure between them, slightly elevated, holds two qiru cups in his hands, appearing to toast the sun. This shows that the act of toasting involves the interventions of deities, authorities, and other figures and escorts, including women. Other colonial Andean accounts (oral or visual) have also emphasized this ritual gesture instead of focusing on the battles engaged in with the Inka. Recalling the expansion of the Inka across the Altiplano, in 1555 a group of elder Aymara leaders described to Spanish chronicler Cieza de León the ritual act through which Qari, an Aymara mallku 204

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from the “upper half ” (Arajjsaya) of the Lupaqa kingdom, acknowledged the reign of Wiraqucha Inka: And then, in the presence of the most important persons there, Viracoche Ynga ordered a great golden drinking vessel brought and they paid homage together in this way: they drank a sip of the wine the women had, and then the Ynga took the cup mentioned and, placing it on a very flat stone, said: “the sign shall be this, that this cup is here, and do not move it or touch it as a sign that what is agreed to is true.” And kissing the earth, they paid reverence to the sun and they performed a great taqui [chant] and areyto [story-dance] with much sound; and the priests, saying certain words, took the cup to one of the temple openings, where they swore the same oaths as for the kings and the lords. (Cieza de León: 1986–1987 [1550], chap. 43:127–128; my translation)

As indicated, this ritual gesture of invitation was not innocuous in Andean diplomatic practices. The one who offered a drink assumed a superior position, while the one who received the courtesy (the invitation to drink) recognized his subordination. This single act, possibly enacted without words, was centered on the cups they drank from and the ritual

gestures used to invite the other party. The term for these objects and gestures was upyana (“upyasun, let us drink,” said Chuchi Qhapaq to Wiraqucha Inka), which reveals the conceptual complexity that surrounded this process of sharing drink.2 The same cups appear again in an honored position as the ritual of submission conducted by Qari continued. Once the toasts were completed, in the midst of a series of choreographed musical acts (“they performed a great taqui and areyto with much sound”), laden with significance and meaning, the cups were taken to a temple where they were left as a political testament to Qari’s “oath” or submission to Wiraqucha Inka. That event was likely the closing act of a long negotiation that may have included prior alliances and threats that eventually led to the consolidation of Inka rule over Qullasuyu. The political use of these cups known today as qirus in the process of Inka conquest and domination was documented by various Spanish chroniclers of the time. As Cummins (2004) has pointed out, the cups were among the gifts that the Inka ambassadors brought to the indigenous lords, who had to submit to the new rulers or risk being defeated on the battlefield: The way in which these Inkas conquered and ruled was, upon arriving in a province, they sent their messengers to the curaca [ruler, lord] and lords of the realm, and making them understand that what they intended was to keep them and hold them under the rule of law and justice, and defend them from any harm and from any who wished to wage war against them; and informed them that the Inka was the son of the Sun God, who had sent him and wished to favor them; and if they allowed this, they would see him, and if they did not, all would die. And thus the highest caciques [rulers, lords] and lords choose peace, and the Inka gave them favors and gifts of golden cups and clothing from Cuzco. (Santillán 1968 [1563]:105; my translation, emphasis added)

Another early testament shows how the Inka established distinctions in their alliances through the different materialities of the cups and recognized different local leaders according to their “status and quality”:3

They sent for . . . some cups of gold or silver or wood, depending on who the recipient was, and gave the clothing they had with them or brought from elsewhere, to endow more prestige and favor, according to who the recipient was, and ordered that the clothing and other things they had brought from that province be given to the principal lords and curacas, to each one according to his status and quality. (Falcón 1867 [1567]: 7:472; my translation)

It is important to note that the political use of qiru cups was not only practiced by the Inka but also part of the political culture of the Aymara mallkus. Indeed, that may be why the toasts and acts performed later between the Qari and Wiraqucha Inka were so powerful: And as all loathed the power that the Inka had over them, without having done any harm or mistreatment or tyranny or excesses to them, so that their governors and delegates could not understand it, together in Hatuncollao and in Chuquito, where Cari and Zapana and Umalla and the lord of Azángaro and many others were to be found, they made their oath in the blindness of their intention and determination; and to reaffirm the agreement, they drank with a cup all of them together and ordered that it be placed in a temple among the sacred objects, as a testament to what had been said. (Cieza de León 1986–1987 [1550], part II, chap. 53:154–155; my translation, emphasis added)

It is difficult to comprehend some of the facets of the Inka political and symbolic maneuvers without including the role played by the qirus and ritual toasts in that analysis. To date, however, more importance has been placed on the presence of urpus (Inka flared rim jars) or aríbalos and other ceramic vessels made to hold chicha, to highlight that drinking rituals were performed, sometimes omitting the importance of the drinking cups themselves in those rituals. The cups allow for differentiation on the basis of their size and materials but above all because of the images or visual texts inscribed on their surfaces (discussed later). Apparently, the cups were so important among Inka emblems that records of them endured long after the European invasion. A fine example of this is found in a sermon prepared by Francisco de Ávila.

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a

c

b

Figure 11.2. Qiru styles: (a) qiru in the style of the Altiplano tradition, MAM 7510 (photo courtesy of Museo de América);

(b) qiru with smooth walls, Museo Tilcara (UBA) 1783 (photo by Axel Nielsen); (c) qiru 479, in the Cuzco-Inka style, with incised linear decoration; from the collection of the Museo Regional de Iquique (photo courtesy of Helena Horta).

The priest tried to convince his Indigenous audience that the Inka were a thing of the past, urging them to forget the Inka and reminding them of their symbolic defeat by Christianity: And now, after all that is finished, nothing is left. What is left of the Inka, who used to be so feared? What about their silver, and gold? Their royal attire? Their drinking cups? Their fields? Their palaces? Their women? We don’t even recall their names now. (Ávila 1648 sermon, fol. 43; translated in Cummins 2007:272)

In the Quechua version of the same sermon, the objects the priest referred to are identified more precisely as qumpi (fine cloth), akillas (silver metal cups), and qirus. Chaymantari llapam ymahIncaccapas ppuchucan, manam yntallapas tacyanchu. ¿Maymi cunan ñaupachica manchafscca Yncacuna? ¿Maymi collqquen, ccorin? ¿Toccapuccompincuna, aquillan, querun, chacran, hatun huacin, huarmicuna?

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Mana ñam futillantapas yachachicchhtlu [sic]. (Ávila 1648 sermon, fol. 43; cited in Cummins 2007: 272; emphasis added)

Considering the obvious political importance of these cups, I wish to offer a view of the power and domination strategies of the Inka and Qullasuyu based on the problems that those qirus present. Moreover, as several scholars have indicated (Baena 1994; Cordy-Collins 1996; Cummins 2007; Espoueys 1974; Flores Ochoa et al. 1998), both the qirus and the akillas were cups whose form, at least, seems to have originated in the Southern Andes even before the Middle Horizon (Anderson 2008) then spread later to other areas. They were widely used by ethnic authorities up to the time of the European invasion. As Horta (2013) has indicated, an Altiplano (Aymara?) tradition seems to have been characterized by cups with feline figures engraved onto one of their edges (see figure 11.2a). Nielsen (this volume) has demonstrated that in some chullpas (funerary towers) in the Lípez region, all of them pre-Inka, fragments of qirus

have been found with smooth, unadorned surfaces (see figure 11.2b), which could point to a different stylistic tradition as yet undefined, although its existence was noted by Rowe (2003 [1961]:312). The wak’a of Porco also had qirus for his service, even though I cannot affirm whether or not they were from the Altiplano tradition or were part of the Inka offerings to a deity that was important enough to ensure the abundance of silver ore.4 What evidence do we have of the use of Inka qirus in Qullasuyu? In Arica (Chile), for example, Inka qirus with linear decorations belonging to what Rowe (2003 [1961]) defined as the Inka style have been excavated from graves in the Playa Miller 4 and Chaca 5 cemeteries (Espoueys 1974; Horta 2013; Núñez 1963). Another qiru (MT 1574) was found at the Doncellas site (Jujuy), decorated with linear incisions. For his part, Nielsen excavated a pair of qirus at the Chuquilla site (now Santiago K) in Lípez (Potosí Department), also in the Inka style (see figure 11.3a), from a communal grave in a small cave holding approximately 40 individuals. The qirus were part of a set of grave goods that also

a

included Inka Period ceramics and pieces of metal (Axel E. Nielsen, personal communication, 2016). In the community of Soraga (Quillacas, Bolivia), three pairs of qiru cups are still in use today, at least one of which is clearly prehispanic Inka (see figure 11.3b). They were removed from a series of seven underground tombs located underneath the presentday town (Mora and Goytía 2016). Apart from these tombs in what is now northern Chile and the Bolivian Altiplano, it is clear that the majority of the cups—especially those studied from the Pacajes and Carangas regions—appear in the lintels or interiors of the funerary towers that the Altiplano Aymara call chullpas (Gisbert 1999; Kesseli and Pärssinen 2005; Lima 2012; Pärssinen 2005). In the interior of chullpa No. 10 (Mayachullpa) at the site of Cerro Huaraca, near Caquiaviri, Pärssinen (2005) found fragments of a wooden qiru that could be in the Altiplano style, defined by Horta (2013) based on its typology, and not Inka style, as its walls are smooth and display the highlighted middle band typical of the former style. Apparently, the qiru was among a group

b

Figure 11.3. Inka qiru styles: (a) pair of qirus excavated from an Inka tomb in Chuquilla-Lípez (photo [top] courtesy of Axel

Nielsen; drawing [bottom] based on photo); (b) qiru currently called wara wara of prehispanic manufacture in the Inka style; community of Soraga-Oruro (in Mora and Goytía 2016).

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of offerings or ritual materials that also included ceramic pieces (some of them Inka-Pacajes) and even a lawraqi (hair ornament) made of copper or bronze (Pärssinen 2005:143). Lima (personal communication, 2016) found a fragment of an Inka qiru in a chullpa in Huachacalla, in Sabaya (see figure 11.4). Several funerary towers have a variable quantity of embedded qirus on their lintels, although the most common number of cups found is two or four.5 Up to seven orifices for qirus can be found on each lintel in the chullpas of Wayllani–Kuntur Amaya (Lauca River). It seems remarkable and relevant to the discussion here that not only the adobe chullpas have embedded qirus; several stone chullpas also have orifices for qirus in their lintels (Kesseli and Pärssinen 2005). That represents a much greater investment in technology and labor, pointing to the significant association between funerary monuments and toasting cups. In addition to the decorated chullpas on the Lauca River (see figure 11.5), which have orifices for qirus in their lintels (Gisbert 1999:

a

figures 11.1, 11.2, and 11.5), Lima (2012:53) describes a similar situation at sites in Carangas: Pukara Chullpa and PSJ-41, an Inka site located east of the Nevado Sajama volcano (Lima 2012: 53). Kesseli and Pärssinen (2005) refer to chullpas with orifices for qirus at the sites of Pirapi Grande and Pirapi Chico and at Chosi Kani, all in Pacajes. In both cases the chullpas are made of stone. One important feature for the discussion here is that in all or virtually all these cases the qirus are in chullpas that contain local-Inka ceramics, in chullpas with stone architecture displaying a degree of Inka influence or contemporaneity, or in chullpas with a kind of exterior decoration evocative of Cuzco-type designs (Gisbert 1999:28; Kesseli and Pärssinen 2005:400; Pärssinen 2005:129). Without archaeological or documentary contexts that could provide greater clarity about their precise provenience, we can still make reference to the wooden qirus found in some of the museums in the region, from nearby sites. The museum of Tilcara (Argentina), for example, has four prehispanic

b

Figure 11.4. Qirus from chullpas: (a) fragment of a qiru found at Mayachullpa, with highlighted middle

band, possibly in the Altiplano style (based on Pärssinen 2005: 114, figure 82); (b) fragment of an Inka qiru with linear incisions found in a chullpa in Huachacalla (photo courtesy of Pilar Lima, ABC Project).

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qirus, at least one of which is catalogued as having come from Santa Catalina, a place in Los Chichas, where an Inka presence has been identified (Axel Nielsen, personal communication, 2016). Similarly, the Museo Regional de Iquique (Chile) has other examples of qirus, also Inka, with linear incised decorations, while the Museo de Colchagua (Chile) has another qiru identified as having come from San Pedro de Atacama. This last qiru (MC-02350) has an AMS date from the Beta Analytic Laboratory (Beta-430040: MC8-02350) of 570 +/- 30 BP (calibrated with 95 percent probability: AD 1395 to 1440 [Cal BP 555 to 510]; see figure 11.6). Finally, the presence and use of these cups has also been recorded in the testimonials of several mallkus as early as the sixteenth century. Pedro Chirima, the principal cacique “huri saya de las cotas” (of the lower half of Cota territory) in 1584, declared that among his objects of value were several “cocos” made of silver (Del Río 2010:214).6 Furthermore, in Sonqo, in 1569, the local authorities were reported for hiding their wealth, as they drank from “golden and silver mate [cups]” (Dávila de Cangas and Otazu 1991 [1568–1570]:246). Although these cups were gold or silver, they performed the same function; as noted, various materials were apparently employed to highlight the different hierarchical positions of local ethnic authorities or their degree of closeness to the Cuzco rulers. The list of examples and sites is long, of course, but the evidence summarized here seems sufficient to demonstrate the presence of Cuzco qirus in different societies of Inka Qullasuyu. We can thus conclude that these objects were widely distributed in Qullasuyu during the Late Horizon as well as being cups with their own local tradition. Notably, with just two exceptions that display non-Cuzco iconography, these qirus had significant Cuzco-style linear incised decorations, which could be used as an effective identifying feature to indicate the presence of direct relations between local elites and the symbolic and ritual-political apparatus of the Inka. But the question is how qiru cups can help us better understand the sophisticated fabric of ideological and symbolic relations, alliances, and negotiations constructed by the Inka, mallkus, and other local rulers as they strove to coexist in Tawantinsuyu. Above all, considering that the Inka gave qirus as gifts and used them in many other places, what singular or particular aspects can contribute to this reflection on Tawantinsuyu from Qullasuyu?7

Figure 11.5. Decorated chullpa at Willa Kollu site 4 (Lauca

River, Pacajes), with qirus embedded in the lintel (photo courtesy of Gilles Rivière).

From Tawantinsuyu: Qirus, Ritual Drinking, and Visual Texts

Evidently, the qirus were closely linked to a specific ritual and political practice: the reciprocity-based drink, in which one of the parties was obliged to offer the toast and the other party to accept it. That toast was aimed at establishing or reaffirming alliances (albeit asymmetrical) with ethnic rulers. Qirus were made and used in pairs, as confirmed by those excavated by Nielsen in Chuquilla as well as those currently in use in Soraga. In regard to the rituals conducted by the Inka with local groups in both administrative and ceremonial centers, the ingestion of chicha has been described too exhaustively to reiterate here (Hayashida 2008; Randall 1993). Also, while local Inka ceramic forms in the

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Figure 11.6. Qiru MC-02350, Museo de Colchagua (photo

by J. L. Martínez, FONDECYT Project 1130431).

Aymara Altiplano come in a wide variety, aríbalos predominate—precisely the vessels used to store, transport, and serve the very same beverages (Bray 2004, 2008b) that were served in qirus. Thus, the qiru cups complete our understanding of a practice that was essential in ensuring Inka domination and the symbolic recognition of Inka control. We should therefore add qirus to the Inka ceremonial plazas and kallankas (great halls) already widely described for many parts of Qullasuyu. However, qirus were much more than functional objects used for ritual toasts. Their surfaces were profusely decorated. In a previous work (Martínez 2016) I addressed their close visual and conceptual relation with other visual communication systems such as Inka textiles and ceramics, with which they shared organizational principles, visual concepts, and even signifiers. In the same vein, Cummins (2007, 2015) proposed that the Inka visual system expressed Inka conceptions of power and memory. The qirus, therefore, were one of the supports used by the Inka to circulate their organizational principles, narratives of power, and memories. We are dealing here not simply with decorative images but rather with visual texts loaded with 210

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content. Although we do not yet know the significance of most of the visual signs inscribed on the qirus, proposals have been put forward that shed light on the powerful messages received by those who were treated to these gifts. As Cummins (2004) rightly noted, they were texts for domination and remembrance, for circulating the memory of the Inka and their discourses of power among the groups incorporated into Tawantinsuyu. To date, interpretations have been proposed for three of these visual signifiers: the concentric square motif, the face-arms motif, and the chuku, or Cuzco helmet, motif (see figures 11.7, 11.8, and 11.9). The first two motifs are both found abundantly on Inka-style qirus and appear on the cups discovered in Qullasuyu.8 The first motif (figure 11.7) is a representation of the doors or caves of Tampu T’uqu or Paqareq Tampu, the paqarina (mythical place of origin of the Inka), according to the drawing of this same place made by Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamaygua in 1613 (Bray 2000:176; Cummins 2007:293, 2015:185; Horta 2016). The second motif is a schematicfigurative representation of a series of heads and arms (see figure 11.8). Cummins (2004:142ff.) suggested that this design could represent decapitated heads, exhibited ritually as a threat to groups that were in the process of being incorporated into the empire, which seems highly significant in the context of this discussion. An alternative interpretation for this motif (Martínez C. et al. 2016:453) is based on a brief description of an “idol” brought by Viceroy Francisco de Toledo to Spain in 1582, which consisted of a “wooden guaca [wak’a], which is a head and an arm, of blackish wood” (Julien 1999: appendix II, 4753). Whether this was a visual signifier of what could happen to those who resisted the Inka or a replica of a specific deity whose name is unknown, both cases clearly link the signifier with certain aspects of Inka power and practices. The third motif is also clearly related to representations of Inka power. The chuku motifs often signified the ruling Inka. They appear thus in the wall painting of Ollantaytambo that Manqu Inka ordered to be made as a representation of himself and his weapons (Guaman Poma de Ayala 1616: fol. 406) and also appear in the decorations adorning the palace that Sayri Thupa ordered built in Cuzco (see figure 11.9b; plate 17b) (Falcón Huayta 2010; Martínez C. 2016).

The presence of these visual texts on qiru cups seems to have been complementary, a kind of mutually reinforcing enunciation of those appearing on ceramics with the same origin. Bray (2004) and González C. (2013) emphasized the presence of compositional structures very central to Inka political thought, such as tripartition and quadripartition. Furthermore, Bray (2004) suggested that the Cuzco-made aríbalo jars that circulated in the regions ruled by Cuzco display biaxial patterns that allude to an iconography representing Inka lineages and genealogies. For her part, González C. (2013) demonstrated how several of these iconographic patterns and motifs also spread to Inka-Diaguita ceramics, in a clear demonstration of the influence of a genuine visual representation system for Inka power and memory, following Cummins (2007,

2015). As Saignes (1993:58ff.) has noted, drinking— and getting drunk—in the Andes was part of the process of activating memory. Drinking was accompanied by dances (takis) performed when Qari accepted Inka rule. These were dances of memory and activation in local traditions with bodies that made local stories operational through movement, music, and colors. It is in those contexts of social and collective lucidness activated simultaneously by drink and expressions of music and dance that the images from the Cuzco qiru cups were deployed, circulating from hand to hand while toasts were made. We are thus in the presence of a visual display oriented toward popularizing Inka stories and categories. Could it perhaps be a process of socializing the

a

b

Figure 11.7. Tampu T’uqu motifs: (a) concentric square motif, Museo Inka, MoMac 316 (drawing by Clara Yáñez, FONDECYT

Project 1130431); (b) detail of the representation of the three windows (t’uqu) from which the Inka and their relatives emerged at the Tampu T’uqu site. In order of importance, Tampo Ttoco (Tampu T’uqu), the principal; Maras Ttoco (Maras T’uqu), the second; and Sutic Ttoco (Sutiq T’uqu), the last (based on Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamaygua 1993 [1613?]:198).

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Figure 11.8. Qiru with incised motifs of heads and arms,

MChAP mas 3693 (photo by J. L. Martínez, FONDECYT Project 1130431).

subjugated peoples with Inka values and memory, as also suggested by Bray (2000:169)? From Qullasuyu: Negotiating Images through Qirus and “Dressed” Chullpas

As noted, a significant number of wooden qirus in Qullasuyu have been found in both stone and adobe Aymara chullpas of the Altiplano. Also as indicated, the chullpas were funerary towers used particularly by the Aymara mallkus (“the aforenamed have properties and houses and tombs known from Inka times, that only the principal lords and chiefs had them and not individual Indians” [Platt et al. 2006:770]). Colonial documents suggest that they performed several functions, from funerary rites to those related to ancestor worship, and even served as boundary markers between different ethnic groups (Del Río 2005:93).

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Qirus have been found from Puno, south of Lake Titicaca, to Charcas (Gisbert 1999; Gyarmati and Condarco 2014; Kesseli and Pärssinen 2005; Lima 2014; Pärssinen 2005).9 Both Lima (2014:66), in Carangas, and Gyarmati and Condarco (2014:134), in Soras, noted the proximity and potential linkage of several of these chullpas to the Inka administrative centers that were installed in the region. Oral testimonials collected in the sixteenth century confirm that they continued to be built during Inka rule: two tombs were built for Tata Paria, the mallku of the Qaraqara, probably during the reign of Thupa Inka Yupanki or Wayna Qhapaq (Platt et al. 2006:772–773). I would like to focus now on the problems presented by a small selection of qirus, including the curious relationship between towers decorated with Inka motifs and Cuzco-style qiru cups placed in recessed lintels (see figure 11.4). This seems to occur in the territories in which the hamlets of Pakasa and Karanka were located, in the western Altiplano, although other decorated chullpas have been identified in Markawi (Soraga ayllu, Quillacas), but their deteriorated condition has thus far made it impossible to determine whether they also bore designs similar to those found on Inka textiles and whether or not they had embedded qirus (Gerardo Mora, personal communication, 2016).10 It is necessary to differentiate pre-Inka Aymara chullpas—some of which were also decorated (at the site of Milluni in Caquiaviri, for example: Pärssinen 2005), but without recessed qirus—from those analyzed here, which are decorated with Inka textile motifs and do have embedded qirus. Notably, not all chullpas from the Inka Horizon bore this kind of decoration.11 Decorated chullpas, especially those near the Lauca River in the territory of the Karanka, are widely known thanks to the pioneering work of Gisbert (1999). According to Gisbert (1999) and Pärssinen (2005), the exterior designs on those chullpas are derived from Inka textiles, specifically from motifs found on unku tunics, the principal item of clothing worn by Inka men. The chullpa of Willa Kollu (site 4; see figure 11.5) bears a design similar to an unku found in Arica, and other chullpas also have known textile points of reference (see figure 11.10a–d; plate 18). We do not know when the Aymara began to embed qirus on the openings of some Altiplano chullpas. Several of those studied by Pärssinen

a

b

Figure 11.9 (Plate 17). Chuku motifs: (a) qiru with a central band of chuku (helmet) motifs (Museo Arqueológico Universidad

Nacional de San Agustín, Arequipa) (drawing by Clara Yáñez, FONDECYT Project 1130431); (b) detail of one of the chukus painted at the palace of Sayri Thupa (photo by Marco Arenas, FONDECYT Project 1130431).

(2005) and by Lima (2014), which have been dated to the Late Intermediate Period, do not show evidence that these cups had been incorporated into the “intimate” architecture of these funerary structures. In the studies of pre-Inka Aymara funerary practices, no presence of embedded qirus has been noted. That may have been a new practice. It is likely that both the incorporation of qirus and the textile designs on the chullpas were contemporary with Inka rule of the region. The embedded qirus have been found in decorated chullpas in all cases that I have observed (with the exception of stone chullpas). Cummins (2004:199) revealed this association between qirus and textiles by recording that both of them were frequently offered together as gifts by the Inka. It is suggestive that fixing embedded qirus in place in a given structure was not an Inka funerary practice. The cups of Chuquilla (see figure 11.3a) come from an underground Inka tomb. Those found in the tombs of subterranean chambers with stone walls and stone slabs on the surface to seal them date from the same period and even later, as described for the site of Mayachullpa in Pacajes (Pärssinen 2005:146) as well as Quillacas Soraga ayllu (Mora and Goytía 2016). At least in the case of Quillacas, the Inka qirus and ceramic sherds found suggest that these were Inka tombs. But there the qirus were deposited rather than positioned among the stones of the chambers. And the known cups with feline decoration, from an Inka tomb in Ollantaytambo, were also part of the grave goods left with the mummy of the dignitary entombed there. During the Inka Period, the wak’as and mummies of rulers had a set of grave goods for their

service, used during ceremonies and on occasions when the mummies were removed and displayed. Outside of the tombs, those assembled offered toasts to the deceased with those same serving vessels. The relationship between the textiles and cups for the dead or for the deities was ratified by the visit of the Inka Wayna Qhapaq to the houses of the Sun, where “he asked for an accounting of the cups that each had and the clothing, to serve and clothe the statue of the Sun” (Betanzos 2015 [1551], chapter 41:300). This type of practice was also described by Matienzo (1967 [1567]:129; my translation, emphasis added) for Qullasuyu, from the city of Chuquisaca: And thus, the Indians of this realm were accustomed to burying, with the bodies of the caciques and high lords, cups of gold and silver from which they drank, and a lot more silver and gold and precious stones and clothing of great value, and they buried alive the women who were dearest to them, and their offspring, because they believed that they would be resuscitated—those who were buried along with the dead—and would have to serve them with the mates (gourd cups) and cups they left there, and those graves were called in the general language of the Indians chullpa or aya, although the common folk usually called them huacas.

Both Inka and Aymara sources describe a set of grave goods, not textile motifs or objects that were part of the structure of the funerary towers themselves. As offerings, the textiles and cups could be removed from the burial chamber and used from time to time. In contrast, as parts of the structure,

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b a

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d

Figure 11.10 (Plate 18). Chullpas with Inka textile designs: (a) chullpa decorated with an X-shaped design, Lauca River,

with four embedded qirus (photo by Constanza Tocornal, Fondecyt Project 1130431); (b) Inka unku tunic with an X-shaped cross design (Museo Arqueológico San Miguel de Azapa, Arica, in Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino [1985:46–47]); (c) chullpa on the Lauca River with rows of diamond decorations and two embedded qirus (photo courtesy of Gilles Riviere); (d) Inka unku with a similar design (Cleveland Museum 1977.35.10).

the images and cups were made components of the architecture. Therefore, everything seems to indicate that this new type of funerary practice belongs to the Inka period in the zone, although we have no evidence that the Inka themselves imposed it. A second problem emerges from the funerary structures. According to analyses published by Pärssinen (2005), the decorative technique used for the funerary structures—making blocks of adobe with colored earth or coloring them with dyes (not painting them or plastering the surface later)—can be identified in pre-Inka periods.12 A chullpa at Cerro Huaraca (Caquiaviri, Pacajes) (Pärssinen 2005:128) displays a type of design suggesting a possible Aymara textile motif, composed of fine horizontal lines in white and black (figure 11.11). As Pärssinen notes, these kinds of motifs are also found on Caquiaviri ceramics from the Late Intermediate Period, before the Inka ruled this territory. The chullpas with Inka textile designs, in contrast, combine red, white, and up to four colors in some cases. Once again, this architectural technique was not part of Inka models and thus leads to a question: What were these Cuzco signifiers doing on funerary towers constructed by Aymara experts for Aymara mallkus? In principle, we would have to abandon the idea of coaction: externally imposed actions that would have covered the tombs after the fact with the symbols of Inka power. The state sought to impose its signs of power on buildings that were sacred to the Aymara population. To reiterate, these were buildings likely constructed by the Pakasa or Karanka themselves for their own traditional authorities. Were the mallkus “dressed” or covered with Inka clothing and objects? This possibility is suggested in the plate entitled “Entierro de Collasuyos” (Burial of Qullasuyu) by Guaman Poma (1616: fol. 293), which depicts a figure toasting with a pair of qirus a mummy displayed outside of a stone chullpa. The mummy is wearing an Aymara headdress and emblems, but his unku tunic has a central band with the Inka stepped motif. Was this a political practice that expressed adhesion to Tawantinsuyu? It is possible that these were negotiated images, used by the mallkus to reinforce or enhance their internal legitimacy, a visual message oriented to the Aymara themselves.

Figure 11.11. Chullpa decorated with what may be an

Aymara textile design (Pärssinen 2005:128).

Just as the body of an ancestor lends substance to a historic presence, so do these structures simultaneously house the body and exhibit part of its social and political history by means of Inka objects and their designs. Here history is not painted. It is manifested in material objects and their designs. (Cummins 2004:199)

Another aspect of the chullpas reinforces this possibility: the orientation of their openings toward the east, which has been interpreted as an Inka feature. As Platt et al. (2006:77) note, along with the new cult of the Sun came Illapa, Wiraqucha, and likely other Inka deities. But other openings are oriented toward major mountains of the region, such as Tata Sajama, which is an important mallku (mountain lord) even today (Lima 2014:53). As the qirus ensured the continuity of ritual toasting not only among human beings but with the deities too,

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the toasts may also have been directed toward local deities in a new symbolic and political display that added new social and symbolic spheres to those of their own non-Inka deities. Those mallkus would therefore be using the sum of two legitimacies, joined together into a single funerary structure in a sacred space marked by the presence of several chullpas. I suggest that these chullpas were dressed like Inka but had the bodies of Aymara lords inside (who were probably dressed in their own ethnic attire), thereby insinuating that Inka legitimacy had been added to the legitimacy that the Altiplano ethnic lords already possessed. From that perspective, Inka rule would not have meant a diminishing of power and authority as conceived in local terms but rather its confirmation and expansion. Thus we could be witnessing a local practice of self-affirmation that may have been unrelated to Cuzco policy. Finally, we must address the chullpas as entities in themselves, a possibility proposed by Nielsen (this volume). Thus, the textiles could be used to dress the mummies and the cups to toast them and those present. The decorated chullpas and embedded qirus therefore represent a kind of metaphor that invokes those practices but also seems to allude to other symbolic dimensions. Their external form appears to display another subtle modification: the shape of the access portal is not rectangular as before but triangular, evoking the V-neck typically found on unkus.13 Gisbert (1999:31) proposed that this was an “additional wrapping” for the bodies deposited there, like a burial blanket. But the detail of the neckline and the location of designs that also evoke the distribution patterns found on Inka textiles suggest instead that these chullpas were dressed. The architecture itself acquires its own symbolic dimension. The chullpa itself—as a body or entity—possesses its own attire and cups for toasting; that is why those cups are embedded into it and not deposited in its interior for the deceased to use.14 The chullpa itself is dressed in Inka textiles, and the embedded qirus (which cannot be removed and used in a ritual without the risk of destroying them) suggest that this tomb-body can also drink. It seems to me that this symbolic move is quite similar to those we have seen previously—an earlier form and a symbolic universe of the Aymara’s own that acquired a new dimension in Aymara hands during Tawantinsuyu rule, communicated new messages, and likely acquired a certain autonomy 216

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from the mallkus deposited in their interiors. Is it possible that the chullpas were transformed into yet another political “actor,” sacred in the local universe under Tawantinsuyu rule and that those chullpas also negotiated a relationship with the Inka? Conclusions

Some things appear evident even from this brief overview. On the one hand, the qirus were effectively employed as part of the diplomatic and political practices aimed at establishing alliances with groups newly incorporated into Qullasuyu and maintaining existing relations with those who had already been conquered. As we have seen, it is not right to exclude the qirus from the set of politically symbolic objects used in those negotiations, as textiles also occupied a position of note. In my view, the picture becomes even clearer if certain ceramic forms, especially the aríbalo jars and other vessels used to hold chicha, are included as well. All of these items were used in rituals in which the reciprocal toast was a central political and symbolic gesture, while archaeological evidence of the distribution of Inka and local-Inka styles of ceramics with Cuzco designs suggests that they had an equally political character: they were used by elites during certain rituals associated with the Inka State in Qullasuyu. On the other hand, these qirus, textiles, and ceramic vessels also have something in common that in my opinion seems much more relevant than their mere presence in these rituals. All of them bore images, visual texts through which strategies of control, production, and circulation seem to have developed. In effect, these objects would have helped disseminate the iconography of the Inka State among local groups, which not only was based on Inka visual conventions but also, in terms of content, referred directly to memory and the characteristics of Inka power. From this last perspective, we can appreciate how the display of these images was part of what I would dare to propose was a Cuzco policy of introducing Inka visual languages with their full ideological content among subjugated groups. Other Inka communication practices are not addressed in this analysis, such as Inka rock art, which was also used in Qullasuyu (Berenguer 2013; Sepúlveda 2004, 2008) and choreographed musical displays (takis,

jarawis [commemorative dances], and other sung stories). We have some colonial-period evidence of these for the zone (Arzáns de Orsúa y Vela 1965 [1735]). If we take them into consideration, then this interpretation appears even more compelling. At the same time, and still more striking, we see how local groups maintained a certain autonomy while appropriating and deploying Inka practices for their own purposes (the decorated chullpas with their embedded qirus). Thus, we are witnessing not a Tawantinsuyu that simply dominated and extracted surplus value and wealth, but rather a state that was obliged to negotiate, to apply different strategies and accept or concede certain political and symbolic spaces at the local and/or regional level. Notes I owe much more than acknowledgments to all of my friends and colleagues who generously and affectionately shared materials, ideas, and knowledge with me. I offer my appreciation and heartfelt thanks to Axel Nielsen, Helena Horta, Pilar Lima, Pablo Cruz, José Berenguer R., and Paola González. I also wish to acknowledge the outstanding contribution made by my students in the seminar “Los Inkas y la historia del Tawantinsuyu” (part of the Universidad de Chile’s History Licentiate Program) to the preparation of this manuscript. They put up with my questions, initial setbacks, and need to share my ideas. Their questions and skepticism helped me rethink several of the issues addressed herein. I also wish to thank my colleagues in the many museums I have visited to study these qirus, who opened their doors and their collections to me. The list would be too long to name them individually here, but my thanks go out to each and every one. Finally, I express my appreciation for FONDECYT Project 1130431, which funded my investigation. 1. The same scene appears on qirus DA 38 Bonner AltamerikaSammlung (Universität Bonn) and UNSA 158 Yábar, in the Museo Arqueológico de la Universidad Nacional de San Agustín (Arequipa). 2. Reciprocity and the gesture of inviting a guest to drink are embodied in the terms upiachini (to give drink to, or make [another] drink) and upiapucuni (to help to drink) (Anonymous 2014 [1586]:175). According to González Holguín (1989 [1608]:356), upiapucuni was also “to drink what another had given, or at the behest of another, or one who is a foreigner.” Santo Tomás (1951 [1560]:371) affirmed that upiachic also meant “cup-holder, the official charged with holding the cups.” Murúa (2004 [1590]:130 [fol. 54v, Galvin manuscript]; my translation) also referred to the importance of this official: “the cup-holder was one of the very central orejones [elites] that I have already named before, and the person who holds

this office is called ancosanaimasi, which means the same as cup-holder.” 3. For further analysis, see Bray 2012. 4. Archivo General de Indias, Charcas 79, no. 19, 1602, in Platt et al. (2006:185). 5. Pilar Lima, personal communication, 2016. 6. Cocos is one of the terms that the Spaniards used to refer to qirus. 7. For an updated review of other aspects of the Inka presence in Qullasuyu, see Pärssinen 2015. 8. Julien (2004: plate XXIII) presented a fragment of a ceramic qiru with the head-and-arms motif found in Hatunqolla. The concentric square motif appears in Qiru 479 (Museo Regional Iquique) and on another found at the Playa Miller 4 site. 9. I have excluded from this analysis the Lípez chullpas that Nielsen analyzes in this same volume, precisely because he affirms that not all of them had a funerary function. 10. Gyarmati and Condarco (2014) describe chullpas near the Inka adminstrative center of Paria la Vieja, in Los Soras, but do not indicate whether they were decorated or not. 11. Of the 93 towers identified in the project “Conservación de los chullpares polícromos del Río Lauca—Bolivia” (Conservation of the polychrome burial towers of the Lauca River— Bolivia) of the World Monument Fund (WMF), only 39 had the kind of decoration that I am discussing here. See the project report (in Spanish) at https://www.wmf.org/sites /default/files/article/pdfs/Rio%20Lauca%20Publication.pdf. 12. For a more detailed description of this technique, see the WMF report cited in note 11. 13. Thanks to Sophie Desrosiers for calling my attention to this detail. 14. According to the people living near the chullpas in Caquiaviri, several of these towers even have their own names (Pärssinen 2005).

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Chapter 12

The Role of Chullpas in the Inka Conquest of the Southern Altiplano A Symmetrical Approach Axel E. Nielsen

Freestanding towers and domed chambers commonly known as chullpas in the archaeological literature are among the best-known material remains of the late prehispanic period in the Andean highlands. These structures, mainly used as sepulchers, show significant variability in form, raw material, and size, but their great visibility, together with the effort and care invested in their construction, leaves no doubt about their great importance for Andean people. Nonetheless, the roles that these monuments played in late prehispanic society remain somewhat elusive. Archaeologists have proposed that they were elite burials (Duchesne and Chacama 2012; Kesselli and Pärssinen 2005), mausolea for kinship groups (Duchesne 2005), open sepulchers where ayllu (lineage) members could interact with the bodies of their founding ancestors (Isbell 1997), or territorial markers (Hyslop 1977). These interpretations are not exclusive and may even represent regional variations of a widespread phenomenon. They relate chullpas to ancestor veneration and to the role of these cults in legitimating authority and territorial rights in a context in which political hierarchies and access to key resources (land, water, pastures) were probably threatened (Bouysse-Cassagne and Chacama 2012; Isbell 1997; Mantha 2009; Pärssinen 2005; Tantaleán 2006). Archaeological data from the Southern Andes, however, suggest that the common assumption that chullpas were sepulchers may not capture how these monuments fulfilled their social functions in practice. Debenedetti (1930), for example, reported the presence of chambers in the caves of the San Juan Mayo area (on the Argentina-Bolivia frontier) but could not establish that they were used as sepulchers. The human remains he observed in several caves were not found inside the chullpas but rather next to them. Chambers built in caves were used as graves in the Upper Loa River and Atacama Oases of northern Chile, but chullpa towers were 221

Figure 12.1. Location of the main chullpa sites mentioned

in the text.

not (Aldunate and Castro 1981). In their seminal research carried out in Toconce, Aldunate and his colleagues (Aldunate and Castro 1981; Aldunate et al. 1982; Berenguer et al. 1984) found offerings of maize, Prosopis sp. and Geoffroea sp. fruits, bones (camelids, birds, rodents), marine shell, pottery (mainly bowls), bone tools, and copper mineral in front of the towers but also inside them, as if they had been thrown in through the openings. None of the towers had human remains inside. They concluded that chullpas in this region served as altars in ceremonies that also involved the veneration of ancestors and mountains, based on ethnographic observations and on the orientation of their openings toward major peaks on the local horizon. Research conducted during the past four decades has revealed the existence of a great number of chullpas (both towers and chambers in caves) south of Salar de Uyuni (Arellano 2000; Arellano and Berberián 1981; Nielsen 2002; Sagárnaga et al. 2014), a region that has been characterized as northern Lípez (figure 12.1) (Nielsen 2002). This is the only part of the southern Altiplano where agriculture involving tubers and frost-resistant grains is feasible, in addition to herding, which underscores the relationship between chullpas and agricultural practices (cf. Sendón 2010).1 Human remains occasionally have been recorded in both towers and chambers of this region, but towers more frequently appear to be empty or have only ceramic fragments inside. Chambers in caves (which tend to offer better conditions for the preservation of perishable materials) contain quinoa or fragments of baskets used to pack and transport coca and, less commonly, a number of other goods, including ceramic vessels, textile and basket fragments, stone hoes, and even small traps for mice. This shows that many chullpas in this region served for storage, as indicated by the Quechua term pirwas (silos) by which local people know them. Chullpas not only served various functions in this region but appear in very different contexts, including villages, pukaras (fortified villages), caves, and agricultural fields. Why did people build hundreds of standardized chambers and towers to serve varied functions in different contexts? As an answer to this question, I proposed (Nielsen 2008) that we

were misunderstanding the ontological status of chullpas: they are not things (sepulchers, altars, landmarks, silos) but nonhuman persons (wak’as), playing various roles in different regions and situations. Besides explaining their functional and contextual diversity, this way of looking at chullpas explained why they seemed to be “wearing” emblematic textiles (Gisbert et al. 1996; Pärssinen 1993) in some regions and were “fed” with offerings of drink and food. Put simply, if they dressed, ate, and drank like persons, they probably were persons. Specifically, I proposed that chullpas were ancestors, as they seemed to be engaged in activities that Andeans traditionally attributed to these mythical persons, according to historical accounts. Nonetheless, given the momentum of research on materiality, animism, and other nonmodern ontologies in recent years, I currently believe that it is better to dispense with such general analogies, which tend to conceal the real variability of ancient religious practices. Instead, we should explore the identity (faculties, dispositions, and relationships with other beings) of these and other local wak’as directly through analysis of their materiality, performance characteristics (Schiffer 2011),2 and interactions with humans during archaeologically documented activities. If they were indeed persons, these performances would amount to their practices and— ultimately—could inform us about their relationships with other agencies that inhabited the world of ancient people. Building on this symmetrical approach (Olsen 2012), I focus in this chapter on the roles that chullpas may have played in the Inka conquest and rule of southern Altiplano communities. After all, as powerful social actors, wak’as were also members of the body politic, so they could not have been ignored in the development of a political project like Tawantinsuyu. I describe the chullpas of Lípez and the different contexts in which they appear during the Late Intermediate Period and Inka Period in the first part of this chapter. Based on these data, I point out the continuities and changes in the way chullpas engaged with people in the second part of the chapter, discussing their roles in the domination of the southern Altiplano by the Inka.

Chullpas in the Inka Conquest of the Southern Altiplano

223

a

b

c

Figure 12.2. Examples of chullpa towers: (a) Mallku; (b) Laqaya; (c) Illipica.

The Chullpas of Lípez: Form, Function, and Context

If chullpas cannot be identified by a specific use (as sepulchers, landmarks, monuments, altars), a different definition of the concept is needed in order to decide when a structure should be considered a chullpa and when it should not. I start by using a broad formal characterization of chullpas as simple architectural modules formed by a carefully built chamber that can be accessed through a narrow and highly formalized opening. This category in Lípez includes both freestanding towers—mostly found in open-air sites—and domed chambers (from here on, “chambers”) built against large boulders or inside rock shelters (figures 12.2 and 12.3). The towers can have circular, elliptical, or rectangular plans, while the chambers tend to be irregular, adapting to the shape of the rocky surfaces they abut. Both types share several characteristics that clearly differentiate them from other kinds of buildings, such as houses, corrals, and agricultural enclosures, which are typically built with simple walls made of dry stone. By contrast, chullpas always have double walls of carefully fit rocks, with gravel in the middle and mud filling the crevices between stones on the inner surface. Chullpas are always made with local materials, in fact with stones available in the very places where they are built. This characteristic results in some variation in their appearance, depending on local geology. Thus, they are made of tabular slabs of volcanic ashes of light colors in some areas and of black basalt and red rhyolite boulders in others. 224

Axel E. Nielsen

Along the margins of the ancient lakes that occupied the southern Altiplano during the Pleistocene (Minchín at 3,760 masl and Tauca at 3,720 masl) they are built with bubbly chunks of stromatolites (figures 12.2 and 12.3). The use of local rocks, however, always results in their tendency to mimic the background, in some cases creating the illusion of being no more than openings into the local substrate. As in other parts of the southern Andes, chullpas appeared for the first time in Lípez during the thirteenth century and continued to be constructed until the sixteenth century. They apparently were not built anymore after the Spanish conquest, but the existing ones continued to receive offerings up to recent times. The chronological data currently available for these structures in Lípez (table 12.1) include 25 radiocarbon dates and 10 high-resolution tree-ring dates obtained from Polylepis tarapacana wood used as beams in the structures (Morales et al. 2013), together with several associations with ceramics and domestic architecture of known antiquity. This information indicates that chullpas experienced some transformations between the Late Intermediate Period and Inka Period. The next two sections present the basic characteristics of these structures for each period, noting both continuities and changes in their form, function, and context (table 12.2).

Late Intermediate Period Chullpas

contexts during this period: (1) in caves; (2) isolated or in small groups away from settlements; and (3) in villages and pukaras.

Pre-Inka chullpas in Lípez include both freestanding towers in open-air sites and chambers built inside caves, against rocky outcrops, or abutting large boulders. They have stone corbeled roofs, sometimes reinforced with wooden beams, and carefully prepared floors paved with flagstones. The most distinctive feature of both types of structures, however, is their opening. It is always square, framed by four carefully fit slabs, and highly standardized in size (ca. 0.4 × 0.4 m), just wide enough to allow the passage of a human body. The opening is usually placed in the upper half of the structure, but this may vary in the case of irregular or semisubterranean chambers (figures 12.2 and 12.3). When the opening is in a high position (more than 1 m above the surface), a small bench was usually built against the external wall or stone steps protrude from the internal surface to facilitate climbing up and down while accessing the structure. Chullpas appear in three main

Chambers in Caves

Chambers built inside caves and rock shelters are quite common in Lípez. They are most abundant on the margins of the Uyuni and Chiguana salt flats, where they occupy the countless caves and crevices formed in the fossil coral reefs or stromatolites that mark the former margins of Pleistocene lakes. Farther south, they take advantage of natural shelters, which are common in the ubiquitous outcrops of volcanic ash. These sites, which may have up to fifty structures in a single cave (figure 12.4), developed gradually, through multiple episodes of construction in which new chambers were built abutting previous ones. Sometimes care was taken to keep the openings of previous chullpas clear, but at other times the new structures encased the

a

b

c

d

Figure 12.3. Examples of chullpa chambers: (a) Llacta Qhaqa 2; (b) and (c) Mallku; (d) Qhatinsho.

Chullpas in the Inka Conquest of the Southern Altiplano

225

Code

SacA 4827

Poz-76162

LP-879

A-15611

A-15404

A-14328

A-15613

A-14103

A-15133

A-15612

Poz-76163

Beta 115478

A-14088

A-15134

A-15610

Site

Qhatinsho 11

Oqañitaiwaj 1

Yurul Cueva, Ch1

Pukara de Sedilla

Llacta Qhaqa 1–50

Pukara de Sedilla

Pukara de Sedilla 12-3

Cueva del Diablo

Llacta Qhaqa 1 2(4)

Pukara de Mallku-99

Paco Cueva 14/0

CVR-1 (Alota)2

B Laqaya, plaza II

Llacta Qhaqa II-A1

Sia Moqo ch3 5/1 700 +/– 60

330 +/– 40

480 +/– 40

510 +/– 40

530 +/– 30

550 +/– 45

580 +/– 40

565 +/– 50

570 +/– 50

580 +/– 50

595 +/– 30

665 +/– 40

749 +/– 40

750 +/– 30

1225 +/– 30

C BP

14

1230–1410

1480–1670

1400–1620

1395–1485

1400–1455

1320–1460

1310–1450

1310–1460

1310–1460

1300–1460

1310–1440

1290–1410

1220–1390

1230–1390

690–890

Cal. AD 2 σ

wood

wood

thatch

wood

quinoa

wood

wood

quinoa

wood

wood

wood

wood

wood

quinoa

cactus

Sample

–

1350 1355

–

–

–

tower

chamber

tower

chamber

chamber

tower

chamber

1338 1340 1350 –

chamber

chamber

chamber

chamber

chamber

tower

chamber

chamber

Type

–

–

–

1328

–

–

–

–

Dendro

Table 12.1. Absolute dates for samples directly associated with chullpas in northern Lípez

rectangular

circular

rectangular

irregular

irregular

rectangular

irregular

irregular

irregular

irregular

circular

irregular

circular

elliptical

irregular

Shape

funerary

–

storage, offering?

–

storage

offering

–

storage

–

–

–

–

–

storage

storage

Use

cluster

cave

plaza

cave

cave

pukara

cave

cave

pukara

pukara

cave

pukara

cave

cave

cave

Context

AA93723

A-14102

A-15608

A-9607

A-15407

AA93726 – –

Poz-76161

A-15410

Sia Moqo ch3 M2

Qhatinsho1

Juchijsa 1–3B

Chillchi Wayko

Sia Moqo (axe03)

Sia Moqo ch3 M1

Sia Moqo ch1

Sia Moqo ch6

Lojo B2

Llacta Qhaqa 03 430 +/– 40

465 +/– 30

–

–

346 +/– 30

350 +/– 35

400 +/– 95

425 +/– 45

460 +/– 45

478 +/– 31

C BP

14

1430–1630

1420–1510

–

–

1490–1650

1480–1650

1400–1800

1440–1630

1410–1630

1410–1610

Cal. AD 2 σ

wood

quinoa

wood

wood

human bone

wood

basketry

wood

quinoa

human bone

Sample

1528

–

1521

1473

–

1491

–

–

–

–

Dendro

chamber

chamber

tower

tower

tower

tower

chamber

tower

chamber

tower

Type

1. Probably dead wood reused in construction. 2. Date obtained by Arellano on wood from a beam in a chamber built inside a cave near Alota (taken from Arellano 2000:56).

Code

Site

Table 12.1. Absolute dates for samples directly associated with chullpas in northern Lípez (cont.)

circular

irregular

circular

rectangular

rectangular

rectangular

irregular

rectangular

irregular

rectangular

Shape

storage

?empty

funerary

funerary

funerary

storage

funerary

storage

funerary

Use

cave

cave

cluster

cluster

cluster

cluster

cave

cluster

cave

cluster

Context

Table 12.2. Chullpa site types and their chronology Chronology

LIP (AD 1250–1450)

Opening:

Inka Period

high, framed

Context:

low, unframed

1. Chambers in caves

X

X

2. Towers apart from settlements

X

X

3. Chullpas in pukaras & villages

X

4. Towers in earlier sites

X

5. Tower clusters near villages

openings of earlier ones, which then could only be accessed through the later chamber. In the deep caves formed in the stromatolites, these superpositions can be repeated several times to form linear sequences of up to five structures. Occasionally one chamber leads into two earlier ones, thus forming subterranean labyrinths connecting up to twelve structures and having more than one exit to the surface. In some of these sites chullpas coexist with rock paintings (figure 12.5; plate 19), which can be placed on the natural surface of the cave (e.g., Oqañitaiwaj, Cueva Kucho, Qhalli Uno) or directly on the walls of the structures, either inside or outside (for example, Qhatinsho 1 and 2). Most of the chambers excavated in these contexts have been found empty, but a few of them contained a variety of items, including quinoa, fragments of baskets used for transporting coca leaves, ceramic vessels, feathers of different colors, wooden qirus, textile and basket fragments, sandals, bags, weaving tools, and stone hoes. Some of these goods may have been stored, but many of them were probably deposited as offerings. Human remains have been observed inside these structures on a few occasions, but no conclusive evidence indicates whether they date to the Late Intermediate Period or Inka Period. It is known, however, that one of the most common forms of internment during both periods was to place the bodies inside caves, burying them directly in the accumulated sediment or protecting them with small walls or similar features (Arellano and Berberián 1981:60). These shelters, then, may have

228

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X

had a mixed-use function, thus containing both chambers and human remains. Caves with chullpas can be found near settlements (such as Cruz Vinto) or integrated into them (for example, Mallku), but in many cases they seem to be removed from any known habitation site, perhaps in association with dry-cultivated potato or quinoa fields that leave little archaeological evidence of their use. Towers Apart from Settlements

Chullpa towers are often found by themselves, isolated or in small groups, usually in highly visible places. It is hard to determine how frequent these sites are in the absence of a systematic survey, but local people say that they are found “everywhere.” Sometimes they are relatively close to habitation sites, but many of them are far from any prehispanic settlement. Their distribution probably relates to the location of dry farming areas, as suggested by the occasional presence of old threshing features (kayanas) and traces of field clearings near some of them (Guagliardo 2011).3 The diversity of tower shapes (which parallel all the forms recorded in other contexts), the characteristics of the surface pottery associated with some of them, and the proximity to sites of known age suggest that—like chambers in caves—they were built and used during both the Late Intermediate Period (LIP) and Inka Period. No human remains have been observed inside or near any of these structures. Arellano and Berberián (1981:62) excavated a tower in such a context near San Cristóbal

and found no traces of burial, only a stone hoe fragment. Chullpas in LIP Villages and Pukaras

During the thirteenth century, there was a shift toward defensive forms of settlement in the southern Altiplano, a phenomenon that correlates with the onset of a widespread state of endemic warfare in the Andean highlands during the late phase of the LIP (Nielsen 2002). Two settlement strategies can be recognized in Lípez for this period. One of them combines dispersed homesteads and temporarily occupied fortified villages,

or pukaras (Cruz Vinto, Sedilla, Mallku), while the other one includes one or two nucleated but vulnerable villages with a pukara nearby (Laqaya, Rancho-Churupata, Malil-Kaysur-Apachetapata). Towers of various shapes (circular, elliptical, or rectangular with round angles) surround pukaras or are concentrated on the margins of villages. The numbers of chullpas in these sites are on the same order of magnitude as the numbers of houses, suggesting a relationship between these two kinds of structures, perhaps as two components of the domestic space. This connection is also indicated by the orientation of the chullpa openings, which— when preserved—face the habitation areas. This

Figure 12.4. Late Intermediate Period chambers in a cave at Cueva del Diablo.

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229

a

b c

Figure 12.5 (Plate 19). Late Intermediate Period chambers and rock art at Oqañitaiwaj: (a) plan of the chullpas in the cave;

(b) main rock art panel P1; (c) general view of the cave.

association is even clearer in the few cases where some towers and chambers were built in direct association with houses, as exemplified by Pukara de Mallku (figure 12.2a). Three chullpas have been excavated in LIP pukaras: two towers (one in Cruz Vinto, the other in Mallku) and one chamber in Mallku, which was built beneath a large block of ignimbrite and opened into a domestic structure. In all three structures the excavation proceeded until the flagstone floors were exposed without finding any cultural item, except in the chamber, where grains of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) were recovered in the sediment. Macrobotanical analysis demonstrated that the grains had been processed and were ready for consumption (López 2011:375). Surface human remains occasionally have been recorded in these contexts, but their association with the towers is uncertain. Looting revealed the existence of cist 230

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burials at the bottom of some of the towers in Bajo Laqaya that rise by the hundreds on the margins of the village, suggesting that these monuments had some connection with funerary practices even if they were not used as sepulchers. Some pukaras and villages of this period show well-defined plazas that always have towers associated with them. Their numbers vary between two in Cruz Vinto (Nielsen 2006) and eight in Markawi (Villanueva and Patiño 2014). I believe that these towers in public congregation areas were related to supradomestic levels of organization, perhaps to lineages (ayllus) or to some other social segment integrating the community. The three rectangular towers that occupy the eastern flank of the plaza in Laqaya were excavated. Two of them were empty, while the third one had abundant refuse on the paved floor, including ceramics, stone hoes (whole and broken), animal bone, textile fragments, and

quinoa. All the materials showed clear traces of burning, like those found in the fill of one of the three large (public?) buildings on the opposite side of the plaza (figure 12.6) (see Nielsen 2006 for a detailed description of these contexts). This evidence indicates that the public area was violently destroyed, an event that seems to correlate with the Inka conquest of the region and with the abandonment of the adjacent pukara (Alto Laqaya) and most of the lower village (Bajo Laqaya). Inka Period Chullpas

The southern Altiplano was annexed to Tawantinsuyu sometime during the fifteenth century. The organization of Inka rule in Lípez is still poorly understood, but the archaeological evidence of imperial occupation is quite clear, including at least two branches of the Qhapaq Ñan (Inka Road) connecting the highlands with the Atacama Desert (Nielsen et al. 2006), shrines devoted to the state cult on the summits of at least two mountains (Caral Inka and Chiguana), and a clear shift in settlement location, with the abandonment of pukaras and the establishment of new villages in accessible positions near water sources. Inka ceramics— both imperial and provincial types—are relatively common in these newly founded settlements, particularly in funerary contexts, where they were deposited as mortuary offerings together with other Inka objects (metals, wooden qirus) and local-style material culture. Chullpa towers and chambers continued to be constructed in caves and agricultural areas apart from settlements without significant changes. Indeed, new caves were occupied by chullpas in the same areas where these kinds of sites already existed, as demonstrated by Llacta Qhaqa 1, a cave with almost twenty chambers that were built in the mid-fourteenth century according to six dendrochronological dates, and Llacta Qhaqa 3, another cave with two structures that is only 300 m away but was dated to AD 1528 and has Inka pottery on the surface (table 12.1). On the other hand, chullpas in pukaras or plazas were abandoned and—in some cases at least—destroyed, as indicated by the research conducted in the public core of Bajo Laqaya summarized in the previous section. In addition to this, chullpas were erected in two new contexts during the Inka Period: as intrusive

monuments built on the ruins of previous settlements and as discrete groups located near villages. Intrusive Towers in Earlier Sites

During the Inka Period, some chullpa towers were erected on the ruins of earlier villages. Some of them were built directly on top of the fallen walls of abandoned houses. The five recorded sites of this kind are villages with circular houses dated to the early phase of the Late Intermediate Period, between AD 1000 and 1250. All of them also have one or two intrusive Inka Period houses (characterized by a rectangular plan, gabled roof, and delimited outdoor areas), suggesting that the construction of chullpas in these contexts was part of a reclamation practice that also included domestic occupations. A blue glass bead found inside a tower excavated in Itapilla Kancha demonstrates that these sites continued in use during early colonial times, if not later (figure 12.7; plate 20). It should be noted that this site is very close to the Inka settlement of Chuquilla Kucho (today Santiago K), which is mentioned as a pueblo principal (main town) in sixteenth-century sources (Lozano Machuca 1992 [1581]:30). The excavated structure had no human remains inside but contained pieces of a minimum

Figure 12.6. Chullpas flanking the plaza of Bajo Laqaya.

Chullpas in the Inka Conquest of the Southern Altiplano

231

Figure 12.7 (Plate 20). Intrusive towers built on the ruins of the early Late Intermediate Period village

of Itapilla Kancha. In the background is the modern town of Santiago K, built on top of the Inka–early colonial settlement of Chuquilla. Detail on the left: glass bead and fragments of the turquoise ornament found inside and outside of the tower to the left.

of eight vessels (all jars), a broken stone hoe, a carefully worked stone sphere, and fragments of a malachite ornament mixed with the fill on top of the flagstones. During the excavation of a test pit in the exterior area next to the opening, several fragments of the same ornament and of three of the vessels found inside were also recovered. This demonstrates that the materials were initially deposited and broken in front of the opening (probably as offerings), before parts of them were thrown inside through the opening, as originally proposed by Aldunate et al. (1982) for the towers of Toconce. An interesting case of chullpa remodeling was also documented at Itapilla Kancha. The tower in question shows a rectangular plan with rounded corners (3.4 × 2.2 m). Looking through the opening, however, makes it clear that it has an earlier cylindrical structure inside, with its own four-stone frame aligned with the later opening. This case is important: even though what it meant is not known,4 it is clear that chullpa shapes were very important for their users, who considered it worth the effort of transforming the appearance of the 232

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tower without any change to its interior. The result was a massive monument with 1.2 m–thick walls, a significant amount of dead space, and a very small internal capacity (1 m in diameter). Towers in Clusters near Inka Period Villages

As noted, several villages with no defensive architecture or plazas were established after the Inka conquered Lípez and the pukaras were abandoned. Some of these new settlements have a few towers nearby, like those built during the earlier period, with their characteristic opening framed by four slabs and located in the middle or upper half of the structure (from here on, “high-opening tower”). What all of them have in common, however, is the presence of one or more clusters of towers nearby but clearly separated from the habitation area. These structures were used as sepulchers and show significant differences from previous ones, mainly in the form and placement of their openings, which are not framed, tend to be bigger and more variable in size, are placed at the bottom of the structures,

and always face east (figure 12.8). These low-opening towers have variable shapes (with square, rectangular, elliptical, or circular plans) and sizes. As noted for LIP villages and pukaras, the number of chullpas in these clusters falls within the same order of magnitude as the number of houses in the habitation areas. Juchijsa, for example, has about 22 houses and 13 towers, all of them of the low-opening type and apparently used for burial (figure 12.9). This numerical relationship may reveal that these funerary chullpas in clusters somehow corresponded to the domestic groups that lived in the village, as argued previously for towers around LIP villages and pukaras. A slightly different situation is found in Sia Moqo and Illipica, where high-opening towers, low-opening towers, and burials in natural hollows all mingle in the same areas. Two towers of different kinds were excavated in Sia Moqo to assess possible differences in chronology and function. The low-opening structure (chullpa 3, rectangular) contained two individuals buried at different times (dated by radiocarbon in 478 +/- 31 BP and 346 +/- 30 BP, respectively; see table 12.1). The offerings included parts of a loom, weaving tools, a wooden spoon, a stone hoe (still hafted), and a bronze tumi, among other items, placed on a layer of straw (perhaps a mat) laid

directly on the natural surface inside the structure. The high-opening one (chullpa 6, circular) had a beam that rendered a cutting date of AD 1521, but no indication of its use could be found in the 10 cm of clean fill accumulated on top of the flagstone pavement inside the monument. In Illipica, however, a circular, high-opening tower (figure 12.2c) contained at least one individual, with several offerings clearly visible through the opening. These observations suggest that low-opening towers were always used as sepulchers, while high-opening ones may or may not contain human remains, confirming the impression that this type of chullpa continued to serve different purposes. Most of the Inka Period villages recorded so far (n = 12) have one cluster of chullpas associated with them, usually located east or south of the habitation area. Llacta Kucho is an exception, with approximately 20 chullpas distributed in three distinct clusters surrounding a single habitation area with about 30 houses (figure 12.10). As in Sia Moqo and Illipica, each cluster contains not only several low-opening chullpa sepulchers but also large, outstanding boulders with funerary cists attached to them and a few high-opening towers of unknown function. While individual monuments belonged to specific domestic groups, clusters perhaps

a

b

Figure 12.8. Examples of low-opening towers in clusters near Inka Period villages: (a) Copacabana 1; (b) Illipica.

Chullpas in the Inka Conquest of the Southern Altiplano

233

Figure 12.9. Plan of Juchijsa.

corresponded to higher-order social segments analogous to the ayllu present in the village. This was proposed for the tripartite structure recorded in the LIP plaza of Laqaya, where three towers face three large public buildings. If this interpretation is correct, these chullpa clusters may have staged public events similar to those carried out in earlier plazas, although the specific activities may have varied, as indicated by the importance of mortuary remains in the chullpa clusters associated with Inka Period villages. It could be further speculated that the clusters—like the towers at LIP plazas—reveal the number of kinship groups, or ayllus, represented in the village and perhaps the role of the settlement in the segmentary hierarchy.

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The Roles of Chullpas in Southern Altiplano Society

The broad definition of chullpas as chambers with narrow openings proposed at the beginning of this chapter encompasses features with significant formal and functional differences: towers and chambers, silos and sepulchers, structures with framed or unframed openings that can be placed and oriented in various ways, and so forth. Given this variability, it would be a valid methodological option to discard the general category, selecting one of these criteria to differentiate types of structures and perhaps restricting the concept of a chullpa to only one of them, such as sepulchers or low-opening towers. The structures previously described, however, do not lend themselves to such clean typological distinctions. For example, although towers and chambers are obviously different in many ways, the highly formalized four-slab

frames used in both suggest that their builders conceived them as closely related or as variants of the same thing. The position and characteristics of the opening are other variables that could serve to define types, as the opening generally correlates with function: high-opening towers were silos and low-opening towers were sepulchers. It cannot be ignored, however, that some high-opening towers (and chambers) were used for burial (for example, figure 12.8b). Both kinds of towers—together with chambers—share characteristics (such as construction techniques and offerings) that make them clearly different from other structures (for example, houses, corrals). I believe that these exceptions and cross-cutting traits, which would be ignored as noise by the application of a typological approach, highlight relationships that are crucial for approaching a conception of reality that was radically different from ours. Consequently, without losing sight of variations, I prefer to treat this heterogeneous corpus as the expression of a complex “chullpa phenomenon,” taking advantage of the apparent inconsistencies and unexpected connections it offers for exploring ontological difference.

in their construction, they endured longer than any other structure of the time; indeed, they are among the best-preserved material remains of the prehispanic era found in the Andean highlands. The sense of permanence conveyed by their durability was enhanced through the homogeneity and continuity of their design. If chullpas worked to reproduce certain social arrangements (territories, political hierarchies, domestic autonomy, among other possibilities), this property certainly helped to naturalize them. Third, as openings, chullpas communicated with an inside domain. The importance of this feature was stressed by their builders through the use of the distinctive four-slab frame, which created a strong connection between structures that otherwise would have seemed very different, such as elaborate freestanding towers and chambers created only by the addition of this standardized opening to

What Can Chullpas Do?

I have proposed here that chullpas were relationally constituted as nonhuman persons through their interaction with people. From this perspective, the affordances (sensu Gibson 1979) or performance characteristics deployed by these structures in various activities and contexts could be metaphorically understood as their “practices.” So, what were chullpas doing in Lípez? How did their practices change after the Inka conquest? Following the broad definition proposed at the beginning of this chapter, it can be said that all chullpas deployed three basic affordances in their interactions with humans. First, they were good containers, with details in their construction that enhanced their ability to preserve organic matter, such as mudfilled interstices and flagstone pavements. These characteristics made them particularly suitable for storing crops (like the quinoa frequently found inside), coca leaves, and other perishable goods but also for preserving corpses and their offerings if used as sepulchers (cf. Sillar 1996). Second, chullpas were clearly built to last. Because of the labor-intensive techniques used

Figure 12.10. Plan of Llacta Kucho showing the three

clusters of chullpas and associated boulders and cists surrounding the habitation area.

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a naturally hollow rock (for example, figure 12.3c). While it seems clear that the outside of chullpas was the world where people lived, the inside domain that they opened into is less obvious. The internal chamber—whether used for storage or burial—is an obvious possibility. The standardized size of the openings (never smaller than 0.38 × 0.38 m) suggests that they were designed to allow the passage of a human body, and the steps in high-opening towers were certainly of help when climbing in and out of the structures. The larger apertures of low-opening towers, in turn, would facilitate introducing and extracting corpses and offerings, activities associated with their role as open sepulchers (Isbell 1997). Other elements, however, suggest that chullpas may also have been understood as conduits into an internal realm beyond the chamber itself, perhaps a dark, undifferentiated world analogous to the ukhupacha (Quechua) or manqhapacha (Aymara) described in ethnohistorical and ethnographic accounts of Andean religions. This dark and cold place was the abode of powerful but uncivilized creatures, such as the dead (mallkis), the devil (supay), fantastic animals (khurus), and presolar beings living in moonlight (Bouysse-Cassagne and Harris 1987; Cereceda 2015). Catholic preachers equated this concept with hell and evil, but in prehispanic times it was associated with genesic forces that could come out to harm or benefit humans, depending on the circumstances. Oral accounts recorded in early colonial times throughout the highlands, for example, referred to cultural heroes who journeyed underground from their original place of creation (such as Lake Titicaca) to emerge in different regions, where they built irrigation systems, taught agriculture to local groups, and fought their enemies (Duviols 1979). Many ayllus and ethnic groups revered caves, springs, and lakes as places of origin (paqarinas), because they believed them to be apertures where their primordial ancestors emerged and established their lineages and their territories. A direct connection between what archaeologists call chullpas and the underworld is indicated by the widespread oral traditions regarding the presolar creatures also known as Chullpas.5 According to this myth, which was ethnographically documented for the first time in the early twentieth century (Métraux 1931) but is probably older, Chullpas were cold creatures who lived in the moonlight, ate everything raw, and were able to speak with 236

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animals and rocks. When the sun rose for the first time, they crawled into caves and crevices trying to escape from the light. Many of them died, and their bodies became mummies that can be seen even today.6 People in Lípez still believe that caves should be avoided at sunset, because the few Chullpas who survived are known to come back out to hunt people from time to time. One characteristic suggesting that chullpas (chambers and towers) may have been understood as openings into the underworld is their tendency to mimic the background where they are built, using strictly local materials or replicating the shape of the boulders they abut. They create the illusion of being openings into the rock, the ground, or the place itself, just like caves and natural crevices. After all, from the point of view of an animistic ontology, the difference between what was shaped by human hands and what was shaped by natural forces may not have been as clear or relevant as it is from the perspective of our naturalistic understanding of reality (Descola 2013). Another hint is given by the unidentified animals painted near the openings of some chambers (for example, figure 12.3d), images that recall the khurus (fantastic creatures) of the ukhupacha that Jalq’a women today weave into their garments (Cereceda 2015). Moreover, the seriated chambers found in the stromatolites near Salar de Uyuni suggest that chullpas themselves-–as wak’as—may have originally come from that lower pacha (world), because the structures that form these subterranean labyrinths were sequentially built from the deepest crevices toward the surface, as if the chambers were literally emerging from underground. The double character of chullpas as coming from the underworld and as physical conduits into it is further supported in Lípez by the ambiguous relationships between these structures and the dead (mallkis), which according to historical accounts also belonged to that pacha (Bouysse-Cassagne and Harris 1987). Coming from that world, both chullpas and the bodies of the dead are found side by side in caves; but as passages into that world chullpas offered a way for the deceased to return to the place where they belonged. If these interpretations are correct, chullpas not only interacted with humans as wak’as but also afforded them the opportunity of reaching out to their ancestors and other powerful agencies of the ukhupacha.

Other capacities may have been associated only with certain varieties of chullpas. Towers, for example, are obviously more visible than chambers. This characteristic has been the basis for interpreting chullpa towers as territorial markers (Hyslop 1977) or as monuments proclaiming the power over large areas of the authorities, ancestors, lineages, or ethnic groups that they represented (Bongers et al. 2012; Bouysse-Cassagne and Chacama 2012). Following what phenomenologists call “the reversibility thesis” (Tilley 2004:16) and in the context of an animist ontology, which presupposes that nonhumans also have “points of view” (Allen 2015:27), this property may also have meant that chullpas had great visual control of their surroundings. In other words, if towers were powerful wak’as, they were well positioned to protect human communities and territories from their enemies. Again, Andean mythology attests that petrified ancestors or wak’as could came back to life to fight on behalf of their people, as happened to the armies of Pachakuti during their confrontation with the Chanka, when a group of supernatural warriors entered the battle and secured the victory for the Inka (Sarmiento de Gamboa 1943 [1572]:101). Chullpas and Their Changing Contexts of Action

The idea that chullpas acted as conduits between worlds (pachas) singles out the openings as key attributes for understanding variability in these structures. Focusing on this feature, the chullpas of Lípez can be divided in two groups with different filiations. The structures of the first group have a standardized frame of four selected or shaped slabs in their openings, which are placed in the middle or upper part of the structures and oriented in different directions. This group includes hundreds (perhaps thousands) of chambers and towers with flagstone pavements inside, which were built without significant changes in their form between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. Although human remains occasionally have been found inside, most of them were probably used for storage, besides receiving offerings of various sorts. Similar chullpas dating to the LIP have been reported in adjacent regions, suggesting that they represent a local tradition that was widespread in the southern Altiplano before the Inka expansion.

The Intersalar region, for example, has storage towers in pukaras and agricultural fields with their characteristic four-slab frames (Cruz et al. 2017; Lecoq 1999). The towers in the Upper Loa River region look very much like the ones found in Lípez, but the chambers built in caves and rock shelters have been used mainly for burial (Aldunate and Castro 1981). The San Juan Mayo area (Debenedetti 1930; Nielsen et al. 2015) has no towers, only chambers built in the sandstone outcrops of the Pirgua Formation. These structures do not have the stone frames previously described and show other differences in their construction techniques, such as single-lined walls and roofs made mostly with perishable materials. The southernmost expression of the chullpa phenomenon is found in the Coranzulí-Casabindo region, where Rivet (2015) described a number of chambers with four-stone frames built in caves and rock outcrops, apparently without associated human remains. Low-opening towers are the second kind of chullpas found in Lípez. They appear only in clusters near Inka Period villages and were used mainly as sepulchers. These structures share technological similarities with the first group (such a raw materials, size range, use of double stone walls filled with rubble, and mud filling the interstices on the inside), but their openings are unframed, are placed at the bottom of the structures, and face east, just like the funerary towers of the central Altiplano and Titicaca Basin (Hyslop 1977; Kesselli and Pärssinen 2005). In other words, although these structures were probably built by local people, they represent religious practices introduced by the Inka from the north. This may reveal the imposition of nonlocal principles of legitimacy and political authority that involved different forms of interaction between local communities, chullpas, mallkis, and other deities (animated rocks, mountains, and celestial deities). Huddled in discrete areas with their openings facing the rising sun, these wak’as and the dead buried in them kept their distance from the human community and surrendered to the new cosmological principles advocated by the state. Moreover, the three clusters of chullpas around Llacta Kucho recall the radial arrangement of wak’as that characterized the siq’i system of Cuzco, which according to some authors (Pärssinen 2005:164) was replicated in the provinces. Notwithstanding these changes, framed chullpas of the “southern Andean tradition” continued Chullpas in the Inka Conquest of the Southern Altiplano

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being built after the Inka conquest, particularly in contexts related to agricultural production. These included chambers in caves that served as important storage facilities where seeds, crops, and farming tools were kept and isolated towers or groups of towers that watched over the fields from their strategic positions. These sites reveal that the incorporation of Lípez into Tawantinsuyu did not substantially modify local understandings of agricultural production, including the ritual practices that were necessary for success in these activities. The abandonment of LIP villages and pukaras and of the hundreds of towers associated with them is the main discontinuity in the local chullpa tradition. As argued, most of these chullpas probably belonged to individual households, but those in plazas probably served supradomestic collectives such as lineages (ayllus) and therefore were invested with special political significance. The great quantity of decorated bowls and animal bone found in the excavation of trash deposits associated with Laqaya’s plaza indicates that feasting was one of the activities carried out in these public spaces. The towers in these contexts may have dispensed some of the resources consumed during these celebrations. But some of the burned quinoa recovered inside one of these chullpas was found served in a bowl and placed on the flagstones covering the floor of the structure, suggesting that the towers themselves received food and other gifts. Such offerings were probably meant to secure the favors of these higher-level wak’as for the entire community. Following colonial data from other parts of the Andean highlands, we may think that community authorities (kuraqas) had a central role in the interaction with these wak’as, which may also have involved special forms of communication (such as oracles and divination) and exchange (for example, pledges on behalf of the entire community, ch’allas [libations]). These monuments, then, would play a crucial role in the reproduction of segmentary political formations (Nielsen 2006), as embodiments of ayllus, their relative autonomy and hierarchical position within the larger structure, and their control over key resources (land, water, pastures). This would explain the Inka emphasis on the destruction of these chullpas and public spaces when they conquered the region. The towers built on top of earlier settlements— the new context in which local-style chullpas appear during the Inka Period—were probably 238

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involved in a similar strategy of memory renovation. The direct connection that these wak’as established between living groups (households or lineages?) and the people who previously inhabited these places would have been a powerful way of asserting rights over the exploitation of associated resources. There are various nonexclusive ways of interpreting these “material metaphors” (Tilley 1999). Chullpas may have been understood as enduring (“lithified”) members of those ancestral communities demanding ritual recognition. Or, as openings into the ground, they may have acted as mediators with those whose remains were buried in the place. Whatever the exact meaning of these monuments, they reveal territorial conflicts that must have been intensified by the appropriation of resources by the state. Notes This chapter has benefited from discussions with José Berenguer R., Diego Salazar, and Carlos Angiorama during several field trips through the Southern Andes. I am also grateful to Malena Vázquez for her help with the figures. 1. Sendón (2010) has proposed a relationship between chullpas and pastoralism based on a broad geographical correlation between the two phenomena. A closer examination, however, reveals (1) that all the cases he mentioned correspond to mixed agropastoral economies; (2) that no chullpas are found in specialized pastoral areas with no agriculture, like southeastern Lípez or the western Puna of Jujuy (Argentina); and (3) that chullpas are found in regions where herding was a secondary activity at best, like Chachapoyas. In the case of the northern Lípez, the connection between chullpas and farming is further indicated by the presence of towers in the fields and their use for storing crops and agricultural tools like stone hoes. 2. “A performance characteristic is a capability, competence, or skill that could be exercised (or come into play) in a given interaction. As relational constructs, performance characteristics are specifiable only in relation to particular activity-based interactions” (Schiffer 2011:27). 3. Kayanas are leveled, stone-paved surfaces that are still used in the region for threshing the quinoa after the harvest, before the grain is transported to domestic areas for storage. Ethnographically, they are rectangular (2 or 3 m per side) and are usually located next to the fields. 4. Although rectangular shapes seem to be more frequent during Inka times, both circular and rectangular forms were used during the three centuries of chullpa construction. 5. To avoid confusion, I use “Chullpas” for the mythical presolar humanity and “chullpas” to refer to the archaeological features.

6. In reference to this myth, the people of the Altiplano refer to the human remains found in prehispanic sites as Chullpas and call archaeological remains in general chullperíos. This is probably the reason why sepulchers came to be known as chullpas in the archaeological literature.

References Cited Aldunate, Carlos, José Berenguer, and Victoria Castro 1982 La función de las chullpa en Likán. In Actas del VIII Congreso Nacional de Arqueología Chilena, pp. 129–174. Ediciones Kultrún, Santiago. Aldunate, Carlos, and Victoria Castro 1981 Las chullpas de Toconce y su relación con el poblamiento altiplánico en el Loa Superior Período Tardío. Ediciones Kultrún, Santiago. Allen, Catherine 2015 The Whole World Is Watching: New Perspectives on Andean Animism. In The Archaeology of Wak’as: Explorations of the Sacred in the Pre-Columbian Andes, edited by Tamara Bray, pp. 23–46. University Press of Colorado, Boulder. Arellano, Jorge 2000 Arqueología de Lipes, Altiplano Sur de Bolivia. PUCETaraxacum, Quito. Arellano, Jorge, and Eduardo E. Berberián 1981 Mallku: El señorío post-Tiwanaku del Altiplano Sur de Bolivia (Provincias Nor y Sur Lípez–Dpto. de Potosí). Bulletin de l’Institut Français d’Études Andines 10 (1–2):51–84. Berenguer, José, Carlos Aldunate, and Victoria Castro 1984 Orientación orográfica de las chullpas en Likán: La importancia de los cerros en la Fase Toconce. In Simposio Culturas Atacameñas, XLIV Congreso Internacional de Americanistas, Manchester, edited by Bente Bittman, pp. 175–220. Instituto de Investigaciones Arqueológicas R. P. Gustavo Le Paige, SJ, Universidad del Norte, Antofagasta, Chile. Bongers, Jacob, Elizabeth Arkush, and Michael Harrower 2012 Landscapes of Death: GIS-Based Analyses of Chullpas in the Western Lake Titicaca Basin. Journal of Archaeological Science 39:1687–1693. Bouysse-Cassagne, Thérèse, and Juan Chacama 2012 Partición colonial del territorio, cultos funerarios y memoria ancestral en Carangas y Precordillera de Arica (siglos XVI–XVII). Chungara 44(4):669–689. Bouysse-Cassagne, Thérèse, and Olivia Harris 1987 Pacha: En torno al pensamiento Aymara. In Tres reflexiones sobre el pensamiento andino, pp. 11–59. Hisbol, La Paz. Cereceda, Verónica 2015 En torno al supay andino: El aporte de lo visual a su interpretación. In Wakas, diablos y muertos: Alteridades significantes en el mundo andino, edited by Lucila Bugallo and Mario Vilca, pp. 231–265.

Universidad Nacional de Jujuy, San Salvador de Jujuy, Argentina. Cruz, Pablo, Thierry Winkel, Marie-Pierre Ledru, Cyril Bernard, Nancy Egan, Didier Swingedouw, and Richard Joffre 2017 Rain-Fed Agriculture Thrived despite Climate Degradation in the Pre-Hispanic Arid Andes. Science Advances 3(12):p.e1701740. Debenedetti, Salvador 1930 Chulpas en las cavernas del Río San Juan Mayo. Notas del Museo Etnográfico 1:1–50. Descola, Philippe 2013 Beyond Nature and Culture. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. Duchesne, Frédéric 2005 Tumbas de Coporaque: Aproximaciones a concepciones funerarias Collaguas. Bulletin de l’Institut Français d’Études Andines 34:411–429. Duchesne, Frédéric, and Juan Chacama 2012 Torres funerarias prehispánicas de los Andes CentroSur: Muerte, ocupación del espacio y organización social: Estudio comparativo: Coporaque, Cañón del Colca (Perú), Chapiquiña, Precordillera de Arica (Chile). Chungara 44(4):605–619. Duviols, Pierre 1979 Un symbolisme de l’occupation, de l’amenagement et de l’exploitation de l’espace: Le monolithe “huanca” et sa fonction dans les Andes préhispaniques. L’Homme 19(2):7–31. Gibson, James 1979 The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Houghton Mifflin, Boston. Gisbert, Teresa, Juan Carlos Jemio, and Roberto Montero 1996 El señorío de los Carangas y los chullpares del Río Lauca. Academia Nacional de Ciencias de Bolivia 70:2–66. Guagliardo, Juan P. 2011 Paisajes agrarios, ancestralidad y conflicto durante el periodo de Desarrollos Regionales Tardío (ca. 1200–1450 DC) en el Altiplano de Lípez (Potosí, Bolivia): Coyunturas, escalas y cambio social. PhD dissertation, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires. Hyslop, John 1977 Chulpas of the Lupaca Zone of the Peruvian High Plateau. Journal of Field Archaeology 4:149–170. Isbell, William H. 1997 Mummies and Mortuary Monuments: A Postprocessual Prehistory of Central Andean Social Organization. University of Texas Press, Austin. Kesseli, Risto, and Martti Pärssinen 2005 Identidad étnica y muerte: Torres funerarias (chullpas) como símbolos de poder étnico en el altiplano boliviano de Pakasa (1250–1600 d.C.). Bulletin de l’Institut Français d’Études Andines 34(3):379–410.

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Lecoq, Patrice 1999 Uyuni préhispanique: Archéologie de la Cordillère Intersalar (Sud-Ouest Bolivien). British Archaeological Reports 798. Archaeopress, Oxford, UK. López, María L. 2011 Estudio de macro y micro restos de quínoa de contextos arqueológicos del último milenio en dos regiones circumpuneñas. PhD dissertation, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina. Lozano Machuca, Juan 1992 [1581]  Carta del factor de Potosí, Juan Lozano Machuca al virrey del Perú, en donde describe la provincia de los Lipes. Estudios Atacameños 10:30–34. Mantha, Alexis 2009 Territoriality, Social Boundaries and Ancestor Veneration in the Central Andes of Peru. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 28:158–176. Métraux, Alfred 1931 Un mundo perdido: La tribu de los Chipayas de Carangas. SUR 1(3):98–131. Morales, Mariano, Axel Nielsen, and Ricardo Villalba 2013 First Dendroarchaeological Dates of Prehistoric Contexts in South America: Chullpas in the Central Andes. Journal of Archaeological Science 40:2393–2401. Nielsen, Axel 2002 Asentamientos, conflicto y cambio social en el Altiplano de Lípez (Potosí, Bolivia). Revista Española de Antropología Americana 32:179–205. 2006 Plazas para los antepasados: Descentralización y poder corporativo en las formaciones políticas preincaicas de los Andes circumpuneños. Estudios Atacameños 31:63–89. 2008 The Materiality of Ancestors: Chullpas and Social Memory in the Late Prehispanic History of the South Andes. In Memory Work: Archaeologies of Material Practices, edited by Barbara Mills and William H. Walker, pp. 207–232. School of American Research Press, Santa Fe, NM. Nielsen, Axel E., Carlos I. Angiorama, Juan Maryañski, Florencia Avila, and M. Laura López 2015 Paisajes prehispánicos Tardíos en San Juan Mayo (frontera Argentina-Bolivia). Arqueología 21:29–61. Nielsen, Axel, José Berenguer, and C. Sanhueza 2006 El Qhapaqñan entre Atacama y Lípez. Intersecciones 7:217–234. Olsen, Bjønar 2012 Symmetrical Archaeology. In Archaeological Theory Today, edited by Ian Hodder, pp. 208–228. 2nd ed. Polity, Cambridge, UK. Pärssinen, Martti 1993 Torres funerarias decoradas en Caquiaviri. Pumapunku, new series, 5(6):9–31. 2005 Caquiaviri y la Provincia Pacasa: Desde el AltoFormativo hasta la conquista española (1–1533).

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Maestría en Historia Andinas y Amazónicas (UMSA), La Paz. Rivet, M. Carolina 2015 Espacialidades chullparias: Aproximación a los ancestros desde la materialidad (Coranzulí, Jujuy, Argentina). Estudios Atacameños 50:105–129. Sagárnaga, Jedu, J. Méncias, Juan Villanueva, and Tania Patiño 2014 San Cristóbal en la perspectiva arqueológica regional de los Lípez. Chachapuma: Revista de Arqueología Boliviana 6:6–16. Sarmiento de Gamboa, Pedro 1943 [1572]  Historia de los Incas. Emecé Editores, Buenos Aires. Schiffer, Michael 2011 Studying Technological Change: A Behavioral Approach. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City. Sendón, Pablo 2010 Ch’ullpa y sociedades de pastores en los Andes Centrales y Meridionales (siglos XIX y XX): Una propuesta. Población y Sociedad 17(1):95–146. Sillar, Bill 1996 The Dead and the Drying: Techniques for Transforming People and Things in the Andes. Journal of Material Culture 1:259–289. Tantaleán, Henry 2006 Regresar para construir: Prácticas funerarias e ideología(s) durante la ocupación Inka en Cutimbo, Puno-Perú. Chungara 38(1):129–143. Tilley, Cristopher 1999 Metaphor and Material Culture. Blackwell, Oxford, UK. 2004 The Materiality of Stone: Explorations in Landscape Phenomenology. Berg, Oxford, UK. Villanueva, Juan, and Tania Patiño 2014 Construcciones de comunidad en la laguna de Wila Khara (San Cristóbal), durante el período de Desarrollos Regionales Tardíos. Chachapuma: Revista de Arqueología Boliviana 6:30–42.

Chapter 13

Perspectives on Understanding Qullasuyu Ian Farrington

Immediately prior to the Inka Period, the Southern Andes area was occupied by a variety of ethnic groups, speaking many different languages. These peoples were organized in various types of polity, some in multiethnic federations, such as Collao, Charcas, Chicoana, and Chile, while others were smaller, relatively independent ethnicities (Pärssinen 1992:120–136). Despite these differences, they shared to some extent a common cultural base that contained not only traditions of reciprocal communal labor obligations (mit’a, minka) and redistributive mechanisms through commensal feasting but also a belief system that revolved around myths and legends and an animistic worldview. The animist view included worship of and consultation with “nonhuman” beings that resided in everyday objects and landscape features, which were often accessed and orchestrated by a shaman. The Inka shared many of these beliefs and practices, which they utilized successfully in their expansion to establish Tawantinsuyu. The sixteenth-century chroniclers recorded not only the conquest of the Qulla in the Titicaca Basin but also wars and annexations farther south in Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina, while Diego de Almagro’s 1535–1536 expedition provided additional knowledge about the provinces and principal places of Qullasuyu (Segovia 1968 [1552]; see Raffino 1995). Pioneer excavations in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries confirmed the Inka presence throughout Qullasuyu with the discoveries of Inka-related architecture and artifacts in many locations. Raffino (1981) systematized evidence from 258 sites south of Lake Titicaca, presenting a comprehensive analysis of the complexities of the occupation of this vast territory. In particular, he noted the spatial relationships between mining and metallurgical sites and the settlement and road infrastructure, suggesting that those had played a major role in the colonization process. 241

More recently, with advances in archaeological theory and method, research in Qullasuyu has developed with detailed settlement studies, focusing on individual sites or regional patterns, ceramics, roads, and qullqas (storehouses), as well as mining, metallurgy, frontiers, and the analysis of highaltitude shrines. Some of these projects were in part supported by detailed ethnohistorical analysis at regional levels to explain the interactions of the state, local polities, and mitmaqkuna. This new evidence has enabled researchers to raise many issues concerning the nature of Qullasuyu and its association with the empire (for example, D’Altroy et al. 2007; Pärssinen 2015). These works reflect the continued intensification of site and regional studies and artifact analyses in Qullasuyu south of Lake Titicaca, which are interpreted through the application of contemporary postprocessual themes of agency, materiality, identity, and the articulation of the “sacred” landscape. They provide not only new data but also relatively new approaches to the study of Tawantinsuyu, including the role of feasting with provincial and local leaders and interaction with nonhuman beings such as ancestors, objects, structures, and natural places in negotiating the cultural processes of colonization. Nevertheless, they also raise other issues: the dating and phasing of incorporation into Tawantinsuyu; the motivation for colonial conquest; the techniques of consolidation; and the diplomacy by which it was achieved. Chronology

The standard chronology of Tawantinsuyu was formulated by Rowe (1946) using Miguel Cabello de Valboa’s 1586 chronicle (2011 [1586]), which suggests that the first incursions south into the Titicaca Basin occurred between AD 1438 and 1463 and that the annexation of the rest of Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina happened under Thupa Inka Yupanki after 1470. Indeed, the dates from Inka floors and structures on the Islands of the Sun and Moon support this (Bauer, Covey, and Terry 2004; Bauer, Stanish, and Terry 2004). However, calibrated radiocarbon and thermoluminescence dates of the Inka occupation throughout Qullasuyu consistently yield earlier dates (see D’Altroy et al. 2007; Pärssinen and Siiriäinen 1997; Schiappacasse 1999). For example, the initial occupation dates for various 242

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sites in Bolivia range from the early fourteenth century at Tiquischullpa to the early fifteenth century at Cuzcotuyo, Oroncota, Samaipata, and Paria, and in the Cochabamba Valley (Alconini 2016; Gyarmati 2015; Meyers 2016). These conclusions have been sustained by recent statistical analyses. For example, the occupation in Chile began around 1370–1380 in the regions most allied to Cuzco (Atacama and Norte Chico), about 1390 in central Chile, and about 1410 in Tarapacá (Cornejo 2014). The earliest dates for Argentina also imply the midto late fourteenth century, with the southernmost region around Mendoza suggesting commencement between 1380 and 1430 (Marsh et al. 2017). Cruz (this volume) argues that throughout Qullasuyu this was followed by an elongated period of imperial establishment. In contrast, recent analysis by García, Moralejo, and Ochoa (2021), using specific archaeological context to evaluate each Argentinian radiocarbon date, suggests that the Province of Jujuy in northwestern Argentina was initially annexed around 1429 cal AD and that the Mendoza region was only incorporated about 50 years later. Clearly, there is a need for more absolute dates and statistical analyses throughout Tawantinsuyu to clarify Inka chronology. Motivations for Conquest and Colonization

Félix Acuto (this volume) raises a number of pertinent questions concerning the motivations that led to the Inka expansion into Qullasuyu. He, like others, agrees that the suggestion advanced by Raffino (1981) that mining and metallurgy were significant, adding that it was also a cultural conquest. Acuto regards it as a religious and ontological process in which the Inka perspective remained paramount, but they interacted with local wak’as and became intermediaries between those places and their people. They also demonstrated that they could communicate with such dangerous places, including mountain apus, and thereby inscribe themselves into local history. However, these processes by which colonization occurred do not explain the reason for it. In order to address this, it is necessary to consider Inka mytho-history and in particular the ideological changes brought about by the Chanka war, which was documented by several chroniclers and commented on by various scholars (for example, Gose 1996; Jennings 2003; Urton 1999).

Prior to that event, the Inka State had been developing in the Cuzco Valley through negotiation, diplomacy, and marriage alliances with neighboring statelets and using warfare in the event of resistance (Covey 2006). It was one of a number of small polities in the south-central Andes that shared a common mythology about their animistic deities and spirits, origins, and several ritual practices. According to the accounts, in the reign of either Wiraqucha Inka or Pachakuti Inka Yupanki (see Urton 1999:57–58), the war brought about a reformulation of the Inka pantheon into a hierarchy, in which Wiraqucha, the creator, remained the supreme head, while Inti, the Sun, became their founding ancestor. Other important deities were Illapa, the god of Thunder and Lightning; Killa, the Moon deity; and Pachamama, the Earth deity. Consequently, the Sapa Inka became Intip Churin, the son of the Sun, and consulted the Sun and other wak’as on all state matters. Their main festivals lay around the two solstices, while the passage of the sun through zenith and its nadir (antizenith) were equally important events (Zuidema 2010). Horizon observations of the rising and setting sun were made throughout the year. This deity was so important that he received significant offerings and sacrifices. Many wak’as were consecrated in his honor, including Qurikancha and eleven others in Cuzco (Cobo 1990 [1653]:51–84), and elsewhere, including the large rock in the royal palace of Qispiwanka (Qespiwanka) (Farrington 2017). A further consequence of the Chanka war was that it demonstrated the Inka’s power over the inanimate world. Not only did Wiraqucha and Inti speak with the Sapa Inka, but many large stones in the landscape surrounding Cuzco became animated as pururawka (pururauca) warriors in its successful defense. They then became wak’as permanently protecting the city. These events demonstrate that the Inka’s perceived control of these powers was vital for their successful expansion. This ideological reorientation placed the Sapa Inka at the center of the world and gave them the belief that they were divinely blessed, the supreme arbiters of the will of the gods, particularly the Sun. As such, they believed in their own power and authority over the world and its inhabitants, carrying this determination beyond Cuzco into the establishment of Tawantinsuyu. Summarizing the descriptions of particular kings and their funeral rituals, Gose (1996) regarded conquest as an obligation

in order to earn divine status for the Sapa Inka and retain the identity of the panaqa elite. Politically, it was essential that the conquered kuraqas recognize and respect the Sapa Inka as Qhapaq and that they provide lands to sustain the state and the Sun cult locally and supply labor to farm them. They became privileged to participate in the rituals and ceremonies of the state. The Inka made no attempt to impose Sun worship but merely demanded that it be acknowledged. To a large extent, the conquered polities retained their own wak’as but were obliged to take them or their surrogates to Cuzco annually to place them in Qurikancha to be considered part of the Inka pantheon. Therefore, the conquest and colonization of Qullasuyu had a cultural motivation, centering on the Sun, Inka identity and kingship, and a series of cultural and economic processes that sustained them. Inka Knowledge of Qullasuyu

The Inka probably knew much about Qullasuyu through earlier contact by their emissaries or traders, particularly information about polities, their organization, wak’as, histories, and resources. Their myth told them of the grandeur of Tiwanaku, Tunupa, and the origin of the sun, moon, and stars, night and day, and the world as well as the ethnic groups scattered across the landscape. Indeed, knowledge of their own important cultural connections to those places was probably an impetus to conquer. Following the Sun

The establishment of the Sun as the tribal god and father of the Inka, and their obsession with watching and measuring its annual movements, probably encouraged a desire to control both time and space (pacha) and therefore to follow the sun so that it and their empire would always be at the zenith. Therefore, it can be reasonably argued that their conquest of Chinchaysuyu north as far as Quito on the equator and slightly beyond, where the sun is at zenith on the days of the equinox and the year is divided into two equal parts, was an essential part of this process. For the southward expansion into Qullasuyu, the first advance was to the legendary birthplace of the Sun and Moon on the Island of Titicaca, where they established a shrine and made solar observations (Bauer and Stanish 2001). Zenith at the Perspectives on Understanding Qullasuyu

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Sacred Rock and ceremonial complex (16° S) occurs on November 7 and February 5, establishing periods of a quarter of a year (90 days) and three quarters. Close to the Tropic of Capricorn (~23°30' S in AD 1500) in the Quebrada de Humahuaca several preexisting settlements, such as La Huerta (23°28' S), were remodeled by the Inka as administrative-ceremonial centers (Raffino 1993). Peine tambo (23°41' S) and the ceremonial site of Socaire (23°35.5' S) lie very close to the tropic in Atacama. There are also nine mountains and hills between latitudes 22°50' S and 23°50' S with Inka structures and/or deposits on their summits (Beorchia Nigris 1984, 1987–1999). For example, both Quimal (4,300 m, 23°07' S) and Pili (6,060 m, 23°17' S) have buildings and offerings of figurines, while Morado (5,130 m, 22°55' S) has a platform, Inka pottery, and gold and silver objects. Licancabur (5,921 m, 22°50' S), Paniri (5,946 m, 23°03' S), and Chiliques (5,778 m, 23°34' S) all have a small stone circle with a central upright stone, similar to the “ancestor stones” on usnu platforms (Beorchia Nigris 1984:71–73, 166–169; Meddens et al. 2010; Moyano and Uribe 2012). These are clear indications of Inka ceremonial activity marking this line, where the sun is at zenith only once a year. However, the conquest continued much farther south. While solar phenomena were recorded at many ceremonial and administrative centers, such as Viña del Cerro (Moyano 2010), the sun could no longer be observed at zenith. Given the role that the moon played as a deity, bright in the sky when full (Zuidema 2010), and the Inka’s interest in lunar eclipses, their mythology, and prediction (Ziołkowski and Lebeuf 1993), it is probable that these elements encouraged colonization southward. For example, the study of usnu complexes by Moyano (2016) in Viña del Cerro and El Shincal demonstrates that they recorded not only the main solar alignments but also lunar ones that demarcated the northern and southern major and minor lunar standstills.1 In particular, he argued, collectively these also enabled the observation of the sun about 20 days before and after the equinox: such measurements would have been used to predict the cosmologically dangerous lunar eclipses. In short, the Inka were putting themselves in a position to understand and control the powerful, bright, and shining deities of the Sun and the Moon and their interrelationships within the

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landscapes of Qullasuyu, while converting some local wak’as into imperial ones. Mines, Metals, and Bright Light

As mentioned, Acuto, Cruz, and Salazar et al. (this volume) argue that the exploitation of mineral resources (notably gold, silver, and copper) was not the specific motivation for colonization. It was integrated into a complex cultural pattern of occupation and political control motivated by Inka practices of dealing with the supernatural. This was manifested not only in the acquisition of preexisting mines in prominent mountains in Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina but also in the establishment of new ones in similar locations. The mountains had personhood and agency, which resulted in many assuming important toponyms and being sacralized with summit platforms and shrines. Their products, ores that were refined into gold and silver objects as well as precious stones, such as turquoise, malachite, and lapis lazuli, had numinous properties. These objects were not simply utilitarian but in sunlight became animated and portals into other worlds, thus enabling communication with deities and ancestors. The Inka not only associated bright, dazzling light with their own gods but also regarded it as a significant attribute of kingship and their powers of communication with the Sun (Farrington 2017). Three Quechua words are associated with such light. Qispi (qespi, quespi) describes objects that refract light, such as precious stones but also the stars, salt, and snow. Llipi is used for objects that radiate constant light, such as metals, Spondylus, qumpi cloth, and iridescent feathers. The third term is illa (ylla), usually applied to a small object that can be said to shine or glitter. These properties can be combined with the importance of mine-mountains and locations where metal ores were refined to extend the following-the-sun argument as a broader, deeper motivation for the successful conquest and colonization of Qullasuyu. Although Acuto (this volume) is probably correct in his assessment that much of the metal production was used to sustain the Inka activities in Qullasuyu itself, Cruz (this volume) notes that Cieza de León (1984 [1553]:289) reported that silver panels from Cerro Porco were used in the decoration of Qurikancha in Cuzco, linking that mountain with the axis mundi. Almagro’s 1535 expedition encountered a caravan of litters

carrying gold for the Inka from Londres (El Shincal) to Tambo de Toro (see Raffino 1995), but it is not known whether this was intended for Cuzco. One significant Qullasuyu artifact in Cuzco is a rectangular bronze aqorasi (plaque) found on the chest of a male buried in a cemetery at Suchuna, Saqsaywaman (González 1992:119–121). In style and manufacture, it is typical of the Late Period in northwest Argentina, with mythological motifs of a two-headed snake surrounding a central human face with two saurians on its upper edge. Inka Techniques of Colonial Consolidation

While the majority of chapters here focus on the process of negotiation between the Inka and provincial and local leaders, we need to examine how they implanted themselves within the territory of Qullasuyu. This was not simply an annexation of people and land but one that placed themselves and their own narrative histories, beliefs, and practices at the forefront of their occupation. That was achieved not only materially by the use of the forms, decoration, and motifs of Inka pottery and the construction of Inka centers or the reconfiguration of preexisting ones but also by the imprinting of significant toponyms on the landscape. These were not casual acts of conquest but subtle evidence of Inka authority, its delegation, and the ability to communicate with not only their own deities but also those of the conquered. The Inka did not impose control over the forces inhabiting those places but, as Acuto notes (this volume), placed themselves between the local people and their wak’as. These chapters consistently demonstrate that the nature of Inka governance varied across Qullasuyu, as it did throughout Tawantinsuyu, including the Cuzco heartland (for example, D’Altroy 1992; Malpass and Alconini 2010; Menzel 1959). While Rivera Casanovas (this volume) describes rule as either direct or indirect, government at the provincial and local levels involved a wide degree of flexibility, ranging from rule by Inka nobles or their representatives or being delegated through preexisting social systems to provincial and local leadership. The political reasons for such variation were manifold, including acceptance or rejection of Inka control, preexisting administrative infrastructure,

the nature and extraction of resources, and the need for defense. The Concept of Cuzco

The terms “other cuzco” and “new cuzco” were used by Guaman Poma de Ayala (2009 [1615]:185 [187]) and Cieza de León (1985 [1554]:174) to categorize certain Inka provincial capitals, such as Huánuco Pampa. These were not physical copies of Cuzco but displayed its fundamental symbols and cosmology (Farrington 1998, 1999, 2013:345–358). Examination of urban plans suggests that the presence of usnu complexes, plazas, and kallankas was important, while certain places housed a temple of the Sun and were surrounded by a siq’i system of wak’as. For Qullasuyu, Guaman Poma de Ayala (2009 [1615]) listed only two “other cuzcos,” Hatunqolla and one in the Province of Charcas, almost certainly Paria, while Cieza de León (1985 [1554]:56; my translation) noted provincial capitals with rich apartments, temples of the Sun, and qullqas at “Hatuncana, Hatunqolla, Ayaviri, Chuquiabo, Chucuito, Paria, and others as far as Chile.” Polo de Ondegardo (1990 [1571]:46–47) indicated that a hundred places were surrounded by a siq’i system but cited only Pocona in Bolivia as an example. Recently, Del Río (1997:52–67) added documentary evidence for similar systems around the Inka centers of Paria and Capinota. Although many Inka settlements have the basic architectural arrangements to represent “new cuzcos” throughout Qullasuyu, only the archaeology and landscape of El Shincal have been carefully analyzed (Farrington 1999, 2013:351–358; Farrington et al. 2015; Giovannetti, this volume). El Shincal’s integration with its landscape is noted in its cardinal plan and relationship to prominent landmarks and in major archaeoastronomical alignments for the observation of critical annual solar and lunar events. Significantly, Giovannetti (this volume) notes two stone arrangements on the western terraced hill pointing to sunrise on two dates, February 13–14 and October 29–30, which mark the passage of the sun through zenith at Cuzco (Zuidema 2010:161–191). These are critical dates in the Inka calendar but it is unusual for them to have been celebrated so far south, still further evidence for this concept.

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Toponyms

Culturally significant toponyms are repeated several times in the Cuzco heartland to sacralize the landscape and engender the relationships that the Inka had with it (Farrington 2013:329–334). For example, Wanakawri (Huanacauri: CO-6:7), the name of the sacred mountain and wak’a, was attributed to seven others within the Cuzco suyus, twelve more in the Outer Heartland, and others near important Inka centers in Chinchaysuyu from Vilcashuamán to Caranqui. Both Wanakawri and Omotourco (CO-5:10), also written as Omoto Yanakawri (Molina 2011 [1573]:26), are in Qullasuyu, but no others are reported farther south, except possibly for Guancuyri near Copacabana (Ramos Gavilán 1976 [1621]:198). There has been little study of Inka toponyms in Qullasuyu, but these chapters reveal some evidence of such imprinting on the landscape. It is significant that the temple of Aconcagua was described by Cieza de León (1985 [1554]:84–85) as the fourth most important in Tawantinsuyu. Reinhard (1998) placed it at the headwaters of the Apurimac River in the Province of Hatun Canas and noted that the third temple, Vilcanota, was similarly located at the head of the sacred Vilcamayu River. Both rivers symbolically demarcate the Cuzco heartland to the north and south. Aconcagua mountain in Qullasuyu is in the same geographical position relative to its eponymous valley. It was venerated, as Pavlovic et al. (this volume) report, from walled hilltop settlements. This place-name transfer reveals the importance of this valley to the Inka. This is supported by two other local toponyms, Pachacama in mid-valley and Concón on the coast; both are important pre-Inka deities and places on the central Peruvian coast, 2,400 km to the north (Stehberg and Sotomayor 2002–2005). Other interesting place-names in this valley include Cerro Orolonco and the nearby tampu, El Tigre. Pavlovic et al. (this volume) state that both refer to the jaguar in Quechua, uturunku (uturuncu). They follow an argument developed by Perales Munguía (2004) to describe an Inka strategy in a border region in central Peru between two ethnic groups who inhabited two different environments by the establishment of a sacralized settlement called Otorongo. Pavlovic et al. argue that similar toponyms for the jaguar were used to mediate the border zone not only between two preexisting local communities but also

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between the sacred cordillera and the profane valley. Their use underlines the ontological importance of this valley. Elsewhere, Uturuncu is also the name of a volcano in southern Lípez on the Bolivian Altiplano. Cruz (this volume) highlights the use of “Cuzco,” meaning the axis mundi of the Inka world (Farrington 2013:329), as the name of a mountain in Potosí that had a silver mine and a summit shrine from which many other mountain-mines were observed, including one called Apoquiquijana, which was also a hilltop wak’a (CO-6:9) in Cuzco, very close to Wanakawri (Cobo 1990 [1653]:75). Another Cerro Cuzco (3785 m) is found in the cordillera of central Chile north of the Aconcagua Basin with probable structures on its summit; it is associated with an Inka road and small tampu (Stehberg 1995:87). The use of this toponym underlines the construction of an Inka-friendly landscape in these alien lands. Several mountain toponyms are also related to the concepts of bright light. For example, Cruz (this volume) reports a Cerro Llipi as well as Cerro Illapa and others related to the god of Thunder and Lightning, including Porco, Potosí, Tanga Tanga, and Tunupa. Bouysse-Cassagne (2008:319) and Cruz (2009:61) noted that a metalliferous hill adjacent to Cerro Potosí was called Guaynacabra (Wayna Qhapaq) in a sixteenth-century document. Therefore, Cruz (this volume) outlines the mythological relationships of these mountains, their toponyms, mines, metal production, and the gods as well as Inka Wayna Qhapaq and Willaq Umu, the high priest of the Sun. Usufruct and Ownership by the State and the Sun

One consequence of incorporation into Tawantinsuyu was that each province or polity had certain obligations imposed upon it by the state. This meant that in each some fields, herds, pastures, mines, and metallurgical establishments were set aside for the benefit of the state and the Sun, to be worked by local mitayuqkuna (rotational tributary laborers) or mitmaqkuna. Production went to those institutions, while they continued their normal activities. Communities specializing in craft manufacture likewise had to allocate a portion of their output to them. In addition, the state enforced mit’a obligations upon provincial communities for

the labor required, such as the army, porterage, and the construction of Cuzco and other installations. To accommodate such production, qullqas were built in many locations as part of state infrastructure. In some places, such as Milliraya (Spurling 1992), state farming, mining, or manufacturing facilities were established to augment production. As several authors argue, much of the produce was used to facilitate the functioning of local and provincial administration in Qullasuyu and to furnish ritual commensality and gift-giving at that level. Another policy was the forced removal of various communities for political and socioeconomic reasons and their replacement by mitmaqkuna from other districts and provinces, invariably to work in new state facilities. Examples of these obligations are evident in Qullasuyu through various documents, such as the 1567 Chucuito visita (government census) (Diez de San Miguel 1964 [1567]; Julien 1982). Other historical sources suggest that certain farmlands and mines in Qullasuyu were held by either the Inka or the Sun (Berthelot 1982; Wachtel 1982). It is known that the Sun, as part of normal administrative practice, was allocated particular silver mines in Tarapacá, Carabaya, Porco, and Potosí and gold mines in Carabaya and Chuquiago (Bouysse-Cassagne 2008, 2017). In some cases, Thupa Inka Yupanki, Wayna Qhapaq, and Willaq Umu are named as “owners.” However, the meaning of such attributions needs to be understood, particularly the term “Inka” and why certain kings and high officials individually are mentioned. These are fundamental questions, considering that the Inka did not practice private ownership (Moore 1958) and the Spaniards did not understand their concept of usufruct, thereby creating confusion about such statements (Ramírez 2005:39–41). Therefore, the understanding of Inka private estates and mines is complicated and requires information untainted by Spanish interpretations. For example, a tract of farmland in the Cochabamba Valley was alienated from local groups by Thupa Inka Yupanki and subsequently by Wayna Qhapaq. However, as Wachtel (1982) pointed out, this was not a private estate characterized by Inka terracing or other settlement infrastructure, such as in Yucay. It was state land established during their reigns and worked by mitayuqkuna supervised by mitmaqkuna from many ethnic groups. There were also subsistence fields for both types of workers.

This state enclave was spatially associated with 2,491 qullqas, also supervised and maintained by the mitmaqkuna (Gyarmati and Varga 1999). Wachtel (1982:214–215) noted that the whole project was controlled by two Inka “captains,” called Tupa and Curimayo. He added that a small private estate existed on lands given by Wayna Qhapaq to his son and farmed by Condesuyos (Kuntisuyu) mitmaqkuna, but this should probably be interpreted as state land overseen by an Inka relative. Wayna Qhapaq also sent mitmaqkuna to the Totora coca fields to farm for the state (Platt et al. 2006:89). With regard to the silver mines attributed to Wayna Qhapaq in Porco and Potosí, as well as gold, copper, and tin mines elsewhere in Charcas and the gold mines of Carabaya and Chuquiago (Bouysse-Cassagne 2008; Cruz, this volume), the same argument can be applied. These were state mines appropriated or developed during the reigns of Thupa Inka Yupanki and Wayna Qhapaq. They were worked by locals and mitmaqkuna and overseen by senior officials, members of each king’s panaqa. Cruz provides a possible mythological interpretation for their attribution, by associating Wayna Qhapaq’s roles in the conquest of Charcas and the discovery of the silver deposit with the exploits of Illapa, thus outlining a cultural legitimation for the presence of the state. In the absence of documentation for other areas, it can be assumed that throughout Qullasuyu each local community continued to farm, herd, mine, process metals, and manufacture craft items. But lands and mines would have been set aside for similar activities carried out by both local mitayuq and mitmaqkuna on behalf of the Sun and the state. Supervision was in the hands of Inka or their appointed representatives. Production

As already discussed, production was directed toward maintenance of the state’s political position through gift-giving and ritual commensalism as well as servicing its administrative, military, and construction activities. Cruz (this volume) provides useful information about the diversity of smelting methods adopted throughout Qullasuyu. He demonstrates that no state method of ore reduction was imposed, indicating a reliance upon skilled local and mitmaq labor. Metallurgical enclaves such as Porco, Quillay, Perspectives on Understanding Qullasuyu

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and El Abra were probably state enterprises, while others may have functioned exclusively for the Sun. Many authors note that Inka pottery forms and decoration were adopted but that Cuzco-made wares were rarely used, with preference given to provincial-Inka and local-Inka ones. This perhaps reflects the ethnic diversity of those who represented them. Indeed, it is significant that Cuzcomade pottery is confined to special places, such as the Island of the Sun and high-altitude shrines. Settlement

Several chapters treat the level of control over settlements and agriculture at local and regional levels. Williams (this volume) notes that Inka colonization strategies were adapted to resources and political circumstances. Whatever their specific interests, their goal was to sustain their activities through agricultural intensification, while maintaining good relations with and control over the local populations with or without the importation of mitmaqkuna laborers, managing these through their interactions with local wak’as and other nonhuman entities. The main Inka settlement strategy was to build state installations along Qhapaq Ñan, such as through the Bolivian Altiplano (Raffino 1993) and the Atacama Desert (Salazar et al., this volume) about which regional settlement hierarchies were developed or enhanced. These consisted of administrative centers with plazas, usnu complexes with kallankas, qullqas, and various other architectural elements (see Rivera Casanovas for Sacapampa, Alconini for Kaata Pata, Salazar et al. for Cerro Verde, Giovannetti for El Shincal, and Acuto for Cortaderas and Guitián, this volume); fortresses such as Cuzcotuyo and Oroncota (Alconini, this volume); lesser administrative centers (Williams for Compuel and Troncoso for Huana, this volume); hilltop sites such as Cerro Mercachas (Pavlovic et al., this volume); and Inka buildings in indigenous settlements such as Turi (Salazar et al., this volume). Another little-known building type is distributed throughout Tawantinsuyu, including Qullasuyu (Casaverde Ríos and López Vargas 2013; De Hoyos and Williams 2017). It is rectangular, composed of a number of similar-sized interconnected rooms with low stone walls, in one or several rows, ranging in length from 30 m to 180 m, and generally found in association with roads. Williams described such 248

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buildings at Compuel and Gualfín Valley, while there are others in Cortaderas and Huana. At Zapahuira in the puna of Arica (Chile), Muñoz et al. (1987) found ventilation ducts in one example, suggesting a storage function, although they also may have been corrals, fields, or military campsites. In many cases, local settlement patterns were significantly altered. One example is Williams’s study (this volume) in the western tributaries of the mid– Calchaquí Valley, where the Inka built only small installations in the lower valleys near farmlands that they had extended and intensified, presumably as state and/or Sun fields. These probably were local foci distant from the larger administrative center of Angastaco tampu and pukaras in the main valley. They deliberately avoided preexisting pukaras and villages, although Williams argues that the former became historical places in the reorganized landscape. It was further altered by additions made in local rock art locations, thereby changing the relationship between local people and their wak’as. She notes that this pattern is also prevalent elsewhere in northwestern Argentina. Rivera Casanovas (this volume) confirms imperial hierarchical development in San Lucas, focused on Sacapampa, but contrasts this with an unmodified pattern without Inka architecture in the nearby Cinti Valley. She identifies subtle changes there, however, through ceramic analysis, reflecting the state’s redirection of its proportion of agricultural production and the retention of the local social system. Processes of Negotiation and Diplomacy

Ritual feasting and drinking are generally used to build and maintain social and political relationships between different groups (for example, Dietler 2001). This was common practice in the pre-Inka Andes and was a strategy used successfully by the Inka both locally and regionally in the expansion of Tawantinsuyu (Bray 2012; Cummins 2002:39–58; Jennings and Bowser 2009). The sixteenth-century chronicles report that the Inka drank at specific festivals throughout the year in Cuzco, in which the Sapa Inka ritually toasted not only with individual panaqa members but also visiting kuraqas and other leaders as well as with his dead ancestors, the images of the deities, wak’as, and the Sun, generally conducted in a set order.

Although not formally part of every such event, feasting with the same individuals and nonhuman beings was associated with frequent toasting and copious drinking. For practical reasons, ritual commensalism is dealt with first as political and social negotiation with provincial and local leaders and second as consultation with nonhuman beings. Ritual Commensalism

Such ritual occasions enabled interaction not only between the Inka and their panaqas but also with the elites of friendly or conquered provinces in the heartland and beyond. The most comprehensive archaeological evidence of this is the distribution of ceramics in the two plazas of the royal palace at Huánuco Pampa (Morris 2004:308–310). Based on the analysis of forms, pastes, and decorative motifs, Morris concluded that its outermost plaza displayed more local incised wares, non-Cuzco designs, and a lesser proportion of Cuzco Polychrome A but more Cuzco Polychrome B than the inner one, which had more Inka red-and-white sherds. This demonstrated that social differences were recognized by the selection of wares, invitees, and location of such feasts. Several contributors note that ritual commensalism is a sociopolitical tool used in Inka dealings with provincial and local leaders, who were being encouraged to understand the Inka cosmovision and be willing participants in their imperial efforts. However, their evidence confirms not only flexibility in the way each province was governed but also how such feasting occurred. For example, Pavlovic et al. (this volume) note the construction of hilltop enclosures as community centers in central Chile, where the Inka or their surrogates interacted with local leaders in ritual feasting with locally made but Inka-decorated pot forms, while also participating in the veneration of distant apus. Farther north, Troncoso (this volume) reports a slight variation in this at the centers of Huana and Loma Los Brujos, where Inka pots were used to brew and serve chicha, while food was presented on local plates and bowls decorated in local Diaguita-Inka style. Alconini (this volume) illustrates that at Oroncota and Cuzcotuyo, mitmaqkuna representing the Inka feasted with local leaders, using only local Yampara vessels, contrasting this with evidence from Kaata Pata (Kallawaya), where mitmaqkuna and local leaders utilized locally made,

fine Inka-provincial pots from the state pottery at Milliraya. Rivera Casanovas (this volume) demonstrates the flexibility of governance and ritual commensalism in the adjacent valleys of eastern Bolivia. In the Cinti Valley, where rule was indirect through local leaders, ritualized feasting used both local and local-Inka styles at all social levels. In contrast, control was direct in San Lucas through Quillaca mitmaqkuna and an administrative center, using introduced Inka-provincial and Quillaca wares. Evidence of feasting is also provided by Giovannetti (this volume) in his analysis of El Shincal. The principal location for such celebration was its usnu platform, excavated by Raffino (Raffino et al. 1997), who found direct evidence of ritual commensalism in the form of carbonized maize, beans, squash, and peanuts as well as camelids. Recent reanalysis of the ceramics confirmed this, noting only a small quantity of Cuzco Polychrome, Inka-provincial and Inka-local forms, mainly aríbalos and plates, as well as some regional Belen black-on-red vessels and plates and local cooking pots and containers (Couso et al. 2015). Raffino also described its pebble-strewn basin floor, which Giovannetti (this volume) interprets as a “libation basin” into which the drinks presented to the nonhuman entities were poured. Indeed, Betanzos (1996 [1551]:168) described such a feature on a platform. Several have been found on usnu platforms elsewhere in Tawantinsuyu, including Huánuco Pampa (Pino Matos 2013) and Chena in central Chile (Stehberg 2016). However, Giovannetti (this volume) extends this analysis across the site. His discovery of two other pebble-filled pits in other architectural units and on a hill due south of the platform suggests that ritual commensalism also took place in individual structures. His excavations at a large rubbish dump provide evidence for large-scale feasting in the form of mainly Inka-decorated serving vessels and plates in an unknown location, which had been systematically cleaned afterward. His investigations of nearby food and chicha processing sites with grinding hollows associated with carbonized seeds and pods used for making chicha,2 as well as fire-blackened cooking pots and aríbalos, provide indications of the scale of preparation for such feasting.

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Interactions with Nonhuman Beings

Andean peoples believed that certain elements in their natural and everyday world were animated: they had agency and personhood as wak’as and could be consulted “as active agents in human affairs” (Allen 1998:20, 2015). These included not only material objects but also particular landscape features, such as certain mountains or parts thereof, rocks, springs, and even long-lived trees. Ancestors, too, were consulted, fed, and clothed. The Inka also fed and clothed their mummies, images of the Sun and other deities, and wak’as, while the Sun itself and mountains were toasted and fed. It is understood that such agency could also be observed in shiny surfaces, such as the sun, moon, and stars, lightning, snowcapped mountains, particular upright and/or partially worked rocks (including the one in the palace plaza of Qispiwanka in Urubamba), and even worked building stones or brightly painted buildings (Farrington 2017). Shiny utensils were also considered to be animated by displaying qispi or llipi, including metal objects, polished and decorated pottery, Spondylus, and the qumpi clothing and iridescent feathers that made up Inka costume. The Inka conceived a cosmology of multiple worlds (pachas) that coexisted in upper and lower contexts, which Halbmeyer (2012) described as a multiverse. For them it was essential to have knowledge of these worlds, their objects, and how to deal with them in order to negotiate with their deities and spirits. This was acquired through ritual, narration, and oracular consultation with wak’as: these were “encoded in proper forms of behavior, inscribed into the landscape and . . . form the basis for proper engagement with the world” (Halbmeyer 2012:115). Oracular consultation was fundamental to good government and decision-making. The Sapa Inka consulted with the Sun on a daily basis as well as with other deities, wak’as from throughout Tawantinsuyu, and ancestors, often through the intermediary of Willaq Umu or another substitute speaker (Farrington 2017: 243–244; Gose 1996). His representatives in Qullasuyu would have held similar powers to consult with regional wak’as as part of their integration into Inka government. Nonhuman personhood took many forms in Qullasuyu before and during Inka occupation. These chapters discuss human interaction, generally as ritual commensality, with certain types of

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being, including the ancestors, mountains, standing stones, chullpas, and art motifs, with the Sun playing a crucial role. The principal regional wak’a was invariably its dominant peak, which presided over a network of sacred places down to the house and portable objects (Allen 2015:34). Giving special names to important regional wak’as not only displayed their position within the Inka pantheon but also widened their sphere of influence by embracing the local within the imperial.

Mountains Mountains have long been a focus of veneration and worship throughout the Andes. They are variously considered to have been the home of the gods, particularly those that influenced local weather and agricultural and pastoral production (such as thunder, lightning, storms, hail, and rain) and inhabited by mythological spirits, such as the felinelike qoa (Demarest 1981; Mishkin 1940);3 local paqarinas (origin places) and therefore related to ancestors; and local community guardians. A mountain was referred to as lord, locally as apu or mallku, and by other titles (Martínez 1983). However, not all mountains and hills were so imbued with power: selection was probably based on their physical qualities, shape, height, and color, particularly if they were covered in snow and ice, which glitter as qispi, as if alive. As such, mountains are said to be living beings with personhood and agency, some even with named body parts (Bastien 1978). Mountain worship is considered to be as old as Chavín culture and continued in Mochica and later Tiwanaku and Wari times (Castro and Aldunate 2003; Reinhard and Ceruti 2010). During the Late Intermediate Period (LIP) and Regional Development Period, it was prevalent throughout Qullasuyu. However, such veneration was from a distance, at a special place from which the specific mountain could be seen. For example, Acuto (this volume) notes that in north Calchaquí in the foothills of Cerro Meléndez (6,150 m) the late pre-Inka occupation was concentrated at around 4,400 m, with wankas and rock piles up to 4,700 masl. There was no settlement above this, implying that the mountain was venerated from these lower locations. Similarly, Aldunate and Castro (1981) reported that chullpas at Toconce contained offerings but no burials and that their entrances faced particular mountains, suggesting that these were late pre-Inka places for mountain worship.

For the Inka, mountains were essential wak’as in their own sacred landscape; Cuzco itself was surrounded by six, including Wanakawri, a place of extreme importance in their origin myth (Bolívar Yapura 2015; Sarmiento de Gamboa 2007 [1572]:119). Snowcapped Apu Awsangati (6,384 m), a revered ancestor and important wak’a of Qullasuyu, dominates its southeastern horizon. Mountain worship occurred not only from afar but also with visits to the summits to make offerings and sacrifices to the mountain itself, the Sun, and other deities. Evidence of one such event was discovered at the snowline on Apu Awsangati, consisting of human bones, Inka clothing, and dressed anthropomorphic figurines as well as zoomorphic ones (Pardo 1941). Studies of over 100 mountaintop shrines in Qullasuyu and Kuntisuyu by Beorchia Nigris (1984, 1987–1999) and Reinhard and Ceruti (2010) have noted stone structures on many summits and similar evidence for human sacrifice and offerings of Inka prestigious goods, related to the ritual of qhapaq hucha. These included, among other things, fine pottery, gold, silver and Spondylus figurines, wooden qirus, and clothing. Whether such items were brought directly from Cuzco itself or from other manufacturing places in Qullasuyu is not known, although an analysis of clay composition from some sites, including Llullaillaco, demonstrates that some pots were manufactured in Cuzco as well as in Inka potteries in Titicaca and Catarpe in Atacama (Bray et al. 2005). As Acuto, Pavlovic, and Salazar et al. (this volume) comment, not only were mountain summits visited, but the traditional practice of distant veneration continued: this included locations within hilltop sites such as Cerro Mercachas and usnu platforms within Inka settlements such as Guitián, La Ciudacita, and Cerro Verde. Acuto’s comparative study of four regions (this volume) notes the role played by high mountains and the summit sites of Pukara de Angastaco and La Ciudacita, which served as wak’as in imperial provincial organization. This pattern is repeated in Pavlovic’s research in the Aconcagua Valley (this volume). Access to these summit locations followed defined pathways linking encampments of Inka-style architecture and wak’as, as Acuto (this volume) observes for Cerro Meléndez and Vitry (2007, 2015) described for Chañi and Llullaillaco.

Therefore, mountains were highly significant in the sacred landscape, as they can be respected and consulted from a distance and visited directly. The summit rituals took place against the background of the surrounding contrasting landscapes that define the territory of the apu’s influence. Cruz (this volume) highlights the relationship between sacred mountains in the Bolivian Altiplano and mines within them, which were also locations of worship and the home of the gods, as shown by Bouysse-Cassagne (2008). In these cases, the mountains are doubly sacralized not only for their form, eminence, and summit shrine but also for the mines revealing the ores as the inner fabric of the underworld. Both locations were worshipped in Inka times, as were places where metals were refined.

Wankas Wankas are one class of Andean stone shrine. A wanka is an unworked, upright rock erected in a field (wanka chakrayuq) or a village (wanka markayuq), generally facing the rising sun or the cardinal points, and considered to be the ancestral founders and guardians of that place (Duviols 1979). At certain times of the year they were presented with offerings. Such stones resemble those found on usnu platforms and at high-altitude shrines, in both form and function, and were called “stone ancestors” (Meddens et al. 2010). Qullasuyu has a long history of erecting stones in important places. Wankas have been found in several Late Period field systems in Argentina, such as Coctaca and Las Pailas (Páez and Marinageli 2016), presumably serving as field guardians. Salazar et al. (this volume) report wankas standing in the Inka fields of Paniri in Chile, some of which were worked, suggesting that they played a role in communication with nonhuman beings. Few excavations have been undertaken in their vicinity to discover whether or not these received offerings. Although not widespread, these were special locations, where the Inka or their mitmaqkuna required symbolic protection. Acuto (this volume) mentions a standing stone 1.1 m tall, adjacent to a building in the north Calchaquí settlement of Uña Tambo. It is clearly related to its surrounding topography and displays two astronomical alignments: the equinox sunrise and the moonrise at the southern minor lunar standstill (Jacob et al. 2013). Giovannetti (this volume) presents an urban context for wankas in El Shincal. He defines several Perspectives on Understanding Qullasuyu

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examples, although the majority appear to be outcrops in situ, which do not conform to Duviols’s (1979) description of an erected rock. However, Giovannetti does note that some of these wankas had evidence of agency, displaying grinding hollows and others had been worked. However, only one (W-3) had been moved to its present position so that an observer standing behind it could look over the top of W-1 and view the December solstice sunrise on the southeastern horizon. This certainly confirms the importance of these wank'as. Only one, a standing worked rock in the patio of building complex 9, is a classic wank'a, using Duviols’s definition (Moralejo 2013; Giovannetti, this volume). Unfortunately, there has been no excavation around its foot. The Inka carved and prepared natural rocks for display in prominent locations in the Cuzco region. Their forms and freshly prepared surfaces became animated indicators of their ideology and cosmovision (Farrington 2017; van de Guchte 1990). They took this tradition into Qullasuyu, carving and remodeling important wak’as in the Titicaca Basin (Arkush 2005) and at Samaipata (Marulanda 2015). Farther south, apart from a gnomon at El Shincal (Farrington 1999), it appears that the Inka adopted a local design as part of their negotiations with local wak’as and peoples. This is an abstract style of carving and pecking that includes cupules and sinuous lines on specific boulders, as found in many parts of Qullasuyu. Williams (this volume) records it at three sites in the mid-Calchaquí tributaries, which are typically associated with agricultural zones. The style is generally thought to represent field and irrigation systems. However, except for Tacuil, these examples are not as formally organized or executed as the rocks carved into miniature landscapes in the Cuzco region, such as on the summit of the Titicaca carved rock on the outskirts of Cuzco (van de Guchte 1990:429). As Williams (this volume) points out, there are other potential interpretations. Cruz (2015) notes that similar designs are found in association with the mountain-mines of the Bolivian Altiplano and suggests that they are probably related to local and Inka lightning and thunder cults. Valenzuela et al. (2004) noted that in northern Chile this design had been a pre-Inka local style in the Lluta and Azapa Valleys, which was standardized by the Inka and used ideologically in their conquest and control of that area by carving it

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on rocks in public patios, an example of using local traits as imperial tools.

Chullpas The chullpa tower in southern Peru, the Titicaca Basin, Bolivia, and Chile is generally regarded as an LIP funerary monument with a low narrow entrance. Although it was not an Inka tradition, it was continued by them during their occupation of Qullasuyu (for example, Kesseli and Pärssinen 2005). Despite the structural regularity of chullpas, their functions were varied. Nielsen (this volume) notes that in Lípez they were used as storerooms for foodstuffs, clothing, and other goods. The Inka did not change local ritual traditions but actively encouraged them, as offerings continued to be made inside and in front of the chullpas. He adds that such evidence also led Aldunate and Castro (1981) to consider the Toconce examples altars for the veneration of both ancestors and mountains, toward which the chullpa entrances faced. From this baseline, Nielsen (this volume) presents a plausible argument that the form of the chullpa, both as a tower and as a cave, represents an entry into a dark, cold, internal space, which in many respects resembles a constructed version of ukhupacha (the underworld). This interpretation is reinforced by myths about presolar creatures, also called Chullpas. The association of such locations, primordial creatures, and the dead strengthens the idea that they were wak’as. Nielsen’s investigations at LIP Laqaya demonstrate that such towers were fed offerings of burned quinoa inside, with much evidence for communal feasting outside. During the Inka Period, both offerings and human bones were deposited in several towers. As noted, it was standard practice to feed, clothe, and consult with the mummies of ancestorInka. While not all chullpas contained human remains during the imperial period, the reverence for them as nonhuman beings confirms a continuation of local tradition into Inka times. This aspect of the Inka Period chullpa is illustrated by the brightly painted versions in the Lauca Valley (Gisbert 1994) and in the Titicaca Basin and northern Chile (Kesseli and Pärssinnn 2005:400–401). These designs resemble those on Inka unkus and ceramics. Martínez C. (this volume) points out that these invariably have slots for a pair of qirus to enable a visitor to drink with the wak’as and the ancestors interred within. While the chullpa itself is not an

Inka tradition, construction of chullpas by local people in significant places to contain the dead and decorating them with imperial motifs and “clothing” suggest a degree of acceptance of the Inka political authority and cosmovision by the local elite. A similar conclusion is made about chullpas built using Inka-style well-fitted ashlar masonry in the cemeteries of the Lupaqa capitals, such as at Cutimbo (Hyslop 1977; Tantalean 2006).

Art Motifs Bray (2000) posited that the meaning of Inka art motifs was associated with state ideology and presented a preliminary analysis linking the decoration on aríbalos with the origin myth. In contrast, pecked petroglyphs and painted rock art have generally been analyzed on the basis of their content, with little consideration of its cultural meaning. For example, a line of llamas with some humans is generally interpreted as being associated with roads and caravans. However, Sepúlveda (2004) considered it to be an indicator of Inka domination. In addition, Hernández-Llosas (2006) regarded a suite of rock art motifs as integral to the establishment of an Inka sacred landscape in Humahuaca. As Martínez (this volume) notes, although the qiru was developed during the Tiwanaku period in the Titicaca region, it was used significantly by the Inka of all social levels in their ritual toasting. He isolates its three basic motifs: concentric squares, conjoined heads and arms, and a motif including a headdress (uma chuku), an unku body, and weapons. He follows Bray’s (2000) analysis of ceramic motifs to suggest that the concentric squares were part of a nonverbal system of communication and memory, signifying the Inka origin caves. The meaning of the second motif is elusive. Although Martínez’s interpretation of its relationship to an unknown wak’a or deity is plausible, there is another possibility. As Flores Ochoa et al. (1998:6) observed, the head is Tiwanaku in style. Uma means “head” and uma pacha in Kallawaya refers to the mountain summit as the origin place to which ancestors return (Bastien 1978:47, 215), so this could be another mnemonic for this association. One Titicaca-Chilean trait that persisted into the imperial period is the feline or saurian adornment on a qiru rim (Horta Tricallotis 2013).4 Its meaning may be associated with a myth about a cat emitting bright light while walking on the Sacred Rock on the Island of the Sun. One story tells of an Inka’s

visit in which he saw this vision with the feline breathing fire and radiating light (Ramos Gavilán 1976 [1621]:90, 163–164). This could be a reference to the mythological qoa and its links as an avatar of the Sun. Therefore, the art displayed on qirus can be interpreted as memorializing Inka stories of their origins and ancestors and their ability to communicate with the supernatural. The third motif probably represents the authority of the Sapa Inka, several of whom are illustrated by Guaman Poma de Ayala (2009 [1615]) wearing such items. It is also found on pottery, in architecture, and in painted rock art panels. For example, large uma chuku and unku painted figures are found around Cuzco (Hostnig 2017) and near Santiago (Berenguer R. 2013). Smaller versions are repeated in many locations in Qullasuyu, almost certainly signifying Inka power. For example, Williams (this volume) reports that several engraved and painted sites depict anthropomorphs wearing unkus, including one with a tumi for a head, associated with others as animated shields, which she considers indicative of Inka power. Troncoso (this volume) also considers the Human-Shield motif, stating that it was foreign to central-north Chile and was introduced during the Inka Period, probably as a result of Diaguita associations with northwestern Argentina. These and related motifs bear a striking resemblance to those illustrated in Mochica art as the “revolt of the objects.” Quilter (1990) has argued that this correlates with a Huarochirí myth about an occasion when the Sun died and it remained dark for five days, during which the grindstones ate humans and male llamas herded men (Salomon and Urioste 1991:53). This was a time of chaos and danger (pachakuti), in which the relationships of human beings, objects, and sacred places were inverted (Allen 1998:25), possibly as the result of the Inka arrival, a volcanic eruption, or a solar eclipse.5 The location of these images in liminal places echoes the sentiment of that myth, the importance of the Sun to the Inka and the relationship between them and local leaders, and the dangers of disturbing social and sacred order. Conclusions

Tawantinsuyu traditionally has been understood on the basis of a chronicle-based history, which Perspectives on Understanding Qullasuyu

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archaeological interpretation has generally followed, using Western paradigms and economics. However, as evidenced in these chapters, the application of modern archaeological theory and methods to the data and their interpretation opens many avenues for enquiry. The contributors describe the diversity of colonial administration as interpreted through their ethnohistorical and archaeological evidence and discuss fundamental cultural processes of ritual commensalism and consulting with wak’as. I have attempted to structure that evidence and ideas into a broader cultural understanding of Inka Qullasuyu in this chapter. It is grounded in what is known about the processes of the early Inka state formation and supported by their mytho-history, the relationship between the Sun and the Sapa Inka, and their belief in their own greatness as well as the relatively common cultural background that they shared with the peoples of the Southern Andes. However, in addition, they adapted particular local cultural practices and material elements advantageously. While some elements of the occupation and colonization have not been considered here, such as frontier fortresses and mitmaqkuna, I hope that some light has been shed to enhance knowledge of the motivations and processes by which the Inka achieved their colonial goals. Notes 1. Over a synodic month (29.53 days), when viewed from the same position, the point on the horizon where the moon rises and sets traverses from south to north of the celestial equator and back again but not to the same point with the same background of stars; that will occur 18.61 years later. This is because the moon’s orbit is tilted at 5.1° relative to that of the earth’s orbital plane and it precesses between the extreme northerly and southerly rises and sets (known as the major and minor lunar standstills). The major one occurs at declinations of +28.1° and -28.1° every 18.61 years, while the minimum northerly and southerly ones happen 9.3 years later at declinations of +18.17° and -18.17°. 2. Among the plant remains, Giovannetti (this volume) also claims to have discovered 15 carbonized seeds of the hallucinogen Datura stramonium. This is problematic for several reasons. First, there is much dispute about its origin, either Old World or New World, and whether it was even in Tawantinsuyu. However, Cabieses (1993:505) and Elferink (2016) suggested that it was used in divination in ancient Peru. If this is correct, then it could have been taken to Argentina by the Inka. Second, Cobo is a late chronicler; he used the word chamico, but this can also refer to related plants of Brugmansia sp., known to have been used as a hallucinogen in

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ancient Peru. Third, there is no mention of its prehispanic use in either Argentina or Chile (Torres 1995, 1998). Fourth, according to the Instituto Botánico Darwinion’s online “Flora de Conosur” (http:www.darwin.edu.ar/proyectos /floraargentina/fa.htm), of the three Datura species presently growing in Argentina, only D. ferox is regarded as native and is known to grow in Catamarca province, while D. stramonium is described as “introduced.” These finds have not yet been published in the site reports, so it is imperative that full details of the discovery of this plant be published, given their potential importance in understanding the use of this plant by the Inka. 3. The qoa is a mythological catlike creature in the Cuzco area that is regarded as a servant of Wiraqucha. It has a lair in Apu Awsangati, conducting its business by flying, clothed in clouds, spitting hail, and urinating rain with its eyes flashing lightning (Mishkin 1940). Its descriptions include wings and snakelike attributes. Demarest (1981:50–51) associated it with Tunupa, the Aymara god of Thunder and Lightning. According to Kauffmann Doig (1991), it controlled the frequency and quantity of rains and thus fertility and was linked with the rainbow. 4. In the Aymara dictionary of Bertonio (1984 [1612]:290), a qiru with feline adornment is termed a catari quero. 5. Three total and five annular solar eclipses were observed in Qullasuyu between 1440 and 1533 (Bauer and Dearborn 1995:143–144).

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Contributors

Félix A. Acuto is a full-time researcher at the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) and a professor at the Universidad Nacional de la Matanza (Argentina). He studies Inka colonialism in the Southern Andes, with a special emphasis on landscapes of domination and ritual activities. Other topics he has explored in recent years include the social interactions of daily life, funerary practices, and ceramic and rock art iconography in the north Calchaquí Valley during the Late Intermediate Period. He has recently published articles and edited a book (Patrimonio y pueblos originarios, patrimonio de los pueblos originarios, 2019) about archaeology and Indigenous peoples, heritage and repatriation, and Indigenous rights in Argentina. Sonia Alconini is the David A. Harrison III Professor of Archaeology at the University of Virginia. She has also taught at the University of Texas at San Antonio and the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés in Bolivia. Her research focuses on the dynamics of ancient Inka imperial frontiers and the rise of sociopolitical complexity in Tiwanaku and the adjacent eastern tropics. Alconini has published several books and articles, including the Oxford Handbook of the Incas, co-edited with Alan R. Covey (2018); Southeastern Inka Frontiers: Boundaries and Interaction (2016); and Entre la vertiente tropical y los valles: Sociedades regionales e interacción prehispánicas en los Andes Centro-Sur (2016). José Berenguer R. is the former chief curator of the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino and the editor of the Boletín del Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino. He received his PhD in anthropology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He specializes in the prehistory of the Atacama Desert, where he has directed various archaeological projects, particularly focusing on the Middle 261

to Late (Inka) Periods. The long-term emphasis of his research has been on the spatial, social, and ritual aspects of interactions at local, regional, and interregional scales. He is currently researching the visual culture of the societies of the Atacama. He is the author of several books, including Caravanas, interacción y cambio en el Desierto de Atacama (2004), Chile bajo el Imperio de los Inkas (2009), and Taira, el amanecer del arte en Atacama (2017).

Inka palaces and estates of Qispiwanka and Tambokancha. He has also worked at El Shincal and Tambería del Inka in Argentina. He published Cusco: Urbanism and Archaeology in the Inka World (2013) and was a cofounder, with Rodolfo Raffino, of Tawantinsuyu: An International Journal of Inka Studies. He has been twice decorated by the Peruvian president for services to archaeology and Australian-Peruvian relations.

Victoria Castro is a professor emerita at the Universidad de Chile and professor at the Universidad Alberto Hurtado. A specialist in Andean studies, she conducts interdisciplinary work combining archaeology, ethnography, ethnohistory, and ethnobiology. She has directed various projects in the highlands and on the coast of the Antofagasta region in northern Chile and is the author or a coauthor of numerous publications, among them Etnoarqueologias andinas (2016); De idolos a santos: Evangelización y religión andina en los Andes del sur (2009); Ciencia indígena de los Andes del norte de Chile (2004); Nispa ninchis, decimos diciendo: Conversaciones con John Murra (2000); Ceremonias de tierra y agua: Ritos milenarios andinos (1994); and Artífices del barro (1990).

Marco A. Giovannetti is a researcher at the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), an assistant professor of Argentine archaeology at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata, and a member of the archaeological division of the Museo de La Plata. He specializes in Inka archaeology of northwestern Argentina, with a focus on feasts and ceremonies, prehispanic agriculture, and plant management. He currently investigates Inka landscapes at sites including El Shincal, Los Colorados, and Quillay, which is an important Inka metallurgical center. He has contributed to outreach projects and is the author of many articles and the books Agricultura, regadío y molienda en una capital inkaica: Los sitios El Shincal y Los Colorados, noroeste argentino (2015) and Fiestas y ritos Inka en El Shincal de Quimivil (2016).

Pablo Cruz is a researcher at the Consejo

Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Unidad Ejecutora en Ciencias Sociales Regionales y Humanidades (CONICET UE-CISOR) and the Universidad Nacional de Jujuy, Argentina. His research in the highlands of Bolivia and northwestern Argentina centers on three central themes of Andean societies: mining and metal production, traditional agricultural systems, and cults of the mountains and the nature of religious landscapes. His studies cover both the prehispanic and early Spanish colonial periods. He is the author of numerous articles and a coeditor of two collected volumes, Minería y metalurgia en los Andes del sur (2008) and Racionalidades campesinas en los Andes del Sur: Reflexiones en torno al cultivo de la quinua y otros vegetales andinos (2016). Ian Farrington was formerly a senior lecturer in

archaeology at the Australian National University. He has conducted archaeological research in the Andes since 1971, particularly in the Cuzco heartland, specializing in Inka agriculture and the excavation and contextualization of the rural

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Contributors

Frances M. Hayashida is a professor of anthropology and the director of the Latin American and Iberian Institute at the University of New Mexico. Her research focuses on the political economy and ecology of late prehispanic societies before and during Inka rule in the Lambayeque region of the north coast of Peru and in the high-altitude Atacama Desert of northern Chile. Her projects and writings have explored water management in arid environments and political change, Inka craft production and agriculture, maize beer brewing, food systems as heritage, Peruvian north coastal metallurgy, collaboration in archaeometry, and archaeology and environmental conservation. Andrea Martínez is an archaeologist who has studied the interaction between the Inka State and local populations, primarily through the analysis of ceramics in ceremonial activities and commensal politics. She is currently studying changes and continuities of local pottery-making traditions during the Inka period in the Aconcagua Valley. She recently coauthored Queros de cerámica y la

presencia del Tawantinsuyu en la cuenca de los Ríos Aconcagua y Mapocho, extremo sur del Collasuyu (2018) and Interacción social al sur del Collasuyu: Alfarería funeraria del Período Tardío (1400–1537 DC) en la cuenca Maipo-Mapocho (2018). José Luis Martínez C. is a professor of historical

sciences and the director of the Center for Latin American Cultural Studies at the Universidad de Chile. Specializing in Andean ethnohistory, he has conducted archival, museological, and ethnographic research in Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile. In the last fifteen years, he has examined precolumbian and colonial Andean systems of recording and communication. He is the author or a coauthor of several books, including Autoridades en los Andes: Los atributos del Señor (1995), Pueblos del chañar y el algarrobo (1998), and Gente de la tierra de guerra (2011).

Axel E. Nielsen is a professor of archaeology at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata and a researcher at the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Argentina. His interests include prehispanic social complexity, cosmology, and long-distance trade in the Andes. He has pursued these topics through archaeological research in northwestern Argentina and southern Bolivia. The results of this work have been published in numerous articles and book chapters as well as in edited volumes, including Warfare in Cultural Context: Practice, Agency, and the Archaeology of Violence (2009, with William H. Walker) and En ruta: Arqueología, historia y etnografía del tráfico sur andino (2011, with Lautaro Núñez). César Parcero-Oubiña is a senior researcher at

the Instituto de Ciencias del Patrimonio (Incipit) of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC) in Spain. His research interests lie at the intersection of three fields: landscape archaeology, the application of geospatial technologies, and the analysis of the historical dynamics of so-called intermediate societies. His main research projects to date have examined the Iron Age of the Iberian Peninsula and late prehispanic contexts in the Southern Andes. He has written or edited various books, including La construcción del paisaje social en la Edad del Hierro del NW Ibérico (2002) and Atlas arqueolóxico da paisaxe galega (2016).

Daniel Pascual is an archaeologist and assistant professor of anthropology at the Universidad Alberto Hurtado and has dedicated himself to three fields of investigation: sociopolitical relations between populations of central Chile and the Inka, particularly in material culture; mobility dynamics and the use of space by hunter-gatherers in the northern semiarid zone of Chile; and lithic technology of early pottery-making cultures in the northern semiarid zone of Chile and in central Chile. His writings as author or coauthor include Un tigre en el valle: Vialidad, arquitectura y ritualidad incaica en la cuenca superior del Río Aconcagua (2012, with Daniel Pavlovic, Andrés Troncoso, and Rodrigo Sánchez) and Queros de cerámica y la presencia del Tawantinsuyu en la cuenca de los Ríos Aconcagua y Mapocho, extremo sur del Collasuyu (2017). Daniel Pavlovic is an archaeologist and assistant professor of anthropology at the Universidad de Chile. His research focuses on the lifeways of late prehispanic populations of central Chile and their interaction with the Inka State. His recent writings include Un tigre en el valle: Vialidad, arquitectura y ritualidad incaica en la cuenca superior del Río Aconcagua (2012, with Andrés Troncoso, Rodrigo Sánchez, and Daniel Pascual), Diversidad y heterogeneidad cultural y social en Chile Central durante los períodos Alfarero Temprano e Intermedio Tardío (2016), Interacción social al sur del Collasuyu: Alfarería funeraria del período Tardío en la cuenca Maipo-Mapocho (2018), and Rituales de la vida y de la muerte: Dinámicas de interacción entre el Tawantinsuyu y las poblaciones locales en la cuenca del Maipo-Mapocho (2019). Claudia Rivera Casanovas is a professor in

the anthropology-archaeology program of the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, in La Paz, and a researcher at that university’s Institute of Anthropological and Archaeological Research. Her research areas include the Titicaca Basin and the inter-Andean valleys of Bolivia, in which she has been conducting investigations on the development of complex societies, textile and ceramic technologies, regional interaction, and the impact of Inka expansion and domination over local societies. Her latest publications include Tiwanaku y las dinámicas de ocupación e interacción regional durante el Horizonte Medio en los valles orientales de Bolivia (2016), Estrategias de control imperial, movimientos Contributors

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poblacionales y dinámicas regionales durante el Período Tardío en la región de San Lucas, Chuquisaca (2014), and Prehispanic Textile Production in Highland Bolivia: Instruments for Spinning and Weaving Processes (2014). Diego Salazar is an associate professor at the Universidad de Chile. He has studied the historical trajectories of diverse communities from the prehispanic Atacama Desert, emphasizing the relationships of economic organization, social reproduction, and the transformation of social identities through time. He has investigated Inka mining and agricultural activities in the Antofagasta region of northern Chile and the imperial social landscapes where they occurred. The results of his work have been published in various journal articles and book chapters. He coedited Puentes hacia el pasado: Perspectivas teóricas en arqueología (2008, with Donald Jackson and Andrés Troncoso). Rodrigo Sánchez is an archaeologist and assistant professor of anthropology at the Universidad de Chile. He studies the Aconcagua culture and its relations with Tawantinsuyu (AD 900–1535) in central Chile. His research has focused on mortuary practices, pottery, rock art, and especially the reevaluation of Inka architectonic installations. His recent writings include El Tawantinsuyu en Aconcagua Chile Central (2004), Arquitectura, arte rupestre y las nociones de exclusión e inclusión: El Tawantinsuyu en Aconcagua (2008), and Rituales de la vida y de la muerte: Dinámicas de interacción entre el Tawantinsuyu y las poblaciones locales en la cuenca del Maipo-Mapocho (2019). Andrés Troncoso is an associate professor at the Universidad de Chile. He has studied the Inka period in central and north-central Chile and how relations unfolded between local communities and Tawantinsuyu. His work encompasses the study of rock art and architecture from a landscape archaeology perspective. The results of his work have been published in multiple articles and book chapters. He is the editor of Archaeologies of Rock Art: South American Perspectives (2018, with Felipe Armstrong and George Nash) and Puentes hacia el pasado (2008, with Donald Jackson and Diego Salazar). Verónica I. Williams is a researcher at the Consejo

Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas 264

Contributors

(CONICET), a professor at the Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), and the director of the Instituto de Culturas (IDECU-UBA/CONICET). She received her PhD in archaeology from the Universidad de La Plata in 1996. Her research focuses on the study of landscapes, prehispanic architecture, and pottery analysis of pre-Inka and Inka populations of northwestern Argentina. She has published over 70 articles and book chapters and coedited Género y etnicidad en la arqueología sudamericana (2000), Sociedades precolombinas surandinas (2007), and Al borde del imperio: Paisajes sociales, materialidades y memoria en áreas periféricas del noroeste argentino (2013).

Index

Note: Italic page numbers refer to illustrations and tables. Academia Mayor de la Lengua Quechua (AMLQ), 148, 154 Aconcagua people: in Chicoana province, 108; cultural traditions of, 167; Diaguita people contemporary with, 181n1 Aconcagua River basin, 166, 167, 168, 171, 178, 180, 246 Aconcagua Valley: absolute dates for Inka architectural complexes, 172, 180–181; camelid herding in, 167, 175; ceramic materials of, 167, 176–177, 180; ceramic types at Inka architectural complexes, 171, 176–177; collective agreements in, 165, 166; continuity in subsistence patterns in, 167; decentralized sociopolitical context of, 165, 166, 167, 178, 179, 180; ethnohistorical sources on, 179, 180; family units of, 165, 166, 167, 178, 180; geography of, 167; Inka architectural complexes on summits and slopes of mountains, 167, 168–175, 176, 178–180, 181; Inka architecture associated with road network, 168; Inka banquets, festivities, and ceremonies in, 165–166, 180; Inka imposition of social and ritual order in, 6–7, 179, 180; Inka presence in, 167–175, 178, 179, 180–181; Inka road network in, 167, 168, 179; Inka territorial strategies in, 179, 180; labor investment in sites of, 176, 180; local populated sites in, 167; local settlement patterns of, 179; map of Aconcagua River basin, 166; mound cemeteries of, 167; negotiation practices in, 165, 166, 179, 180; preTawantinsuyu stage of, 167; and Qullasuyu, 179–180; rock art sites of, 167, 175, 178, 180; scale of Inka sites in, 176, 178, 180; segmented communities of, 167; state-local relations in, 165, 166, 168, 176–179, 180, 181; temple of, 246; wak’a of, 173, 251 Aconquija mountain range, 26, 28 Acuto, Félix, 5, 75, 179, 242, 244, 245, 250, 251 agricultural terraces: bench terraces, 87, 101n4; in Cinti Valley, 128, 129, 129, 140; east of Titicaca Basin, 118; and Formative Period, 23–24, 97; in Kallawaya, 110, 114, 119; microfossil evidence for, 101–102n6; in middle Calchaquí Valley, 23–24, 25, 85, 86–87, 88, 93; petroglyphs and carved rocks associated with, 23; in San Lucas region, 132, 136, 140; and stone piles, 87, 101n4 agriculture: in Atacama region, 65, 66, 67–69, 70, 74; and chullpas, 223, 238, 238n1; in Cinti Valley, 128, 129, 139; Inka appropriation of agricultural lands, 7, 25, 100–101; Inka creation and expansion of state farmlands, 72, 74, 91, 99–100, 100, 247, 248; Inka-style storage structures, 68; lack of formal plazas at agricultural sites, 70; of Pilcomayao River region, 118; and pukaras spatially

265

linked to, 6, 60, 85, 86, 95, 100; ritual practices during Inka times, 70, 72, 74, 75, 97; in San Lucas region, Chuquisaca, 132, 136, 138, 139; in Southern Andes, 14; technologies of, 68; transportation routes for, 68; upright stones guarding crops, 97. See also irrigation agriculture Aguada Period (AD 500 to AD 950), 153 akillas (silver metal cups), 206 Albarracín-Jordán, Juan, 47 alcaldes de doctrinas (mayors of church doctrine), 46 Alcaxuxa (leader of Hanansaya ayllu), 50 Alcaya, Felipe de, 45–46 Alconini, Sonia, 3, 6, 139, 179, 186, 197, 249 Aldunate, Carlos, 223, 232, 250, 252 Alero Huaycohuasi, middle Calchaquí Valley, 98, 99 Alero Los Viscos, 97 algarrobo beer (Prosopis sp.): in El Shincal de Quimivil, 6, 25, 158; in El Tártaro site, 171 algarrobo forests (Prosopis sp.), 148–149 Allen, Catherine, 159 Almagro, Diego de, 241, 244–245 Altiplánico pottery style, 46 Altiplano communities: agricultural practices of, 223; aríbalos (Inka flared-rimmed jars) from, 210; carved rocks of, 252; chullpas of, 207, 212–213, 216, 223, 224, 234–235, 237; Indigenous workers from, 46; Inka conquest of, 37, 60, 179, 204, 216, 223, 231, 248; Inka-Pacajes or Saxamar pottery styles from, 64–65; in Inka Period, 231; in Late Intermediate Period, 229; mountains of, 251; qiru with engraved feline figures, 206, 206, 207, 253, 254n4; rock art styles in, 97 Amaicha II site, middle Calchaquí Valley, 91 Amaicha River, 91 Amarete, Bolivia, 148 Amazonia, 110 Ambrosetti, Juan B., 91 AMS (Accelerator Mass Spectrometry), for dating of mines, 40 Andean archaeology, South American scholars on, 2 Andean communities, ceramic styles associated with, 47 Andean cosmology: and conscious characteristics of landscape, 95; mountains in, 14, 15, 19, 49, 50; openings and closings of ceremonies in, 154; and social ordering, 148 Andean cultural tradition, ethnohistoric study of, 166 Andean Indigenous history, cyclical nature of, 30 Andean ontology, and Inka reordering and resignifying the sacred, 29, 147, 159–160 Angastaco, middle Calchaquí Valley, 85, 87, 99, 100, 101n3, 248 Angastaco basin, 22, 24, 84, 86, 91 Angostura, middle Calchaquí Valley, 85 Animaná site, middle Calchaquí Valley, 99 animistic world view, 14–15, 95, 194, 223, 236, 237, 241, 243, 250 anthropological theory, ontological and material turns in, 4, 145, 147 Antofagasta de la Sierra, middle Calchaquí Valley, 93, 95, 97, 100 apachitas (cairns): of La Ciudacita, 28; of middle Calchaquí Valley, 86, 100

266

Index

Apoquiquijana mountain, 50, 246 Apu Awsangati, 251, 254n3 Apu Challku Yupanki, 37 Apu Inka Sucsu, 37 apus (ancestors), 15, 19, 20, 29, 30, 148 Arancibia, Carlos, 141n3 Araucano leaders, 109 Arawak people, 110 Archaeological Complex 9, El Shincal de Quimivil, 149, 150 Archaeological Complex 19, El Shincal de Quimivil, 149, 150, 152, 153 archaeological theory: ontological and material turns in, 4, 254; and settlement studies, 242 Arellano, Jorge, 228–229 aríbalos (Inka flared-rimmed jars): at Aconcagua Valley sites, 177; from Altiplano, 210; biaxial patterns of, 211; decoration on, 253; and drinking rituals, 205, 216; at El Shincal de Quimivil, 157, 160, 249; from El Tártaro site, 169; at Huana and Loma Los Brujos sites, 193–194, 195; and Inka commensality, 65, 249; from La Cruz site, 174; from Mercachas site, 172; in Pucarilla, 91; of San Lucas region, 139 Arnold, Denise, 159, 160 art motifs, 253 Asanaque, 135, 136, 140, 141n3 Asillo, mitmaqkuna labor from, 46 astronomical observations: archaeoastronomical research in Atacama region, 66; astronomical alignments significant to Cuzco, 7, 154, 155, 159; at El Shincal de Quimivil, 149, 151, 153, 154, 154–155, 159, 244, 245, 252; Inka architecture aligned with astronomical phenomena, 70, 172, 178, 194, 243–244; lunar phenomena, 244, 245, 254n1; and Mercachas site, 172, 176, 178; and saywas (stone columns), 66; solar observations, 154–155, 155, 156, 159, 160, 244, 245, 253, 254n5; stone wak’as for, 6, 154; and usnus, 6, 28, 159, 244 Atacama Desert, 93, 231, 248 Atacama Oases, chambers built in caves of, 221 Atacama region: agriculture in, 65, 66, 67–69, 70, 74; archaeological research on, 59–60, 65, 70, 73, 75–76; camelid herding in, 60; collection and processing of algarrobo and chañar fruits and husks in, 60; conditions of Inka rule of, 59; copper mineral mines in, 5, 59, 65, 66–67, 73, 75, 76; copper production linked to ritual life in, 59; as copper-rich area, 57, 59, 65; difficulties in traversing of, 13; economics of Inka presence in, 66–69, 70, 73, 74–75, 76; ethnographic perspective on, 59–60; ethnohistorical record in, 57, 59, 70; as hyperarid environment, 57, 59, 60; Inka annexation of, 5, 242; Inka architecture in, 64, 66, 67, 70, 73; Inka astronomical observations in, 66, 244; Inka carved stones found in, 72, 74; Inka Period in, 59, 60, 62–64, 68, 70, 72, 73, 74; Inka “regional” roads crossing, 61, 64, 69; Inka ritualism in, 66, 70; Inka shrines and ceremonial constructions at summit of hills and volcanoes of, 65–66; Inka social life in, 66; Inka territorial strategy in, 60, 74–76, 179, 248; Inka transformations in, 59, 65–66, 74–75, 76; integration into Tawantinsuyu, 57, 59–60, 73, 76; intensive irrigation agriculture in, 60; labor of, 67, 70; Late Intermediate Period in, 60, 72; Late Period in, 60–61, 64, 65, 66,

69, 75; local settlements and villages in pre-Inka times, 70; map of, 58; map showing Inka remains and sites, 61, 68–69; mineral extraction in, 13, 59; mineral wealth of, 57; mining camps of, 67, 68–69; plazas and RPC at Inka sites, 64, 66, 68, 73; portable material culture of, 64; pre-Inka ritual sites of, 69; radiocarbon dates from Inka Period Atacama, 59, 60, 62–64; ritual gatherings in farming communities, 70; ritual practices in, 59, 66, 69, 70, 73, 74, 75; settlement system of villages, 60; sites segregated from local villages, 72; social reproduction in, 75; sociopolitics and ideology of, 69–70, 72–73; Tarapacá trade with, 60; Turi site, 29; variability of local ecosystems, 60. See also Loa River basin; San Pedro de Atacama oases Atacamenians: communities organized by kinship, 60; management of caravan traffic, 69; marginal area occupied by, 57; material evidence of Inka presence and control over, 60–61, 65; mining of, 59 Atahualpa (Inka ruler), 4 Ataliva, Victor H., 28 Ávila, Francisco de, 205–206 ayllus (lineages), 50, 125, 136, 141n3, 221, 230, 234, 236, 238 Aymara: ceramic materials of, 209–210; chullpa decorated with possible Aymara textile design, 215, 215; chullpas of, 7, 207, 212–213, 215, 216; ethnographic work among, 148; and grave goods, 213, 215; leaders and ritual toasts, 204–205; loss of life in communities of, 47; miners of, 46, 47; polities of, 108, 110; pre-Inka funerary practices of, 213, 216 Aymara people, 49, 50 Aymoro, Francisco (cacique), 110 aysanas (Inka jar form), at Aconcagua Valley, 177 Azángaro, mitmaqkuna labor from, 46 Bajo Laqaya, Lípez region, chullpas of, 230, 231, 231 Bandy, Matthew, 47 banquetas, for metallurgy, 40–41, 42, 44, 44, 52n2 Barba, Álvaro Alonso, 40, 42 Barrancas, middle Calchaquí Valley, 99, 100 Bayesian model, 36 Bay of Puno, and metallurgy for silver, 37–38 beads, turquoise beads from Atacama, 75 Beorchia Nigris, Antonio, 251 Berberián, Eduardo E., 228–229 Berenguela de Pacajes region, 37, 47 Berenguer, José, 5 Berthelot, Jean, 37 Bertonio, Ludovico, 254n4 Betanzos, Juan de, 36, 49, 84, 249 bird-handled plates, 65 blocks of rock, as nonhuman agents, 147, 160 bolones (upright stones), as stone wak’as, 149–150, 152 Bouysse-Cassagne, Thérèse, 49, 196, 251 Bray, Tamara, 147, 211, 212, 253 Cabello Valboa, Miguel, 242 Cabieses, Fernando, 254n2 Calancha, Antonio de la, 49–50 Calchaquí people, 97, 108 Calchaquí River, 25, 84, 86

Calchaquí Valley: inequality in, 125; Inka landscape transformations in, 5, 24; Inka occupation of, 15, 24–25; north Calchaquí Valley, 17, 17, 19–22, 25, 250; prehispanic societies in, 86, 101n3. See also middle Calchaquí Valley Calchaquí Wars, 99 Calilegua mines, 37, 38 Camar site, Atacama region, 64 Camata (Inka center), 113 canals, 118 canchones (enclosures), 85, 87 Cantu Yucasa, 141n3 Capoche, Luis, 47 Caquingora mine, 37 Caquiviri, Pacajes: archaeological evidence of Inka architecture and ceramics from, 36; ceramics from Late Intermediate Period, 215; chullpas in, 217n14 Carabaya region: gold mines of, 37, 46, 50, 113, 247; Indigenous workers of, 46; pre-Columbian mines of, 49; silver mines of, 247 Caranga people, Inka alliance with, 124 Carangas region: chullpas from, 212; qirus from, 207, 208 Carlos Ynga, 47 carved stones: in Atacama region, 72, 74; as imperial markers, 99; pukaras associated with, 6, 95; as sacred spaces serving as repositories of memory, 84; tatala purita design in Bolivia, 97, 102n9; visual language of, 100, 252 Caspana, Atacama region, 68, 75 Castillo, Gastón, 191, 197 Castro, Victoria, 5, 250, 252 Catamarca province, Argentina: Hualfín Valley in Fiambalá, 84; Inka administration in, 6; Inka funerary contexts of, 97; Inka occupation of, 15; Inka sites in central Catamarca, 25–26, 26, 28; map of, 146; puna (high-altitude grasslands) of, 91–92, 94, 100, 101; solar orientations in, 155. See also El Shincal de Quimivil, Catamarca province Catarpe Oeste site, Atacama region, 72 Catarpe site, Atacama region: as administration-oriented center, 68–69, 73, 75; ground copper ore offerings at ritual structures, 75; Inka architecture of, 64; plaza of, 64, 72 Catequil (oracle), 4 Catuilla (Thunder deity), 49 Cayo Inga, Diego, 52n5 Cementerio de Los Abuelos, Caspana, 75 Central Andes, monumental sites of, 59 ceramic materials: of Aconcagua Valley, 167, 176–177, 180; in chullpas, 208, 223, 228, 230; Cinti Valley serving vessels, 128, 129, 130–131, 139, 140, 248, 249; of Diaguita people, 189–190, 190, 191, 192; El Shincal de Quimivil cooking pots, 155–156; El Shincal de Quimivil vessel fragments, 152, 153, 155, 156–157, 157; of El Tártaro site, 169, 171, 172, 178; of Limarí and Choapa River basins, 190; at Mercachas site, 172–173, 172; San Lucas region serving vessels, 132, 135, 136, 138–139 ceramic styles: Aconcagua style, 177; anthropomorphic figures of, 97–98, 190; of Atacama region, 64–65; Black Polished style, 101; Central Potosí style, 125, 132; Chaqui style, 125; Charazani Slate style, 113, 117; Chicha style, 131, 136; Cuzco Polychrome style, 64, 102n8, 249; Cuzco style, 14; Diaguita-Inka style, 65, 153, 169, 177, 190–191, 190,

Index

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191, 194, 194, 211, 249; foreign-style vessels, 65; Guaraní style, 116; Huruquilla-Inka style, 130, 140; Huruquilla style, 113, 116, 125, 131, 132; iconographic studies of, 97–98; imported styles, 130–131; Inka decorated pottery, 67, 119, 169, 176–177, 248; Inka style, 6, 7, 36, 44, 47, 64, 70, 113, 119, 167, 169, 170, 172, 174, 176, 177, 178, 193–194, 210, 216, 231, 245, 248; Late Huruquilla style, 130, 131, 136, 138, 140; Late Period local styles, 64, 65; Late Qolla I ceramic style, 47; Late Qolla II ceramic style, 47; Late Quillaca style, 136, 138–139; local-Inka styles, 65, 167, 169, 173, 208, 216, 231, 247, 249; local styles, 69, 116, 167, 169, 173, 174, 177; as markers of ethnic or group identities, 123, 138, 139; of middle Calchaquí Valley, 91, 101n5, 102n8; mixed-Inka pottery style, 14, 169; Northern Potosí style, 125; Pacaje-Inka style, 131, 139, 208; Pacajes or Saxamarstyle, 46, 101, 102n8; Paya-Inka style, 169, 177; polished monochrome style, 102n8; polychrome imperial style, 113, 116, 118; Provincial Inka style, 64, 67, 102n8, 131, 136, 138–139, 156, 248, 249; Putaendo Red on White type, 169; Putaendo style, 177; of Qaraqara territory, 125; QuillacaInka style, 136, 137; Quillaca style, 132, 136, 137, 138, 249; Santamariano style, 102n8; Slipped Tricolor style, 177; studies of, 123; Taraco Inka Polychrome, 113, 118; Tarija style, 131; of Titicaca Basin, 36, 64–65, 113; Urcosuyo Inka Polychrome, 113; vessel shapes of Late Period, 65; Yampara-style vessels, 6, 113, 116, 119, 131, 132, 249; Yungastyle ceramics, 113, 116, 117; Yura style, 113, 125, 132, 136 Cereceda, Verónica, 196 Cerrito Norte, El Shincal de Quimivil, 149, 150, 152 Cerro Ambato, 154 Cerro Apu Porco: crown-shaped platform of, 38, 50; summit of, 51; vertical shaft mines of, 38 Cerro Aterrazado Occidental (Western Terraced Hill), El Shincal de Quimivil, 149, 151, 154, 156, 159 Cerro Aterrazado Oriental (Eastern Terraced Hill), El Shincal de Quimivil, 150, 152, 159 Cerro Blanco, middle Calchaquí Valley, 94 Cerro Colorado site, Atacama region, 64, 66, 68, 72–73, 74 Cerro Cuevas, middle Calchaquí Valley, 91 Cerro Cuzco: capital of Inka Empire associated with, 47; opening framing view of, 46 Cerro Cuzco mines, 37, 38, 40, 42 Cerro El Conejo, Aconcagua Valley, 173 Cerro Fundición, Calilegua mines, 38, 40 Cerro Galán, middle Calchaquí Valley, 25, 30, 100 Cerro Gordo, middle Calchaquí Valley, 94 Cerro Huaraca: chullpa with possible Aymara textile motif, 215; qiru in Mayachullpa (chullpa No. 10), 207, 208 Cerro Illapa, 246 Cerro Kari Kari mine sites, 40 Cerro La Cruz, Aconcagua Valley, 173, 175. See also La Cruz site, Aconcagua Valley Cerro León, Turi basin, 72 Cerro Llipi, 246 Cerro Loma Larga, El Shincal de Quimivil, 153, 154, 159 Cerro Luracatao, 100 Cerro Meléndez, Nevados de Cachi: and Inka ritual specialists as visual intermediaries, 19; Inka ritual specialists traveling to, 19, 20, 251; late pre-Inka occupation of, 250; pre-Inka rock art on west slope of, 19;

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Index

stone structure on summit of, 21, 22; as tutelary entity in region, 17; view from usnu platform at Cortaderas Bajo site, 18, 19; view from usnu platform at Guitián site, 19, 20 Cerro Mercachas, Aconcagua Valley: double-faced walls of, 171; sites with evidence of occupation surrounding, 173; view of, 174; view of Mount Aconcagua, 171, 178. See also Mercachas site, Aconcagua Valley Cerro Mercedario site, 194 Cerro Miño, view of, 74 Cerro Orolonco, Putaendo Valley, 168, 246 Cerro Paniri, 70, 72 Cerro Potosí, 48 Cerro Rico of Potosí, 44, 47, 50, 52 Cerro San Felipe, Oruro, Bolivia, prehispanic mines identified in, 40, 41 Cerro Tunupa, 97 Cerro Verde site, Atacama region: black outcrop at, 73, 74; built in area with no prior occupations, 72–73; copper mining at, 65, 67, 75; plaza and RPC at, 64, 66, 70, 72; provincial center located near, 73, 251; Qhapaq Ñan segment passing through, 68; workers housed in different compounds at, 73 Ceruti, María Constanza, 251 Chaca 5 cemetery, Arica, 207 Chachapoyas, chullpas of, 238n1 Chac Inga site, Atacama region, 64 chakra (agricultural field) motif, on petroglyphs, 95, 97, 99 Challchaque regional center, San Lucas region, 132, 135, 136, 141n3 Challco Yupanqui, Baltazar, 50 chambers in caves: contents of, 223, 228; in Lípez region, 221, 223, 225, 225, 228, 231, 234, 235–236, 237; and rock art, 228, 230; in San Juan Mayo area, 221, 237; as underworld, 236; in Upper Loa River, 221; visibility of, 237 chamico (Datura stramonium), 158, 160, 254n2 chañar (Geoffroea decorticans), 149, 158 Chané people, 45, 110 Chanka war, 237, 242–243 Chaquí: and ceramic styles associated with Inka, 47; mines of, 37, 45 Charcas region: Aymara people of, 50; Inka administration in, 5, 36; metals in, 5; mines and metallurgical complexes in, 45, 247; qirus found in, 212 Charka Confederacy: cultural base of, 241; ethnohistorical studies of, 125; Inka negotiations with, 6, 45, 124, 126; Inka warriors of, 126; Memorial de Charcas, 126; resistance to Inka advance, 126; in Titicaca Basin, 108; and Yampara region, 108, 109 chaskiwasis (shelters for Inka messengers), in Atacama, 61, 64 Chayanta region, 37 chicha: algarrobo beer, 6, 25, 158; consumption of, 116, 118, 209, 249; and El Tártaro site, 171; and Huánuco Pampa, 166; maize beer, 4, 6, 25, 155, 157–158; production of, 157–158, 159, 160, 249; for ritual toasts, 204, 205, 216 Chichas: and Charka Confederacy, 108, 125; and Inka roads in Atacama, 61; territory of, 36, 125, 131; Yavi–La Paya ceramic style from, 65 Chicha/Soras Valley, 95 Chicoana, 108, 241

Chiguana salt flats, chullpas of, 225 Chile, 36, 60, 241 Chiliques site, Atacama region, 64, 66, 72–73, 244 Chilpe ceramic style, 46, 47 Chimpa Llajta I, San Lucas region, 132 Chinchaysuyu, 243, 246 Chiquiago (Inka site), 130 Chiriguano, 75, 126 Chirima, Pedro, 209 Chiuchiu site, Atacama region, 64, 70, 72, 74 Chocaya, 47 Chosi Kani site, Pacajes, 208 Christie, Jessica Joyce, 30, 159 Chucchi Qhapaq (lord of the Qulla people), 203–204, 205 Chui, 108, 110 chukirumin (brilliant stone), 48, 49 chullpas (freestanding towers and domed chambers often used as sepulchers): adobe chullpas, 208, 212; and agriculture, 223, 238, 238n1; ceramic materials in, 208, 223, 228, 230; chambers in caves, 221, 223, 225, 225, 228, 229, 231, 234, 235–236, 237; characterization of, 224, 234–235; chronological data for, 224, 226–227, 231, 233; colonial documents on, 212; contexts of, 224, 225, 228–229, 237– 238, 252–253; Cuzco qirus associated with, 7; Cuzco-type designs in exterior decoration, 208; as domed chambers, 224, 225; dressing of, 216, 223, 253; durability of, 235; as empty, 223; and fragments of qirus with smooth surfaces, 206–207, 206; as freestanding towers, 224, 224; function of, 212, 217n9, 221, 223, 224, 230–231, 232, 233, 234–238, 252; and human-nonhuman relations, 7, 216, 217n14, 235, 236, 237, 238; and human remains, 223, 228–229, 230, 235, 236, 237, 238, 252; and Inka textile designs, 210, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216; intrusive towers in earlier sites, 231–232, 232, 238; in Lípez region, 7, 206–207, 221, 222, 223, 224–225, 228, 234–238; as nonhuman persons (wak’as), 7, 216, 217n14, 235, 236, 237, 238; offerings of, 223, 224, 232, 233, 235, 238, 252; ontological status of, 223, 235, 236, 237; opening frame and placement, 216, 224, 225, 225, 232, 234–238; openings oriented to habitation area, 229–230; openings oriented to mountains, 215, 223, 252; openings oriented toward east, 7, 215, 233, 237; orifices for qirus in, 208; and pastoralism, 238n1; performance characteristics of, 223, 235, 238n2; plaza chullpas, 7, 230, 231, 231, 234, 238; of pukaras, 7, 223, 225, 229–231, 233, 237; qirus embedded in lintels, 208, 208, 212–213, 214, 216, 217, 252; site types and chronology, 224, 228; stone chullpas, 208, 212, 213, 215, 224; for storage, 223, 235, 236, 237; for territorial markers, 221, 237; towers apart from settlements, 228–229, 231; tower shapes, 229, 232, 233, 235, 236, 237, 238n4; towers in clusters near Inka Period villages, 232–234, 233, 234, 235, 237; as underworld, 236, 252; variability in form, material, and size, 221, 223, 224, 225, 228–229, 228, 234–235; visibility of towers, 237 Chullpas (mythical presolar humanity), 236, 238n5, 239n6, 252 Chuncho tropical tribes, 110 Chuquiago region, gold mines of, 37, 247 Chuquilla (Lightning Bolt deity), 49 Chuquilla Kucho, Lípez region, 231 Chuquilla site, Lípez, qiru from, 207, 207, 209, 213

Chuquisaca, city of, 213 Chuquisaca region: Inka occupation of, 15, 16; Inka’s appropriation of the sacred in, 17; Inka’s territorialadministrative jurisdiction of, 15; Los Cintis in, 126–131; map of, 16; valleys of, 49, 126; wak’as in, 16 Churuquella, mountains of, 47, 50 Chuy people, 125 Cieza de León, Pedro, 45, 47, 84, 126, 204, 244, 245, 246 Cinti Valley, Chuquisaca: architecture in, 127, 128, 129, 248; ceramic materials of, 128, 129, 130–131, 139, 140, 248, 249; economic patterns of, 128, 129–130, 131, 139, 140; ecosystem of, 126; feasting activities in, 128, 140; Inka occupation of, 129, 130–131, 139–140; Jatun Huankarani as dominant center in, 126, 128–129; labor in, 130; in Late Period, 129–131, 130; in Late Regional Development Period, 126–129, 128; llama corrals associated with centers, 129, 130, 136, 139; regional hierarchy of, 126, 127, 128, 129, 131, 140, 249; road system of, 129, 130; settlement patterns of, 126–127, 128, 129, 131, 139; storage/surplus accumulation in, 128–129, 130, 139; tribute flow system of, 130, 139 circum-Titicaca areas, Inka-Pacajes or Saxamar ceramic styles from, 64–65 ciudadelas (citadels), 113 Classic Yampara Period, 112 Cobo, Bernabé, 36, 158, 254n2 Cochabamba Valley, 125, 242, 247 Coctaca, Quebrada de Humahuaca, 125, 251 Colla ceramic style, 46, 47 Collahuasi, Atacama region: copper mining in, 67; metal production in, 65, 70, 75; plaza of, 70; provincial center located near, 73; Qhapaq Ñan segment passing through, 68; workers housed in different compounds at, 73 Collao: caciques and principal leaders of, 46; ceramic styles of, 47; Indigenous miners from, 47; linguistic and cultural connection to, 36; mines and metallurgical complexes in, 45, 52; mitmaqkuna labor of, 45, 46; people of, 45, 46, 241 Colomé road, middle Calchaquí Valley, 92 Colque Guarachi, 140 Common Era, and metallurgy, 38 Compuel site, middle Calchaquí Valley, 25, 91, 92, 93, 94, 100, 248 Conchi site, Atacama region: copper mining in, 67, 70, 75; plaza of, 70; provincial center located near, 73; roads linking, 69 Conchi Viejo, Atacama region, 65 Concón, 246 Condarco, Carola, 212, 217n9 Condori, Bernabé, 30 Copacabana: chullpa of, 233; Indigenous mitmaqkuna of, 46; as religious enclave of Inka, 36, 124; sanctuary of, 50 Copiapó province, 60, 61 copper mineral mines: in Atacama, 5, 59, 65, 66–67, 73, 75, 76; and copper production, 59, 67; of Corocoro, 37, 50; and experimental archaeometallurgy, 42, 45; Inka’s working of, 37, 75; and ritual practices, 72, 75; in Saipurú, 45; and wayras, 44 Cordillera de Chiriguanos, 108–109 Cordillera del Medio, 69

Index

269

Cornejo, Luis, 181 Corocoro mine, 37 Corralito, middle Calchaquí Valley, 85, 87, 91, 94, 97, 100 Corralito 4 site, middle Calchaquí Valley, 91, 93 Corralito 5 site, middle Calchaquí Valley, 91, 93 Cortaderas, North Calchaquí Valley: Cortaderas Bajo site, 18, 19; fortifications of, 108; as Inka center, 17, 19, 248; and Inka ritual specialists, 19; plaza of, 17, 19; road leading to plaza, 19; usnu platform of, 17, 19, 30; Way of the Cross, 19 Cosuña mountain, 15 Coya Cusihuracay, 45, 46 Cremonte, María B., 25 Cruz, Pablo, 3, 5, 15, 16, 73, 97, 102n9, 244, 246–248, 251, 252 Cruz Vinto, Lípez region, chullpas of, 229, 230 Cueva del Diablo, Lípez region, chambers in caves, 225, 229 cultural identity: and ceramic styles, 123, 138, 139; and imposition of Inka architecture, 159; and mining and metallurgy, 36, 73; and social memory, 84 Cummins, Thomas, 159–160, 205, 210, 211, 213 Cupo site, Atacama region, 72 Curahuara mine, 37 Curi Caccha, 49 Cuzco: architecture of, 113; astronomical alignments significant to, 7, 154, 155, 159; concept of, 245–248; defense of, 243; festivals in, 160, 248; Indigenous miners from, 47; Inka imperial expansion from, 60, 181, 242; Inka imposition of Cuzco vision, 179, 190, 246–247; Inka migration to, 36; and Inka use of space, 159; mountains of, 15, 16–17, 50, 246, 251; provincial oracles traveling to, 4; provisioning of, 29; qirus of, 209; rectangular bronze aqorasi (plaque) artifact, 245; ritual practices of, 168; siq’i lines of, 147, 148, 159, 237, 245; sit’uwa ceremony of, 160; and Spanish mining, 52; symbolic hegemony of Cuzco ethnic group, 181; visual elements appropriated from, 192; worldview of, 159 Cuzco region: ancestors of Inka migrating to, 1, 243; Indigenous workers from, 46 Cuzcotuyo: fortification of, 108–109, 116, 118, 248, 249; occupation dates for, 242 D’Altroy, Terence, 69 Dávila, Juan, 47 Dean, Carolyn, 30, 147, 159 Debenedetti, Salvador, 221 De Hoyos, María, 97 Del Río, Mercedes, 245 Demarest, Arthur A., 250n3 Descola, Phillippe, 148, 160, 189, 195 Diaguita people: ceramic materials of, 189–190, 190, 191, 192; in Chicoana province, 108; Inka political alliance with, 190–191, 195–197; lack of social differentiation and hierarchization in, 188; in Limarí and Choapa River basins, 186, 188, 191, 192, 195–197; local leaders of, 186, 188, 191, 192, 195–197; mediation between humans and nonhuman beings, 7, 192, 195, 196; mediation between state and communities, 7, 178, 187, 192, 195–197; petroglyph sites as spaces for social reproduction, 188–189, 196; petroglyphs of, 188–190, 188, 189, 191–192, 191, 196, 253; regions inhabited by, 108, 169, 181n1, 188; and state-

270

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local relations, 190, 191–195, 197; transformation of visual tradition, 192 Díaz, Martí G., 28 Dietler, Michael, 155, 159 Dillehay, Tom, 155 Doncellas site, Jujuy, qiru of, 207 Duviols, Pierre, 252 economics: of Cinti Valley, 128, 129–130, 131, 139, 140; of El Shincal de Quimivil, 147, 149; of frontier colonies, 107–108, 119; and Inka expansion into Qullasuyu, 5, 6, 29, 57, 59; and Inka presence in Atacama, 66–69, 70, 73, 74–75, 76; of mining, 5, 35, 59, 73, 74, 244; of San Lucas region, 132, 136, 139; sociocultural dimension of economy in Atacama, 69–70, 72–73 Ecuador, Inka conquest of, 45 El Abra sites, Atacama region: copper minerals in, 65, 67; door openings at mining camp oriented toward platform, 70; Inka architecture of, 67, 70; Inka mines from, 67, 67, 70, 75, 248; llama caravan trails linking, 69; offerings of Spondylus found on platforms of, 70; plan view of Inkawasi-Abra mining campsite, 71; plazas of, 70; provincial center located near, 73; workers housed in different compounds at, 73 El Apunao site, Nevados de Cachi area: canal of, 30; and Inka architecture, 30; map of, 22; petroglyph related to equinoxes, 21, 22; pilgrimage circuit of, 20–21, 22; stone receptacle of, 21, 22, 30 El Churcal, middle Calchaquí Valley, 86, 101 Elferink, Jan, 254n2 El Fuertecito, middle Calchaquí Valley, 98, 98 El Patronato (distribution center), 130 El Shincal de Quimivil, Catamarca province: Archaeological Complex 9, 149, 150, 159; Archaeological Complex 17, 153, 154, 159; Archaeological Complex 19, 149, 150, 152, 153, 159; Archaeological Complex 20, 153, 154, 159; archaeological studies of, 147, 152; architectural sectors of, 147, 148–149, 153, 154, 159; astronomical alignments of, 149, 151, 153, 154, 154–155, 159, 244, 245, 252; basins for drinking at, 152–153, 154, 159; as center for pilgrimage and ritual, 25, 147, 152, 153, 159; central plaza of, 25, 147, 149, 150, 154, 155; Cerro Aterrazado Occidental (Western Terraced Hill), 149, 151, 154, 156, 159; Cerro Aterrazado Oriental (Eastern Terraced Hill), 150, 152, 159; Cerro Loma Larga, 153, 154, 159; channels for water at, 152; chicha production sites, 157–158, 159, 160; Discard Zone of, 146, 156–157, 157; and economic practices, 147, 149; festival practices of, 147, 155–160, 249; hills surrounding, 149, 150, 159, 160; as Inka administrative center, 6, 147, 149; kallankas (Inka great halls) of, 147, 155; layout and cardinal points, 149, 153, 155, 159, 245; map of, 146, 147; mortars of, 149, 151, 157–158, 158, 160, 252; nonhuman beings of, 149–150, 152–155; phytogeographical landscape of, 148–149; and political practices, 147; remains of votive practices, 147, 152–153; solar orientations at, 154–155, 155, 156, 159, 160, 244; spatial arrangement of, 159; stone beings at, 149–150, 151, 152, 152, 153; urban context for wankas at, 251–252; usnu (ceremonial platform) of, 25, 147, 149, 150, 152, 153, 154–155, 155, 159, 249; Wak’a 1 rock,

151, 154, 252; Wak’a 3 rock, 151, 154, 252; zigzag perimeter wall, 149, 151 El Tártaro Architectural Complex (Complejo Arqueológico el Tártaro, CAET), Cerro El Castillo: 14C dates for, 170, 172; accessibility for local communities, 178; archaeoastronomical observations at, 178; ceramic materials at, 169, 171, 172, 178; ceramic qiru cup reconstructed, 169, 171, 173; collective ceremonial events of, 171; food consumption at, 169, 171; Inka roadways found near, 170–171; intentional disposal of artifacts at, 169, 171; panoramic view of, 169; perimeter walls of, 168; plaza of, 168, 171; qullqas of, 169; and ritual practices, 169; and rock art on blocks, 170; sectors of, 168–169, 171, 178; stone assemblage of, 169; stone walls of, 168–169, 173; structures of, 168; topographic plan of, 170; view of Cerro Orolonco, 168, 178 El Tigre site, Putaendo Valley: dating of, 178; El Tártaro site connected to, 170–171; and sacralization of Cerro Orolonco, 168, 246 encomenderos, Indigenous workers of, 46 Encrucijada, 41 enslaved Africans, 47 Farrington, Ian, 7 Flores Ochoa, Jorge A., 253 Formative Period: and agricultural terraces, 23–24, 97; and Inkas intruding into local agriculture sphere, 25; pre-Inka sites near La Ciudacita, 28; rock art of, 97, 98 frontier colonies: agent-oriented perspectives of, 110; changes in indigenous settlement patterns in, 110, 112–113, 119, 248; circulation of status goods in, 110, 113, 119; economic diversification of, 108; economic specialization of, 107–108, 119; elite competition in, 107, 110; map of, 109; mutual acculturation and ethnogenesis in, 108, 116, 119; protection of, 108, 119; scale of staple economy in, 110, 118; settlement studies of, 242; state-local relations in, 108–110, 116, 119–120, 168; state-sponsored commensal celebrations in, 110, 116, 118, 119; strategies of local subject elites in, 107–108, 109, 110, 119; ties to metropole, 108; types of, 107–108 funerary evidence: in Atacama region, 66; of Aymara, 213, 215, 216; of Chuquisaca, 213; of Diaquita people, 190, 192, 196; in Lípez region, 231; in middle Calchaquí Valley, 91, 100 funerary structures: decorative technique used for, 215. See also chambers in caves; chullpas (funerary towers) García, Alejandro, 242 García, Silvia, 93 Garcilaso de la Vega, 84 Garci Mendoza mining center, 47 Giovannetti, Marco A., 3, 6, 245, 249, 251–252, 254n2 Gisbert, Teresa, 212, 216 Godoy, Felipe de, 40 gold figurines, as offerings to wak’as, 14 gold mines: of Carabaya region, 37, 46, 50, 113, 247; in Pampa Guanaco, 45; of Qullasuyu, 37; of Tipuani region, 37, 50 González C., Paola, 211 González de la Casa, Hernán, 50

González Holguín, Diego, 217n2 Gose, Peter, 243 gourds: anthropomorphic figures on, 91; pyroengraved gourds, 91, 97; shieldlike motifs on, 97 Gow, Rosalind, 30 Grigotá, 45 Gualfín, middle Calchaquí Valley, 85, 86, 87, 91, 94, 97, 101n3 Gualfín 1 site, middle Calchaquí Valley, 91, 102n7 Gualfín 2 site, middle Calchaquí Valley, 91, 98, 102n7 Gualfín Las Cuevas, middle Calchaquí Valley, 87 Guallpa, Diego, 50 Guaman Poma de Ayala, Felipe, 49, 110, 111, 215, 245, 253 Guancané, 45–46 Guarani-Chiriguano attacks, 108 Guaraní people, 109, 110 Guasamayo River, 94 Guayco Seco mines, 38 Guillén Guillén, Edmundo, 52n5 Guitián site, North Calchaquí Valley: and Inka ritual specialists, 19; Inka sites of, 99; map of, 20; trapezoidal plaza in, 19; usnu platform of, 19, 20, 251 Gyarmati, János, 212, 217n9 Haber, Alejandro, 160 Halbmeyer, Ernst, 250 hallucinogenic snuff paraphernalia, 190, 254n2 hanan-urin (upper and lower moiety), 28 Harris, Olivia, 196 Hayashida, Frances M., 5 Hayden, Bryan, 155 Hernández Llosas, María Isabel, 253 high-altitude shrines: bolones in, 150; ceramic materials of, 248; in Limarí and Choapa River basins, 190, 194; in middle Calchaquí Valley, 86, 100; and mining, 38, 40, 42, 244, 246, 251; and state-local relations, 72, 231 high-ground sites: of middle Calchaquí Valley, 22–24, 25; and Pukara–Tambo de Angastaco site, 25; sacred meanings and ritual practices linked with, 23–24, 25 Hinojosa mine, 47 Hondo River, 147 Horta, Helena, 206, 207 Huachacalla, qiru in chullpa from, 208, 208 Hualfín, plaza of, 25 Huana, Limarí River basin, 186, 192–194, 193, 248, 249 Huánuco Pampa (Inka provincial capital), 154, 155, 166, 245, 249 Huarochirí myth, 253 human-nonhuman relations: architectural dimension of, 148–149; and chullpas, 7, 216, 217n14, 235, 236, 237, 238; and commensalism, 145, 147; context of, 4–5; and El Shincal de Quimivil, 6, 147, 160; and family connections, 145; and festivals, 160; in governance of world, 145; and hierarchically differentiated sacred densities, 148; and Inka commensality, 145, 147, 195, 248, 250; in Limarí and Choapa River basins, 7, 187, 194–195, 197; logic of, 147; and merging of identities, 147; and reciprocity, 160; role of nonhuman beings in community social reproduction, 3, 8, 15, 75, 187, 197; and sharing space, 145, 147, 148; spiritual practices of bonding, 147; and state-local relations, 3, 5;

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271

and structure of space, 160; in Tawantinsuyu (Inka State), 7, 242. See also nonhuman agents Hyslop, John, 25–26 Ichiu, middle Calchaquí Valley, 100 iconography: local subject elites deploying Inka iconography, 3–4, 192, 216; and rock art, 102n10; studies of ceramic styles, 97–98 Illapa, mountains of, 47 Illapa (Lightning deity), 49, 215, 243, 246, 247, 252 Illipica, Lípez region, chullpa of, 224, 233, 233, 235 Incaguasi Loa site, Atacama region, 64 Inca mountain, 15 Incapirqa/Waminan site, 194 indigenous (local, non-Inka) populations: ayllu-type organization of, 125; and chullpas, 221; frontier colonies’ interaction with, 108–109; and Inka as intermediaries between locals and their wak’as, 5, 6, 15, 25, 29–30, 73, 75, 242, 243, 245; Inka’s displacement and resettlement of, 30, 247; Inka suppression of local divinities, 187; kinship relations reinforcing long-distance travel, 93; kinship ties reinforcing Inka domination, 126, 180, 181; kinship ties with frontier colonies, 108; local deities of, 216; material items of Inka’s interactions with, 14, 29; resettling of, 13, 124; resistance of, 108, 124, 125; in Titicaca Basin, 108. See also specific peoples Indigenous (Native Andean) populations: miners’ devotion to mountains, 48; mining of, 38, 40, 51; mining rights of, 47; mountains worshiped by, 50; ontology of, 14; social and spiritual order of, 29; social life of, 15; time represented by, 30 Inka administration: in Atacama, 5, 72, 74–75; building of administrative centers, 6, 7, 13, 17, 19, 68–69, 70, 73, 75, 135, 147, 149, 212, 248; in Charcas, 5, 36; design of provincial Inka centers, 7, 73; in El Shincal de Quimivil, 6, 147, 149; formal plazas at administrative centers in Atacama region, 68, 70, 71; and imperial policies, 7; in Limarí and Choapa River basins, 7, 192–194, 193; in middle Calchaquí Valley, 24–25, 30, 94, 99–101; organization around local wak’as, 30; organization of jurisdictions, 15–16; political strategies of, 186; in Potosí, 15; in Qullasuyu, 37; relations with mining sites, 70; in San Lucas region, 6, 135, 136, 139, 248; in South-Central Andes, 95, 97; state hospitality activities, 6–7, 13, 14, 68, 116, 119, 131, 165, 166, 169, 186; usufruct concept of, 247; variability and flexibility of, 7, 59, 76, 83, 185, 245 Inka architecture: on Aconcagua Valley mountain summits, 167, 168–175, 176, 178–180, 181; alignment with astronomical phenomena, 70, 172, 178, 194, 243–244; animating capacities of, 194; in Atacama, 64, 66, 67, 70, 73; and authority of “ruling class,” 179; cellular architecture, 91, 102n7; communion between Tawantinsuyu and the sacred expressed by, 30, 180; in El Shincal de Quimivil, 147, 148–149, 153, 154, 159; formal plazas associated with, 70, 72, 73, 245; integration of natural rock outcrops with, 30; in Lípez region, 231–234; and low level of resource extraction and production, 179; as metaphor of power of the Inka, 30, 179–180; in middle Calchaquí Valley, 25, 30, 91, 99, 101, 179; and “new cuzcos,” 245; plazas associated with, 70, 72, 73,

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Index

245; and provincial centers, 73; ritual spaces of, 179, 180; sites as “dis-embedded centers,” 179; and usnus (ritual platforms), 159, 245 Inka calendar: in Aconcagua Valley, 178; in Atacama region, 66; and El Shincal de Quimivil, 154–155, 159, 245; and Inka authority, 166, 195 Inka-Chicha ceramic style, 14 Inka colonialism: archaeological evidence of, 59; control over conquered territories, 124, 125; dual building strategy of, 30; in Ecuador, 45; and festivals, 155, 248; generosity and wealth expressions, 75; ideology of, 83; and Inka as intermediaries between locals and their wak’as, 5, 6, 15, 25, 29–30, 73, 75, 242, 243, 245; Inka demonstrating power over supernatural forces, 5, 17, 28, 29, 30; in La Ciudacita, 28; military campaigns of, 126; and pilgrimages, 20–22, 25, 50; prestige of state goods, 101, 119; production of status goods in provinces, 113, 180; in Qullasuyu, 13, 35, 37, 51, 52, 69, 101, 119, 124–125, 139, 140, 165, 179, 185, 205, 241, 242, 245; and ritual practices, 6–7, 19, 20, 23–24, 25, 28, 29–30, 75, 100, 101, 159, 160, 180, 243; in Southern Andes, 25–26, 28, 29, 35, 36, 37, 57, 59–60; and suppression of local divinities, 187; territorial and hegemonic strategies of, 15, 60, 74–76, 84, 99–100, 124, 125, 140, 168, 179, 197, 245, 248; and wak’as, 4–5, 15, 16, 25, 29, 30, 140, 179, 223 Inka commensality: evidence for commensal-political activities, 67, 68, 73, 116, 118, 165, 193–195, 247, 248–249; and human-nonhuman relations, 145, 147, 195, 248, 250; as integral component of production systems, 70; and preparation of food, 70; types of ritual and political commensal events, 165–166, 180, 249, 254; vessel shapes associated with, 65 Inka conquest: and Charka Confederacy, 126; chronology of, 7; and Inka dominion of region, 84; and Inka’s use of outside ethnic groups, 178; and pukaras, 99–100; role of chullpas in, 223; of southern Altiplano space, 37, 60, 179, 204, 216, 223, 231, 248; symbolic/ritual character of, 83, 94, 100 Inka Empire: alliances of, 45; archaeological research on expansion from Cuzco, 60; art motifs of, 253; chronology and motivations for conquest, 7, 242–245; collapse of, 52; consolidation of, 84, 242; ethnohistorical resources on, 59, 70; goals of expansion, 3, 13, 15, 35, 50, 51–52, 76, 84, 108; imperial strategies of, 139–140; Inka politics as cosmopolitics, 5, 7, 29, 76; and mitmaqkuna, 45–46, 247, 248; political economy of, 84; role of indigenous lords in, 108; sociopolitical organization of, 120; South American scholars on, 2, 8; territory of, 123. See also state-local relations Inka incorporation: dynamics of, 139, 140; of Kallawaya territory, 6, 109, 110, 119; of Los Cintis, 6, 124–125, 126, 139; of nonhuman agents, 7, 187, 194–195, 197, 241, 248; political process associated with, 187; settlement patterns associated with, 6, 179, 248; and state-local relations, 124, 180; of Yampara region, 6, 119 Inkallatja, defense systems of, 108 Inka mythology: and cosmology, 19, 30, 147–148, 159, 178, 250; difference between east and west in, 28; origin myths, 30, 36, 210, 242, 254

Inkanization: and adoption of Inka styles, 3; Inkanized local leaders, 75, 100, 116, 118, 119, 186; of territory, 185 Inka nobility, wealth within Spanish colonial regime, 47 Inka ontology, scaffolding of, 147, 159–160, 246 Inka-Pacajes ceramic style, 14, 36, 64 Inka Period: in Aconcagua Valley, 178; archaeological data on, 84; in Atacama region, 59, 60, 62–64, 68, 70, 72, 73, 74; chullpas of, 7, 223, 224, 228, 228, 231–234, 238; function of imported materials during, 113; grave goods of wak’as and mummies of rulers, 213; and local social reproduction, 7; in middle Calchaquí Valley, 5, 84, 89–90, 91, 101n1; Ona obsidian used during, 101; paraphernalia for consumption of alcohol in, 160; rock art style associated with, 97, 98, 172; settlement patterns in Kallawaya region, 115 Inka Road. See Qhapaq Ñan (Inka Road) Inkarry Moqo (Inka center), 113 Inka rulers, 4, 45, 51. See also specific rulers Inka sanctuaries: Island of the Moon as, 124, 242, 243; Island of the Sun as, 36, 124, 242, 243, 248, 253; mountains as sites of worship, 47, 50 Inka State. See Tawantinsuyu (Inka State) Inka textiles, and exterior designs on chullpas, 210, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216 Inka toponyms, and renaming of significant places, 7, 16, 17, 180, 245, 246 Inkawasi-Abra mining campsite, plan view with central plaza, 71 Inka Waskar, 50 Inka Wayna Qhapaq, 37, 45, 47, 48, 49, 50–51, 52, 212, 213, 246, 247 Instituto Botánico Darwinio, 254n2 Intermediate Period, 37 Intersalar region: banquetas in metallurgical installations in, 42, 44; chullpas of, 237; mines of, 45; Pukara de Alianza, 96 Inti (Inka deity), 243 Intip Churin (son of the Sun), 243 Inti Raymi, 159 iridescent feathers, 244, 250 irrigation agriculture: in Atacama region, 60; canals and ditches for, 87; in Cinti Valley, 128; expansion of, 5; mesothermic irrigated crops, 84–85; in middle Calchaquí Valley, 87, 91; and stone outcrops, 72, 74 Island of the Moon, as Inka sanctuary, 124, 242, 243 Island of the Sun, as Inka sanctuary, 36, 124, 242, 243, 248, 253 Itapilla Kancha, Lípez region, chullpas of, 231–232, 232 Itier, César, 203 Ixiamas, Inka fortification of, 110 Janusek, John, 47 Jasimaná, middle Calchaquí Valley, 100 Jatun Khellaja, 141n3 Jaya River, 28 Jirira, metallurgy in, 41, 44 Juchijsa, Lípez region: plan of, 234; tower clusters in, 233 Jujuy: Cabra Corral in, 160; Doncellas site, 207; Inka annexation of, 242; puna (high-altitude grasslands) of, 84, 238n1

Julien, Catherine, 36, 217n8 Kaata Pata (Inka center), Kallawaya territory, 113, 118, 119, 249 kallankas (great halls): of Challchaque, San Lucas region, 135; commensal celebrations in, 116, 210; of El Shincal de Quimivil, 147, 155; of La Ciudacita site, 27, 28; of Oma Porco, 16; of Sacapampa, San Lucas region, 135; of Turi site, 64, 65, 72 Kallawaya territory: agricultural terraces in, 110, 114, 119; agriculture in, 110, 113; architecture of, 119; camelid pastoralism in, 99, 113, 118, 119; exchange networks of, 110, 119; Inka incorporation of, 6, 109, 110, 119; mineral resources of, 110; mitmaqkuna (state colonists) of, 6, 110, 119; settlement patterns of, 113, 115, 119; state infrastructure in, 110; state-local relations in, 6, 109, 110, 119 kanchas (large rectangular enclosures), 91, 135, 194 Kantner, John, 196 Karanka territory, 212, 215 Kari Kari mountain, 15 Kauffmann Doig, Federico, 250n3 kayanas (threshing features), 228, 238n3 kay pacha (present time), 28, 30, 148 Kesseli, Risto, 208 Kewayuni regional center, San Lucas region, 135 khurus (fantastic creatures), 236 Killa (Inka Moon deity), 243, 244 kuraqas (local lords), 126, 243, 248 La Campana–Roselpa–La Despensa, middle Calchaquí Valley, 87 La Ciudacita site: apachitas (cairns) of, 28; in central Catamarca, 26, 27; dwelling places of contrasting supernatural entities, 28; ecological features of surrounding areas, 26, 28; functional interpretation of, 26; and Inka alliances with eastern lowland Tucumán groups, 26; and Inka architecture, 30; kallanka of, 27, 28; map of, 27; plazas of, 25, 27, 28; pre-Inka sites near, 28; qullqas of, 27, 28; rituals conducted at, 28; time cycles merging in, 28; usnu of, 27, 28, 30, 251 La Cruz, middle Calchaquí Valley, 85 La Cruz site, Aconcagua Valley: absolute dates for, 172, 175; ceramic types at, 171, 174; cultural materials of, 174, 175; perimeter wall of, 174; plaza of, 174; ritual practices at, 174; sectors of, 173–174, 175, 177; spatial organization of, 175; stone assemblage of, 174–175; view of Mount Aconcagua from sector 1 of, 174, 177; walls of, 174, 175 Laguna Cavi, 101 Lake Titicaca: administrative structure of, 140; ceramic styles of, 36, 47; Inka’s origins traced to, 1, 36, 37, 47, 49, 52, 236; and Lightning deity, 49; religious centers of, 37; as wak’a, 140. See also Titicaca Basin landscapes: animacy and sacredness of places and natural features, 14–15, 95, 194, 241; as conjunction of natural and artificial features, 83; Inka’s political use of regional landscapes, 185, 194, 195; Inka’s reorganization of provincial landscapes, 4–5, 6, 7, 8, 59, 73, 83, 99–101, 119, 140, 159, 179, 193, 194, 245; and maquetas, 95, 99, 100, 152; mountains as landscape wak’as, 4, 5, 7, 15, 16–17, 37, 47, 48, 75, 242, 244, 250–251. See also sacred landscape

Index

273

La Paya, North Calchiaquí Valley, 19, 86, 99, 101 Laqaya, Lípez region: chullpas of, 224, 238; in Late Intermediate Period, 229, 230–231, 234, 252 Lasana site, Atacama region, 64 Las Cuevas mountains, Inka ritual sites on summit of, 28 Las Pailas River, Nevados de Cachi area, 20–21, 23, 251 Las Pavas River, 28 Late Horizon centers: in Andes, 129; chullpas of, 212; qirus of, 209 Late Intermediate Period (LIP): in Aconcagua Valley, 167; and agricultural terraces, 23–24, 97; archaeological data on, 84; in Atacama region, 60, 72; Black Polished style from, 101; in Caquiaviri, 215; chullpas of, 223, 224, 224, 225, 225, 228–231, 228, 229, 233, 234, 237, 238, 252; and embedded qirus in chullpas, 213; and Inka Road, 61; Laqaya in, 229, 230–231, 234, 252; in Limarí and Choapa River basins, 187–190; in middle Calchaquí Valley, 85–86, 88, 99, 102n10; and mountain worship, 250; pukaras inhabited during, 5–6, 85–86, 99; residential and agricultural sites, 20; rock art of, 97; settlement patterns of, 113; and silver mines, 37 Late Period: in Atacama region, 60–61, 64, 65, 66, 69, 75; in Cinti Valley, 129–131, 130; in San Lucas region, 134, 135–136, 138–139 Lauca River, decorated chullpas from, 212, 217n11, 252 La Uña (The Fingernail), Nevados de Cachi, 19, 20, 21, 23 lawraqis (hair ornaments), 136, 208 Lerma Valley sites, 125 Licancabur site, Atacama region, 64, 66, 72–73, 244 Lightning, prehispanic deity of: attributes associated with germination of mines, 48; and Charcas region, 5; mining associated with, 45, 48, 49, 51, 97; mountains associated with, 47; tatala purita carved stone design associated with, 97; wak’a of, 37, 50. See also Chuquilla (Lightning Bolt deity); Illapa (Lightning deity) Lima, Pilar, 208, 212, 213 Limarí and Choapa River basins: administrative-ceremonial centers of, 7, 192–194, 193; Inka occupation in, 190–191, 192, 196; landscape of, 187–188; map of, 186; prehispanic sociopolitical configuration in, 187–188; and rock art sites, 7, 186–187, 191–192, 196; role of local leaders in, 186, 188, 191, 192, 195–197; social life during Late Intermediate Period, 187–190 Lípez region: Atacama trade with, 60; Aymara miners in, 46; chambers in caves, 221, 223, 225, 225, 228, 231, 234, 235–236, 237; chullpa sites in, 7, 206–207, 222, 223, 224, 228–237, 238n1, 252; and Inka roads in Atacama, 61; Inka rule in, 231–234, 238; settlement types in, 229–230; Talapaca ceramic style from, 65 Llacta Kucho, Lípez region, tower clusters of, 233, 235, 237 Llacta Qhaqa 1, Lípez region, chullpa chamber of, 231 Llacta Qhaqa 2, Lípez region, chullpa chamber of, 225 Llacta Qhaqa 3, Lípez region, chullpa chamber of, 231 Llajta Yucasa, 141n3 llama caravan trails, in Atacama region, 69, 73, 75 Llipi, mountains of, 47 Llullaillaco site, Atacama region, 66, 251 Loa River basin: and borders of Atacama region, 57; Inka architecture at local sites, 64; Inka occupation of, 59;

274

Index

Quadap Ñan running parallel to, 69; ritual practices of, 74; settlements organized around, 60 local subject elites: agricultural and pasture lands owned by, 107; articulation into state’s system, 185, 187; competition among, 107, 110, 124; festivals coordinated by, 160; frontier strategies of, 107–108, 109, 110, 119; indirect governing under Inka control, 124, 139; Inka as intermediaries between locals and their wak’as, 5, 6, 15; Inka-by-privilege status, 110, 119; Inka cooption of, 124; Inka iconography deployed by, 3–4, 192, 216; Inkanized local leaders, 75, 100, 116, 118, 119, 186; Inka styles and iconography deployed by, 3–4, 192, 216; as intermediaries with Tawantinsuyu, 186; local tradition maintained by, 129; markers of status and wealth, 113, 119; negotiation ability of, 3, 8, 124, 125, 126, 139, 140, 158, 165, 166, 179, 180; placement of sites, 99–100; role and agency of, 3, 7, 8, 107, 165; sectarian interests of, 88; self-representation and expression of, 192; status and power maintained by, 6, 108, 109, 116, 119–120, 125, 139, 158; strategies and practices deployed by, 186; and vertical alliances, 113. See also state-local relations Loma Bajala mine, 44 Loma Bola, middle Calchaquí Valley, 85 Loma Los Brujos, Choapa River basin, 186, 192–195, 193, 194, 249 Los Cintis: and Inka incorporation, 6, 124–125, 126, 139; map of study area, 127, 131; regional archaeological studies in, 139. See also Cinti Valley, Chuquisaca Los Frailes mountain range, 15, 16 Los Patos River, 94 Lozano Machuca, Juan, 46 Lupaqa: mitmaqkuna (state colonists) from, 46; political groups of, 124; and ritual toasts, 204; in Titicaca Basin, 108 Luracatao, middle Calchaquí Valley, 87, 94 McEwan, Colin, 194–195 Maipo River valley, 169 maize chicha (beer), 4, 6, 25, 155, 157–158 Malil-Kaysur-Apachetapata, Lípez region, 229 mallkis (the dead), 236, 237, 252 Mallku, Lípez region: chullpa chamber of, 225, 228; chullpa of, 224, 230; in Late Intermediate Period, 229 mallkus (mountain lords), 70, 72, 203, 209, 212, 215–216 Malpass, Michael, 186, 197 Mannheim, Bruce, 145 Manqu Inka, 210 Manqu Inka Yupanki, 46 Mapiri mines, 113 maquetas (stone models or doubles of landscape), 95, 99, 100, 152 markas (regional centers), 125 Markawi, San Lucas region, 135, 212, 230 Martínez, Andrea, 3, 6 Martínez C., José Luis, 7, 252, 253 material culture styles: “hybrid” material culture in provinces, 3; in Limarí and Choapa River basins, 190; local-style, 231; and political strategies, 3–4 materiality: of acts of Inka sacrality, 147; of Inka colonization, 83, 95, 101, 242

material record: as confirmation of colonial documents, 47; imperial dynamics expressed in, 3; of Inka presence, 60–61, 65, 181; of Limarí and Choapa River basins, 186–187, 189; as manifestation of human practices, 145; of rebellions, 84 Matienzo, Juan de, 213 Mayachullpa site, Pacajes, qiru in chullpa from, 208, 208, 213 Mayuco, middle Calchaquí Valley, 87, 91, 95, 95, 100 Meddens, Frank, 194–195 memory: and chullpas, 238; dances of, 211; drinking as part of process of activating memory, 211, 212; Indigenous memory landmarks, 30; sacred spaces as repositories of memory, 84, 140; visual representation system for Inka power and memory, 211, 212, 216; yuyay (stamp of memory), 148. See also social memory Mendoza, Argentina, Inka occupations in, 36, 242 Mercachas site, Aconcagua Valley: absolute dates for, 172, 173; ceramic types at, 171, 172–173, 178; cultural materials of, 178; E2 structure, 172; enclosures astronomically oriented to solstice, 172, 176, 178; food consumed at, 173; georeferenced plan of, 175; occupation during short-term events, 173, 248; perimeter wall of, 171; ritual practices at, 173, 178, 251; rock art blocks of, 172; stone assemblage of, 173; walls of, 171–172 metallurgy. See mining and metallurgy metals: in Charcas region, 5; and Inka’s consolidation of political and religious power, 37; meanings in prod-uction of, 35; symbolic worth of, 47; worship of, 48 microcosms, inclusive plans of articulated microcosms, 148 middle Calchaquí Valley: agricultural terraces of, 23–24, 25, 85, 86–87, 88, 93; archaeological studies of, 23, 84, 99; carved rocks of, 23, 25, 252; conglomerated sites of, 88; cult of ancestors in, 25; domestic buildings of, 23; ethnographic investigations of, 100; ethnohistorical record in, 84, 85, 86, 93, 100; herding and hunting in, 85; heterogeneous landscape of, 84–85; high-ground settlement of, 22–24, 25; high quebradas (ravines) in, 84–85, 86, 88, 91, 94, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101n2, 102n10; inaccessible and concealed local settlements, 84, 88, 99; Inka administrative strategies in, 24–25, 30, 94, 99, 100–101; Inka architecture of, 25, 30, 91, 99, 101, 179; Inka roads in, 91, 92, 98, 99, 100, 101; Inka settlement in, 25, 30, 84, 88, 91, 92, 93–94, 99–101, 179, 248; Late Intermediate Period sites of, 22–23, 24, 25, 87; local population sites, 99–100; location of, 85; location of Inka sites in, 86; metal resources of, 85; Molinos and Angastaco basins, 24; paths and communication routes between yungas and puna, 94, 94, 99, 100; petroglyphs of, 22–23, 86, 95; pukaras (fortified villages) of, 25, 26, 84, 85–86, 87, 99, 101n1; puna (high-altitude grasslands) of, 84, 88, 91, 93–94, 98, 99, 100; radiocarbon dates from Late Intermediate and Inka Period, 89–90, 91, 101n1; ritual practices in, 25, 94–95, 97–99, 100, 101; rock art of, 25, 86, 97–99, 98; wak’as of, 24, 25, 30; yungas (lowlands) of, 93–94, 99, 100 Milliraya state ceramic workshop, 113, 118, 247, 249 Milluni site, Caquiaviri, 212 mineral sources, as sacred spaces serving as repositories of memory, 84, 140

mining and metallurgy: and agricultural expansion, 74; and axes, 136; and bright light, 244–245, 246; and casting, 40; colonial records on, 37–38, 40, 42, 45, 47; complexes and metallurgical devices, 40–42, 44; and cultural identity, 36, 73; experimental archaeometallurgy, 41–42, 45; and formation of local landscapes and identities, 36, 73; in frontier colonies, 108; and high-altitude shrines, 38, 40, 42, 244, 246, 251; Inka appropriation of mines, 7, 15, 37– 38, 40, 45–46, 50, 51, 52, 59, 242, 244–245, 246, 247; Inka reorganization of, 67; Inka revenues from, 75; and Inka temples of the Sun, 45; Lightning deity associated with, 49, 97; in Limarí and Choapa River basins, 190; meanings in production of metals, 35; mountains as sources of mineral wealth, 49, 50; and ornaments, 136; and plazas, 67, 70, 73, 74; prehispanic mining, 40, 41, 42, 44, 50; production sites linked to provincial centers, 73, 74; qaqas (rock outcrops) associated with, 73; in Qullasuyu, 37, 38, 39–40, 45, 46, 47–50, 108, 242; and ritual practices, 70, 73; and sacred nature of mines, 5, 6, 15, 16, 35, 47, 48, 50, 73, 244; in San Lucas region, 132, 136, 140; and settlement and road infrastructure, 241; silversmiths, 45; and state-local relations, 59, 125, 126; technology of, 5, 37, 40–42, 44, 44, 51, 52n3, 67; temporary mining camps, 40; worship of metallurgical ovens, 48–49; and worship of mountain wak’as, 37, 47, 244 mining camps: activities of local populations of, 72; agricultural produce for feeding workers, 68–69; archaeobotanical findings at, 67; plazas at center of, 67, 70, 71, 73, 74; ritual practices of, 70 Miño 1 site, Atacama region: in area with no prior occupations, 72–73; plaza and RPC at, 64, 66; red outcrop at, 73, 74 Miño 2 site, Atacama region, 64 Miño site, as metallurgical center, 41, 44, 72 mit’a (labor tribute obligation): and abilities of the Qulla and Aymara workers, 47; and caravan traffic management, 69; and chicha production, 158; exemption of Qaraqara from, 126; Inka enforcement of, 246–247; and mobilization of labor, 68, 70, 241 mitmaqkuna (state colonists): in central Catamarca, 26; ceramics used by, 113, 249; in Cochabamba Valley, 125; Inka Empire’s use of labor, 45–46, 247, 248; Inka imposition of, 124, 180, 246–247; in Kallawaya territory, 6, 110, 119; in Southern Andes, 14; as warriors, 110, 119 mitochondrial DNA studies, 36 Mochica art, 253 Molinos basin, 22, 24, 84, 86, 86, 91 Molinos/Quebrada de Gualfín, middle Calchaquí Valley, 93, 99 molle (Schinus molle), 158 monoliths, of middle Calchaquí Valley, 23 Montesinos, Fernando de, 84 Moon, Inka deity of, 243, 244 Moralejo, Reinaldo A., 242 Morris, Craig, 155, 249 Mount Aconcagua: Aconcagua River basin originating in, 167; blocks with petroglyphs in line of sight to summit, 167; ritual practices on summit of, 6, 166, 246; view from Cerro La Cruz, 174, 175, 177, 178; view from Cerro Mercachas, 171, 178; view from Cerro Orolonco, 168, 178

Index

275

mountains: in Andean cosmology, 14, 15, 19, 49, 50; chullpa openings oriented to, 215, 223; conscious characteristics of, 95; Inka architectural complexes on summits, 167, 168–175, 176, 179, 180, 181; and Inka colonization, 16; and Inka toponyms, 246; as landscape wak’as, 4, 5, 7, 15, 16–17, 37, 47, 48, 75, 242, 244, 250–251; local and regional mountain shrines, 70, 73; minerals as ritual offerings to, 59; mining enclaves spatially linked to, 70; mountainsettlement-wak’as, 30; as nonhuman agents, 147; offerings to, 70; rituals performed at, 28, 59, 70, 73, 166, 180; as sacred spaces, 49–50, 97, 140, 149, 168, 179, 180, 244, 250; as sites of worship, 47, 48, 50, 250–251; as sources of mineral wealth, 49, 50; summits of, 15, 22, 28, 166, 251. See also high-altitude shrines Moyano, Ricardo, 28, 244 mummies, 4, 213, 215, 216, 236, 250, 252 Mundo mountain, 15, 50 Muñoz, Iván, 248 Murra, John, 158 Murúa, Martín de, 49, 217n2 Museo de Colchagua, Chile, qiru (MC-02350) in, 209, 210 Museo Regional de Iquique, Chile, 209 music: and choreographed musical displays, 216–217; and dances of memory, 211; and ritual toasts, 205 ñawpa pacha (past time), 28, 30, 148 Nevado de Compuel, 94 Nevados de Cachi area, North Calchaquí Valley: distribution of local and Inka sites, 21; and Indigenous communities, 19–20; Inka pilgrimage circuit with stations, 20–22; and Inka ritual specialists, 19, 20; rock art absent from, 20; stone structure on summit of Cerro Meléndez, 21, 22 Nevados del Aconquija: ecological and topographical characteristics of, 26. See also La Ciudacita site Nielsen, Axel E., 3, 7, 160, 206–207, 209, 216, 217n9, 252 nonhuman agents: acquisition of knowledge, 29; attributes of, 145; centrality to state and local communities, 5; and fertility of mines, 73; in Indigenous societies, 14; Inka connection with, 30; Inka incorporation of, 7, 187, 194– 195, 197, 241, 248; and Inka sovereignty, 3; and mining intensification, 59; as organized in opposed, mutually complementary halves, 189; in relational communities, 187; role in community social reproduction, 3, 8, 15, 75, 187, 196, 197; role in productive processes, 70; shiny surfaces as, 244–245, 246, 250, 253; springs as, 147; stone beings, 149–150, 152; types of, 147, 241. See also humannonhuman relations; wak’as Northwest Argentina (NWA): Cabra Corral in Jujuy, 160; ceramic styles of, 192, 196; Inka appropriation of local spaces, 84; Inkanized populations from, 190–191; Inka occupation in, 84, 98, 101, 140, 179; micropolitical processes of, 83; resistance of prehispanic people against Spanish, 84; rock art of, 97. See also middle Calchaquí Valley Ñuñoa, mitmaqkuna (state colonists) labor from, 46 obsidian: in Aconcagua Valley, 167, 180; Ona obsidian, 101 Ochoa, Pablo Adolfo, 242 Ollantaytambo, 210, 213

276

Index

Oma Porco: as administrative and ceremonial center, 15; kallanka (great hall) of, 16 Omasuyu people, 110 Omotourco, 246 Ona obsidian, 101 Oqañitaiwaj, Late Intermediate Period chambers and rock art at, 228, 230 Oroncota (Inka center), Yampara, 116, 126, 135, 242, 248, 249 Oroncota Valley: architectural style of Oroncota building complex, 112, 113, 179; imported Huruqilla ceramic of, 116; settlement pattern in, 110, 112–113, 112, 179 Oruro, Bolivia, 40, 41, 44, 47 Oruro region: and ceramic styles associated with Inka, 47; mineral resources of, 37, 38, 40, 45; mines of, 45, 46, 52; principal caciques of, 140; Quillaca people of, 136, 138–139 “otherness”: of Andean space, 148; understanding of, 145 ovoid stones, 149 Pacajes region: mines of, 37, 46; political groups of, 124; qirus from, 207; in Titicaca Basin, 108 Pachacama, 246 Pachacamac (oracle), 4 Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamaygua, 210 Pachakuti Inka (Inka ruler), 6, 35, 49, 60, 107, 126, 237, 243 Pachamama (Earth deity), 152–153, 243 Pacha Yachachiq, wak’a of, 37 Pacific Coast, Atacama trade with, 60 Pakasa, 46, 108, 212, 215 Palacio Tambo, San Lucas region, 132, 136, 141n3 Pampa Guanaco, 45 Pampallana, middle Calchaquí Valley, 100 panaqa (royal lineage), 37, 126, 243, 247, 249 Panel de los Suris (Panel of the Rheas), Quebrada Grande, 97, 98 Paniri, Atacama region: agricultural production in, 65, 70; Inka fields from site of, 68, 68, 72, 251; Qhapaq Ñan segment passing through, 68; rumimuqus of, 68, 69; settlement associated with, 70 paqarinas (places of origin of the mythical founders of local communities), 15, 30, 210, 236, 250 Parcero-Oubiña, César, 5 Paria, Charcas province, 45, 242, 245 Pariacaca (oracle), 4 Paria la Vieja, Los Soras, 217n10 Pärssinen, Martti, 207, 208, 212–213, 215 Pascual, Daniel, 6 Paullu (father of Carlos Ynga), 47 Pavlovic, Daniel, 3, 6, 246, 251 Payogastilla, 97, 101 Payzuno people, 110 pedestal-based pots, 65 Peine site, Atacama region, 64, 244 Peña Alta, middle Calchaquí Valley, 85 Peña Punta, middle Calchaquí Valley, 91 Perales Munguía, Manuel F., 246 performance characteristics, of chullpas, 223, 235, 238n2 Peruvian chroniclers, 84 petroglyphs: of Aconcagua Valley, 167; and Cerro Meléndez, 20; chakra (agricultural field) motif on, 95, 97; of Diaguita people, 188–189, 188, 189, 191–192, 196, 253;

and El Apunao site, Nevados de Cachi area, 21, 22; engraved stones and remains of metal production, 95, 96; high-ground sites associated with, 23; Inka-Diaguita petroglyphs, 191–192, 191; of middle Calchaquí Valley, 22–23, 86, 95; pukaras associated with, 6, 95, 97; reuse of sites, 191, 192. See also rock art phullus (storage facilities and shelters), 113, 114, 118 Pilcomayao River region, Yampara territory, 118, 135, 136 Pili site, Atacama region, 66, 244 Pirapi Chico site, Pacajes, 208 Pirapi Grande site, Pacajes, 208 Pirgua Formation, 237 pit furnaces, 42 Pizarro, Pedro, 36 Platt, Tristan, 50, 215 Playa Miller 4 cemetery, Arica, 207, 217n8 plazas: commensal activities for social reproduction, 7, 116, 210; Inka architecture associated with, 70, 72, 73, 245; and mining and metallurgy, 67, 70, 73, 74; as sacred spaces serving as repositories of memory, 84 Pleiades, Inka architecture’s alignment with, 194 Polo de Ondegardo, Juan, 245 Porco: and ceramic styles associated with Inka, 47; Lightning deity related to, 49, 246; metallurgy in, 41–42; as mining center, 15, 37, 45, 46, 49, 52, 247; mountains of, 47, 50; pre-Columbian mines of, 49; silver extracted from minesanctuary of, 45, 47, 244, 247; wak’a of, 16, 49, 50–51, 207 Potosí region: Inka occupation of, 15, 16, 46; Inka sherds at site of Jesús Valle, 47, 48; labor of, 46, 47; and Lightning deity, 49, 246; map of, 16; metallurgy in, 41–42, 44; mineral extraction in, 13, 15, 37, 40, 45; mines of, 45, 46, 50, 52, 247; mountains of, 47, 50; pre-Columbian mines of, 49; Virgen del Cerro painting, 48; wak’as in, 15–16, 16, 50; wayra ovens in mountains surrounding, 47 Potrerillos, middle Calchaquí Valley, 91 pottery styles. See ceramic styles Pucapampa region, 136 Pucara, middle Calchaquí Valley, 97 Pucara Plateau, 112–113 Pucarilla, middle Calchaquí Valley, 85, 87, 91, 97, 100 Pucarilla River, 91 Pueblito site, 40 Pueblo Viejo de Pucara, middle Calchaquí Valley, 85, 91 Pukara and Tambo de Angastaco site, middle Calchaquí Valley, 91, 92, 94, 100, 251 Pukara Chullpa, Carangas, 208 Pukara de Alianza, Intersalar region, 96 Pukara de Gualfín, middle Calchaquí Valley, 85, 87, 100 Pukara de Tacuil, middle Calchaquí Valley, 85, 87, 91, 96, 97, 98 Pukara Loma Acalaya, Intersalar region, 96 pukaras (fortified villages): abandonment of, 231, 232, 238; agricultural areas spatially linked to, 6, 60, 85, 86, 95, 97, 100; in Atacama region, 60; in Calchaquí Valley, 5–6; chullpas of, 7, 223, 225, 229–231, 233, 237; of middle Calchaquí Valley, 25, 26, 84, 85, 87, 91, 99–100; petroglyphs associated with, 6, 95, 97; purpose of, 99; as sacred spaces serving as repositories of memory, 84, 248 Pukara–Tambo de Angastaco site, middle Calchaquí Valley, 25, 26

Pulac 050 site: as metallurgical complex, 40, 52n2; plan view of sector 1 and photograph of furnace H1 from the same site, 40, 42, 43 Pulacayo mine, metallurgical combustion structures of, 40 Pulare people, 108 Puno region, 212 Punta Peña, middle Calchaquí Valley, 85, 95 Puquina language, as ancestral Inka language, 36, 49 Putaendo Valley: cultural traditions of, 167; Inka occupation of, 171; location of, 166 Pututaca regional center, San Lucas region, 136, 138 p-XRF (portable X-Ray Fluorescence), 113 qaqas (rock outcrops): animacy and sacredness of, 14; as doorways of communication with underworld, 73; and mining sites, 70, 74; possible qaqas in Atacama region, 73, 74 Qaraqara federation: in Cinti Valley, 126; of Cinti Valley, 125, 126, 139; and mining, 45; negotiation of political groups, 125, 126; of San Lucas region, 132, 140, 141n1 Qaraqara territory, 6, 49, 125, 126 Qari (Aymara mallku), 204, 205, 211 qhapaq hucha (human sacrifice): at Cerro Orolonco, Putaendo Valley, 168; at Corralito 5 site, middle Calchaquí Valley, 91; at Llullaillaco site, Atacama region, 66; offerings of, 251; at Pucarilla, 100 Qhapaq Ñan (Inka Road): in Aconcagua Valley, 173; in Atacama region, 68; infrastructure associated with, 59; Inka architecture of sites along, 64, 193; and Inka domination, 190; and Inka settlement strategy, 248; integration of sacred landscapes, 140; in Limarí and Choapa River basins, 190; in Lípez region, 231; in middle Calchaquí Valley, 91; provincial centers connected to, 73; saywas on opposing sides of, 66; segments of, 61 Qhapaq Qulla, the priest of the Sun, 37, 204, 243 Qhatinsho, chullpa chamber of, 225 qirus (drinking cups): at Aconcagua Valley, 177; ceramic qirus, 169, 217n8; in chambers in caves, 228; chuku (helmet) motif, 210, 213, 253; concentric square motif, 210, 211, 217n8, 253; for consumption of alcohol, 160; decoration of surfaces of, 210; from El Tártaro site, 169, 173; embedded in lintels of chullpas, 208, 208, 209, 212, 212–213, 214, 216, 217, 252; ethnohistorical sources on, 209; as gifts from Inka ambassadors, 205, 209, 210, 213; gold qirus, 209; head-and-arms motif, 210, 212, 217n8, 253; at Huana and Loma Los Brujos sites, 193–194, 195; Inka qiru styles, 207, 207; Inka textiles associated with, 213; as offerings, 14, 207–208; pairs of, 209; qiru with engraved feline figures, 206, 206, 207, 253, 254n4; in ritual toasts in Qullasuyu, 7, 203–209, 204, 209, 211–212, 213, 215–216, 217n1, 217n2, 253; silver qirus, 209; and strategies of alliance-making, 204, 205, 206, 209, 210, 211–212, 216; styles of, 206–207, 206; visual texts or images inscribed on, 205, 210–211, 216; wooden qirus, 169, 204, 207, 208– 209, 212, 228, 231, 251 Qispiwanka, royal palace of, 243, 250 qoa (mythological creature), 250, 253, 254n3 quchas (ritual receptacles), 21, 23, 96, 97 Quebrada de Humahuaca, middle Calchaquí Valley, 95, 99, 244

Index

277

Quebrada del Toro, middle Calchaquí Valley, 101 Quebrada Grande, middle Calchaquí Valley, 95, 95, 97, 98 Quebrada Seca style rock art, 66 Quechua names: for landmarks at La Ciudacita, 28; for mountain wak’as, 16–17 Querquewisi regional center, San Lucas region, 135, 141n3 Quillaca: confederacy of, 124, 136, 140; mines of, 45, 136 Quillaca colonists, in San Lucas region, 6, 135, 136, 138–139, 140 Quillacas Soraga ayllu, 213 Quillay, as metallurgical center, 41, 42, 44, 247 Quilter, Jeffrey, 253 Quimal site, Atacama region, 66, 244 Quimivil River, 147, 148 Quiquijana mountain (Cerro Quiquijana), 15, 17, 47, 50 Quiripini, San Lucas region, 132 Quiroga, Laura, 100 Quirpini regional center, San Lucas region, 135 Quisbert, Pablo, 50 Quispe, 47 Qulla mountain, 49 Qulla people: labor in mines, 46, 47; loss of life in communities of, 47; political groups of, 124; in Titicaca Basin, 108, 110, 203, 241 Qullasuyu: and Aconcagua Valley, 179–180; agency of competing elite factions in, 107; archaeological research on, 3; colonial writers on, 35–36; eastern frontiers of, 107, 108–110, 109, 242; economic structure of, 37; ethnic regions of, 36, 52n1, 107, 110, 123, 138, 139; ethnohistorical studies on, 123, 242, 254; formation of, 35–36, 50, 107, 140; fortifications of, 108; Inka administration of, 37, 247; Inka colonialism in, 13, 35, 37, 51, 52, 69, 101, 119, 124–125, 139, 140, 165, 179, 185, 205, 241, 242, 245; Inka domination of, 35–37, 206, 210; Inka establishment of bonds with holy places and supernatural entities, 5, 37; Inka expansion in, 124, 242–245; Inka festivals in, 166, 179; Inka knowledge of, 243; Inka origins traced to, 1, 5, 36; Inka presence in, 185; Inka rule in, 7, 52; Inka toponyms in, 7, 16, 17, 180, 245, 246; linguistic and cultural connection to Collao sphere, 36; local leaders of, 3, 7, 107, 108; mineral resources of, 13, 35, 37–38, 40, 50, 107, 244–245; mining and metallurgy in, 37, 38, 39–40, 46, 47–50, 108, 242; physical landscape of, 1; qirus used in ritual toasts in, 7, 203–209; regional studies on, 123, 140, 241, 242; socioeconomic transformations in, 107; South American scholarship on, 1–3; southern borders of, 36; studies of, 7–8; Titicaca Basin as demographic and cultural center of, 124 qullqas (storehouses): at Cinti Valley, 139; at Cuzcotuyo fortification, 118; at El Tártaro site, 169; Inka’s construction of, 13, 245, 247, 248; at La Ciudacita, 27, 28 qumpi textiles, 14, 206, 244, 250 Qurikancha (principle Inka temple), Cuzco, 37, 47, 72, 243, 244 radiocarbon and thermoluminescence dating, of Inka sites, 36, 60, 242 Raffestin, Claude, 84 Raffino, Rodolfo, 5, 50, 241, 242, 249 Ramírez, Susan, 181

278

Index

Ramos Gavilán, Alonso, 36 Rancho-Churupata, Lípez region, in Late Intermediate Period, 229 Randall, Robert, 28, 30 reciprocity: Andean forms of hospitality-reciprocity, 165, 166, 180, 186; bonds of, 180; and festivals, 160, 180; and ritual toasts, 209, 216, 217n2 Regional Development Period: in Cinti Valley, 126–129, 128; in middle Calchaquí Valley, 22–23, 24, 25, 87, 89–90, 91, 101n1; and mountain worship, 250; in San Lucas region, 132, 133, 135 Reinhard, Johan, 246, 251 remote sensing techniques, paths and roads detected by, 94 “Repensando el Tawantinsuyu desde el Qullasuyu” workshop, participants of, xvi reverbatory ovens, 42, 52n3 reversibility thesis, 237 Rincón Chico, 41, 44 Río Potrero valley, North Calchaquí Valley, 99 Río San Juan region, gold mines of, 37 ritual practices: and agriculture, 70, 72, 74, 75, 97; and alliances, 126; Andean objects endowed with kamaqin (vitality), 95; in Atacama region, 59, 66, 69, 70, 73, 74, 75; copper mineral offerings, 72, 75; at El Shincal de Quimivil, 25, 147, 152, 155–160; at El Tártaro site, 169; high-ground sites linked with, 23–24, 25; and Inka architectural complexes on mountain summits, 168, 179; and Inka colonialism, 6–7, 19, 20, 23–24, 25, 28, 29–30, 75, 100, 101, 159, 160, 180, 243; in middle Calchaquí Valley, 25, 94–95, 97–99, 100, 101; of mining camps, 70; and mountains, 28, 59, 70, 73; offerings in basins, 152–153, 249; offerings to earth, 152–153, 154; in ordering of space, 148; and power of force of place, 148; provincial centers associated with, 73, 116; ritual toasts as strategy of alliance-making, 7, 203–209, 204, 210, 217n1, 217n2, 253; and state-local relations, 7, 166, 176, 179, 180, 203–209, 243–244, 248, 249; and symbolic marking, 94 Rivera Casanovas, Claudia, 3, 6, 245, 248, 249 rivers, as sacred spaces serving as repositories of memory, 84 Rivet, M. Carolina, 237 rock art: of Aconcagua Valley, 167, 175, 178, 180; anthropomorphic figures of, 91, 97–98, 98, 99, 102n10, 188, 188, 189, 191, 191, 192; camelid motifs, 99, 188, 188, 191; of Cerro Orolonco, 168; chakra (agricultural field) motif, 95, 97, 99; and chambers in caves, 228, 230; debates on Inka style in, 66; of El Tártaro site, 170; figurative motifs of, 191–192; head representations on, 188, 189–190, 189, 191, 192, 196; and iconographic imposition, 102n10; Inka involvement in, 25, 30, 101, 216, 248; Inka motifs used in, 191–192; Inka-stage style of, 6, 7, 30, 66, 97, 98, 172; in Limarí and Choapa River basins, 7, 186–187, 191–192, 196; llamas in, 98, 253; as mediation spaces, 189; of Mercachas site, 172; of middle Calchaquí Valley, 25, 86, 97, 99–100; nonfigurative motifs, 188, 188, 191, 191; as organized spaces associated with mobility, 189; political discourses displayed on, 189; and prestige emblems, 99; Santamariano Human Shield motif, 191, 192, 196, 253; shieldlike motifs of, 97, 99, 102n10; and sociopolitical processes, 186–187, 197; spatial and visual study of, 186;

symmetry principles in, 191, 192; zoomorphic figures of, 99, 188, 188. See also petroglyphs Rosing, Ina, 148 Rowe, John H., 207, 242 RPCs (rectángulos perimetrales compuestos; rectangular compounds with perimeter walls), 64, 66, 70, 91 rumimuqus (rubble mounds with retaining walls), 68, 69, 72 Sacaca, Juan, 47 Sacapampa regional center, San Lucas region, 135, 135, 141n2, 248 sacred geography, and Inka colonization, 16, 29–30 sacred landscape: articulation of, 242; bolones (upright stones) as part of, 149–150; and Inka cosmology, 147–148, 159; and Inka naming practices, 16, 180; Inka’s reordering of, 30, 59, 73, 140, 149; and Qhapaq Ñan (Inka Road), 140. See also El Shincal de Quimivil, Catamarca province Saignes, Thierry, 46, 211 Saipurú mines, 37, 45 Saitoco mine, 37, 44 Salado River basin, Atacama region, 64 Salar de Atacama, 64, 91 Salar del Hombre Muerto, 101 Salar de Uyuni, chullpas of, 223, 225, 236 Salas Carreño, Guillermo, 145 Salazar, Diego, 3, 5, 244, 251 Salta, puna (high-altitude grasslands) of, 94 Samaipata, 108, 242, 252 Samiapata mines, 45 San Antonio de Lípez, 47, 97 San Bartolo site, Atacama region, 67 Sánchez, Rodrigo, 6 San José del Abra site, Atacama region, 69, 75 San Juan Mayo area, chambers in caves of, 221, 237 San Lucas region, Chuquisaca: architecture of, 135; ayllus of, 135, 141n3; ceramic materials of, 132, 135, 136, 138–139; Challchaque regional center, 132, 135, 136, 141n3; economic patterns of, 132, 136, 139; ecosystem of, 131–132; exchange patterns of, 132, 135; feasting and commensal activities of, 132; Inka administration in, 6, 135, 136, 139, 248; Inka occupation in, 135–136, 139, 140; Inka road network of, 133, 136; Kewayuni regional center, 141n3; La Palca gorge, 135; Late Period in, 134, 135–136, 138–139; Late Regional Development Period in, 132, 133, 135; lithic workshops of, 132; llama corrals in, 136; metal deposits types in, 132; mining in, 132, 136; prehispanic roads of, 132, 136; Pututaca regional center, 136, 138; Quillaca colonists of, 6, 135, 136, 138–139, 140; regional survey of, 132; resource exploitation in, 135; Sacapampa regional center, 135, 135, 136, 141n2, 141n3; settlement patterns of, 132, 133, 134, 135–136, 138–139, 140; sites of, 132 San Pedro de Atacama oases, 57, 60, 209 Santa Bárbara style rock art, 66 Santamariano cultural tradition, in middle Calchaquí Valley, 84, 91, 97, 98 Santos Escobar, Roberto, 37 Santo Tomás, Domingo de, 217n2 Sapa Inka (Inka king), 110, 243, 248, 250, 253, 254 Saxamar style ceramics, 64–65

Sayri Thupa, 46 Sayri Thupa, palace of, detail of chuku painted at, 210, 213 saywas (stone columns), and astronomical observations, 66 Schobinger, Juan, 25–26 Sedilla, Lípez region, 229 Sendón, Pablo, 238n1 Sepúlveda R., Marcela A., 253 Sia Moqo, Lípez region, 233 Sicha parcialidad (sociopolitical subdivision), 86, 101n3 Sierras del Aconquija, 26, 28 silver figurines, as offerings to wak’as, 14 silver mines: and experimental archaeometallurgy, 41–42, 45; Inka’s access to, 45; of Oruro, 37, 45, 50; of Porco, 45, 47, 244, 247; of Potosí, 45, 46, 50; of Saipurú, 45; of Southern Andes, 37; of Tarapacá, 45, 247 siq’i system: of Cuzco, 147, 148, 159, 237, 245; and El Shincal de Quimivil, 153, 159; and La Ciudacita, 28; and Quiquijana mountain, 47 slavery, 47 Socaire, Atacama region, 65, 68, 70, 72, 74, 244 social memory: and Inka colonization, 83–84; Inka conceptions of, 210; and mineral sources, 84, 140; and qirus used for ritual toasts, 204, 204, 217n1, 217n2; sacred spaces serving as repositories of memory, 84, 148. See also memory social organization, 148 social reproduction: commensal activities for, 7, 116; and local leadership, 195–197; maintenance of traditional practices of, 192; and production of rock art, 7, 188–189; role of nonhuman agents in, 3, 8, 15, 75, 187, 196, 197; and state-local relations, 187, 191, 192, 195, 197–198; strategies of, 187, 196, 197; and subsistence practices, 86 Solórzano y Pereira, Juan de, 36 Soraga-Oruro community, qiru in Inka style, 207, 207, 209 Soras region, chullpas from, 212 Southern Andes: development of expansive states in, 123; ethnic groups of, 241; Inka colonialism in, 25–26, 28, 29, 35, 36, 37, 57, 59–60; labor of, 14; lack of artifacts shipped from, 14; map showing Atacama region, 58; metallurgical technologies in, 37; minerals in, 13–14, 15, 50; mining regions of, 36, 37–38, 40, 51; motivations for Inka expansion in, 3, 7, 13, 15, 35, 50, 51–52, 76, 84, 140, 242–245; staple goods produced by Inka in, 14; storage facilities of, 14 space: and Andean notions of sacredness, 147, 148, 160; cartography of spatial organization and social ordering, 148; dualities and oppositions of, 148; environment emanating vital energy, 148; and fractal shapes, 148; human-nonhuman relations in sharing of, 145, 147, 148; Inka appropriation and transformation of, 94, 100, 101, 145, 159, 160, 179, 180, 193, 195; pukaras linked to agricultural areas, 95; as social construction, 83; spatial conceptualization of Inka colonialism, 83, 84, 94, 147, 180; structure of Andean space, 160 Spanish conquest: in Aconcagua Valley, 179; and chullpas, 224; and Spanish colonists, 47, 52 Spondylus figurines, 14, 251 Spondylus shells, 67, 154, 244, 250 springs, as nonhuman agents, 147 Stanish, Charles, 124

Index

279

state lands, offerings of llama blood and ground Spondylus to demarcate, 72 state-local relations: in Aconcagua Valley, 165, 166, 168, 176–179, 180, 181; autonomy of client polities, 124, 180, 217; and chullpas with textile designs, 215, 216; and Diaguita people, 190, 191–195, 197; direct and indirect forms of Inka control, 124–125, 126, 135, 139, 140, 210, 215, 217, 245; and diversity of sociopolitical contexts, 165; and elite competition, 107, 110; exchange and hospitality activities with local communities, 6–7, 13, 14, 68, 116, 119, 131, 165, 166, 169, 186; and foreign ethnic group mediation, 178; in frontiers of Qullasuyu, 108–110, 116, 119–120, 168; and high-altitude shrines, 72, 231; humannonhuman relations shaping, 3, 5; and Inka discourses of power, 210; and Inkanized landscape, 194; interrelations produced by incorporation of new social groups, 124; in Kallawaya territory, 6, 109, 110, 119; and military conquest, 13, 124; and mining, 59, 125, 126; and political commensalism, 187, 193–194, 209; and qirus, 204, 205, 206, 209, 216; and resource exploitation, 107–108, 124, 125; and ritual practices, 7, 166, 176, 179, 180, 203–209, 243–244, 248, 249; and rock art and ceramic styles, 6; role of social reproduction strategies in, 187, 191, 192, 195, 197–198; and social practices, 73, 74; state as provider of food and drink, 169, 180; and status as Inka warriors, 126; in Titicaca Basin, 124; top-down and bottom-up approaches, 3, 76, 107, 124, 125, 139, 191; in Yampara region, 6, 119. See also local subject elites stone beings: at El Shincal de Quimivil, 149–150, 151, 152, 152, 153; at Loma Los Brujos site, 194–195, 194 stone outcrops: carved with depictions of field and irrigation features, 72, 74. See also qaqas (rock outcrops) stone piles, and agricultural terraces, 87, 101n4 stones: conscious characteristics of, 95; upright stones guarding crops, 97 stone structures, of Late Period, 69 stone wak’as: for astronomical observation, 6, 154; bolones (upright stones) as, 149–150, 152; and Inka mythology, 30 stromatolites, 224, 225, 228, 236 Sucre, Bolivia, 15, 50 Sun, Inka deity of: and astronomical observations, 243–244; and Charcas region, 5; and chullpas, 215; and Inka commensality, 250; mining and metallurgy associated with, 45, 49, 51, 247; and mountain worship, 251; Qhapaq Qulla as priest of, 37; qirus associated with, 205, 213; qoa linked to, 253; and Sapa Inka, 254; temples of, 45, 245 Suqsu Panaqa: Inka governors of, 37, 45; of Wiraqucha, 37, 45, 50 Sura, 45 Tacuil, middle Calchaquí Valley: agricultural terraces of, 85, 87; blocks with petroglyphs, 95, 95, 97; block with quchas and meandering lines, 95, 96, 100; high quebradas (ravines) of, 101; metallurgical production in, 97; panel with T-shaped human figures in, 97, 100; refractory materials from, 96, 97; role of blocks in, 97, 252 tala (Celtis tala), 149 Tambo de Sevaruyo, Oruro, Bolivia, 45, 46 Tambo Gualfín site, middle Calchaquí Valley, 91, 94 Tambo Mokho IV, San Lucas region, 132

280

Index

tampus (way stations): Inka roads associated with, 61, 69, 168, 246; Inka’s construction of, 13, 108, 179; orthogonal architecture of, 168 Tampu T’uqu: and concentric square motif, 210, 211; Inka migration to, 36 Tanga Tanga, 47, 50, 246 Tarapacá: Atacama trade with, 60; Inka occupation of, 242; and Inka roads in Atacama, 61; pre-Columbian mines of, 49; silver mines dedicated to Sun in, 45, 247 Tastil, fortifications of, 108 tatala purita (carved stone design), 97 Tata Paria (mallku of Qaraqara), 212 Tata Sajama, 215 Tatasi, and ceramic styles associated with Inka, 47 Tawantinsuyu (Inka State): adaptation of general policies to local conditions, 101; adaptation to local situations, 185; agricultural infrastructure linked to, 25, 68, 99; architecture of power in Aconcagua Valley, 179–180; Atacama integrated into, 57, 59–60, 73, 76; authority asserted by, 29–30; bureaucratic apparatus of, 185; ceremonies recorded in, 152; ceremonies within political dynamics of, 187; chronicle-based history of, 253–254; chronology of, 242; collapse of, 73; commensal politics for labor mobilization, 68, 70; complexities of, 59; cosmological relationship with indigenous sacred landmarks, 30, 178; discontinuous presence of, 180; as dynamic political entity, 83; dynamics of incorporation and domination, 139, 140, 187, 190–191, 210, 246–247; early phases of, 107, 242, 243; evolution of, 159; expansion of, 13–14, 59, 84, 140, 241, 248; factors in success of, 185; festivals of, 159, 160, 166, 242, 248; goods introduced to Southern Andes, 14; human-nonhuman relations in, 7, 242; and Inka architectural complexes on mountain summits, 168, 179; Inka naming practices in, 17; Inka’s conception of cartography of beings, 145; Inka’s presence in indigenous landscape, 25; Inka’s separation from indigenous settlements, 25; links between architecture and stars at sites, 154; and location of middle Calchaquí Valley, 85; map of four suyus, 2; organization and functioning of, 165, 179, 185; political commensalism as tool of, 187; political strategies of, 185, 217, 223; rebellions in, 84; and ritual practices, 166, 181; and ritual world of colonial subjects, 29; rock art as symbolic marking of territorial jurisdiction, 99, 100; rock art manufactured by, 187; settlements of, 25, 30, 84, 88, 91, 93–94, 99, 99–101, 110, 112–113, 132, 135–136, 138–139, 179, 229–230, 248; and Sierras del Aconquija, 28; sociocultural dimension of economy of Atacama under, 70, 76; symbolic domination of territory, 185; territory of, 185, 187; variability of Inka administration, 7, 59, 76, 83, 185, 245. See also Cuzco; Qullasuyu; state-local relations taypi/chawpi (central places of origin and diffusion), 14–15, 25, 28 Templo del Sol of Titicaca, 37 territory, as social appropriation of determined space, 84 thermoluminescence (TL), 36, 60, 170, 173, 242 things: as animate “superhuman individuals,” 4; participation as nonhuman beings in creation of Inka sovereignty, 3, 4 Tholapampa, 97 Thompson, Donald, 155

Thupa Inka (Inka ruler), 35, 36, 37, 60 Thupa Inka Yupanki (Inka ruler), 113, 119, 126, 212, 242, 247 Tilcara, Argentina, museum of, 208–209 time: Andean notions of, 147; kay pacha (present time), 28, 30, 148; ñawpa pacha (past time), 28, 30, 148; tinkuys (places where forces, elements, times, and entities met and merged), 15, 21, 28 tinkuys (places where forces, elements, times, and entities met and merged), 15, 21, 28 Tipillas, Inka ritual sites on summit of, 28 Tipuani region, gold mines of, 37, 50 Tiquischullpa, 242 Titicaca Basin: bimodal distribution of imperial goods in, 113; ceramic styles of, 36, 64–65, 113; chullpas of, 237, 252; commensal activities of, 118; as demographic and cultural center of Qullasuyu, 124; indigenous population of, 108; Inka expansion from, 13, 241, 242; landscape modification east of, 118; regional elites of, 107, 110. See also Lake Titicaca Tiwanaku: archaeological evidence in, 47; art motifs of, 253; Inka origins in, 36; as religious enclave of Inka, 36 tiyana (stone bench), El Shincal de Quimivil, 154, 155 tocochimpo (reverbatory oven), 42, 52n3 Toconce, Atacama region, 65, 68, 72, 74, 232, 250, 252 Toledo, Francisco de, 52, 210 Tolombón, middle Calchaquí Valley, 86 Toscano, Julián, 97 trade: and defense systems, 108; and Inka production of status goods, 113 Trinidad mine, 47 Troncoso, Andrés, 3, 5, 7, 249, 253 Tucumán, 36, 108 tumi (knife), 99 Tunupa (Inka deity), 49, 250n3 Tunupa mountain, 47, 246 Tunupa volcano, Bolivia, 95 Tupac Amaru, death of, 52 Tupiza, sites with corrals in, 130 tupus (pins for fastening clothing), 113, 136 Turi site, Atacama region: as administrative-oriented center, 68–69, 73, 75, 248; adobe kallanka of, 64, 65, 72; aerial view of, 65, 72; formal plaza at, 72; ground copper ore offerings at ritual structures, 75; and high-altitude shrines, 72; Inka architecture of, 64; Inka perimeter wall at, 70; public ceremonial space at, 29; Qhapaq Ñan connecting production sites to administrative center at, 68–69; segregation from local villages, 72 turquoise mining, in Atacama, 5, 59, 65, 75 tweezers, 91 Ubina mountain, 15 Ujina 8 site, 42 Ujina 10 site, 42 Ujina-Collahuasi site, 44 ukhupacha, 236 Uña Tambo site: and Inka architecture, 30; map of, 21, 22, 23; standing rocks mimicking boulder of, 30, 251 unkus (tunics): and anthropomorphic figures, 91, 97, 99, 253; designs of, 212, 214, 215, 252; V-neck of, 216 Upper Loa River, chambers built in caves in, 221, 237

upyana (let us drink), and ritual toasts, 205, 217n2 urpus (Inka flared rim jars), 205 Uru Chipaya of Bolivia, 148 Uru people, low technical competencies of, 47 usnus (ritual platforms): and astronomical observations, 6, 28, 159, 244; basins or pits filled with stones for offerings, 152–153; bolones (upright stones) in, 149–150; and Inka architecture, 159, 245; Inka’s construction of, 13, 17, 19, 50, 64, 70, 248; microcosmos reflecting macrocosmos, 159 Uturuncu, Lípez region, 246 Uyuni salt flat, 40, 44 Valenzuela, Daniela, 95, 252 Valle del Bolsón, 97 Valliserrana region, metallurgy in, 41, 42 Veta del Estaño mine, 47 Vila Oma (Willaq Umu), 45, 49, 246, 247, 250 Vilcabamba: collapse of resistance in, 52; mines of, 45 Villa de San Felipe de Austria, 40 Villa Imperial, 47 Viña del Cerro site, 41, 44, 244 visual discursive resources: prestige conveyed by, 6; representation system for Inka power and memory, 211, 212, 216; transformation of visual tradition of Diaguita people, 192; visual texts or images inscribed on qirus, 205, 210–211, 216 Vitry, Christian, 251 volcanoes, as sacred spaces serving as repositories of memory, 84 Wachtel, Nathan, 148, 247 wak’a mortero (wak’a mortar), 149, 151 wak’as: at agricultural sites, 70; characteristics of, 4, 14; chullpas as, 223; in Cuzco, 147; doubles of, 4; food for, 4, 5, 15, 70; hegemonic interactions with, 15; and Inka administration, 15–16; Inka as intermediaries between locals and their wak’as, 5, 6, 15, 25, 29–30, 73, 75, 242, 243, 245; and Inka colonialism, 4–5, 15, 16, 25, 29, 30, 140, 179, 223; and Inka demonstrating power over local supernatural beings, 17, 30; and Inka economic practices, 69, 70; Inka’s dialogue and negotiation with local wak’as, 6, 7, 72, 75, 159, 242, 244, 250–253; material goods used as offerings, 14; and mining, 73; as nonhuman beings, 4–5, 147, 148, 250; offerings to, 4, 5, 14, 15; oracular consultation with, 4, 250, 254; and plazas, 74; in Potosí, 15–16, 16, 50; regional wak’as, 15, 16, 73, 250; role of, 4; siq’i lines connecting, 147, 245; and space as power referent, 148; territory of, 15; types of, 4, 6, 14–15, 250; world governed jointly with human beings, 145; worship of, 49, 173 Wanakawri, 246, 251 wankas (standing stones): at Cortaderas, North Calchaquí Valley, 18; at Las Pailas, 20; at Loma Los Brujos site, 194, 194; as ritual features, 72, 251–252; as stone ancestors in Andean and Inka cosmology, 19 warak’a (sling), 49 Warfare, Inka deity of, 49, 51 Water Temple (Qenqo or Tipón), 152 Watungasta, plaza of, 25 wawqi (twin or spirit double), 49

Index

281

Wayllani–Kuntur Amaya, Lauca River, chullpas with embedded qirus, 208 wayras (smelting furnaces), 40–42, 44, 44, 45, 47, 49, 136, 247–248 Willa Kolla site 4, Lauca River, Pacajes, decorated chullpa with embedded qirus in lintel, 208, 209, 212 Willaq Uma, 45, 49, 246, 247, 250 Williams, Verónica I., 3, 5–6, 24, 25, 140, 248, 252, 253 Wiraqucha: as qumpi kamayuq (master weaver) of universe, 147; Suqsu Panaqa (royal lineage) of, 37, 45, 50; as threepart deity, 49, 215, 243, 250n3 Wiraqucha Inka, 203, 204, 205, 243 Wisijsa, mines associated with, 45 women: burial of, 213; and ritual toasts, 204 Yampara Chui people, elites of, 110 Yampara region: ancestral territory of, 49; and Charka Confederacy, 108, 109; and defense of Qullasuyu frontiers, 119; elite competition in, 110; elite indigenous centers of, 113; horizontal exchange in, 113; Inka incorporation of, 6, 119; and San Lucas region, 135; specialized lithic production supervised by elites, 113 yanaconas (Indigenous laborers), 46, 50, 52n6 yanakunas (Inka retainers), 52n6 Yavi, 101 Yoroma, Yampara region (elite indigenous Yampara center), excavations at, 113 Yucasa, 136 Yunga mountains, defense system of, 108 yungas (lowlands), 28, 84, 93–94, 99, 100 Yupanqui, Juan, 47 yuyay (stamp of memory), 148 Zapar site, Atacama region, 64 Zuidema, Tom, 147, 155

282

Index