The Inca Empire

Covey, R. Alan

doi:10.1007/978-0-387-74907-5_40

Cited by 32 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…During the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries AD, the Inkas conquered a vast territory in pre-Columbian South America and exerted rule over numerous polities and ethnic groups, ranging from powerful states, such as Chimú on the Peruvian north Pacific coast, to the large chiefdoms of the Titicaca basin, and from the indomitable Cañaris of Ecuador to the less complex communities of the South Andes. In order to control these multiple lands and peoples, they applied a variety of strategies of domination which encompassed the thorough bureaucratic administration of provincial lands (D'Altroy 2002;Covey 2008;Urton 2008), an overarching financial system based on corvée labour, attached craft specialists, state farms, storage facilities (Murra 1978;Earle & D'Altroy 1989;D'Altroy 2002), the manipulation of native structures of power, the forced relocation of ethnic communities (Murra 1978;Hyslop 1979;Pease 1982) and control over feasting and ritual activities, including the co-option of paramount Andean pilgrim centres and indigenous shrines (Bauer & Stanish 2001;Dillehay 2003;Morris & Covey 2003;Morris & Santillana 2007;Besom 2009).…”

Section: Inka Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recognising strategies for conquered territories: a case study from the Inka North Calchaquí Valley

Acuto¹,

Troncoso²,

Ferrari³

2012

Antiquity

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In this detailed study of fifteenth-century settlements in Argentina, the authors show how the Inka did not just use force, production and ritual to subdue the indigenous population. The conquerors' strategy included the re-ordering of settlement plans, routeways and landscape, class separation and even the imposition of a rigorous discipline on the indigenous vision, controlling what could be seen looking out or looking in. The material readings made in these South American examples have much to offer to archaeologists working in colonial periods elsewhere.

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Section: Inka Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recognising strategies for conquered territories: a case study from the Inka North Calchaquí Valley

Acuto¹,

Troncoso²,

Ferrari³

2012

Antiquity

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“…Terracing and irrigation for several millennia before European arrival provide compelling evidence that pre‐Columbian cultures transformed many Andean landscapes through agriculture (Covey, ; Denevan, ; Isbell, ). The earliest archaeological evidence suggesting human occupation of the Andes dates c .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Polylepiswoodland dynamics during the last 20,000 years

Valencia

Bush

Coe

et al. 2018

Journal of Biogeography

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Aim To determine the palaeoecological influences of climate change and human land use on the spatial distribution patterns of Polylepis woodlands in the Andes. Location Tropical Andes above 2,900 m between 2°S and 18°S of latitude. Methods Pollen and charcoal data were gathered from 13 Andean lake sediment records and were rescaled by the maximum value in each site. The rescaled pollen data were used to estimate a mean abundance and coefficient of variation to show woodland expansions/contractions and woodland fragmentation over the last 20,000 years. The rescaled charcoal was displayed as a 200‐year moving median using 500‐year bins to infer the influence of fire on woodland dynamics at landscape scale. Pollen and charcoal were compared with speleothem, clastic flux and archaeological data to assess the influence of moisture balance, glacial activity and human impact on the spatial distribution of Polylepis woodlands. Results Woodland expansion and fire were correlated with precipitation changes and glacier dynamics from c. 20 to 6 kcal bp (thousands of calibrated years before present). Charcoal abundances between 20 and 12 kcal bp were less common than from 12 kcal bp to modern. However, human‐induced fires were unlikely to be the main cause of a woodland decline centred at 11 kcal bp, as woodlands recovered from 10.5 to 9.5 kcal bp (about twofold increase). Charcoal peaks analogous to those that induced the woodland decline at 11 kcal bp were commonplace post‐9.5 kcal bp but did not trigger an equivalent woodland contraction. An increase in the coefficient of variation after c. 5.5 kcal bp suggests enhanced fragmentation and coincided with the shift from logistic to exponential growth of human populations. Over the last 1,000 years, Polylepis became hyper‐fragmented with over half of sites losing Polylepis from the record and with coefficients of variation paralleling those of glacial times. Main conclusions Polylepis woodlands formed naturally patchy woodlands, rather than a continuous vegetation belt, prior to human occupation in the Andes. The main factors controlling pre‐human woodland dynamics were precipitation and landscape heterogeneity. Human activity led to hyper‐fragmentation during the last c. 1,000 years.

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“…The scale and regional administrative function of Inka central plazas set them apart from patterns of urban layout seen in other state capitals in the Andean region, suggesting that the periodic assembly of multiple groups in open spaces was a key aspect of Inka statecraft (Covey, 2008b;Morris and Covey, 2003). The civic/administrative functions of the Inka central plaza become apparent when considering the various characteristics of an Andean encounter called tinku, and how such social interactions were performed in Cusco's Haucaypata plaza in Inka times.…”

Section: Inka Central Plazasmentioning

confidence: 99%