The Incas and Their Ancestors: The Archaeology of Peru (Revised Edition)

289 Pages·2001·42.3 MB·English

by  Michael E. Moseley

The Inca~ Ancestors
and their

Author's Note
Knowledge about indigenous Ande<1os - ancient, historic, and modern - is
blossoming at an ever-increasing rate. I am profoundly indebted to
multitudes of colleagues and Cordillera citizens for generously sharing their
findings and observations with me. This has shaped my vie,,,s and I attempt
to convey the true marvels of Andean accornplishment in this revised text.
OUf knowledge of native achievement is becoming ever more detailed,
and here I have tried to stand back and weave together broader evolutionary
themes that highlight the fabric and design of indigenous accomplishment.
While I address an international audience, I write most pointedly for
millions of native Quechua ;lnd Aymara speakers because they are the proud
inheritors of a past and patrimony that rivals all Old World civilizations.
Younger native Andeans and new scholars will redefine the evolution of
indigenous adaptations to the Cordillera, so I dedicate this revised volume
to the fresh generation, and to Maya Elena.
Frolllispica:: .-I.fi'IIII1/r SIt/fICod n:pr"Wl/flliflll 011 puilfll'd (,Of/Oil rllllli
jil/Illd III KllrlPII.
CI H)t)2 and 2001 Thames & !-Iudson Ltd, London
All Rights Resernd. No part ofthis publication m:ly be rcproduced or
mmsmitted in any form or by any mC:lns, electronic or mechanic:11, induding
photocopy, recording or any other information storage and retric,':!1 system,
without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
First published in the United States uf America in It)1)2 by
Th,lmes & Hudson Inc., 500 Fifth :\venue, New York, New York 10110
thamcsandhudsollusa.com
Revised cuilion 2001
Reprinted 2008
Libmry of Congrt."Ss C:nalog Card Number 00-108866
Printcd and bound in SltI\'cnia by MKT Print d.d.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction 7
TheIncas 9 The conquest II The historical record 12
The archaeological record 17
CHAPTER TWO
Land of the Four Quarters 25
The Cordillera 25 Geography of the Four Quarters 32
Making a living 43
CHAPTER THREE
The Inca Model of Statecraft
The cosmos 51 The ayllu 53 Statecraft 70
CHAPTER FOUR
Colonization of the Cordillera
The colonization process 87 Adaptive dispersal 92
Domestication 102
CHAPTER FIVE
The Preceramic Foundations of Civilization 107
Preceramic economies 107 Social formations 114
Arts I 15 Monumental architecture I 17
CHAPTER SIX
The Initial Period and Early Horizon 13 I
Irrigation agriculture 133 Monumental architecture 136
Highland developments 143 The Titicaca Basin 154
The Early Horizon 158 The southern sphere 158
Chavin and the northern sphere 163
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Early Intermediate Period 173
North coast 174 The central and south coasts 196
The sierra 203 The altiplano 208
CHAPTER EIGHT
The Middle Horizon 223
Moche upheaval 223 Huari adaptive dispersal 230
Tiwanaku 238
CHAPTER NINE
The Late Intermediate Period
245
The Titicaca region 245 The southern sierra 247
The central and northern sierra 257
The central and south coasts 258
Chimor and the north 261
Epilogue
Sources of Illustrations
General Bibliography
279
Archaeological Bibliography 280
Index
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
On the eve of Columbus's Caribbean landfall the largest nation on earth was
probably not Ming China or the Ottoman Empire, but Tahuantinsuyu, the
'Land of the Four Quarters' as the Incas called their sprawling realm.
Extending more than 5,500 km down the mountainous Andean backbone of
South America, the Land of the Four Quarters was the biggest native state to
arise in the Western Hemisphere, and the largest empire of antiquity ever to
develop south of the equator. By alliance, diplomacy and dint of armed con
quest the masters of Tahuantinsuyu governed the longest, most rugged moun
tain chain in the world, second only to the Himalayas in height and harshness.
To the west their sovereignty reached over the dry Atacama desert; to the east
it included the flanks of the Amazon rainforest. Inca legions - like their Roman
counterparts - marched far beyond the frontiers of civilization to dominate bar
barian tribes, and heterogeneous societies. At its height, the imperial capital
of Cuzco exercised rule over northern Chile, upland Argentina, Bolivia,
Peru, Ecuador, and the south of Colombia. No contemporary Andean nation
compares in magnitude or prosperity, and the great wealth of Tahuantinsuyu
fostered its downfall.
The conquest of Mexico whetted the Spanish appetite for gold. Yet hopes of
securing truly prodigious quantities of precious metal eluded the conquistadores
until 1532. That year Francisco Pizarro and a small contingent of mercenaries
disembarked on the desert coast and ventured into the Andean uplands. At the
town of Cajamarca the Inca emperor was enticed to a supposedly peaceful
meeting, then kidnapped and ransomed for a room full of gold, and two of
silver. After payment of about $50 million by today's bullion standards, the sol
diers of fortune garroted the monarch, and marched to Cuzco, the capital and
heart ofTahuantinsuyu.
The great metropolis was first sighted by a cavalry vanguard. By all accounts
it was unbelievable - it was alien - and it was magnificent. The many distant
buildings were clustered so close to the clouds that men and horses of the expe
ditionary force fought for breath in the oxygen-deficient altitude. Catching and
reflecting the sun, towering stone walls shimmered with brilliant hues of gold
and silver. Ascending a broad highway into the urban nexus, the party of
mounted men was greeted by a brilliantly clad entourage of nobles and atten
dants, stately but fully foreign in physique and attire. Led across spacious malls
with sparkling fountains, and along paved avenues flanked by cut-rock palaces,
villas, halls, temples, and shrines, the awe-struck visitors beheld imposing edi
fices encrusted with precious metals that played dazzling light on all beholders
near and far.
7
INTRODUCTION
n"" The city was unbeliey,,"le because there was nothing of comparable splendor
12-1./
in the soldiers' Castilian homeland. It was alien because the troops had jour
neyed from an old, familiar world to a new and unusual one. It was magnificent
because Cuzco was the home of the Sun, the god Inti, and gold was his essence.
Inti was the sacred patron of the city and its empire. Images of the solar deity
and other luminaries of the imperial pantheon resided in an opulent sanctuary,
the Coricancha or 'House of the Sun.' A glimpse of this remarkable palace of
the gods survives in the thoughtful reflections of Cieza de Leon, conquistador
and author of Chronicle ~r Peru. Striding around the temple he found that it
measured (more than fOlll" hundred paces in circuit' and was of finely hewn
masonry.
The stone appeared to me to be of a dusky or black color, and most excellent
for building purposes. The wall had many openings, and the doorways were
very well carved. Round the wall, half way up, there was a band of gold, two
palmas wide and four dedos in thickness. The doorways and doors were
covered with plates of the same metal. Within were four houses, not very
large, but with walls of the same kind and covered with plates of gold within
and without ...
In one of these houses, which was the richest, there was the figure of the
SUll, very large and made of gold, very ingeniously worked, and enriched
with many precious stones . ...
They had also a garden, the clods of which were made of pieces of fine
gold; and it was artificially sown with golden maize, the stalks, as well as the
leaves and cobs, being of that metal. ... Besides all this, they had more than
twenty golden sheep [llamas) with their lambs, and the shepherds with their
slings and crooks to watch them, all made of the same metal. There was a
great quantity of jars of gold and silver, set with emeralds; vases, pots, and all
sorts of utensils, all of fine gold.
Indeed the splendor of the Coricancha and the elegant wealth ofCuzco were so
overpowering that the narrator was compelled to conclude, ' ... it seems to me
that I have said enough to show what a grand place it was; so I shall not treat
further of the silver work of the chllq/l;ra [beads), of the plumes of gold and
other things, which, if! wrote down, I should not be believed.'
If a w/lqllislildor felt his eye-witness account of Inca accomplishment would
be beyond belief, then it is little wonder that centuries later archaeologists con
front a uniquely difficult task in attempting to reconstruct this bygone achieve
ment, describe its evolution, and make Andean civilization intelligible to
Western society.
Many aspects of Andean accomplishment are only intelligible as adaptations
to environmental extremes, particularly life at extremely high elevations. The
towering Cordillera is, after all, the only cradle of ancient civilizations where
tourists must worry about heart seizures in the rarefied air, and visitors regu
larly experience altitude sickness due to anoxia. If an eminent empire had once
flourished atop the Himalayas, then Tahuantinsuyu could be studied in
8
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comparative perspective and might seem less alien. Yet, this is not the case, and
many aspects of Andean civilization are unprecedented, and thus unique.
Because of these factors we must first understand the geography of
Tahuantinsuyu and the nature of Inca rule before turning to the prehistoric
record to examine how this way of life and government evolved. An under
standing of Inca society and statecraft will serve as a guide for interpreting the
archaeological data. However, after reviewing the Inca as an interpretative
model, I will turn to the earliest inhabitants of the Andes and trace the evolu
tion of native society and statecraft forward in time to its culmination on the eve
of Spanish conquest.
The Incas
It is important to note that the term ~Inca' refers only to a small group of
kindred, less than 40,000 individuals, who built a great Andean state by force of
arms, and who ruled as the realm's governing nobility. The head of this royal
family was the head of state, and at the height of the empire his dominion
extended over ten million people or more. These individuals were Inca subja/s,
but they were lIot Incas because this was a closed ethnic body.
9