Building Alliances, Return to Origins, and Monumental Failure: Huascar's Royal Estate at Kañaraqay and the Inca Civil War (1528–1532)

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Although the Inca civil war (1528–1532) set the stage for the transatlantic encounter in the Andes, it has been relegated to a historical footnote. This is largely due to the fact that the relatively short Inca imperial period (or Late Horizon, 1440s–1532) has been mostly studied as a monolithic whole. Yet Inca material culture varies dramatically through both time and space. Since building was both one of the most potent expressions of Inca power in the Andes and one of the main expectations for its rulers, Huascar's royal estate at Kañaraqay, built during the war, offers a glimpse at the geopolitics of the terminal days of the Inca empire. The choice of location, site planning, and its urban character point to a narrative of return to origins through which Huascar attempted to attract support in the conflict with Atahualpa. His ultimate failure sheds light on how monumental construction projects might have been a tool for power acquisition rather than a mere reflection of the power of their patrons.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36382.0