Alfareros deste Inga: Pottery Production, Distribution and Exchange in the Tawantinsuyu

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Alfareros deste Inga: Pottery Production, Distribution and Exchange in the Tawantinsuyu," at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Empire of the Incas in a short period of time extended from Ecuador to Argentina, conquering more than a hundred ethnic groups of different and unequal social and economic organization. It is from the incorporation of these groups to the Empire that Inca-style ceramics begin to appear alongside with vibrant local pottery traditions. Recent research in various provinces has revealed the variation of the Inca provincial styles, and the different ways in which Cuzqueño Inca Imperial styles were adopted and adapted by competing social segments. It is also striking that traditional Inca Cuzco styles are nearly absent in some areas, despite the marked presence of imperial infrastructure. The present symposium seeks to explore, through cases from different regions of the Tawantinsuyu, the characteristics of the pottery we call "Inca," its variability, and spatial distribution. We will also explore wider processes of production, distribution and exchange of these different materials in order to tease out the complex relations between the Inca imperial core and the surrounding provinces, and the agency of imperial, provincial and local segments.