How Did the Inca Construct Cuzco?

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "How Did the Inca Construct Cuzco?," at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Cuzco, the former capital of the Inca Empire, is one of the oldest inhabited cities in the Americas. Inca architecture and planning continue to define the layout of the modern city. Cuzco has one of the richest historical records of any indigenous site on the continent. Generations of architects, archaeologists, and historians have tried to correlate the location of major Inca compounds, streets, and open spaces with the historical evidence. But, "several alternative models of the former Inca capital can be derived from largely the same data sources" (Bauer 2004: 211). This session will debate research into the layout of the roads, terraces, buildings blocks, wall construction, labor investment and modifications of Inca buildings in Cuzco and beyond. Despite a lack of C14 dates for the city center, this architectural analysis can provide new insights into the building sequence in Cuzco by assessing it in relation to stone source locations and our archaeological and historical understanding of the expansion of Inca territorial control, including the development of royal estates. This session invites discussion about potential changes in the authority and control of the emerging Inca Empire as well as the social, economic and ritual functions of the Inca capital.

Other Keywords
Andes: Late Horizon • Architecture • Survey • Archaeometry & Materials Analysis: XRF/pXRF • Landscape Archaeology • Archaeoastronomy • Settlement patterns • Inca • Monumentality • Andes: Late Intermediate

Geographic Keywords
Republic of Peru (Country) • Republic of Panama (Country) • Republic of Colombia (Country) • Netherlands Antilles (Country) • Aruba (Country) • Republic of Ecuador (Country) • Republic of Chile (Country) • South America (Continent) • South America: Andes • South America

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-7 of 7)

  • Documents (7)
Documents
  • Coricancha: Between Historical Studies and 3D Scanning (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Mariusz Ziolkowski. Jacek Kosciuk. Bartlomiej Cmielewski.

    This is an abstract from the "How Did the Inca Construct Cuzco?" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper stresses the importance of surveying precision for any studies related to inca architecture and urbanism. Based on 3D laser scanning of the Coricancha complex, different cases are presented. The first case is an evaluation of hypotheses regarding the possible astronomical function of this temple. Among them, of particular importance is the...

  • The Cusco Valley Road System (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Kevin Floerke. Stephen Berquist.

    This is an abstract from the "How Did the Inca Construct Cuzco?" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Inca road system in the Cusco Valley has been remarkably understudied and undertheorized despite lying at the heart of the largest empire in the Americas and being the origin point for a road system designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Far from the simplistic vision of four primary roads emanating to the four corners of Tawantinsuyu, this...

  • Imperial Remodeling: Hatuncancha and Later Inca Construction (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Alexei Vranich. Bill Sillar.

    This is an abstract from the "How Did the Inca Construct Cuzco?" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Though generations of scholars have mapped nearly all the standing architecture of the imperial and colonial city of Cusco, nevertheless, the site remains caught in the hypothetical moment of its apogee prior to its destruction during the Great Inca Revolt. A recent intensive survey of the central portion of the city provides nuanced data that permits a...

  • Inca Stone Sources, Quarrying, and Transport (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Dennis Ogburn. Bill Sillar. Rob Ixer.

    This is an abstract from the "How Did the Inca Construct Cuzco?" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Stone was fundamental to building Cuzco and there was significant variability in the sources and sizes of stones employed. To understand the history of construction, we must take into account relationships with the people and resources of the wider region, which impacted where the stones originated and how they were worked, transported, and used....

  • The Inca Transformation of the Lucre Basin (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Thomas Hardy.

    This is an abstract from the "How Did the Inca Construct Cuzco?" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In the study of archaic states and empires, much can be gained from analyzing how imperialist regimes transform and modify the landscape and built environment in the pursuit of their political goals. The Inca Empire, which expanded out of the Cusco Valley in the south-central Peruvian Andes ca. 1400 CE, provides an ideal case study to understand this...

  • Prior to Pachacuti: A Pre-Imperial Phase for Monumental Construction in Cuzco? (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Bill Sillar. Alexei Vranich. Dennis Ogburn.

    This is an abstract from the "How Did the Inca Construct Cuzco?" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The plan of Inca Cuzco is sometimes explained as following a unified design, which some historical accounts attribute to the 9th Inca leader, Pachacuti. While Cuzco was a planned settlement, it was constantly being reconstructed and altered to accommodate a growing Inca elite, to facilitate the needs of the emerging state and the priorities of...

  • The Terraced City (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Stephen Berquist. Alexei Vranich.

    This is an abstract from the "How Did the Inca Construct Cuzco?" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Standing architecture is an important and impressive part of Inca Cusco, but comprises only a portion of the pre-Columbian built environment. Developing a sense of the grand plan of Cusco involves forgetting our fascination with the standing architecture and concentrating on recreating the three-dimensional form of the terraces that formed the surface...