Indigenous Stories of the Inka Empire: Local Experiences of Ancient Imperialism
Part of: Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)
This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Indigenous Stories of the Inka Empire: Local Experiences of Ancient Imperialism" at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
The interdisciplinary study of the Inka Empire has a long history. However, this scholarship is heavily informed by a robust body of ethnohistoric research that relies on Spanish-era documents mediated through Inka-centric narratives of expansion that sought to portray the empire as a civilizatory mission that brought order and progress to previously chaotic lands. Currently, most studies that focus on provincial Inka archaeology tend to cast conquered societies as reactive to Inka policies rather than active agents with specific agendas. Furthermore, recent developments in historical archaeology show that local identities and practices outlived the Inka Empire. As such, in this session, we ask presenters to “flip the script” by focusing on how local communities resisted, accepted, and/or creatively appropriated “empire” into their historical trajectories. Specifically, presenters will focus on how local people actively engaged (or actively disengaged) with Inka imperial ideology, policies, and materials, rather than to detail how imperial demands changed local practice. By analyzing archaeological, historical, and ethnographic data from across the Andes, this session aims to complement and expand provincial scholarship by asking how non-Inka Andean communities experienced, performed, portrayed, and understood Inka expansion.
Other Keywords
Andes: Late Horizon •
Ceramic Analysis •
Social and Political Organization: States and Empires •
Colonialism •
Materiality •
Local Agency •
Andes: Late Intermediate •
Ethnohistory/History •
Material Culture and Technology •
Archaeometry & Materials Analysis
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)
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Chincha-Inka Joint Rule: Exploring the Role of Local Elites in the Transformations of Complex N1 at Las Huacas (2021)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Indigenous Stories of the Inka Empire: Local Experiences of Ancient Imperialism" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Studies of Inka expansion often highlight the important role that elites played in expanding and administering the empire. This is especially true on the central and south coast, where the Inka came into contact with complex polities. Arguably, the most well-known of these groups were the Chincha. Through...
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Cultura material y agencia local en Chile Central en los tiempos del Inka (2021)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Indigenous Stories of the Inka Empire: Local Experiences of Ancient Imperialism" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Las evidencias indican que el uso de actividades de amplia convocatoria asociada a prácticas ceremoniales fue una estrategia fundamental para la integración de las cuencas de los ríos Aconcagua y Maipo-Mapocho (Chile central) al Tawantinsuyu. La cultura material permite inferir la participación de...
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Decentralized Negotiation and Imperial Flexibility in the Margins of the Inca Empire (2021)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Indigenous Stories of the Inka Empire: Local Experiences of Ancient Imperialism" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Marginal imperial regions are places where more flexible modes of dominion can be expected, where distinctions between state impositions and local appropriation of imperial infrastructure and material culture are less clear. Particularly in regions with decentralized polities, political negotiations are far...
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Inka Materiality in Local Practice: A Case Study from Huarochirí (Lima, Peru) (2021)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Indigenous Stories of the Inka Empire: Local Experiences of Ancient Imperialism" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The results from archaeological excavations on a residential settlement and a ritual-public center in Huarochirí suggest minimal use of Inka-style material culture in most everyday life contexts. At the same time, architectural intervention suggests a significant transformation on both sites’ layouts....
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Interpreting Inka: Local Perspectives from Santa Rita B (Chao Valley, Peru) (2021)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Indigenous Stories of the Inka Empire: Local Experiences of Ancient Imperialism" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeological investigations of Inka sites often focus on the presence or quantity of Inka materials as a way of determining the degree of imperial domination. While such analyses may work well in heartland sites with visible Inka materials having a clear imperial connection, in many provincial regions we...
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Success and Power through Networking: Lessons from Chancay Elites in the Huaura Valley (2021)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Indigenous Stories of the Inka Empire: Local Experiences of Ancient Imperialism" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. During the LIP, the north-central coast of Peru was inhabited by small but dynamic polities that were actively engaged in interregional networks of trade, intermarriage, and warfare. However, we know little about how these groups interacted with or were incorporated into the Inca Empire and it has long been...
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Vassals or Friendly Confederates: Disjuncture and Identity Imposition in the Late Horizon Northeastern Andean Montaña (2021)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Indigenous Stories of the Inka Empire: Local Experiences of Ancient Imperialism" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Borderlands, like the eastern Andean slopes between highland states and lowland complex chiefdoms, are frequently a destination for peoples fleeing from state control and characterized by complex multiethnic landscapes. Archaeological studies in northeastern Peru, however, often assume a mega-ethnic group,...