Style and Substance in the Inca Imperial Capital: A Preliminary Archaeometric and Attribute Analysis of Ceramics, Materiality, and Aesthetics in Ancient Cusco

Summary

Archaeologists have long examined how ancient empires and states developed a standard aesthetic and material culture—a set of styles and iconographic designs meant to express their claims to regional authority. In contrast, this paper moves beyond style designations and iconographic interpretations, which often draw on texts to make claims about representations of myths and political personages, to instead understand the materials and technological sequences that constituted a regional aesthetic from the ground up. It analyzes Inca and pre-Inca (Killke) pottery from Cusco, Peru to provide preliminary insights into how changes in clay resources and technological sequences contributed to the creation and dissemination of the aesthetic that defined the Inca Empire (ca.1450-1532 CE). Archaeometric (LA-ICP-MS) and macroscopic attribute analyses reveal patterned relationships between clay resource procurement, decorative motifs, and vessel forms among a sample of pre-Inca, Killk’e, and Classic Inca polychrome serving vessels. The data complement recent studies from Cusco, which indicate that specific, valued raw materials were important constituents of the Inca imperial aesthetic. The study contributes to a growing body of archaeological research that complements a traditional focus on stylistic design with a nuanced understanding of the materials that constituted a regional aesthetic.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Understanding Visual Culture Without Textual Sources: What Are the Possibilities for Analysis?

Keywords

Spatial Coverage