Foreign Travel and the Development of Inca Archaeology in Cuzco, Peru

Summary

The roots of Inca archaeology lie in reports and memoirs of 19th century travel, which culminated in Hiram Bingham’s 1911 Yale Peruvian Expedition. These accounts traced routes that brought international attention to architectural remains of Inca royal estates and religious monuments, providing an early "guide" to would-be travelers and framing the formative years of Inca archaeology. As research proliferated in the past 50 years, some archaeologists have promoted the remains of royal estates as the materialization of the Inca dynasty, whereas others have advocated a more dynamic approach. Today, the articulation of a well-defined tourist circuit that connects Cuzco to Inca monuments in nearby areas perpetuates the historicist interpretation of the dynasty, promoting a sense of imperial timelessness. This poster uses GIS analysis to frame the historical development of the Cuzco tourist circuit in the broader archaeological context that has developed alongside it.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21391