Reconstructing the Inca Occupation Period in Chancay

Summary

Comparatively little excavation information is available from the Chancay valley, particularly pertaining to textiles, which are abundantly preserved there. Yet, it turned out to be possible to identify in museum collections, including that of the NMAI, two distinct styles of highland tunics found at sites in the mid and lower Chillon valley and vicinity that in turn influenced mid-valley and coastal tunics, particularly Chancay-style examples. Moreover, textile designs made it possible to date these tunics to the Inca-occupation period. The identifications were based on technical analysis and the use of site provenience information as well as design comparisons. The conclusions were subsequently confirmed by textiles in a grave lot from the Chancay valley excavated in 1904 by Max Uhle, kept in the Hearst Museum of Anthropology in Berkeley, whose ceramics show no Inca influence. The tunics reveal that people from the upper valley in Chillon probably had some administrative role during the Inca empire in Chancay, and that textiles reflected the imposition of the Inca administration in Chancay to a much greater extent than ceramics.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 18807