The Materialization of an Inka Colonial Landscape: Exploring the Road Network in the Camata-Carijana Valley

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Colonial encounters with the Inka Empire led to social changes reflected in the landscape. A hallmark of Inka landscapes were their roads. I explore if the road network in the Camata-Carijana Valley materialized broader forms of state or local control through its distribution and construction. In particular, I investigate how the design of road system influenced movement of people and goods through the Valley. The poster focuses on my use of costs path analysis and Tobler Hiking Function to explore the time of travel and the movement of llama caravans. Analysis suggests that the pre-Hispanic road in the Camata-Carijana Valley was designed to (1) connect people from he highlands to the lowlands and (2) move people to the major Inka settlements in the Valley. Indeed, small local settlements were bypassed by the roads; Thus, the road network supported imperial trade and exchange between groups and discouraged (limited) local trade and exchange.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24510