Photogrammetry Modeling and GIS Analysis at Rumiqolqa (Cusco, Peru), a Multi-ethnic Labor Colony Occupied during Inca and Spanish Colonial Rule

Summary

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

This poster employs digital archaeological mapping methods such as photogrammetry and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to examine domestic labor practices, architectural style, and town planning at Rumiqolqa, a massive colony in Cusco, Peru where a multi-ethnic population of forcibly resettled workers quarried stone for Inca and then Spanish colonial regimes (ca. 1400-1650 CE). The goal is to understand resilience and community formation among these workers by documenting patterns in their house construction practices. The study does not assume that house construction style reflects ethnic or cultural background. Rather it documents common house construction techniques to identify groups of builders—communities of practice—who may have shared skills, technologies, and materials. GIS analysis traces the distribution of 35 architectural attributes (e.g., measurements, stone masonry, mortar recipe) to document whether and where workers in the settlement pooled construction labor and materials. The analysis reveals that Inca period work groups organized construction labor in ways that crosscut the town plan and its imposed neighborhood boundaries. A three-dimensional photogrammetry model of the colony, paired with GIS analysis of pathways and viewsheds, will also test whether Spanish colonial era changes in the architecture of Rumiqolqa further constrained or enhanced social interaction among the workers.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25619