Isotopes and the Body Politic: Estimating Residential Origins at the Imperial Inka site of Patallacta, Peru

Summary

This is an abstract from the "From Individual Bodies to Bodies of Social Theory: Exploring Ontologies of the Americas" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In just under a century, the Inka subjugated twelve million people across the Central Andes. As part of their governing strategies, Inca administrators relocated individuals and even entire communities throughout the empire for myriad purposes; this practice often produced constructed communities defined by individuals’ socioeconomic roles in the state. Reconstructing the demographic composition of populations at Inka sites is therefore critical to better understanding how different subjects were affected by Inka imperialism: estimating who was moved, from where, to where, and why can provide insights into how individual bodies were transformed by imperial mandates.

This study presents oxygen (δ18O), strontium (87Sr/86Sr), and lead (20nPb/204Pb) isotope values in tooth enamel and bone from human remains (N=81) interred at the imperial site of Patallacta, in the Sacred Valley of the southern Peruvian highlands. Results suggest that most of the Patallacta sample were local to the southern Peruvian highlands; however, some individuals appear to have been from the coast, and one individual was likely from the highland altiplano. These results differ significantly from the nearby site of Machu Picchu, underscoring the complex nature of Inka subject communities and the important contribution of isotope bioarchaeology to elucidating lived experiences within ancient empires.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• From Individual Bodies to Bodies of Social Theory: Exploring Ontologies of the Americas   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 26303