Interpreting Inka: Local Perspectives from Santa Rita B (Chao Valley, Peru)

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Indigenous Stories of the Inka Empire: Local Experiences of Ancient Imperialism" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Archaeological investigations of Inka sites often focus on the presence or quantity of Inka materials as a way of determining the degree of imperial domination. While such analyses may work well in heartland sites with visible Inka materials having a clear imperial connection, in many provincial regions we need to address the role of local communities and their interpretation and implementation of the imperial agenda. One area that allows for such examinations is the north coast of Peru, which was subject to successive waves of imperial expansion from about AD 1350 to the mid-sixteenth century. The Chao Valley, sequentially annexed by the Chimú, Inka, and Spanish Empires, offers perspectives on how local populations managed successive waves of imperial expansion. This paper discusses the evidence from Santa Rita B, a lower-order site in the Chao Valley, which suggests that while local identities and daily life were profoundly altered following Chimú conquest, the community’s experience following Inka incorporation was quite different. While material manifestations of Inka imperial power are limited at Santa Rita B, their nature and contexts suggest that life of the local community was formed by local choices and actions as much as by imperial policies and ideology.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• Indigenous Stories of the Inka Empire: Local Experiences of Ancient Imperialism

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32674