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Wealth Finance in the Inka Empire: Evidence from the Calchaqui Valley, Argentina

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Timothy Earle
Timothy Earle*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology and the Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90024
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Abstract

To finance their empire, the Inka empire mobilized and expropriated both staple and sumptuary goods. This paper examines the manufacture and use of wealth-associated objects in the Calchaquí Valley, located on the empire's southern periphery. Recent excavations at the imperial settlement of Potrero de Payogasta and at the local Santamariana settlement of Valdéz recovered extensive manufacturing debris. Craft industries included copper, silver, and gold metallurgy; marine and land-snail shell-, stone-, and bone-bead manufacture; and mica disk cutting. At Potrero de Payogasta, the concentration of production debris in the households of the Inka elite and associated personnel represents attached specialization. Because evidence for several craft industries occurs together in individual households, related technologies were probably performed jointly. The inhabitants of the indigenous settlement, Valdéz, manufactured decorative items using primarily locally available land-snail shell. At Valdéz, the high frequency of ceramic molds, used in the casting of pure (unalloyed) copper, documents only initial stages of manufacture. The scarcity of finished wealth from both sites is noteworthy; although Calchaqui settlements were heavily involved in manufacture, wealth was expropriated for circulation in the Inka wealth-finance system.

Resumen

Resumen

Para financiar su imperio, los inkas movilizaron y expropiaron tanto bienes de subsistencia como bienes suntuarios. Este artículo examina la manufactura y el uso de objetos suntuarios en el valle de Calchaquí, localizado en la periferia meridional del imperio. Excavaciones recientes en el asentamiento imperial de Potrero de Payogasta y en el asentamiento local santamariano de Valdéz permitieron recobrar extensivas evidencias de manufactura. Las industrias artesanales incluyeron metalurgia de cobre, plata y oro; la manufactura de cuentas de caracoles marinos y terrestres, así como de piedra y de hueso; y la producción de discos de mica. En el asentamiento inka, la concentración de restos de producción dentro de las residencias de la élite inka y de personas asociadas a ellos indican especialistas dirigidos. Ya que las evidencias de múltiples industrias artesanales se encuentran asociades dentro de unidades domésticas individuales, es probable que tecnologías relacionadas se realizaran en conjunto. Los habitanles del asentamiento local, Valdéz, fabricaron artículos decorativos usando basicamente caracoles terrestres disponibles localmente. En Valdéz, la alia frecuencia de crisoles cerámicos, usados en el vaciado de cobre puro, documenta solamente etapas iniciales de la manufactura. La escasez de bienes suntuarios terminados en ambos sitios es notable; aunque los asentamientos calchaquí participaron intensivamente en la manufactura, estos bienes se expropiaron para restringir su circulación al sistema inka de financiación de riqueza.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 59 , Issue 3 , July 1994 , pp. 443 - 460
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1994

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