No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
A Chronological Model for Inca Provincial Expansion: The Case of the Copiapo Valley
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 March 2024
Abstract
This article examines a new dataset of radiocarbon dates that provides insights into the progressive installation of Inca infrastructure in the Copiapo Valley, situated at the southern edge of the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. It shows that the Inca imperial expansion in this region was not a linear process and was likely shaped by local negotiations and conflicts. The findings describe three main stages of Inca expansion. The first is the construction of the North–South Inca Road and the establishment of high-altitude mountain shrines. The next stage consisted of a physical intervention in a local village located in the upper valley, including the construction of administrative buildings and public spaces. The last stage involved indirect intervention in local villages, characterized by the presence of isolated administrative buildings that were potentially used for diplomacy and negotiation. I argue that the Inca imperial expansion, characterized by evolving strategies across regions and time periods, not only demonstrates the state's capacity for learning but also suggests the pivotal role of local actors in positions of power who wielded agency to shape these developments.
Resumen
Este artículo examina un nuevo conjunto de fechados radiocarbónicos que nos permite observar las etapas progresivas de instalación de infraestructura Inca en el valle de Copiapó, ubicado en el límite sur del desierto de Atacama, norte de Chile. La expansión imperial Inca aquí no aconteció como un proceso lineal, sino que fue probablemente modificada por medio de negociaciones locales y conflicto. Los resultados muestran tres etapas principales de expansión. Primero, construcción del camino Inca norte-sur y el establecimiento de los santuarios de altura en las montañas. Segundo, intervención física de una aldea local en la parte alta del valle, incluyendo la construcción de edificios administrativos con espacios públicos. Finalmente, intervención indirecta en aldeas locales y presencia de edificios administrativos aislados posiblemente destinados para diplomacia y negociación. Mi argumento es que la expansión imperial incaica y sus cambios estratégicos a través del tiempo y el espacio no son solo expresión de un proceso de aprendizaje del Estado, sino que también pudieron haber sido influidos por actores locales que estaban bien posicionados para expresar su agencia.
Keywords
- Type
- Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Society for American Archaeology
References
References Cited
Acuto, Félix. 2022. Sacred Geography, Wak'as, and Inka Colonialism in the Southern Andes. In Rethinking the Inka: Community, Landscape, and Empire in the Southern Andes, edited by Hayashida, Frances, Troncoso, Andrés, and Salazar, Diego, pp. 13–34. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Alconini, Sonia. 2008. Dis-Embedded Centers and Architecture of Power in the Fringes of the Inka Empire: New Perspectives on Territorial and Hegemonic Strategies of Domination. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 27:63–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alconini, Sonia, and Covey, Alan. 2018. Sacred Geographies and Imperial Expansion. In The Oxford Handbook of the Incas, edited by Alconini, Sonia and Covey, Alan, pp. 575–581. Oxford University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Amin, Ash. 2014. Lively Infrastructure. Theory, Culture & Society 31(7/8):137–161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ampuero, Gonzalo. 1978. Cultura Diaguita. Ministerio de Educación, Departamento de Extensión Cultural, Santiago.Google Scholar
Bauer, Brian. 1992. The Development of the Inca State. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Bauer, Brian. 2004. Ancient Cuzco: Heartland of the Inca. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Bauer, Brian, and Covey, Alan. 2002. Processes of State Formation in the Inca Heartland (Cuzco, Peru). American Anthropologist 104:846–864.Google Scholar
Berenguer, José. 2007. El camino Inka del Alto Loa y la creación del espacio provincial en Atacama. In Producción y circulación prehispánicas de bienes en el sur andino, edited by Nielsen, Axel, Rivolta, Clara, Seldes, Verónica, Vázquez, María, and Mercolli, Pablo, pp. 413–443. Editorial Brujas, Córdoba, Argentina.Google Scholar
Berenguer, José. 2009. Chile bajo el Imperio de los Inkas. Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, Santiago.Google Scholar
Berenguer, José, and Cáceres, Iván. 2008. Los Inkas en el altiplano sur de Tarapacá: El Tojo revisitado. Chungara 40:121–143.Google Scholar
Berenguer, José, and Salazar, Diego. 2017. Territorialización del modelo minero inkaico en el río Salado: Una aglomeración productiva entre Lípez y San Pedro de Atacama. Boletín del Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino 22(1):51–69.Google Scholar
Broll, Julio. 1988. La fundación de una villa en el Norte Chico: San Francisco de la Selva de Copiapo. In Copiapó en el siglo XVIII, edited by Broll, Julio and Pinto, Jorge, pp. 49–102. Ilustre Municipalidad de Copiapó, Copiapo, Chile.Google Scholar
Castillo, Gastón. 1998. Los períodos Intermedio Tardío y Tardío: Desde la Cultura Copiapó al dominio Inca. In Culturas prehistóricas de Copiapó, edited by Niemeyer, Hans, Cervellino, Miguel, and Castillo, Gastón, pp. 163–282. Museo Regional de Atacama, Copiapo, Chile.Google Scholar
Chase, Zachary. 2018. The Inca State and Local Ritual Landscapes. In The Oxford Handbook of the Incas, edited by Alconini, Sonia and Covey, Alan, pp. 519–540. Oxford University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Sofía, Chacaltana, Dayton, Christopher, and Barrionuevo, Mónika. 2010. Coastal and Highland Storage Systems of the Colesuyo, South Central Andes. In Comparative Perspectives on the Archaeology of Coastal South America, edited by Cutright, Robyn, López-Hurtado, Enrique, and Martín, Alexander, pp. 147–168. Center for Comparative Archaeology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Chu, Julie. 2014. When Infrastructures Attack: The Workings of Disrepair in China. American Ethnologist 41:351–367.Google Scholar
Cornejo, Luis. 1999. Los Incas y la construcción del espacio en Turi. Estudios Atacameños 18:165–176.Google Scholar
Cornejo, Luis. 2001. Los Inka y sus aliados Diaguita en el extremo austral del Tawantinsuyu. In Tras la huella del Inka en Chile, edited by Aldunate, Carlos and Cornejo, Luis, pp. 74–89. Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, Santiago.Google Scholar
Cornejo, Luis. 2014. Sobre la cronología del inicio de la imposición cuzqueña en Chile. Estudios Atacameños 47:101–116.Google Scholar
Covey, Alan. 2006. How the Incas Built Their Heartland: State Formation and the Innovation of Imperial Strategies in the Sacred Valley, Peru. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Covey, Alan. 2015. Inka Imperial Intentions and Archaeological Realities in the Peruvian Highlands. In The Inka Empire: A Multidisciplinary Approach, edited by Shimada, Izumi, pp. 83–96. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
D'Altroy, Terence, Williams, Verónica, and Lorandi, Ana. 2007. The Inkas in the Southlands. In Variations in the Expression of Inka Power, edited by Burger, Richard, Morris, Craig, and Matos, Ramiro, pp. 135–164. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
García, Alejandro, Moralejo, Reinaldo, and Ochoa, Pablo. 2021. Radiocarbon Chronology of the Inca Expansion in Argentina. Antípoda, Revista de Antropología y Arqueología 42:51–83.Google Scholar
Gardner, Andrew. 2013. Thinking about Roman Imperialism: Postcolonialism, Globalisation and Beyond? Britannia 44:1–25.Google Scholar
Garrido, Francisco. 2011. Identidades y cambio en la transición del período medio al intermedio tardío en el valle de Copiapó. In La cerámica arqueológica en la materialización de la sociedad: Transformaciones, metáforas y reproducción social, BAR International Series 2294, edited by Páez, María and de La Fuente, Guillermo, pp. 27–44. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.Google Scholar
Garrido, Francisco. 2016. Rethinking Imperial Infrastructure: A Bottom-Up Perspective on the Inca Road. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 43:94–109.Google Scholar
Garrido, Francisco. 2018. Los nuevos sujetos imperiales del valle de Copiapó: Estilos Diaguita e Inca local en los pucos del período Tardío regional. Estudios Atacameños 60:51–76.Google Scholar
Garrido, Francisco, and González, Soledad. 2020. Adaptive Strategies during Times of Conflict and Transformation: Copiapo Valley under the Spanish Conquest in the XVI Century. Ethnohistory 67:127–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garrido, Francisco, and Morales, Catalina. 2019. Displays of Violence and Power at the Edge of the Empire: Provincial Trophy Heads during Inca Times. Latin American Antiquity 30:606–623.Google Scholar
Garrido, Francisco, and Morales, Catalina. 2020. Using Oxygen 18 Isotope to Problematize the Presence of Resettled Laborers in the Far Provinces of the Inca Empire. PLoS ONE 15(8):e0237532.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garrido, Francisco, and Morales, Catalina. 2022. Cambios en el modo de vida con relación a la minería prehispánica. In Fondo de apoyo a la investigación patrimonial 2021, pp. 87–115. Subdirección de Investigación, Servicio Nacional del Patrimonio Cultural, Santiago.Google Scholar
Garrido, Francisco, and Plaza, Maria Teresa. 2020. Provincial Inca Metallurgy in Northern Chile: New Data for the Viña del Cerro Smelting Site. Journal of Archaeological Science Reports 33:102556.Google Scholar
Garrido, Francisco, Ratto, Norma, Morales, Catalina, De Stéfano, Julia, Aranda, Claudia, and Luna, Leandro. 2022. Imperial Ritual Appropriation and Violence? The Severed Heads from Fiambala and Copiapo during Inca Times. World Archaeology 54:464–476.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garrido, Francisco, and Salazar, Diego. 2017. Imperial Expansion and Local Agency: A Case Study of Labor Organization under Inca Rule. American Anthropologist 119:631–644.Google Scholar
González, Paola. 2000. Patrones decorativos de las culturas agroalfareras de la provincia del Choapa y su relación con los desarrollos culturales de las áreas aledañas (Norte Chico y Zona Central). In Actas del XIV Congreso Nacional de Arqueología Chilena, pp.191–221. Sociedad Chilena de Arqueología, Arica, Chile.Google Scholar
González, Paola. 2013. Arte y cultura diaguita chilena: Simetría, simbolismo e identidad. Editorial Ucayali, Santiago.Google Scholar
Guldi, Jo. 2012. Roads to Power: Britain Invents the Infrastructure State. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Harvey, Penny, and Knox, Hannah. 2015. Roads: An Anthropology of Infrastructure and Expertise. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York.Google Scholar
Hogg, Alan, Heaton, Timothy J., Hua, Quan, Palmer, Jonathan G., Turney, Chris SM, Southon, John, Bayliss, Alex, et al. 2020. SHCal20 Southern Hemisphere Calibration, 0–55,000 Years cal BP. Radiocarbon 62:759–778.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hu, Di, and Quave, Kylie. 2020. Prosperity and Prestige: Archaeological Realities of Unfree Laborers under Inka Imperialism. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 59:1–14.Google Scholar
Jenkins, David. 2001. A Network Analysis of Inka Roads, Administrative Centers, and Storage Facilities. Ethnohistory 48:655–687.Google Scholar
Julien, Catherine. 2004. Hatunqolla, una perspectiva sobre el imperio incaico desde la región del lago Titicaca. CIMA Editores, La Paz.Google Scholar
Julien, Catherine. 2012. The Chinchaysuyu Road and the Definition of an Inca Imperial Landscape. In Highways, Byways, and Road Systems in the Pre-Modern World, edited by Alcock, Susan, Bodel, John, and Talbert, Richard, pp.147–167. Wiley & Sons, Malden, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Larkin, Brian. 2013. The Politics and Poetics of Infrastructure. Annual Review of Anthropology 42:327–343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mann, Michael. 1984. The Autonomous Power of the State: Its Origins, Mechanisms and Results. European Journal of Sociology 25:185–213.Google Scholar
Mann, Michael. 2008. Infrastructural Power Revisited. Studies in Comparative International Development 43:355–365.Google Scholar
Marsh, Erik, Kidd, Ray, Ogburn, Dennis, and Durán, Víctor. 2017. Dating the Expansion of the Inca Empire: Bayesian Models from Ecuador and Argentina. Radiocarbon 59:117–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morris, Craig. 1998. Inca Strategies of Incorporation and Governance. In Archaic States, edited by Feinman, Gary M. and Marcus, Joyce, pp. 293–309. School of American Research, Santa Fe, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Moyano, Ricardo. 2009. El adoratorio del cerro El Potro: Arqueología de alta montaña en la cordillera de Copiapó, norte de Chile. Estudios Atacameños 38:39–54.Google Scholar
Niemeyer, Hans. 1971. Cementerio diaguita-incaico de Alto del Carmen. Boletín de Prehistoria de Chile 4:3–63.Google Scholar
Niemeyer, Hans. 1986. La ocupación incaica en la cuenca alta del río Copiapó. Revista Comechingonia (special issue):165–294.Google Scholar
Niemeyer, Hans. 1994. Pasos cordilleranos y contactos entre los pueblos del norte chico de Chile y el noroeste argentino. In La cordillera de los Andes, ruta de encuentros, edited by Nuñez, Lautaro, Niemeyer, Hans, and Falabella, Fernanda, pp. 23–37. Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, Santiago.Google Scholar
Niemeyer, Hans. 1998. El período medio, complejo las Ánimas. In Culturas Prehistóricas de Copiapó, edited by Cervellino, Miguel, Castillo, Gastón, and Niemeyer, Hans, pp. 115–162. Museo Regional de Atacama, Copiapo, Chile.Google Scholar
Niemeyer, Hans, Cervellino, Miguel, and Castillo, Gastón. 1993. Estrategia del dominio Inca en el valle de Copiapó. Boletín del Museo Regional de La Araucanía 4:333–371.Google Scholar
Ogburn, Denis. 2004. Dynamic Display, Propaganda, and the Reinforcement of Provincial Power in the Inca Empire. Archaeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association 14:225–239.Google Scholar
Pavlovic, Daniel, Sánchez, Rodrigo, Pascual, Daniel, and Martínez, Andrea. 2022. Rituals and Interactional Dynamics: Segmented Societies and Tawantinsuyu in Southern Qullasuyu. In Rethinking the Inka: Community, Landscape, and Empire in the Southern Andes, edited by Hayashida, Frances, Troncoso, Andrés, and Salazar, Diego, pp. 165–184. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Pavlovic, Daniel, Sánchez, Rodrigo, Pascual, Daniel, Martínez, Andrea, Cortés, Constanza, Dávila, Cristián, and La Mura, Natalia. 2019. Rituales de la vida y de la muerte: Dinámicas de interacción entre el Tawantinsuyu y las poblaciones locales en la cuenca del Maipo-Mapocho, Chile Central. Estudios Atacameños 63:43–80.Google Scholar
Pavlovic, Daniel, Troncoso, Andrés, Sánchez, Rodrigo, and Pascual, Daniel. 2012. Un tigre en el valle: Vialidad, arquitectura y ritualidad incaica en la cuenca superior del río Aconcagua. Chungara 44:551–569.Google Scholar
Reinhard, Johan. 1991. Investigación arqueológica de las plataformas Inca ceremoniales en los volcanes de Copiapó y Jotabeche (Región de Atacama). Revista Contribución Arqueológica 3:29–57.Google Scholar
Reinhard, Johan and Ceruti, María Constanza. 2010. Inca Rituals and Sacred Mountains A Study of the World’s Highest Archaeological Sites. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Salazar, Diego, Berenguer, José, Castro, Victoria, Hayashida, Frances, Parcero-Oubiña, César, and Troncoso, Andrés. 2022. Copper Rich, Water Poor: Atacama during Inka Rule. In Rethinking the Inka: Community, Landscape, and Empire in the Southern Andes, edited by Hayashida, Frances, Troncoso, Andrés, and Salazar, Diego, pp. 57–81. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Salazar, Diego, Borie, César, and Oñate, Camila. 2013. Mining, Commensal Politics, and Ritual under Inca Rule in Atacama, Northern Chile. In Mining and Quarrying in the Ancient Andes, edited by Tripcevich, Nicholas and Vaughn, Kevin, pp. 253–274. Springer, New York.Google Scholar
Slater, Dan, and Fenner, Sofia. 2011. State Power and Staying Power: Infrastructural Mechanisms and Authoritarian Durability. Journal of International Affairs 65(1):15–29.Google Scholar
Soifer, Hillel. 2008. State Infrastructural Power: Approaches to Conceptualization and Measurement. Studies in Comparative International Development 43:231–251.Google Scholar
Soifer, Hillel, and Vom Hau, Matthias. 2008. Unpacking the Strength of the State: The Utility of State Infrastructural Power. Studies in Comparative International Development 43:219–230.Google Scholar
Stanish, Charles. 2001. Regional Research on the Inca. Journal of Archaeological Research 9:213–241.Google Scholar
Stark, Barbara, and Chance, John. 2012. The Strategies of Provincials in Empires. In The Comparative Archaeology of Complex Societies, edited by Smith, Michael, pp. 192–237. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Stehberg, Rubén. 1995. Instalaciones inkaicas en el norte y centro semiárido de Chile. Dirección de Bibliotecas, Archivos y Museos, Santiago.Google Scholar
Troncoso, Andrés. 2022. Relational Communities, Leaders, and Social Reproduction: Discussing the Engagement between Tawantinsuyu and Local Communities in the Southern Part of Qullasuyu. In Rethinking the Inka: Community, Landscape, and Empire in the Southern Andes, edited by Hayashida, Frances, Troncoso, Andrés, and Salazar, Diego, pp. 185–201. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Troncoso, Andrés, and Pavlovic, Daniel. 2013. Historia, saberes y prácticas: Un ensayo sobre el desarrollo de las comunidades alfareras del norte semiárido chileno. Revista Chilena de Antropología 27:101–140.Google Scholar
Uribe, Mauricio. 2000. La arqueología del Inka en Chile. Revista Chilena de Antropología 15:63–97.Google Scholar
Uribe, Mauricio. 2004. El Inka y el poder como problemas de la arqueología del Norte Grande de Chile. Chungara 36:313–324.Google Scholar
Uribe, Mauricio, and Cabello, Gloria. 2005. Cerámica en el camino: Los materiales del río Loa (Norte Grande de Chile) y sus implicaciones tipológicas y conductuales para la comprensión de la vialidad y la expansión del Tawantinsuyo. Revista Española de Antropología Americana 35:75–98.Google Scholar
Uribe, Mauricio, and Sánchez, Rodrigo. 2016. Los Incas en Chile: Aportes de la arqueología chilena a la historia del Tawantinsuyu. In Prehistoria en Chile: Desde sus primeros habitantes hasta los Incas, edited by Falabella, Fernanda, Uribe, Mauricio, Sanhueza, Lorena, Aldunate, Carlos, and Hidalgo, Jorge, pp. 529–572. Editorial Universitaria, Santiago.Google Scholar
Uribe, Mauricio, Sanhueza, Lorena, and Bahamondes, Francisco. 2007. La cerámica prehispánica tardía de Tarapacá, sus valles interiores y costa desértica, norte de Chile (ca. 900–1.450 d.C.): Una propuesta tipológica y cronológica. Chungara 39:143–170.Google Scholar
Uribe, Mauricio, and Urbina, Simón. 2009. Cerámica y arquitectura pública en el camino del Inka del Desierto de Atacama (Río Loa, Norte Grande de Chile). Revista Chilena de Antropología 20:227–260.Google Scholar
Versluys, Miguel John. 2014. Understanding Objects in Motion: An Archaeological Dialogue on Romanization. Archaeological Dialogues 21(1):1–20.Google Scholar
Vitry, Christian. 2020. Los caminos ceremoniales en los Apu del Tawantinsuyu. Chungara 52:509–521.Google Scholar
Weiss, Linda. 2006. Infrastructural Power, Economic Transformation, and Globalization. In An Anatomy of Power: The Social Theory of Michael Mann, edited by Hall, John A. and Schroeder, Ralph, pp.167–186. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, Darryl. 2019a. Towards an Archaeological Theory of Infrastructure. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 26:1216–1241.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, Darryl. 2019b. Infrastructure and Inequality: An Archaeology of the Inka Road through the Amaybamba Cloud Forests. Journal of Social Archaeology 19:27–46.Google Scholar