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Hybrid Material Culture in the Inca Empire (AD 1400–1532): Analyzing the Ceramic Assemblages from La Centinela and Las Huacas, Chincha Valley

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 August 2023

Jordan A. Dalton*
Affiliation:
American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA
*
Corresponding author: Jordan A. Dalton; Email: jdalton@amnh.org

Abstract

The distribution and hybridization of ceramic vessels provide insights into how local elites and imperial officials navigated imperial expansion. This article presents data on ceramic sherds from the sites of La Centinela and Las Huacas in the Chincha Valley that date to the period of Inca occupation (AD 1400–1532). In Chincha, the Inca established a style of joint rule in which Inca and local authority were closely aligned. The ceramic data demonstrate that Inca imperial designs and diagnostic shapes were most numerous in contexts associated with direct Inca presence and that the types of vessels and designs that elites used to develop their authority differed among the contexts: hybrid material culture thus varied throughout the Chincha Valley. These different hybrid material cultures include state-sponsored hybrid wares (Inca vessels, on which the Inca intentionally integrated Chincha designs) and local vessel shapes on which elites used Inca symbols and vessel shapes to assert their status to a mostly local audience.

Resumen

Resumen

La distribución e hibridación de vasijas de cerámica proporciona información sobre cómo las élites locales y los oficiales Inca interactuaron durante el proceso de expansión imperial. Este artículo presenta datos sobre los fragmentos de cerámica procedentes de los sitios de La Centinela y Las Huacas del valle de Chincha durante el período de ocupación Inca (1400–1532 dC). En esta región se estableció una administración dual y alineada entre la autoridad incaica y las élites chinchanas. Los análisis demuestran que las vasijas con formas y diseños Inca imperial fueron numerosas en contextos asociados a la ocupación directa Inca, mientras los tipos de vasijas y diseños asociados a las élites locales variaba entre los contextos estudiados. Los datos también muestran una variabilidad del material cultural híbrido a lo largo del valle de Chincha. Este material híbrido incluía combinaciones intencionales de diseños Chincha en vasijas Inca (auspiciadas por el Estado Inca), y vasijas locales con diseños incas utilizadas por las elites locales para afirmar su estatus frente a la población local.

Type
Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Society for American Archaeology

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