War, Spectacle, and Politics in the Ancient Andes
War, Spectacle, and Politics in the Ancient Andes
£78.00
GBPWarfare in the pre-Columbian Andes took on many forms, from inter-village raids to campaigns of conquest. Andean societies also created spectacular performances and artwork alluding to war – acts of symbolism that worked as political rhetoric while drawing on ancient beliefs about supernatural beings, warriors, and the dead. In this book, Elizabeth Arkush disentangles Andean warfare from Andean war-related spectacle and offers insights into how both evolved over time. Synthesizing the rich archaeological record of fortifications, skeletal injury, and material evidence, she presents fresh visions of war and politics among the Moche, Chimú, Inca, and pre-Inca societies of the conflict-ridden Andean highlands. The changing configurations of Andean power and violence serve as case studies to illustrate a sophisticated general model of the different forms of warfare in pre-modern societies. Arkush's book makes the complex pre-history of Andean warfare accessible by providing a birds-eye view of its major patterns and contrasts.
- Synthesizes massive amounts of information from settlement patterns, bioarchaology, and other sources into a coherent, readable treatment, well-illustrated with figures
- Presents a model for understanding different kinds of pre-modern warfare, based on political relationships within society and with enemies
- Makes an important analytical advance in distinguishing and comparing evidence of the severity of warfare from rhetoric about warfare in art, spectacle, and symbol
Reviews & endorsements
'… a scholarly, incredibly detailed analysis … Essential.' C. C. Kolb, Choice
'This book is one of the most valuable contributions to the study of war in antiquity in recent years … not only a scholarly contribution to Andean warfare but also an insightful contribution to understanding human society throughout history.' Hugo C. Ikehara-Tsukayama, Journal of Latin American Studies
Product details
March 2022Adobe eBook Reader
9781009041492
0 pages
This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.
Table of Contents
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Severity and spectacle: The nature of our evidence
- 3. Toward a better model of war
- 4. Warrior lords: Moche war and status rivalry
- 5. Us versus them: Threat and solidarity in the late intermediate period highlands
- 6. The invention of conquest: Chimú and Inca war and coercion
- 7. Conclusions.
