Measuring time, sacred space, and social place in the Inca Empire

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511760822.023

17 - Measuring time, sacred space, and social place in the Inca Empire

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012

Charles Stanish

Edited by

Iain Morley and

Colin Renfrew

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Iain Morley: Affiliation:
The MacDonald Institute for Archaeological Research
Colin Renfrew: Affiliation:
The MacDonald Institute for Archaeological Research

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Summary

The Inca Empire of Andean South America emerged in the 15th century AD as one of the great political triumphs of world history. In a short 100 or so years, the Inca developed in the central Andean highlands out of a multitude of competing polities in the post–Middle Horizon period (Figure 17.1). The Middle Horizon, circa AD 500–1100, represented the apogee of the three first-generation states of the Andes – first Moche in the first centuries AD up to around AD 700, then Wari and Tiwanaku (Figure 17.2). The latter two states developed almost in tandem circa AD 500–1000 extending their reach over most of the Andean highlands, from northern Peru to north central Chile.

The collapse of the Wari and Tiwanaku states created a volatile political context throughout the region. In the north coast, several polities developed out of the remains of the Moche state, ultimately culminating in the first empire of Chimor in the beginning of the second millennium AD. Moche defined statecraft as it was practiced in the pre–European contact Andes, beginning at the end of the first millennium BCE and continuing into the middle of the first millennium AD. Moche culture most likely directly influenced Wari and Chimu and indirectly influenced Tiwanaku as these two cultures developed their models of statecraft in the immediate post-Moche periods.

The Quechua-speaking Inca peoples were one of a number of smaller polities that developed in this general cultural context of the post–Middle Horizon period.

Type: Chapter
Information: The Archaeology of Measurement
Comprehending Heaven, Earth and Time in Ancient Societies
, pp. 216 - 228

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511760822.023 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2010

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