Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T00:22:53.220Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Ambrosetti, J. B. 1908 Exploraciones arqueologicas en la ciudad prehistorica de La Paya. Revista de la Universidad de Buenos Aires 9 : 15–97. Facultad de Filosofia y Letras, Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires, Publicaciones de la Section de Antropologia, Buenos Aires.Google Scholar
Arnold, J. 1991 Transformation of a Regional Economy : Sociopolitical Evolution and the Production of Valuables in Southern California. Antiquity 65 : 953–962.Google Scholar
Ascher, M., and Ascher, R. 1981 Code of the Quipu. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Brumfiel, E., and Earle, T. (editors) 1987 Specialization, Exchange, and Complex Societies. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Burton, R. 1975 Why do the Trobriands have Chiefs? Man 10 : 544–558.Google Scholar
Cieza de Leon, P. 1984 [1551] La cronica del Peru. Fondo Editorial, Universidad Catolica del Peru, Lima.Google Scholar
Cobo, P. B. 1979 History of the Inka Empire. Translated by Hamilton, R.. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Costin, C. L., and Earle, T. K. 1989 Status Distinction and Legitimation of Power as Reflected in Changing Patterns of Consumption in Late Pre-Hispanic Peru. American Antiquity 54 : 691–714.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costin, C. L., Earle, T. K., Owen, B., and Russell, G. S. 1989 Impact of Inka Conquest on Local Technology in the Upper Mantaro Valley, Peru. In What's New? A Closer Look at the Process of Invention, edited by van der Leeuw, S. E. and Torrance, R., pp. 107–139. One World Archaeological Series Vol. 14. Unwin and Allen, London.Google Scholar
Dalton, G. 1977 Aboriginal Economies in Stateless Societies. In Exchange Systems in Prehistory, edited by Earle, T. K. and Ericson, J. E., pp. 191–212. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
D' Altroy, T. N. 1981 Empire Growth and Consolidation : The Xauxa Region of Peru Under the Incas. Ph. D. dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
D' Altroy, T. N. 1992 Provincial Power in the Inka Empire. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
D' Altroy, T. N., and Earle, T. K. 1985 Staple Finance, Wealth Finance, and Storage in the Inka Political Economy. Current Anthropology 26 : 187–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
D' Altroy, T. N., and Earle, T. K. 1992 Inka Storage Facilities in the Upper Mantaro Valley, Peru. In Inka Storage Systems, edited by LeVine, T. Y., pp. 176–205. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
D' Altroy, T. N., and Hastorf, C. A. (editors) 1994 Empire and Domestic Economy. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D. C, in press.Google Scholar
DeMarrais, E. 1993 Regional Settlement Organization in the Calchaqui Valley, Argentina, Under Inka rule. Paper presented at the 58th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, St. Louis.Google Scholar
Dennell, R. W. 1976 The Economic Importance of Plant Resources Represented on Archaeological Sites. Journal of Archaeological Science 3 : 229–247.Google Scholar
Drennan, R. D. 1984 Long-Distance Transport Costs in Prehispanic Mesoamerica. American Anthropologist 86 : 105–112.Google Scholar
Dumett, R. 1993 Traditional Gold Mining in West Africa : The Absorption of the Akan Region into the Greater Atlantic Commercial System. Paper presented at the 13th Annual Meeting of the Society for Economic Anthropology, Durham, New Hampshire.Google Scholar
Earle, T. 1977 A Reappraisal of Redistribution : Complex Hawaiian Chiefdoms. In Exchange Systems in Prehistory, edited by Earle, T. K. and Ericson, J. E., pp. 213–229. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Earle, T. 1981 Comment on the Evolution of Specialized Pottery Production : A Trial Model, by Rice, P.. Current Anthropology 22 : 230–231.Google Scholar
Earle, T. 1985 Commodity Exchange and Markets in the Inca State : Recent Archaeological Evidence. In Markets and Exchange, edited by Plattner, S., pp. 369–397. University Press of America, Latham, Maryland.Google Scholar
Earle, T. (editor) 1991 Chiefdoms : Power, Economy, and Ideology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Earle, T. K., and D' Altroy, T. N. 1982 Storage Facilities and State Finance in the Upper Mantaro Valley, Peru. In Contexts of Prehistoric Exchange, edited by Ericson, J. E. and Earle, T. K., pp. 265–290. Academic Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Earle, T. K., and D' Altroy, T. N. 1989 The Political Economy of the Inka empire : The Archaeology of Power and Finance. In Archaeological Thought in America, edited by Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C., pp. 183–204. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Earle, T. K., D'Altroy, T. N., LeBlanc, C. J., Hastorf, C. A., and LeVine, T. Y. 1980 Changing Settlement Patterns in the Upper Mantaro Valley, Peru. Journal of New World Archaeology 4 : 1–49.Google Scholar
Earle, T. K., D'Altroy, T. N., Hastorf, C. A., Scott, C. J., Costin, C. L., Russell, G. S., and Sandefur, E. 1987 Archaeological Field Research in the Upper Mantaro, Peru, 1982-1983 : Investigation ofInka Expansion and Exchange. Monograph No. 28. Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Feinman, G. M., and Nicholas, L. M. 1991 Shell Production and Exchange in Prehistoric Oaxaca : A View from the Ejutla Site. Paper presented at the 90th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Chicago.Google Scholar
Feinman, G. M., and Nicholas, L. M. 1993 Shell-Ornament Production in Ejutla : Implications for Highland-Coastal Interaction in Ancient Oaxaca. Ancient Mesoamerica 4 : 103–119.Google Scholar
Friedman, J., and Rowlands, M. J. 1977 Notes Towards an Epigenetic Model of Evolution of “Civilisation.” In The Evolution of Social Systems, edited by Friedman, J. and Rowlands, M., pp. 201–276. Duckworth, London.Google Scholar
Gonzalez, A. R. 1979 The Precolumbian Metallurgy of NW Argentina : Historical Development and Cultural Processes. In Precolumbian Metallurgy of South America, edited by Benson, E., pp. 133–202. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Hagstrum, M. 1992 Intersecting Technologies : Ceramic Tools for Inka Metallurgy. Paper presented at the 28th Annual Symposium on Archaeometry, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Hagstrum, M. 1993 Craft Economies at the Empire's Frontier : Ceramic Tools for Inka and Santamariana Metallurgy. Paper presented at the 58th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, St. Louis.Google Scholar
Hassig, R. 1985 Trade, Tribute, and Transportation : The Sixteenth-Century Political Economy of the Valley of Mexico. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Hastorf, C. A. 1992 Resources in Power : Agriculture and the Onset of Political Inequality Before the Inka. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Helms, M. W. 1979 Ancient Panama : Chiefs in Search of Power. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Howe, E. G. 1992 Report on Work to Date of PAC Metals and Metallurgical Artifacts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Manuscript on file, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.Google Scholar
Hyslop, J. 1977 Hilltop Cities in Peru. Archaeology 30(4) : 218–225.Google Scholar
Hyslop, J. 1984 The Inka Road System. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Johnson, A. W., and Earle, T. K. 1987 The Evolution of Human Societies. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California.Google Scholar
La Lone, M. B., and Lone, D. E. La 1987 The Inka State in the Southern Highlands : State Administrative and Production Enclave. Ethnohistory 34 : 47–62.Google Scholar
La Lone, D. E. 1982 The Inca as a Nonmarket Economy : Supply on Command Versus Supply and Demand. In Contexts for Prehistoric Exchange, edited by Ericson, J. E. and Earle, T. K., pp. 292–316. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Leach, J., and Leach, E. (editors) 1983 The Kula : New Perspectives on Massim Exchange. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Lechtman, H. 1979 Issues in Andean Metallurgy. In Precolumbian Metallurgy of South America, edited by Benson, E., pp. 1–40. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
LeVine, T. Y. (editor) 1992 Inka Storage Systems. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Malinowski, B. 1922 Argonauts of the Western Pacific. Dutton, New York.Google Scholar
Morris, C. 1967 Storage in Tawantinsuyu. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago, Chicago.Google Scholar
Morris, C. 1982 The Infrastructure of Inka Control in the Peruvian Central Highlands. In The Inka and Aztec States, 1400-1800 : Anthropology and History, edited by Collier, G. A., Rosaldo, R. I., and Wirth, J. D., pp. 153–171. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Murra, J. V. 1962 Cloth and Its Functions in the Inca State. American Anthropologist 64 : 710–728.Google Scholar
Murra, J. V. 1980 The Economic Organization of the Inka State. JAI Press, Greenwich, Connecticut. Originally publishedGoogle Scholar
Murra, J. V. 1965, Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago, Chicago.Google Scholar
Murra, J. V., and Morris, C. 1976 Dynastic Oral Tradition, Administrative Records and Archaeology in the Andes. World Archaeology 7 : 259–279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Owen, B. 1994 The Economy of Metal and Shell Wealth Goods. In Empire and Domestic Economy, edited by D'Altroy, T. and Hastorf, C.. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D. C., in press.Google Scholar
Polanyi, K. 1968 Semantics of Money-Uses. In Primitive, Archaic and Modern Economies : Essays by Karl Polanyi, edited by Dalton, G., pp. 175–203. Doubleday, Garden City, New York.Google Scholar
Renfrew, C. 1975 Trade as Action at a Distance : Questions of Integration and Communication. In Ancient Civilization and Trade, edited by Sabloff, J. and Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C., pp. 3–59. University of Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Rodriguez Orrego, L. I. 1979 La Encrucijada : Survey of a Site of Metallurgical Activity in Northwest Argentina. In Pre-Columbian Metallurgy of South America, edited by Lechtman, H., pp. 203–207. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Rowe, J. H. 1946 Inca Culture at the Time of the Spanish Conquest. In The Andean Civilizations, pp. 183–330. Handbook of South American Indians, vol. 2, edited by Steward, J. H.. Bulletin No. 143. Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Salomon, F. 1986 Native Lords of Quito in the Age of the Incas. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Salomon, F. 1987 A North Andean Status Trader Complex Under Inka Rule. Ethnohistory 34 : 63–77.Google Scholar
Smelser, N. J. 1959 A Comparative View of Exchange Systems. Economic Development 7 : 173–182.Google Scholar
Snead, J. E. 1992 Imperial Infrastructure and the Inka State Storage System. In Inka Storage Systems, edited by LeVine, T., pp. 62–106. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Wolf, E. R. 1982 Europe and the People Without History. University of California Press, Berkeley. Google Scholar