The Inca State and Local Ritual Landscapes

Abstract

Ritual landscapes were integral to Inca imperial expansion, both as a medium for and as a product of the interaction between the Inca state and regional and local polities. The incorporation of peoples and lands into the Inca Empire entailed complex dealings with local and regional huacas, together with the co-optation and modification of local elite lineages, corporate origins, and histories. Late Horizon ritual landscapes were thus emergent phenomena, constructed over time through processes of negotiation and reconfiguration between the Inca and other peoples. I refer to these negotiated landscapes as “local-imperial,” and explore these interactive processes through archaeological and ethnohistorical data from Cuzco, Pachacamac, Huamachuco, and Huarochirí. Inasmuch as local-imperial ritual landscapes were composite entities described in this article, viewing these different forms of evidence together clarifies our image of the Inca expansion as the work of physical, social, and symbolic-semiotic mastery.