Inca Research Articles

L’instrumentalisation des sites archéologiques incas. Questions d’éthique

À l’occasion de l’Indépendance du Pérou, les champions de la nation d’origine créole ont érigé l’Indien étatique inca en ancêtre présentable, éliminant ainsi l’historicité amérindienne de la population. Les restes archéologiques viennent appuyer alors une idéologie indigéniste qui ignore l’Indien sociologique, considéré comme ontologiquement inférieur. Aujourd’hui ces vestiges incas contribuent à construire le roman national : le culte solaire inca est ainsi réinventé sur le site de Sacsayhuaman. Dans quelle mesure les travaux des archéologues peuvent-ils servir d’argument à des idéologies partisanes? Les présidents des Républiques péruvienne et bolivienne ont été intronisés comme souverains préhispaniques, le premier sur le site inca de Machu Picchu, le second à la porte du Soleil de Tiwanaku. Dans quelle mesure les vestiges d’une civilisation peuvent-ils être instrumentalisés par la politique? Désormais les sites incas sont investis par des mystiques venus des États-Unis et d’Europe sous la conduite de néo-chamanes locaux. Ils sont en effet réputés contenir de l’ « énergie » positive. Celle-ci est exploitée par des agences de tourisme mystique. Dans quelle mesure le patrimoine de la nation, entretenu par les services publics, peut-il faire l’objet de profits privés, d’idéologies parfois sectaires et de dommages irréparables? Dans la culture des communautés andines traditionnelles, les ruines préhispaniques avaient une fonction classificatoire et symbolique. Celle-ci disparaît quand le lieu du mythe est remplacé par des sites historiques. Comment respecter la perception indigène des vestiges archéologiques? Tels sont les questions éthiques que cet article entend poser à partir de cas précis et concrets de sites archéologiques sur lesquels l’auteur a mené des enquêtes.

Slægt og rum i Inkariget. En fortolkning

In the Spanish manuscripts of the 16th and 17th centuries conceming the Inca empire, accounts of a succession of Inca rulers and their descendants are often represented. Modem anthropologists have accepted the statements of the Spanish chroniclers about the existence of a dynasty in the Inca empire, as well as the individual rulers as the main characters in the history of the empire. Against this general agreement, the anthropologist Zuidema has put forward the hypothesis that descriptions and the summaries of the sources should not be understood literally. Often the Spaniards did not understand that their Indian informants sought to describe a particular spatial organization in the Inca empire by means of a temporal succession. Hence, according to Zuidema, several of the so-called rulers represented contemporary chiefs of important social groups of the empire. As a contribution to a discussion of the different ways of reading the sources, the article presents the hypothesis that the Spaniards’ Indian informants described the presence of the royal family in time and space by means of an abstract structure of five elements. It is suggested that the structure is pan-Andean and older than the Inca empire.

Prinsen og det halve kongerige. En beretning fra det inkaiske landskab

This article is formed as a narrative interpretation of the dramatic conflict which took place between the two royal brothers Huascar and Atahuallpa, both Incas of Tawantinsuyu, ‘the unit of the four regions’, the Indian name for ‘the Inca empire’. The article is also an unfurling of a formal-structural figure in Incaic perception and categorization, namely the division into two halves, also to be found in certain terms of the guec/iua-language of the Incas. The analysis further treats the play between the two halves - when it concems towns: moieties - and the entirety, as well as the relationship between this structure and the conception of the Incaic landscape as space. The key in this interpretation is the Incaic categorization of the landscape as structured through the figure pairs of two halves which on a higher level are interconnected in an entirety. These two halves are supported by various pairs of metaphors implying either symmetry or asymmetry between the two positions. It is argued that this categorization was crucial for the structural relations that defined the positions of the brothers Huascar and Atahuallpa and eventually for the fali of Tawantinsuyu.

Volunteering at CerviCusco in Peru.

Cervical cancer is the leading cancer-specific cause of death in Peruvian women.1 The incidence of cervical cancer in Peru is double that seen in other South American countries and approximately 10 times the incidence rate in the United States. The prevalence of high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) in adult Peruvian women is equally high and ranges between 12% and 35%.2, 3 The morbidity and mortality of impoverished women who develop invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix in this resource-poor setting are dismaying. Unfortunately, there are several challenges for adequately controlling cervical cancer in Peru, including cultural and geographic barriers, a lack of education, a limited number of specialists in rural areas, the loss of women with abnormal Papanicolaou (Pap) tests to follow-up, inadequate HPV vaccination, and no widespread HPV testing.2, 4, 5 To address this public health need, Dr. Daron Ferris from Augusta University in Augusta, Georgia, started a nonprofit clinic in the city of Cusco called CerviCusco. Cusco, once the capital of the Inca Empire, is the gateway to Machu Picchu. The clinic offers comprehensive and culturally sensitive prevention, screening, diagnosis, and treatment of cervical cancer.6 CerviCusco is relatively well equipped and staffed by Peruvian gynecologists, several nurse midwives, nurses, and local cytotechnologist Erika P. Escalante. The clinic provides free gynecological examinations with Pap tests and liquid-based Pap test screening and, when necessary, offers follow-up colposcopy. Ferris visits the clinic regularly to perform colposcopy. Dr. David Wilbur from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, previously donated a telepathology system to the clinic. This has enabled Escalante to have weekly telecytology sessions with experts in the United States, who help her to resolve challenging abnormal Pap tests.7 The adoption of a novel mobile clinic model in rural Peru has been shown to reduce some of the barriers to cervical cancer screening.8 Hence, for women who live deep in the Andes Mountains, the clinic staff partake in regular campaigns in which they drive to these indigenous communities. There, they set up shop, educate women about the value of getting a Pap test, and perform free Pap smears on those individuals who opt to have one. Some of the main barriers to receiving Pap smears for Peruvian women are fear, embarrassment, and a lack of knowledge.9 Many of the women arrive accompanied by their children. Within no time, these makeshift clinics are accordingly buzzing with numerous kids. Therefore, providing everyone present with some musical entertainment, food, and perhaps even hot chocolate is an equally important task during these campaigns. Not surprisingly, CerviCusco previously received the American Society for Clinical Pathology humanitarian award. CerviCusco has started offering HPV vaccinations for free to children in the region. The clinic has continued to expand its services, and it is currently working on providing mammography and hopefully soon HPV testing of Pap tests. The success of CerviCusco is largely due to generous donations from several corporations and institutions in the United States. For example, Beckton Dickinson donated equipment, reagents, and plenty of slides to perform tens of thousands of free SurePath Pap tests. Volunteers at CerviCusco are of immense help and are always welcome. Volunteers can have varying skills and levels of training. They may include cytologists, physicians, and medical students as well as any health care providers or students. They get to participate in clinic-based care and remote mobile clinics. Dr. Liron Pantanowitz (cytopathologist) and his son Joshua Pantanowitz (premedical college student) recently volunteered at CerviCusco. This entailed screening of Pap tests (Fig. 1A), aiding with processing of specimens (Fig. 1B), and helping with outreach campaigns (Fig. 1C,D). Peru is a remarkable country with spectacular geography, including rainbow-colored mountains that nestle glaciers, a desert that abuts the coastline, and parts of the Amazon jungle. Therefore, when people are not volunteering, there are ample tourist sites to visit (Fig. 1E). Thanks to a generous grant from Hologic, Escalante was subsequently able to visit the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center for 3 weeks (Fig. 1F). During her visit, she benefitted from spending valuable time with many of the cytotechnologists and received continuing education, including ThinPrep screening certification, and she was trained to perform HPV testing on Pap test samples. In conclusion, if you are feeling adventurous and looking to apply your cytology skills toward something meaningful, we strongly recommend that you consider volunteering at CerviCusco in Peru. To volunteer, visit https://www.friendsofcervicusco.org/ or email Friends of CerviCusco at [email protected]. No specific funding was disclosed. Erika P. Escalante reports employment by CerviCusco. Debra Krotish reports nonfinancial support from CerviCusco and personal fees from Friends of CerviCusco outside the submitted work. The other authors made no disclosures.

A pre-Inca pot from underwater ruins discovered in an Andean lake provides a sedimentary record of marked hydrological change

Pre-Hispanic artifacts and sacred architecture were recently discovered submerged in a large lake (Laguna Sibinacocha) in the Peruvian Andes. The underwater ruins indicate a dramatic shift in the region’s hydrology but the timing and triggers of this shift remain unknown. In a novel approach blending archaeology and paleoecology, we analyzed a sediment sequence from within one of the recovered artifacts, specifically a pot from the Late Intermediate Period (~1000–1400 CE). Radioisotopic dating of discrete sediment intervals sampled from the pot show a stratigraphically intact profile that preserves a history of change at this site. The pot’s basal sediment age places the timing of lake-level rise during the late ~1600s CE, which post-dates the end of the Inca Empire (1400–1532 CE) by approximately 150 years. The ubiquity of planktonic algae throughout the sediment profile suggests water levels remained high above the pot since its submergence. Paleoclimate data from the nearby Quelccaya ice core records indicate lake flooding followed a pronounced wet period beginning ~1520 CE. These data show the permanence of mean state changes in climate on the region’s hydrology, with clear implications for the study site (an important water resource for ~500,000 people) and other lakes in the rapidly warming Andes.

Chemical Constituents and Antifungal Activity of Leaf Essential Oil from Oreopanax ecuadorensis Seem. (Pumamaki), Endemic Plant of Ecuador

Background: Oreopanax ecuadorensis Seem. is a plant from Ecuador, that is found in the Andean region of the country. The plant is commonly used in protective rituals, and as an antiflu, analgesic and disinfectant medicine. Aim: The research aims to extract and analyze the chemical composition and evaluation of its antifungal potential of the essential oil extracted from its leaves. Methods: steam distillation was used for the extraction of essential oil, the evaluation of its components was performed by GC/MS, and the antifungal evaluation by the disc diffusion method. Results: The essential oil was obtained with a yield of 0.05%. 33 compounds were detected of which 30 were identified, corresponding to 99.28%; the most abundant molecules were: thujene <α-> (36.63%), followed by bicyclogermacrene with (8.76%), pinene <β-> with (8.32%) and limonene with 5.15%. Three of the four strains evaluated were affected by the oil at concentrations of 1.25%, inhibiting its growth. The strains were: Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Trichophyton rubrum and Microsporum canis. Conclusion: The essential oil shows good antifungal activity, which could be less than 1.25%. In this way, this medicinal plant is valued by verifying ancestral knowledge in the use of medicinal plants by the Andean people of Ecuador.

The making of an imperial agricultural landscape in the Valley of Belén

Abstract

Have You Heard? Newsworthy items from the field

Some Latinx students and parents feel schools are not preparing the students well enough for college. Teachers’ beliefs about learning do not always match the views of cognitive scientists. The National Museum of the American Indian offers new online educational resources about the Pawnee Treaties and the Inka Empire. A survey shows that when educators are struggling to help students, they turn to their colleagues. A new study shows that school segregation is on the rise in counties that have experienced school district successionsecession.

La onomástica de nombres erróneos en la construcción de andinidad fallida y débil andeancia: el imperativo de microrefugios bioculturales en los Andes

Buscamos (re)construir una narrativa geocrítica para la esencia del paisaje al (re)escribir las especificidades de montaña que impriman atributos culturales en los paisajes andinos tropicales y templados, creando un trilema de identidad único para la gente de las tierras altas de América del Sur. Usamos la onomástica como un estudio de la individualidad errada con un enfoque post-estructuralista para definir “lo andino” dentro de la geoecología humanística; por lo tanto, incorporamos nociones relacionadas con los atributos fenotípicos de Andeanidad, junto con las propiedades crípticas emergentes de Andeancia y las condiciones místicas de espiritualidad de Andeanitud, para producir una nueva trifecta de construcción ecoregional, con una epistemología desafiante para el paisaje patrimonial biocultural basado en el conocimiento tradicional, apropiado dialécticamente de lo viejo a lo nuevo, de lo foráneo a lo nativo y de lo original a lo copiado. Por lo tanto, la dinámica identidad heterogénea imaginada de la gente andina está caracterizada por un flujo dinámico y evolutivo del paisaje montano. Argumentamos que la nomenclatura aún se adapta a marcos de cambio ambiental global; así, está aún sujeta a deterioro a no ser que ciertos microrefugios bioculturales puedan mantener la memoria del paisaje andino vivo. Con una revisión de la hermenéutica de Andes, debido a las variantes (c.f. grafiosis) que incorporaron palabras basadas en Kichwa, Kañary o Mapudungun en el léxico hegemónico del expansionismo colonial de los términos castellanos, apelamos a la inclusión de los descriptores vernáculos en vez del santoral romano y la efemérides patriótica utilizada para nombrar los atributos geográficos en la Sudamérica andina. Pedimos restaurar los descriptores vernáculos con el lenguaje usado por los pueblos originarios, su toponimia y onomatopeya, para atraer el reconocimiento político y para vigorizar el orgullo del patrimonio ancestral de las comunidades de montaña para refuerzo de su bienestar en los microrefugios bioculturales. Al cambiar los nombres impuestos por la geografía imperial colonial a las palabras vernáculas u otros locativos no hegemónicos de escolaridad decolonial, se ayudará a obtener un mejor ‘sentido del lugar’ en los Andes e incrementará la posibilidad de (super)vivencia y (re)generación de los paisajes productivos socioecológicos ancestrales andinos.

Maquetas inkaicas en Chiu-Chiu:

Sculpted stone models or maquetas are a distinctive material expression of the inca occupation of the Atacama Desert. In this paper, we characterize a site with stone maquetas located along the Loa River above the town of Chiu-Chiu. Based on its formal attributes, the site can be dated to the Inca period. We consider the site’s internal spatial organization and relationship with the landscape to discuss how the maquetas acted as intermediaries between human and non-human beings in the region as part of agricultural rituality. Finally, we situate the agricultural rituality of the maquetas within the ritual and political dynamics established by the inca state in the Atacama.

Trophy heads reveal the Inca Empire’s reign of terror

Trophy heads reveal the Inca Empire’s reign of terror

Convergencia de lo onírico y lo alegórico en la narrativa de Manuel Scorza

En su obra novelística, el autor peruano Manuel Scorza hace uso de la fantasía y el mito para representar los conflictos entre los campesinos de los Andes peruanos, y los terratenientes, empresas mineras y autoridades. Como uno de sus recursos narrativos, el escritor reviste de características sobrenaturales a sus protagonistas, y abre un espacio onírico en que resulta posible concebir la posibilidad de derrota de los opresores, espacio que es clausurado violentamente por los desenlaces trágicos que culminan en la masacre de los campesinos. Además de inscribirse en un espacio textual onírico, los dones sobrenaturales metaforizan la esperanza de un pueblo, y permiten apreciar la dimensión alegórica de los personajes centrales.

Memoria en conflicto. Los incas en El Calvario de Fuerte Quemado de Yocavil, Noroeste Argentino

This work intends to study the Inca occupation in El Calvario de Fuerte Quemado, an importantlate village (XI-XV century AD) of the Yocavil valley, which, when confused with another nearbysite, had been relegated from regional investigations. On this occasion, based on the planialtimetricsurvey of the settlement, the different sectors with evidence of Inca occupation are analyzed andthe results of the excavations carried out in three circular stone structures, known as “torreones”,are presented. The destruction of a local tomb under a rocky ledge for the construction of one ofthe Inca towers and the redeposition of part of the burial content under its floor are stressed. Weconsider that these data will be relevant to discuss the different interpretations of the relationshipbetween the Inca state and the local populations. The destruction of a significant structure for localhistorical memory by representatives of the Inca state, an event that has been hardly documented inarchaeology, reveals –beyond the negotiation strategies with local elites– the violent character of theimperial conquest.

Quinoa Secondary Metabolites and Their Biological Activities or Functions.

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) was known as the “golden grain” by the native Andean people in South America, and has been a source of valuable food over thousands of years. It can produce a variety of secondary metabolites with broad spectra of bioactivities. At least 193 secondary metabolites from quinoa have been identified in the past 40 years. They mainly include phenolic acids, flavonoids, terpenoids, steroids, and nitrogen-containing compounds. These metabolites exhibit many physiological functions, such as insecticidal, molluscicidal and antimicrobial activities, as well as various kinds of biological activities such as antioxidant, cytotoxic, anti-diabetic and anti-inflammatory properties. This review focuses on our knowledge of the structures, biological activities and functions of quinoa secondary metabolites. Biosynthesis, development and utilization of the secondary metabolites especially from quinoa bran were prospected.

The National Museum of Colombia’s “Francisco Pizarro’s Banner of Arms”: A multianalytical approach to help uncovering its history

The authenticity and provenience of what is known as the Francisco Pizarro’s Banner of Arms, stored at the National Museum of Colombia and related to the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire, has been the object of debate amongst both historians and conservation experts for the last two centuries. In this study, a multi-analytical approach has been adopted to assess if the materials used in the making of the banner were compatible with the historical period assigned by historians. 25 micro samples were collected in different sections of the banner and subjected to microscopic, chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques to characterize the materials. Selected samples were also subjected to radiocarbon dating analysis. Analytical results enabled the identification of silk as the main fabric used in the making of the banner; cochineal, brazilwood and indigo were used as natural dyes while metal threads were utilized for decorative purposes. Paper with animal adhesive was used as the supporting material. The manufacturing technique together with radiocarbon dating data suggest the banner to be an original textile from the 15-16th centuries, possibly made at the time of King Charles I of Spain.

The Concept of Mania in Traditional Andean Culture.

The Concept of Mania in Traditional Andean Culture.

Children of Heaven

Ruling over western South America for nearly 100 years, the Inca Empire was one of many global cultures that practiced human sacrifice, though few other rituals of human sacrifice are as captivating as the Inca child sacrifice of capacocha. Capacocha children were chosen to be representatives of the Inca people in the afterlife. As such, they were afforded an elevated position in society before their death. Following their selection, children would undergo a year-long pilgrimage terminating at a mountain top shrine where they would be killed. As a result of the low temperature and oxygen levels present at such a high elevation, the bodies of capacocha children were protected against decomposition, creating some of the best-preserved natural mummies in the world. These mummies have been the subject of numerous bioarchaeological analyses to determine their age, sex, geographic origin, pathological conditions, diet, and cause of death. Beyond these, however, the mummies present a unique opportunity to study how the capacocha ritual process — including the sudden ascension in status — manifested itself on the children's bodies. This paper aims to review the bioarchaeological data garnered from the mummies in order to reconstruct the experience of a child chosen for capacocha. Results suggest higher variability between children selected for capacocha than was originally outlined by Spanish chroniclers.

El análisis estilístico de la cerámica para evaluar cambios y transformaciones sociales: Un ejemplo de la alfarería tardía local del sector centro-sur de Quebrada de Humahuaca (Jujuy, Argentina)

This article addresses the study of a late pottery (Late and Inca periods) assemblage from the center-south sector of Quebrada de Humahuaca. This analysis provides data concerning human behavior and social practices linked to pottery production, distribution and consumption, both in daily and ritual activities. We present the decorative-morphological repertoire, generated from the analysis of forms and decorations of the local pottery of this period, in order to establish the continuities and changes in ceramics between the Late Period and Inca domination. In order to assess possible local social identities displayed through the ceramic’s materiality and through interaction networks, the Late Period analyzed material from the center-south sector was compared with the ceramic of sites situated along the central and northern sector of Quebrada de Humahuaca. The stylistic analysis undertaken allowed us to establish the characteristics of the pottery used to express and negotiate a particular identity during the Late Period. It also allowed us to trace changes and continuities in form and decoration in local ceramics following the annexation of the area by the Inca Empire.

La navegación oceánica y los caminos andinos, evidencia arqueológica e histórica en la redefinición del rol de los señoríos indígenas ecuatoriales en la conquista del imperio de los incas.

En este ensayo se enfoca la evidencia documental y arqueológica de la comunicación andino-mesoamericana, a través de la navegación oceánica en el Pacifico ecuatorial, que en la conquista española será la principal vía de ingreso al imperio de los incas. De forma complementaria navegación oceánica y las comunicaciones terrestres con el área nuclear del imperio de los incas, nos ayuda a reinterpretar el nivel de organización política de los señoríos prehispánicos, para entender mejor su participación en el entramado de poder del imperio del inca antes y durante la conquista española.

Book Review: The Inka Empire: A Multidisciplinary Approach edited by Izumi Shimada

Izumi Shimada, ed. The Inka Empire: A Multidisciplinary Approach . Austin: University of Texas Press, 2015. Pp. 392. $75.00; ISBN: 978-0-292-76079-0. The Inka Empire or Tawantinsuyu (the Quechua name for the “realm of four parts”) was the largest political system to develop in the New World. Tawantinsuyu extended over 2,000,000 square kilometers and encompassed at least 86 ethnic groups from Argentina and Chile to the current border between Ecuador and Colombia. Intriguingly, the Inka ruled their empire without wheeled technologies, markets, money, or phonetic writing systems. Instead, they kept the records of the empire in a complex system of knotted strings called khipus . For that reason, much of what we know of this interesting polity comes from post-conquest sources. This breathtaking collaborative volume, edited by Izumi Shimada, seeks to offer a holistic vision of the Inka empire, placing different disciplines, methods, sources, and perspectives in dialogue. It includes 19 chapters by 23 authors that consider linguistic and genetic evidence along with material culture and historical documents to study Inka origins, imperial infrastructure, administrative strategies, agricultural technology, accounting, architecture and landscape intervention, and political organization, among other aspects. The volume is divided into five parts, prefaced by a useful introductory chapter by Shimada that lays out the book’s aims and …