Katy Shoemaker Take-Home Exam 10-8-2012

In the Inca Empire, who you were and where you were from was what life was about. Your ancestors and kin groups determined your future in the Inca state and what was to come of life in general. Inca rulers were known to own large amounts of wealth, property and material goods as well as the prestige that all those items brought them. The concept of a panaqa was very important in this culture. The term panaqa is referring to the king group that was formed by the Sapa Inca upon his death. In all, this term of panaqa (also known as the ayllu) was a corporate social group of kinds that included the Inca Rulers decent group who derived their overall support from the panaqas holdings. The panaqa was seen as the group who controlled the deceased ruler or the mummys holdings. This form of holding was known as split inheritance. In short, as Conrad explains it, split inheritance is one principal heir receives the state office, along with the attendant rights and duties, of a deceased functionary (Conrad, 9). Panaqas were the essence of split inheritance. They inherited the political functions of the mummy as in their authority but, they did not inherit any of the deceased property. The property was still in possession of that mummy as well as the wealth that the ruler consumed in their lifetime. Panaqas were seen to have to gain their own wealth and property as far as making connections as your own ruler goes. The estates of the mummy were used to maintain the mummy himself and his kin group and his panaqa was in charge of seeing that this happened. The mummys property became known as state-owned lands (Conrad, 9). Split inheritance has been seen as a defining trait of Inca society. There is much evidence and support for this defining trait. The Incas however are not the only culture that practiced this custom. Conrad argues that the Chimu Empire also practiced split inheritance in many similar ways to the Inca. The consequences of split inheritance between the two cultures and the final outcome of them are similar as well. In the Chimu Empire, their form of split inheritance is the

Katy Shoemaker Take-Home Exam 10-8-2012

interpretation of mortuary structures associated with the compounds of Chan Chans Civic Center. These mortuaries have a shared characteristic of a burial platform. These burial platforms were elevated structures that were designed and built to house the dead and their funerary offerings and were characterized by multiple internal cells facing the directions of north to south (Conrad, 10). The strange aspects of these funeral cells were that none of them were permanently sealed and seemed to have housed the royal deceased members of the empire. Within the cells lied offerings per say such as pottery, textiles, food and even the Spondylus shell. The aspect of the funeral cells is very similar to the mummification of the Inca rulers. This could be the first aspect in support of Conrads theory that the Inca were not the only society that practiced split inheritance. It seems as though the Chimu could have participated in ancestor worship being that the cells were not permanently sealed indicating that they could have used their ancestors in some type of worship during ritualistic ceremonies. The burial platforms of Chimu suggest from archaeological evidence that the deceased found in the cells were those of extremely high status citizens in the empire (Conrad, 14). The data suggests that the cells were meant to act as individual mausoleums for the dead and were built to only honor one person. Another extremely similar trait to the ancestor worship of the Inca was that the Chimu incrementally replaced the food and drink that was laid to rest with the deceased. The Inca were known to so call feed their mummy ancestors at ceremonies and holidays where appropriate. In Conrads argument, these burial platforms were seen to represent the higher status treatment of the deceased in very similar ways to the Inca. Moving onto the idea and concept of split inheritance, it is known that the Inca kin groups of the royal elites carried on their name of the deceased as well as held property in trust for them. Conrad argues that because of the fact that the palaces and burial platforms of the Chan

Katy Shoemaker Take-Home Exam 10-8-2012

Chan were constantly stocked up with prestigious and significant amounts of goods that the Kings of Chimor did not in fact actually inherit the property of those before them (Conrad, 16). This though does not indicate that the cults of the Chimor rulers were not maintained after their death because in fact they were. This goes back to the detail that there was no actual evidence for the sealing of the burial platform cells. This may indicate that similar panaqa like social groups did maintain the burial platforms of the deceased rulers. Because of the fact that the Inca culture did practice this type of split inheritance, Conrad does conclude that after the death of the King of Chimor, he was placed in his burial platform and his palace was passed in a group of social kin which contained his direct secondary heirs. Thus, the Inca were not the only group practicing this social ritual. Split inheritance might have been one of the single most important social factors in Inca society. This concept began with the ruler Pachakuti who ultimately wanted to ensure that his cult be maintained in style by those who were to worship him in the form of ancestor worship (Conrad, 17). This is a very logical but selfish decision. It makes total sense for a ruler to want to be remembered and even worshiped among his people but it is also selfish to think that way but in Inca society this was tradition and it all began with Pachakuti. Pachakuti ascended the throne while the Chimu Empire was the largest and most wealthy estate in all of the land. It was known that split inheritance was the characteristic feature of this empire and Conrad wonders if this might be where Pachakuti gained his ideas and insights about split inheritance from (Conrad, 17). No one though will ever know the answer to that pondering but it may have been the Inca so called stealing ideas from the Chimu Empire. Pachakuti was a very smart leader in the essence of split inheritance because it ultimately increased the material need of a leader. Once a leader died, it left their panaqa very politically

Katy Shoemaker Take-Home Exam 10-8-2012

rich but materialistically poor. It forced the new leader to find his own possessions in order to assure his own manner as a leader and to strengthen the maintenance of his own cult post death (Conrad, 18). This is so important in Inca culture because the ruler needs to form some type of labor taxation system in order to gain property. The panaqa needs to find a new labor pool to care for the land creating labor reciprocity. Split inheritance moves forward as the sole reason for imperial expansion and reclamation projects because the king needs to obtain wealth by imposing a larger labor tax on the people thus needing more land to support the people in turn he gains more land (Conrad, 18). It is all about getting more land in the rulers name so that when he passes he has state owned property. Panaqas played a crucial role in enhancing the Inca state because essentially justified all of their actions as to be claiming to do the work of their ancestor. This gave them great power as it should. Thus the panaqas were entrusted to make decisions on their ancestors behalf for the so called good of the empire. This created status and wealth with in the empire for kin groups. The downside to being a panaqa was that all land owned by the mummy was entitled to stay with that mummy. This could create a type of economic stress on the empire being that most of the good land was owned by the dead. Much labor was also lost to the state because of this reason. When more rulers died and more panaqas were gaining inheritance, more laborers were needed to care for the land of the deceased (Conrad, 20). The land still needed to be cared for so more labor was lost to the royal state. This created continual drawbacks with such massive amounts of expansion by the panaqas. In closing, Conrads final argument in this article was that the major long term consequence of split inheritance was the reason that in the end the internal economic and administrative affects that the split inheritance had on both the Chimu and the Inca empires led to

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their ultimate demise. First it was the Inca that conquered the Chimu and this could have been because they were vulnerable because of the consequences of split inheritance. This could have been another similar reason for the Spanish conquest of the Inca. Furthermore, the aspects of split inheritance made the Inca Empire what it came to be known as. Without split inheritance the Inca culture would be incomplete. This aspect of their lives played such a huge role and made the empire what it was known as.

Katy Shoemaker Take-Home Exam 10-8-2012

The concept and practice of mita in Inca culture played a significant role in the organization of their state and society. Mita, in essence, was the use of mandatory public service performed by the Inca peoples to benefit their society and royals as a whole. This mita service was an annual draft of the males in the society that were able to perform labor intensive tasks (Inca Model of Statecraft, 72). The tasks performed during mita could range anywhere from working on construction projects to being a part of the military campaign. The lengths of the actual service varied. There were two forms per say of mita. The first was mita performed for the kuraka, the head of the dominant allyu, and the second was mita performed for the state level. The work that was performed for their kuraka was usually tilling fields assigned to that local leader. Mita service such as this was also given to those who were able-bodied or sick as well. This was very important because the crops grown and tilled in the kurakas field usually was given back in return for the service provided. The workers doing the mita service for their kuraka were taken care of in return for their service. The kuraka would usually provide them with chicha while they worked as well as providing them with food and feasts at the completion of work (Morris, 58). This form of reciprocity was a way that the Inca Empire sustained its agriculture and its peoples during the Inca Empire and even before the Incas had arrived. The second form of mita was at the state level. The rulers at the state level managed the empires economy by imposing a system of labor taxes and gifts that reflected the local traditions of that culture. This in essence was a tribute in labor rather than goods that supported the royal empire. The form of labor that was performed during mita to the state varies. Some service was done on agricultural land again while others spun and wove textiles for the Inca (Morris, 58). Once again the laborers were taken care of for the work that they have done for the society. They

Katy Shoemaker Take-Home Exam 10-8-2012

were given food and drink such as chicha. In addition to food and drink, they were clothed in clothes from their region during the time the work was being performed. Another grouping of the mita service was an aspect of Inca life called mitmag. This was a group of entire communities that relocated to new areas to perform their service (Morris, 60). One great example of this is the royal Inca would transfer very experienced maize farmers to new valleys in order to increase the production maize. The peoples of mitmag usually cultivated their own land to provide staples for themselves rather than being given them by the state (Morris, 60). The Inca also used mitmag to move to places of more rebellious peoples to make that area more loyal. This was a form of role models for the peoples. This understanding of how mita works has helped archaeologists form their understanding of the site Hunuco Pampa. This site was home to a huge plaza called an ushnu which may have acted as a ceremonial platform. It was also home to kallankas which were house like structures in which evidence of cooking, eating and drinking were found (Morris, 160). It seems as though the Inca designed Hunuco Pampa to be a place where social, political and economic growth and change were facilitated. It was not necessarily built to house an actual society so it appears to archaeologists as being an artificial place of sorts. This site does show that labor service was expanded to fulfill an urban scale. Evidence of chicha brewing and storing was found here but in massive terms. The plaza consisted very finely built gateways with carvings of puma etched into the stone as well as buildings that were created with a purpose for the public not private (Morris, 160). This just goes to show that this was a place that the Inca peoples came to fulfill mita service and to participate in large ceremonial services as well.

Katy Shoemaker Take-Home Exam 10-8-2012

Another piece of evidence linking mita and even mitmag to Hunuco Pampa was the fifty buildings bordering the outside of the site. Spinning and weaving implements as well as chicha brewing jars were found on the site. This could have been the residence of the chosen women who brewed the chicha and created the very important textiles that were used in the political alliances of the society. This also proves that mita was performed especially at Hunuco Pampa.

Katy Shoemaker Take-Home Exam 10-8-2012

The Inca, for archaeologists, are a very difficult culture to accurately describe and even study because of the fact that they were conquered by the Spanish. Most of the accounts of the Inca state are seen as taken from the face value of things because they are interpreted from a modern standpoint. This is why it is difficult for everything found about the Inca is difficult to completely take for truth because most of what is found is taken from after the Spanish conquest. The term Inca was actually the term that the Spanish used to refer to the people, their culture and their land. The Inca however, did not actually call themselves the Inca. This term was derived from the Sapa Inca which meant the great lord of ruler in which the Inca called their leader. What anthropologists do know is that Quecha was the dominate language of that area. Even though Quecha was the language spoken, the Inca did not have an actual written account. Rather, they used an item formally known as a Quipu/Khipu. This was a system of knotted strings used as a recording device. The Quipu was not created in Inca culture, it was found in former cultures of that area. Sadly, there is no key to the Quipu so we have no formal account of Inca culture; it is hidden in the knotted record. This makes decoding and understanding Inca culture from the actual standpoint of the Inca very difficult. Archaeologists do have a few sources of information regarding this culture. The Spanish often destroyed archaeological remains in order to use them for their own need. There are many ethnohistorical documents though that does attempt to create the link between the Spaniards and the Inca peoples. A man by the name of Pedro Cieza de Leon went to Pene and reported what he saw happening at the time. He also attempted to interact with the native people as much as possible in order to create connections with what he saw happening. Another man by the name of Bernabe Cobo also wrote about what he saw during the 1660s. Both of these accounts though

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are very biased being that they were a part of the Spanish conquest. Because of this fact, archaeologists have to be very skeptical of what is taken of truth from those documents. The Spanish did allow native rulers to maintain their status among their people. This meant there was some type of education happening between the native people and the Spanish. An account was written by Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala who was a son of an Inca noble woman and a Spanish conquistador. His account was one that complained of the cruel treatment of the Inca by the Spanish and this was written to the Spanish kings to try and better explain what was actually happening to the native people. His account was very valuable because it helps archaeologists see some truth to what the Spanish were actually doing to the Inca Empire. Another account was written by Garcilaso de la Vega El Inca. He was an Inca royal who wrote royal commentaries describing the world his ancestors lived in before the Spanish conquered. Both of these accounts can be considered less biased because they were written through the eyes of the battered. Both of these books help archaeologists get a handle on what life was like before the Spanish came. Other ways that archaeologists can for sure know that what they are studying is true is through actual artifacts found on the sites of the Inca. This is very difficult too though because it seems as though the Spanish destroyed most items and architecture that symbolized the Inca society. Court records found also help to interpret the Inca state and political aspects. Through physical items, court records and first and second hand accounts archaeologists can try and piece together Inca culture.

Katy Shoemaker Take-Home Exam 10-8-2012

The concept of Tinku in the Quechua term refers to the joining of two to become one. It is viewed in many forms. It is seen in the city of Cuzco as in the two small rivers the Saphy and the Tullumayo rivers flow together at the end of the pumas tail to form the Huatanay River essentially forming a tinku. Essentially a tinku is where two opposing complementary forces come together to make something new and in Cuzcos case, the Huatanay river. It can also been seen as the convergence to make a new life or power arise. Tinku is also seen in the form of social fission in which rituals of unity were performed to show the best form of tinku or convergence. The focus of these rituals has been uniting the dual divisions of society. These representations of tinku have often been seen in releasing tensions through competition or actual bloody battles between people. This form of combative tinku is performed in which there are an equal number of people from each social division or moieties. These people may combat in hand to hand fighting or even use weapons; it varies from time to place. During these tinku battles per say great amounts of chicha is consumed. There is much food and drink to go around and people toast to different things during these ceremonies. This is also a form of ritual intoxication. This had a lot to do with the royal people of the Inca during these ritualistic battles. Tinku had much say in how the allyus were organized. Tinku groups would perform these battles to determine how political alliances were formed and even down to how the living quarters of that land were laid out. When blood was shed at these battles, it was an offering to Pachamama. If someone died during these battles (this was not the goal but sometimes it happened) the peoples viewed it as a sacrifice of the tinku to Pachamama as well. The tinku battles served as a way for the people to become more bonded to mother earth through their

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blood sacrifices. It was not intended to be an actual physical battle of person to person. It was actually said that the people would hug each other after the battle was completely finished. In essence, tinku was a way for the Inca people to be more bonded with their earth mother and to push together two opposing forces to create new life and in their case new political alliances and to strengthen the upper and lower allyus.

Katy Shoemaker Take-Home Exam 10-8-2012

The mummy bundles found at the site Puruchuco Huaquerones were known to be one of the most remarkably preserved of most mummy sites. This was one of the largest known sites for mummy bundles in Inca history. Most of the mummies contained false heads. The Inca put these false heads made out of fabric on the mummies to make their heads appear real. Many aspects were attributed to make the mummies so well preserved. Typically the Inca wrapped their nobles in finished cloth. They were very tightly bound so that the body stayed well preserved. The Inca used their mummies in everyday life and rituals so the mummies needed to stay intact. At the site of Puruchuco Huaquerones one mummy that was nicknamed the cotton king is used as a great representation for the remarkable state of preservation that the Inca had for their deceased. This mummy was wrapped in 300 pounds of cotton. He was found in a flexed position. The Inca typically posed their mummies so that they were easier to carry around from place to place. This flexed position was seen as the mummies having their arms and legs tucked in. This also prevented any limbs from breaking off as well. However, after the Spanish conquest, the bodies were extended to show the form of Christianity in burial. The mummies were typically found with possessions of their life and traditions buried along with them. The cotton king for instance was found with food offerings and even a child. The fabrics that the mummies were found wrapped in were secured with tupu pins which helped to aid in the great preservation. The cotton king was also found with combs and tweezers to clean parasites out of the hair. In essence the mummies were very well cared for by their descendants and that is why they were so remarkably preserved for the afterlife.

Katy Shoemaker Take-Home Exam 10-8-2012

Works Cited Conrad, Geoffrey W. "Cultural Materialism, Split Inheritance, and the Expansion of Ancient Peruvian Empires." American Antiquity 46.1 (1981): 3-26. JSTOR. Web. Morris, Craig, and Adriana Von Hagen. The Incas. London: Thames and Hudson, 2011. Print.