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Evidence for Long-Distance Transportation of Building Stones in the Inka Empire, from Cuzco, Peru to Saraguro, Ecuador

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Dennis E. Ogburn
Dennis E. Ogburn*
Affiliation:
Archaeological Research Facility, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-1076
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Abstract

Ethnohistorical and archaeological data suggest that a collection of more than 450 finely worked Inka building stones found near Saraguro in the southern highlands of Ecuador originated outside that region. The origin of those andesite blocks was investigated via geochemical analysis. Wavelength-dispersive X-ray fluorescence determined the concentrations of nine elements in samples from stones in the Saraguro region and in samples from known Inka andesite quarries at Cojitambo in the southern sierra of Ecuador, and at the Rumiqolqa and Huaccoto quarries near the Inka capital of Cuzco in Peru. The results show that the geochemical composition of the Saraguro stones closely matches that of the Rumiqolqa material, indicating that the Inka had these large andesite blocks moved over a distance of more than 1,600 km, the greatest known distance for the transport of large objects in the precolumbian New World. This endeavor had many implications, including reinforcing state power and ideology, and is also perceived to reflect an imperial “made-work” policy that consumed excess labor through non-utilitarian assignments. These “made-work” projects are best explained as a strategy for reinforcing state control over subject provinces, in contrast to current models of Inka economic organization that focus on efficiency in the use of labor.

Existen más que 450 piedras labradas en el estilo fino inka en la zona de Saraguro de la sierra sur del Ecuador. Evidencia etnohistórica e arqueológica sugiere que estas piedras no sean de origen local. La florescencia del rayo-x fue utilizado para analizar muestras de las piedras de Saraguro y muestras de andesita de las canteras incaicas de Cojitambo en el Ecuador, y de Rumiqolqa y Huaccoto en el Perú. Nueve elementos fueron medidos para acertar la composición química, indicando que la cantera de Rumiqolqa, cerca del Cuzco, fue la fuente de las piedras utilizadas en Saraguro a una distancia de más que 1,600 km. Esta distancia es la más grande conocida para el transporte de objetos tan grandes en el Nuevo Mundo precolombino. Parece que esta empresa fue un ejemplo de una estrategia imperial de mandar cumplir tareas “creadas” o innecesarias, utilizada por los Inkas para ocupar el excedente de mano de obra. Estas tareas se explican como estrategia para reforzar el control del estado sobre los habitantes de las provincias sometidas. También esta estrategia contrasta con modelos prédominantes de la organización económica incaica que acentúan la eficiencia en el uso de la fuerza de trabajo.

Type
Reports
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 15 , Issue 4 , December 2004 , pp. 419 - 439
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 by the Society for American Archaeology.

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