JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.The acquisition and use of exotic, valuable, and ritually important elite goods is a prominent feature of many imperial political economies. After an extensive review of the archaeological and documentary sources on one specific valuable in the empire of Chimor, this paper analyzes the visual representation of such goods, an aspect seldom addressed by archaeologists. An architectural relief recently excavated at Chan Chan, the capital of Chimor, sheds new light on the use of exotic materials and long-distance trade and exchange along the Pacific coast of South America in the late Prehispanic period. This relief, named "Los Buceadores " (The Divers) for the principal imagery depicting Spondylus divers, is important for elucidating the role of this valuable in the early development of the Chimu' empire. It is argued that the Chimu' rulers sponsored a long-distance exchange network during an early stage of the expansion of the Chimu' polity and that the fruits of this network, particularly Spondylus, formed a critical element in the formation and maintenance of the ritual and economic basis of power for the expanding state.Uno rasgo importante de muchas economfas politicas imperiales es la adquisicio'n y uso de bienes exoticos de gran valor e importancia ritual para las e'lites. Despue's de resenar los datos arqueologicos y las fuentes documentales que hay sobre uno de estos bienes en el imperio de Chimor, este trabajo analiza su representacion visual, un procedimiento poco abordado por los arqueologos. Un relieve arquitectonico en barro recientemente descubierto en Chan Chan, la capital Chimu', provee nuevas perspectivas sobre el uso de bienes exoticos y sobre el comercio e intercambio a larga distancia durante el periodo Prehispa'nico tardio en el litoral Paeffico de Sudame'rica. El relieve, llamado "Los Buceadores" por el tema principal que representa buscadores de Spondylus, es de gran relevancia para dilucidar el papel que esta concha desempeno en el desarrollo temprano del imperio de Chimor. Se propone aquf que los gobernantes Chimu' financiaban una red de intercambio a la rga distancia du rante un estadfo temprano de la expansion del imperio, y que los beneficios de esa red comercial, y pa rticularmente de la concha Spondylus, constituyeron un elemento de suma importancia en la formacion y mantenimiento de las bases economicas y rituales del poder sobre el que se sustentaba la expansion del estado.
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