Displays of Violence and Power at the Edge of the Empire: Provincial Trophy Heads during Inca Times

Abstract

The Inca expansion to the southern Andes catalyzed important political and symbolic changes in local communities. In addition to economic changes in mining production and the installation of logistical and administrative infrastructure, new forms of ideological violence emerged in the Copiapó Valley, Chile. One new form was the display and discarding of human heads, a burial pattern unprecedented in the region. In this article, we present evidence of perforated heads buried without grave goods next to a local cemetery in a Late Horizon village. We argue that the performative use of modified severed heads from young individuals at the Iglesia Colorada site was part of Inca ritual practices. Their use represented an effort to ideologically rule over newly incorporated subjects by demonstrating power and ensuring their compliance.

Using oxygen 18 isotope to problematize the presence of resettled laborers in the far provinces of the Inca empire

“…Interestingly, the wider dispersion of δ 18 O values in the Late Horizon happens at Iglesia Colorada, a site located at the upper course of the river, while individuals from the middle course matched better with the expected values for their geographical location. These results make sense considering that Iglesia Colorada is the largest Inca settlement in the valley and is located near to the routes that connect with Argentina [ 23 , 27 ].…”

“…On a broader scale, this study’s findings illuminate some mechanisms that articulated the political economy of the Inca empire, demonstrating the limitations of state power in the provinces to enforce more powerful means of labor reorganization. At the same time, the use of the scarce local labor to intensify mining production might have limited the output of these activities, influencing particular dynamics of coercion and local agency, which contributed to the creation of either more negotiated or violent political relations in the imperial margins [ 12 , 27 ]. More studies in different provincial territories would enable us to better understand how extensive the Inca resettlement policy actually was outside of the imperial core, with all the political and economic consequences that this implies.…”

“…The incorporation of new subjects to the empire was a selective process, where some communities experienced more intervention than others. Furthermore, there is some evidence of the use of mechanisms of ideological violence to ensure compliance and avoid rebellions [ 27 ].…”

Contextos Mortuorios en La Cuenca Del Río Ramadillas (Pre-Cordillera De La Región De Atacama, Chile): Dataciones Y Análisis De Isótopos Estables

“…Las ocupaciones asociadas a esta expansión imperial se han datado por termoluminiscencia en la Cuenca del Río Pulido entre los 1475-1560 DC (Gaete 1999) y, recientemente, en el sitio Iglesia Colorada donde se han reportado dataciones entre 1400 a 1600 años DC (Garrido y Morales 2019). La Cuenca del Río Ramadillas en particular.…”

“…Se destacan los contextos mortuorios del sitio Iglesia Colorada, caracterizados por cámaras circulares con techos de troncos y en cuyo interior se registran esqueletos en posición horizontal asociados a vasijas cerámicas de las culturas Diaguitas y Copiapó (Castillo 1998). En este sitio se destaca el registro de cabezas trofeo vinculadas a prácticas imperiales del Inca en el área (Garrido y Morales 2019).…”