Inka Ritual Landscapes in the North Calchaqui Valley, Salta, Argentina

LEIBOWICZ, IVÁN; MOYANO, RICARDO; FERRARI, ALEJANDRO; ACUTO, F.A.

Londres

Simposio; South American Archaeology Seminar; 2017

Institute of Archaeology, University College of London

This work presents the results of research in the North Calchaquí Valley (Salta, Argentina) on the Inka conquest of the region and the construction of an imperial ritual landscape to produce and reproduce the Tawantinsuyu domain.We start from the premise that most of the sites and infrastructure that the Inkas built in this part of the Argentine Northwest, as well as the activities they sponsored and performed, aimed at generating Inka ritual experiences and producing appropriation and control of shrines, ritual spaces, and places or natural features that are significant and sacred of the local landscape.We will present analysis of visibility from the main sites and their platforms or ushnus to the mountain range of Nevado de Cachi, mainly to the snowy mountains and the main local waka, Cerro Meléndez (6020 masl), archeoastronomic analysis, the presence of petroglyphs and the main features of a platform or ceremonial rectangle located at the top of that mountain.Thus seek to note how the shape and architecture of public spaces, ushnus of Inka sites and other structures sought to make contact with specific features of the surrounding landscape, summoning ceremonies with sacred non-human entities inhabiting the animated andean landscape. Where the layout of the platforms, and the location of some petroglyphs, seems to respond to a staging that transcends the site scale to project elements of the surrounding landscape, including other local and Inka villages.