INVESTIGADORES
NIELSEN Axel Emil
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Chullpas and their Role in the Inca Conquest of the Southern Andes
Autor/es:
AXEL E. NIELSEN
Lugar:
Pique
Reunión:
Taller; Taller "Repensando el Tawantinsuyu"; 2016
Institución organizadora:
Dumbarton Oaks Research Library & Collection
Resumen:
The term chullpa is commonly associated in the archaeological literature with towers used mainly for burial, built throughout the Andean highlands between the 13th and 16th century. Sometimes the term is also applied to funerary chambers placed inside caves which resemble towers in their form and construction techniques. Currently, most archaeologists agree on relating chullpas to ancestor veneration and to the legitimation of authority and territorial rights. Research in the Southern Andes, however, has demonstrated that, in some regions at least, chullpas served not only as sepulchers but also as silos and altars, raising doubts about their social roles and the ways in which they fulfilled them in practice. In this paper I follow the idea that chullpas were not objects but powerful non-human persons (wak?as), capable of ?doing? different things according to the circumstances. Building on this ?symmetrical? premise, I discuss the identity of chullpas and the ways in which they participated in the conquest and domination of the Lípez region (Southern Altiplano).