Re-thinking Social and Chronological Palimpsest. Inka Domination in Quebrada de Humahuaca (Jujuy, Argentina)

GRECO, CATRIEL. M; CREMONTE, MARÍA BEATRIZ; OTERO, CLARISA

Orlando, Florida

Congreso; 81st Annual Meeting. Society for American Archaeology; 2016

In recent years, the scenario of Inka conquest in the Quebrada de Humahuaca includes different social landscapes that can?t be explained by traditional positions. These new perspectives have been improved by contributions from other regions of northwestern Argentina and Collasuyu. In the case of Quebrada de Humahuaca, a region with a lack in early historical sources, the archaeological visibility of processes of social dynamics and handcraft production requires constant methodological challenges. From this perspective, we believe that in the mosaic of the Inka state policies implemented in the provinces, it is necessary to outline macro-regional common paths, as well as taking into consideration different stages in the annexation process. Over a palimpsest of local and relocated ethnic groups, of which little is known of their previous political organization, the agency of each group against imperial requirements had to be very diverse. During a period extending from the first half of the fifteenth century until the seventeenth century, with continuations in the patterns of domination even when the empire was gone, we seek to understand the complex local histories breaking down this chronological continuum.