Political Power and Social stratification in the Calchaqui valley (Northwest Argentina)

WILLIAMS, VERÓNICA I.

Lieja

Congreso; XIVe Congres de l'Union Internationale des Sciences Prehistoriques et Protohistoriques; 2001

Universite de Liege

n this paper, we will discuss to what extent economic and ideological systems fostered inequality among indigenous inhabitants of the Calchaqui valley, located on the eastern slopes of the Andes in northwest Argentina, during the Regional Developments Period, conventionally dated to AD 1,000- AD 1,430. A brief review of settlement organization, public architecture , and agricultural intensification from archaeological perspective will help to sketch  the nature of the societies that occupied the region before the advent of Inca rule. The empirical body of data shows that in ca. 1,300 there was a societal organization that probably resulted from conflict over resources, social competition, political maneuvers or other causes to be determined. It seems clear, in any case, that major cities from Humahuaca, Santa Maria, and Calchaqui valleys in Northwest Argentina were in a dynamic phase during a century or two before the Inca domination (ca. AD 1,430- AD. 1,536).