Distant Provinces in the Inka Empire: Toward a Deeper Understanding of Inka Imperialism

Nine - The Socioeconomic and Ideological Transformationof Farf

Editors’ Introduction The kingdom of Chimor was the most complex society that fell to the Inkas. This chapter provides the most detailed information to date about how the Inkas manifested control over this state-level polity. As a welldeveloped society, theory suggests that the Inkas should have exercised hegemoniccontrol,withlittleneedtoconstructfacilitiesfortheirimperial uses. Yet it is evident that the Inkas significantly transformed the local Chimú architecture for their own administrative purposes. In contrast to otherregions,theInkasdidnotimposetheirownadministrativearchitecture at the site, but incorporated elements of the local building traditions. Mackey makes the case that this was a deliberate synthesis of styles, possiblyshowingdeferenceforthelocalelites ,ratherthanapracticaldecision based on materials available. On the other hand, the presence of an usnu reflects Inka ideology imposed on the local community. The evidence from Farfán, the Chimú regional capital for the Jequetepeque Valley, indicates that the Chimú had taken over the earlier Lambayeque polity’s center and put it to their own uses. Mackey’s research Carol Mackey Chapter Nine The Socioeconomic and Ideological Transformation of Farfán under Inka Rule 222 mackey indicates there were at least three levels of administrators present after the Inka conquest, and that some at least represent local elites. Some of theseadministratorsmayhavebeenactualInkasfromoutside,thoughthe evidence is uncertain. It is also clear the Inkas developed new uses for the center, including craft production and expanded storage, supporting ethno­historical references to what this valley provided to the empire. In addition, artifactual and mortuary evidence indicate the incorporation of not only local Chimú elites but also earlier Lambayeque ethnic elites into the local administration, or at least honored them by burials in the Inka regional center. Skeletal evidence, at a preliminary stage, indicates most individuals were from coastal populations, not highland ones. This in turn supports the notion that they are Chimú and Lambayeque elites, incorporated into the local administration. Artifactual data backs thisup.Evidencefromthemostimpressivemortuaryfacilitysuggeststhat aqllawerepresent,althoughmostappearindigenous.Ifthisistrue,thenit mightindicate that local women were used inthiscapacity,notbroughtin fromelsewhere.Anotherpossibilityisthatthesewomenweresimplylocal elites who were sacrificed for state purposes. This chapter indicates how significantly the Inkas modified existing infrastructure for their own purposes. It also gives tantalizing clues into theoriginsofthebureaucratswhoservedinthiscenter.Artifactsandskeletal analyses point to a significant presence of local individuals, especially the male buried in the Huaca Burial Platform.1 This evidence argues for hegemoniccontrol;still,thepossiblepresenceofInkanobilityintheType A residence could indicate direct supervision of the settlement. Introduction Scholars have traditionally assumed that the Inka Empire had little impact on Peru’s North Coast. Nevertheless, recent field investigations (e.g., Hayashida 1995; Heyerdahl et al. 1995; Mackey 2003) are revealing that Inka influence was, in fact, more pervasive than previously assumed. The traditional concept of weak Inka authority reflects, in part, insufficient archaeological investigation of Late period North Coast sites, coupled with a scant knowledge of the hallmarks of North Coast Inka architecture . Earlier investigations of Inka occupations in the upper reaches of the Virú Valley (Collier 1955) or at Chiquitoy Viejo in the Chicama Valley Transformation of Farfán under Inka Rule 223 (Conrad 1977) were largely ignored since the architectural and artifactual remains appeared so similar to earlier Chimú traditions. In addition, the archaeological model assumed—based on what is known of the Inka occupation of the South Coast—that the Inkas built a state infrastructure and established direct control in areas that had previously lacked this type of political organization (e.g., Menzel 1959). Following this line of reasoning, it was assumed that since the highly centralized Chimú state controlledtheNorthCoastpriortotheInkaconquestandhadestablished an infrastructure, it seemed unlikely that the Inkas would impose direct rule. Finally, there is little ethnohistorical data on the impact of Inka rule on the North Coast. Although the sources touch on the conquest of the ChimúcapitalandtheensuingresistancetotheInkaadvance(Hayashida 1995; Netherly 1977; Ramirez 1996; Rowe 1948), little was said about Inka administration or political strategy. This chapter presents the conclusions of our research on the Inka occupation of Farfán in the Jequetepeque Valley (figures 9.1A and B). The data were collected during six seasons of fieldwork from 1999 to 2004. At the onset, the project focused on the governing strategy of the Chimú rather than on that of the Inkas, since Farfán was believed to have functionedsolelyasaChim úregionalcapital.Theresultsofourinvestigations contradicted the long-held notion of a single occupation at Farfán by the Chimú, and also established that they arrived in the Jequetepeque Valley 100 years later than the traditional date of A.D. 1200. In addition, our excavations revealed that the...