ARKEO1200 Prelim 2

• Daub: clay before its shaped
• Base, Body, Collar, Lip, Rim, Neck
• Surface treatments:
• Burnishing: Polishing with a flat object before firing
• Cord Marking: Marked with threads
• Fabric Marking: Marked with textiles
• Glaze: Adding a shiny substance to the surface
• Incised Decoration: Carved designs
• Slip: Adding water to the clay surface
• Smoothing: smooth
• Material:
• Obsidian: a naturally occurring volcanic glass
• Chert: is a fine-grained, sedimentary rock composed of crystals of quartz (silica)

• The isotopic composition of human bones and the collagen on them can be used to determine the diet which can indicate cultural traditions, geographical region, and ecological habitat since people with similar backgrounds share similar diets.
• Different plants go through slightly differing photosynthesis pathways (C4 or C3) resulting in a bias for different carbon isotopes. (C4 pathway is predominantly present in corn.) For example, individuals from the coast or the highlands.
• Lack of difference in amount of maize consumption between men and women counters the argument of the emphasis on public ritual (done by men) leading to higher chicha consumption by men than women.

• Bingham, who is not a trained archaeologist, employed a more antiquarian collecting based approach in his Machu Picchu excavation.
• His carefully collected and recorded “significant materials” were later analyzed with modern scientific techniques which Burger uses to analyze in a post-processual manner, focusing on ritual and social aspects of life in Machu Picchu rather than directly focusing on material remains.

• The Inca were originally thought to come from a single small ethnic group. Although it’s true that Inca rulers drew upon a small ethnic group for imperial leadership, evidence shows that the retainers were drawn from a wide range of ethnic groups.
• Cranium deformities as a result of head binding practices allowed for the tracing of various source populations.
• Analysis of the chemical composition of bone allowed for the identification of various source populations.
• The stylistic analysis of ceramics that accompanied the dead pointed towards most of the individuals at the site coming from outside of Cuzco.
• A significant shift from a homogenous view to a heterogenous view occurred as a result.

• In early work, the “beauty and mystery” of Machu Picchu overshadowed the investigation of basic questions regarding its construction and the technological knowledge behind its maintenance.
• Contemporary technical studies of engineering are done by drawing upon modern knowledge of engineering.
• Hydraulic System: water from the perennial spring was carried to the royal palace with a stone-tiled canal. This required the calculation of the appropriate gradient
• Terracing system: Layers of different materials were used for cultivation.
• Subsurface construction: Placement of thick layer for the support of elaborate architecture.

• Bingham found 30 obsidian pebbles near the main gateway. As no volcanic activity was present nearby, he hypothesized that their source was extraterrestrial. Neutron activation and x-ray fluorescence trace element composition of the obsidian artifacts linked them to their source (not extraterrestrial, 250 miles away). The pebbles were not modified or used in tools, indicating that they were a ritual cache or offering.
• Bingham had inferred the worship of the sun from the architecture but the exact techniques and observations done to infer this are not known. Field collaboration between astronomers, astrophysicists and archaeologists allowed for the use of computing tools and surveying devices in order to assess the significance of celestial occurrences in the orientation and structure of buildings. June + December solstices played an especially important role in the religious calendar of Inca royalty, which was supported by Spanish chronicles, as well.

• Bingham hypothesized that the daily lives of the local people focused more so around the royal family and their needs.
• The focus of later research shifted towards secondary activities such as:
• Metallurgy: Lab analysis showed metal in tools (pointing towards experimentation and observation). Waste materials (metal stock, spilled metal, work in progress) occurred on the site.
• Hunting: was an important activity for Inca royalty, confirmed by faunal remains. Inca retainers were also allowed to consume the wild game
• Textile production: as attested by the presence of spindle whorls for spinning and bone tools for weaving.
• Production of stone objects: as documented by unfinished stone carvings.
• These activities increased in frequency during the months when the royal family was not visiting the site.

• Located on a ridge above the Río Urubamba river, downstream from the part of the valley near Cuzco, was one of the easternmost Inka sites. It is substantially lower in elevation than Cuzco (as opposed to the notion that it’s a very high elevated site) and is located near the transition to the more tropical montaña, the eastern slope of the Andes descending toward the Amazonian lowlands.
• Established by Pachacutek as a royal estate, was probably intended to secure access to coca leaves and other tropical products that could not be produced in the Cuzco region due to different ecological conditions.
• The site could be in the highly vertical zone in order to be “impressive” or for defense purposes - but likely not purely due to agriculture, as similar ecological conditions are present in the lower basin.
• No more than 750 people lived at Machu Picchu at any given time.
• Pachacutec is said to have wanted to be buried there (inferred from the name of Machu Picchu being Patallacta), but no such burial has been discovered.
• What are the common features of Inka royal estates?
• Kallanka: very large buildings built using finely carved and smoothed granite blocks used for feasting and ceremonies. In front of the Kallanka are very many broken pieces of beaker shaped corn beer (chicha) drinking vessels.
• Water channels: for drinking water or ritual water, emptying into fountains and pools. The Inka integrated the natural landscape into their design. Pretty clear aesthetic motives, but also an indication of the engineering capabilities of the Inka.
• 60% of the construction labor in Machu Picchu was the building of terraces, cleaning up of natural caves etc. which are stuff you can’t really see.
• Alignment of architecture to astronomical events was present. The June solstice was especially important for the Inka.

• The invaders were interested in valuable metals and treasures, which weren’t present in Machu Picchu, as Machu Picchu was not a place where valuable things were kept, but where valuable things were collected and sent to central locations such as Cuzco. There has only been one discovery of gold in Machu Picchu in the form of a gold bracelet.
• The abruptness of the road and the little economic value Machu Picchu presented deterred Spanish invaders.

• Roadways (Qhapac nan): Inca roads were built with the principal purpose of linking imperial installations and local populations. Inca roads provided a continuous link throughout the empire, indicating a polity-wide priority on the facilitation of the movement of soldiers, staple and wealth goods, and information in and out of provincial regions.
• Imperial enclaves: Established in important local cities and towns where the Incas governed through existing political and religious hierarchies. These are consistent with the policy of indirect rule whereby Inca representatives oversaw a limited suite of state interests while local elites continued to manage the existing political economy.
• Secondary facilities: Sites that demonstrate planning and construction under imperial supervision, but at a more modest scale than that of administrative centers. Secondary facilities were built to perform economic and administrative functions, to serve as residences of labor colonists from other parts of the empire, to facilitate local religious integration, and to provide strategic military protection
• Production enclaves / state farms: Found in areas where local populations had not intensified agricultural production. Represents evidence for intense economic reconfiguration of conquered areas.
• Storage facilities: Identifiable element in administrative centers and production enclaves.
• Fortifications: Variability in concentration of fortifications along the empire suggests that defense or an ongoing military presence was an important element in continuing attempts to extend Inca territory. Forts in some regions could facilitate the integration of local populations by protecting Inca subjects living within the frontier or be useful for the deterrence of raiding by autonomous local groups.

• Impressions of Andean societies recorded by invading Spaniards and commentaries produced by native survivors are important tools for understanding the Andean cultural tradition.
• They are particularly important for reconstructing Inka history and social organization and the economic structure of the empire.
• The degree to which legendary histories written after the invasion are metaphorical is debated, but a synthetic version of the history of the last Inca rulers recorded in the documents is widely used as the basis for the chronology of the imperial period.
• For the first 350 years, the field of Inka studies relied exclusively on historical documents produced by the conquistadors in the first century following the conquest.
• Max Uhle was the first to advocate for the collection of archaeological data to clarify the relationship between the Inca and earlier Andean civilizations + negate the inconsistencies (focus more on elite), biases and fragmentation of Colonial documentation.
• Colonial records must be substantiated and completed by the archaeological record to provide a less biased and more consistent account of Inca history and culture.

• The research design employed at Virginia city was shaped by historical documents. Several literature reviews were done to collect information on the existing sights while being aware of the fact that these documents were mostly biased with racial implications.
• A public release was issued to ask for information regarding Virginia City
• Several local African-American groups were consulted for the excavation research design

The great fire of 1875 created a layer of ash in the stratigraphic layers in the Boston Saloon excavation. This served as an absolute time marker that helped distinguish which events happened when.

• Yes
• With historical archaeology, historical record which only compels us to look at a distinct population of a more diverse western town can be further analyzed
• Archaeological excavations revealed many important aspects of each saloon such as what clientele they served to and what food, drink, services they provided. These combined with historical documents paint a more intricate picture of western boomtowns.

• Newspaper articles, maps, photographs, diaries, business directories, tax, property and census records.
• Many newspaper articles and tax, property records referred to a specific Saloon (Boston) as a popular destination for the colored folk
• As historical documents did not thoroughly record African-Americans, it was still able to point the research in the right direction
• Oral history was also consulted to find traces of the social aspects of the saloons via a nationwide press release

• Piper’s Old Corner Bar
• Owned by German John Piper, owner of the opera house
• Served mainly Europeans
• Historically well documented
• Water filter
• Stoneware, german mineral water
• Boston Saloon
• Owned by African-American William A. G. Brown
• Primarily served clients with African backgrounds
• Served the best quality meat
• Elaborate glassware (plates etc.) indicative of highest emphasis on food.
• O’Brien and Costello’s Saloon and Shooting Gallery
• Irish owners, Irish customer base
• Shell casings
• Hibernia Brewery
• Irish, probably
• Served craft beers through a deal with the brewery
• Lowest on the economic scale

• The evidence in L’Anse aux Meadows is significantly more substantial, as a large set of foreign objects are found on the site, which amounts to the extensive evidence required to conclude the presence of people.
• Additionally, the Viking exploration and settlement in North America is accounted for in the oral mythology of the Vikings in the Vinland Saga, whereas no such evidence is present in other cases of transoceanic contact. Due to the significance of such a contact, you would expect such an occurrence to make its way into the oral history of the societies involved.
• What are the implications of James Deetz’s analysis of gravestones for archaeological dating methods?

Coin of Antonius: symbol of homosexuality

• In 1528, Pizarro’s expedition crew captured a raft of treasure off the coast of Peru, allowing them to secure the right from the Spanish Crown to head for the Andes.
• In 1531, Pizarro reached and conquered Coaque off the Ecuadorian coast and waited for reinforcements.
• In 1532, Atahualpa was captured by Pizarro. 2 rooms filled with gold and silver were offered as ransom. Atahualpa was still executed later on in 1933.
• Manco Inca and his followers resisted Spanish invasion until 1572, when the last Inca ruler Thupa Amaru was captured and executed. By then, 50% of the pre-colonial population had already been wiped out by Europan disease.

• Spanish invasion of Peru (1532)
• Machu Picchu occupation (built around 1450, abandoned during Spanish invasion)
• Inka imperial fluorescence (1438)
• Boston Saloon (1864-1875)
• Fort Davis (1867-1885)

• Chosen Women, Virgins of the Sun, Wives of the Inca
• They were given to men who distinguished themselves in service to the empire, brewed chica at religious ceremonies, produced luxury items, weaved expensive cloth and prepared ritual food. The most perfect were sacrificed.
• Bingham asserted that Machu Picchu was the center for aclla based on Eaton’s main conclusion that a majority of the skeletal remains were female. Eaton’s lack of experience as well as the incompatibility of the remaining archaeological record with the notion of a community of aclla occupying Machu Picchu called Eaton’s analysis into reconsideration. Afterwards, it was found that the sex distribution was relatively even. Evidence of children and women who have given birth also undermines Bingham’s “Virgins of the Sun” hypothesis.

• Last Incan emperor.
• Fought in civil war against his half-brother Huascar.
• Became Sapa Inca after defeating and imprisoning Huascar.
• Pizarro captured Atahualpa in 1532 and used him to control the Inca empire. The Spanish later on executed Atahualpa, effectively ending the Inca empire.

• Traditional form of community in the Andes prior to the Incan conquest.
• Essentially extended family or kin groups based on self-sustenance, reciprocity, kinship and territory establishment.

North American walnut species not indegineous to Newfoundland. Presence of butternut burl in L'anse aux Meadows indicated that the people who lived there made excursions to regions further south. Butternuts grow in the same areas as wild grapes, so this also indicates that the Norse came across wild grapes on their excursions, serving as proof that the saga stories of the Norse encountering wild grapes is not myth but also reality.

The Comstock Lode is a lode of silver ore located under the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, a peak in the Virginia Range in Virginia City, Nevada (then western Utah Territory), which was the first major discovery of silver ore in the United States and named after American miner Henry Comstock.

• A religious site in Cuzco (capital of the Inca empire) that contained the Temple of the Sun (dedicated to sun god Inti) which was the most sacred site in Inca religion.
• Is thought to have been built by Pachacuti.
• Layout resembles a sun with rays shining out in all directions.
• The massive walls were built with large stone blocks finely cut and fit together without mortar. In addition, most walls also leaned slightly inward as they rose in height, a typical feature of Inca architecture.
• The interior and exterior walls of the Temple of the Sun in the northern corner of the complex were covered by golden sheets. Large field of corn and life size models of shepherds, llamas, jaguars, monkeys, birds etc. made of precious metals occupied the garden.
• Most of the gold was removed and melted into ingots by Spanish conquistadors for the Spanish crown.

Cranium deformities as a result of different head binding practices allowed for archaeologists to trace back various source populations for Machu Picchu.

• One of the important features of the Inca society is how short of a history they had.
• The actual Inca empire isn’t clearly visible archaeologically before the late 1300s at the earliest.
• The Inca Empire as a political phenomenon that has moved beyond the Cuzco area isn’t even mentioned until the early 1400s.
• The date of the shift from a localized chiefdom in Cuzco (1000-1400) to “an empire” is 1438.
• Up to that point, the date for the beginning of the Inca social organization is up to debate and changes in light of historical records and archaeological records.
• Although several origin myths exist, what can be confirmed by the archaeological record is that the Inca were valley-bottom maize farmers. Inka state formation involved the annexation of new land to develop intensive maize agriculture.

• City near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range.
• Historic capital of the Inca empire from the 13th century until the Spanish invasion in the 16th century.
• According to Inca legend, the city was built by Pachacuti, who transformed the Cuzco chiefdom to the empire of Tawantinsuyu.

• Fort Davis is important in understanding the presence of African Americans in the West and in the frontier military because the 24th and 25th U.S. Infantry regiments and the 9th and 10th U.S. Cavalry regiments, all-black regiments (known as the buffalo soldiers), which were established after the Civil War, were stationed at the post.
• Focuses on the lifeways and interactions between residents of the U.S. military post and civilian community during Reconstruction (1867-1891) and through the early 20th-century in order to investigate daily life among residents of different ethno-racial, gendered, and national identities.
• Of particular interest to the project are the experiences of African-American soldiers, women, and Hispanic civilians and the changing ways in which various communities related to one another in a diverse and shifting frontier landscape.

• Stemware is drinkware that stands on stems above a base. It is usually made from glass, but may be made from ceramics or metals. The stem allows the drinker to hold the glass without affecting the temperature of the drink.
• Mainly found in Boston Saloon and Piper’s Old Corner, various shapes of glass stemware allow for the identification of the types of alcohol consumed.

• Newfoundland is accounted for in the Vinland Saga.
• According to the saga, Leif Erikson was blown-off course on his way to Greenland and sighted “self-sown wheat fields and grapevines”. After assembling a crew, Leif revisited this area to the west of Greenland, later setting up camp and calling the land “Vinland”.
• This is an example of a mythological memory turned out to be based on real historical occurrences.

• The study of the archaeology of colonial and post-colonial societies that have written documents beginning with the expansion of Europeans (Columbus’ voyage) .
• The synthesis of the archaeological record, world history and primary documentation.
• Concerned with issues of race, indigenous communities, borderlands, power relations, effects of colonialism broadened.

• The written record has a narrow point of view. History is written by those in power.
• History is selective, whereas archaeology uncovers information about those ignored by the historical record.
• What historical archaeology does is negate the biases present in historical documentation. Historical archaeology tells the stories of communities that are not represented in the documentary record, which are generally the socio-economically disadvantaged (women and children etc.).
• What is studied by archaeologists and anthropologists has implications for the philosophy and politics of today.

• Penultimate Sapa Inca of the Incan empire in 1527.
• Assigns half brother Atahualpa as the governor of Quito, but later on declares war against him, fearing a coup.
• Loses the war and is imprisoned, later on executed at the order of Atahualpa due to the invasion of the Spaniards. (Atahualpa feared that Huascar would take over the empire after his capture by Pizarro)

• 1493-1524 3rd ruler (Sapa Inca) of the Inca empire.
• Expanded the empire to present day Chile and Argentina.
• Spent most of his time in Ecuador.
• The Inca empire reached its height in size and power under his rule.
• In addition to building temples and other works, he extended the roadway system and installed storehouses.
• He died of smallpox in 1524.

Discovered L’Anse aux Meadows. Explorer.

Astronomic clock or calendar of the Inca. The most memorable one is in Machu Picchu, but was unfortunately damaged when a piece of granite was chipped off by a crane being used for an ad shoot.

Tumbler shaped drinking vessels used to consume chica (corn beer) by the Inca.

• Inca pottery and textiles lack pronounced depictions of supernatural beings.
• Hallucinogens are not as prominent.
• Human sacrifice involved children or young adults as opposed to adult military captives.
• Soldiers had a lower status than hero-warriors.
• Substantially larger storage facilities were present in the Inca empire. Stores staples and wealth items were not common goods but were instead used to fund state activities and maintain state officials and military.

• The Killke people occupied the region of Cuzco from 900 to 1200 CE, prior to the arrival of the Incas in the 13th century.
• Their roadway and irrigation systems served as the basis for Inca infrastructure.

• Newfoundland, 1000CE. Small and short lived camp for timber-gathering and boat repair.
• Accounted for in the Vinland Saga.
• Although it’s clear that the area was in fact occupied by Vikings, the area of contention is the Southernmost border of the area of occupation.
• Evidence for occupation by Vikings:
• Jasper (fire-strikers in the Norse world) was found in and around buildings. It was found that some buildings only contained Icelandic jasper, while others contained jasper sourced from Greenland.
• Inground houses, parallels with other viking settlements in terms of building style and arrangement. However, buildings being built in tight clusters is abnormal, as in Norse settlements in Iceland and Greenland, complexes are never grouped together to form villages or towns and are at great distances to each other. The lack of outbuildings such as animal pens and fields and the arrangement of the buildings indicates that this settlement was not a colonizing, self-sustaining venture.
• Wooden objects found are dated to around 1000CE through radiocarbon dating, which matches Vinland saga.
• Lack of cemetery, small size of garbage middens indicate that the area was a settlement for a short period of time. This is because of the lack of economic incentive to stay there and the presence of unfriendly populations (which may be responsible for burning the settlement)

• Llamas and alpacas were kept in the vicinity of the terraces Machu Picchu.
• There was an economic incentive not to eat alpacas, despite them having more tender meat, due to their ability to produce wool later on in their lifespan.
• Llamas were consumed as a food source.
• Inca herds consisting exclusively of old or retired alpacas were identified through lab analysis. (only ambiguously alluded in colonial records) Additionally, offerings of elderly alpacas were found in burial sites. This indicates that camelids also served a ritual purpose in Machu Picchu.

• Originally a puppet ruler installed by the Spaniards.
• He later on led the resistance against the Spaniards (Pizarro) from his main stronghold Ollantaytambo.
• After many guerrilla battles in the mountainous regions of Vilcabamba, Manco was murdered in 1544 in the Inca center of Vitcos by supporters of Diego de Almagro who had previously assassinated Francisco Pizarro and who were in hiding under Manco's protection. They in turn were all killed by Manco's soldiers.

Moiety is a descent group that coexists with only one other descent group within a society. Hurin and Hanan groups in Cuzco is an example.The city was divided into two sections, hanan (upper or high) and hurin (lower), which paralleled the social organization of Inka society into upper and lower moieties (social divisions).

• Royal estate of Pachacutec.
• At the time of the Spanish conquest of Peru, it served as the temporary capital and stronghold of Manco Inca, the leader of the Inca resistance.

• The prince believed to have defended Cuzco with divine aid from foreign invasion and personally established the Inca imperial order.
• While this story provides a vivid account for imperial origins, it’s not substantiated by archaeological evidence. The reasons for the support for the “great leader” story of Inca establishment was to claim ancestry and gain a way of moving forward in the Spanish colonial system.
• Growing archaeological data allows for interpretations to move beyond the “Great Leader” perspective and track long-term changes in the interactions between the Inca and their neighbors around the Cuzco basin.
• Various patterns of elite authority, political economy and ideology have been identified in surrounding settlement systems.

• Founded in 1545 as a mining town for silver in Bolivia. The rich mountain Cerro Rico produced 60% of the world’s silver in the 16th century.
• Native Americans were forced to work in the silver mines through the traditional Incan mita system of contributed labor. Many of them died due to poor working conditions.
• The assimilation of the mita system by the Spanish conquistadors allowed for them to have a steady source of labor for their silver mining activities. However, the removal of the male labor force from local Native American populations had devastating consequences such as famine and malnutrition due to fewer workers being able to work the fields.

It is a process in which the broader public can engage with excavations and can participate in research design methods. In Virginia City, for instance, the excavation site was open to visitors who were allowed to volunteer and aid the excavation. They were especially instructed to identify common well-known items such as pipes.

• The knot records of the Incas used instead of a writing system.
• Different colors of threads had different meanings.
• Adopted from past Andes civilizations.

Sites occupied by the royal family and their retainers / support staff (yana). Though the estate belonged to Pachacutec, religious specialists and temporary specialized workers (mayocs) lived there as well, most likely for the ruler's well-being and enjoyment. During the harsher season, staff dropped down to around a hundred servants and a few religious specialists focused on maintenance alone

• The ruler of the Inca empire. Sapa is the son of the God Inti.
• Pachacuti (1438)
• Tupac Inca (1471)
• Huayna Capac (1493)
• Huáscar x Atahualpa civil war (until 1532-1533)

• A similar method to stratigraphy but is based on the popularity of certain artifact styles over time.
• Each artifact style has a period of low frequency, to high frequency, and then low frequency again.
• The beginning and end points of these popularity curves help put artifacts in chronological order.

Drinking vessels made from stone. German mineral water stored in these. Imported from Germany. Mainly in Piper’s Old Corner, as the owner was German. At Piper, there’s also a water filter (carbon filter), indicative of the higher status of the saloon.

(The Land of the Four Quarters): is what the Inca called their empire. Cuzco was the capital city.

Neighborhood in the city of New Orleans in Louisiana. While the archaeology of the “St. Augustine church”, previously a church in the 1840s and then a school for creole girls and mixed families, had good intentions of amplifying the claims of the local community for a legacy worthy of historic-district designation, the emphasis of the expedition on the “creole” past was controversial and gathered negative feedback from the local community, citing criticisms such as the creole past not reflecting the entirety of the history of the Black community.

• 1822-1913
• American abolitionist, freedom fighter and spy for the Union Army.
• Emancipated herself and smuggled slaves from the South to the North
• Due to a head injury in her early life she suffered regular seizures
• Worked at the AME Zion Church in her late life
• In 1858 New York Senator William Seaward made Harriet Tubman a proposition. He would sell her his property in Auburn, NY for a reasonable price and flexible terms. Auburn had a strong abolitionist group and Seaward was a well known supporter of the Underground Railroad who Harriet could depend on for funds and shelter for her people. Before the Civil War about 500 slaves passed through Auburn on their way north. Tubman knew Senator Seaward well as she had used his house as a station many times.
• In order to fulfill her dream to build a home for the elderly Tubman purchased additional land. In 1896 Tubman bought at auction 25 acres of land adjacent to her property located at 182 South Street.

• The comparison of pollen found on the terraces with the current local pollen data reveals the types of agricultural goods cultivated at Machu Picchu (including maize).
• Pollen is especially useful as it lasts a very long time. The key thing here is to obtain soil from the target time-period.
• Potato, legume, maize identified.

• The remote town where Inca rulers led the resistance against the Spanish colonization.
• Bingham initially misidentified Machu Picchu as Vilcambamba due to his belief that its ruins would be much grander than anything in the archaeological record.
• Bingham’s interpretation shifted more and more as academia proved (by referring to colonial records stating that Vilcabamba is clearly to the south of Cuzco) that the site he had discovered could not be Vilcabamba.

• Highly contentious supposed 15th century map of the Norse exploration of North America.
• Authenticity questioned / denied due to following reasons:
• chemical composition of the ink used doesn’t correspond with medieval ink,
• the Latin form of Leif Erikkson’s name is used which is 17th century tradition,
• there is no provenance for the map which means it can never be authenticated

• How he invited those outside of Peru to perceive Machu Picchu still affects our perception of the site. The “Lost City” notion still instills false expectations of Machu Picchu (such as it being very high in elevation, being a city for the “chosen women” of the empire)
• Science is a tool of not only academic influence-building, but also a tool of international influence-building. The acquisition of information and sense of “discovery” often becomes a part of imperialist and colonialist agendas. This was also the case with the consideration of Bingham as the “discoverer” of Machu Picchu.
• The United States’ political ambitions aligned with the concept of framing Machu Picchu as a “lost city”. It’s clear that a variety of people in the mid-19th century and early 20th century in the United States viewed archaeology as a possible tool to further political agendas. Example: Stevens wanted to harbour the grandeur of the Mayans in the United States. Stevens was inclined to become “the discoverer” and “the spokesperson” for the Mayan world. This outlook was certainly possessive in nature. (“box it up and ship it back to New York for display”)

• For the first 350 years, the field of Inka studies relied exclusively on historical documents produced by the conquistadors in the first century following the conquest.
• Max Uhle was the first to advocate for the collection of archaeological data to clarify the relationship between the Inca and earlier Andean civilizations + negate the inconsistencies (focus more on elite), biases and fragmentation of Colonial documentation.

• The language of the Inca.
• Inka believed in the divine right to rule over conquered people given to them by the sun god Inti. In practical terms, this meant that all speakers of Quechua were given privileged status, and this class dominated all the important political, religious and administrative roles within the empire.
• The spread of the language is often attributed to the spread of the Inca. However, the source of dispersal not being within the empire and the amount of variability in Quechua not being able to be achieved during the empire challenges this notion.

• Lack of integration of conquered people into the empire. (10 million subjects speaking over 30 languages, Inca style pottery only present in administrative centers)
• Civil war due to various claims to the Inka throne.
• Devastating effects of the epidemics brought by European conquistadors.

• Superior weapons and tactics.
• Support from locals keen to rebel.
• Use of horses

• Alliance building
• Intimidation
• Warfare
• Strategies involving local political organization, ethnic identity and ecology.