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Map of the Inca Empire in western South America, based on Ogburn (2012: Figure 1). Modern countries are outlined in gray. The traditional chronology is from Rowe (1945). Inca control in the Cuyo region (the Argentine provinces of Mendoza, San Juan, and San Luis) is based on García's (2011b) proposal. Dates on the map are the median results of four Bayesian models of Inca dates, which indicate the beginning of Inca occupation in the area. This simplification is for the sake of the figure and does not disregard the probability ranges associated with each median. All dates are AD.
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The chronology of the Inca Empire has traditionally relied on ethnohistoric dates, which suggest that a northern expansion into modern Ecuador began in AD 1463 and a southern expansion into modern Argentina began in AD 1471. We test the validity of these dates with two Bayesian models, which show that the ethnohistoric dates are incorrect and that...
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... model from Ecuador highlights the benefits of stratigraphic priors and using the appropriate calibration curve at a single site, while the model from Mendoza uses an outlier analysis to address both 14 C and TL dates from multiple sites. Refined dates of the initial Inca occupation of both locations lead to a re-evaluation of the chronology of imperial expansion (Figure 1). *Corresponding author. ...
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... more than half a century, Rowe's (1944Rowe's ( , 1945 landmark publications have been the authoritative version of Inca chronology (Figure 1). This traditional chronology is based primarily on the dates of the chronicler Cabello Balboa (1945), which were the "most plausible" at the time (Rowe 1945: 277). ...
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... include Inca-style ceramics, rectilinear stone structures, and sites connected by the royal road, which were recognized by early historians and archaeologists (Morales Guiñazú 1938;Aparicio 1940;Rusconi 1962: 232-63). The valley sits at 1700-2100 m asl and is located in the northwestern corner of the Province of Mendoza near the Chilean border (Figures 1, 2). The valley was near the southern limit of the empire and is also the southern limit of the puna environment with which the Incas would have been most familiar. ...
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... models use 26 14 C dates associated with Inca ceramics or architecture and 19 TL dates on sherds from 10 sites (Tables 2-4, Figure 2). TL dates were run on Inca-style sherds (Table 4; Bárcena 1998a; Ots 2007b) and were corrected with readings from on-site dosimeters at four sites in the Uspallata Valley (Bárcena 1998a: 150-1, 225, 235-6, 241). ...
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... of these samples were from 33, 60, 70, and 85 cm below the surface but the dates do not follow the stratigraphic sequence (Table 3). The same is true of the three TL dates, from sherds in levels that were 26-36, 36-56, and 56-66 cm below the surface (Bárcena 1998a: 227-8, 369). This may be explained by taphonomic processes (Bárcena 1979: 680) or perhaps the occupation was too short for radiometric dates to show a clear sequence. ...
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... possibility is that there was no need to impose direct control because the lowlands were administered indirectly (García 2009). One historical document hints the Inca explored as far south as the Diamante River in central Mendoza (Figure 1), where they left a marker and turned around (Bibar 1966: 155, cited in García 2011asee Ots and Cahiza 2013: 39). All of these possibilities could be better evaluated with a more explicit interpretation of the Empire's material signature (see García 2011aGarcía , 2011bTantaleán 2015) in addition to an improved chronology. ...
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... was begun quite early and prior to the Dating the Expansion of the Inca Empire 19 northern expansion, suggesting a major revision to the traditional chronology. Just south of Lake Titicaca at the Inca provincial capital Tiquischullpa (Figure 1), a preliminary Bayesian model of radiocarbon dates published by Pärssinen and Siiriäinen (1997 : Table 1) suggests that the Inca occupation, associated with three 14 C dates, took place between cal AD 1310-1350 (medians of the First and Last dates of the Inca phase, with overlapping 68% probabilities of cal AD 1270- 1400), estimated with IntCal13. Moving south, the Inca arrived in northwestern Argentina slightly later, around cal AD 1380-1400 (68% probability, Starting boundary) (Greco 2012: Figure 8.15b). ...
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... also supports the idea that the conquerors moved rapidly through large territories and then consolidated gradually, at least in the southern part of the empire where there was little armed resistance. Future research on the southern expansion would benefit from radiometric dates and a Bayesian model of the empire's recently rediscovered southern capital near Oruro, Paria (Pärssinen et al. 2010), which was probably the logistical base for forays into Chile and Argentina (Figure 1). The site's large size of 100 ha and rich documentary information gives it great potential to shed light on the nature and timing of incursions farther south. ...
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... southern conquest is attributed to the reign of emperor Topa Inca by various chroniclers, which seem to have had similar sources of information (Rowe 1985: 200-1, 210). They suggest that the southern expansion was begun by Topa Inca's father Pachacuti (Figure 1). Topa Inca's brothers Amaro Topa and Topa Yupanqui probably participated (Rowe 1985: 199) in order to conquer their own lands, because they would not inherit their father's holdings (Ogburn 2012: 233-4). ...
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... Por otro lado, si bien el marco cronológico de análisis es el Holoceno Tardío (desde 4200 años cal AP hasta el presente, sensu Izeta y Aguilar, 2022; Walker et al., 2012), se propone la división en dos bloques temporales (Antes y Después de 1000 años AP, y Antes y Después de 1200 años AP, para el CNM y CBA respectivamente), cuyo límite se relaciona con la intensificación del consumo de recursos domesticados hacia los 1500/1000 años AP (en el CNM) y 1200 años AP (en Córdoba), de acuerdo con la información arqueológica y bioarqueológica disponible (Fabra et al., 2012(Fabra et al., , 2014Fabra y González, 2019;Gil et al., 2014;Llano y Cortegoso, 2015;Menéndez et al., 2014;Tavarone et al., 2020). No obstante, comprendemos que estos procesos presentan variaciones internas vinculadas con los desarrollos culturales de ambas regiones, con características ambientales particulares, así como la influencia de procesos específicos tales como la dominación inka en el CNM hacia el 600 AP (Bárcena, 2001; Marsh et al., 2017, entre otros) y la dominación española en toda la macrorregión a mediados del siglo XVI AD (Cueto et al., 1994;Laguens y Bonin, 2009). A su vez, se incluyeron 10 individuos que no cuentan con cronología, pero que, dadas las características de las inhumaciones (las cuales se detallan en Información Suplementaria, Sección S1), ha sido posible atribuirlos en líneas generales al Holoceno Tardío, hasta tanto se realicen los fechados radiocarbónicos correspondientes. ...
Las patologías infecciosas han constituido una de las principales causas de muerte en las sociedades prehistóricas. Su estudio permite conocer el impacto en las dinámicas poblacionales e investigar los patrones de adaptación frente al surgimiento de nuevos patógenos y sus mutaciones. El objetivo de este trabajo es presentar una primera aproximación al análisis de procesos infecciosos en restos bioarqueológicos del Holoceno Tardío (desde ca. 4200 años cal AP hasta el presente) en ambientes de altura y planicies de las provincias de Mendoza y Córdoba (Argentina). Los grupos que ocuparon estas áreas presentan particularidades respecto a su organización social, pero comparten similitudes en los modos de vida y las estrategias de subsistencia, basados en la caza-recolección a comienzos del período, con incorporación de la horticultura hacia momentos finales. Se realizó el análisis paleopatológico de 75 individuos adultos de ambos sexos, mediante la observación macroscópica y el registro sistemático de lesiones óseas. Se calcularon frecuencias por sexo, edad, criterios cronológicos (pre y post 1000/1200 años AP) y ambientales (Sierras/Llanuras y Planicies/Montañas). El 48% de los individuos de la muestra presentó lesiones que podrían asociarse a patologías infecciosas, de los cuales el 46% corresponde a Mendoza y el 58,3% a Córdoba. Se observan mayores prevalencias para Mendoza a inicios del Holoceno Tardío, así como en momentos finales del período para Córdoba; en términos geográficos/ambientales, los grupos que habitaron la zona de Sierras en Córdoba y la Planicie de Mendoza registraron mayores porcentajes de afectación. Estos resultados se discuten según el modelo de transiciones epidemiológicas.
... These dates from the mountain shrines and the Inca Road indicate that the Inca presence in the region began in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. This aligns with previous studies placing the start of Inca expansion in northern Chile around the same time range (Cornejo 2014), as well as earlier dates from Mendoza (Marsh et al. 2017) and the Jujuy region, both in Argentina (García et al. 2021). The initial establishment of ritual infrastructure, represented by the mountain shrines, and logistical infrastructure, exemplified by the Qhapaq Ñan and its tambos, formed the physical and ideological basis for imperial expansion, preceding actual political and economic intervention in local communities. ...
This article examines a new dataset of radiocarbon dates that provides insights into the progressive installation of Inca infrastructure in the Copiapo Valley, situated at the southern edge of the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. It shows that the Inca imperial expansion in this region was not a linear process and was likely shaped by local negotiations and conflicts. The findings describe three main stages of Inca expansion. The first is the construction of the North–South Inca Road and the establishment of high-altitude mountain shrines. The next stage consisted of a physical intervention in a local village located in the upper valley, including the construction of administrative buildings and public spaces. The last stage involved indirect intervention in local villages, characterized by the presence of isolated administrative buildings that were potentially used for diplomacy and negotiation. I argue that the Inca imperial expansion, characterized by evolving strategies across regions and time periods, not only demonstrates the state's capacity for learning but also suggests the pivotal role of local actors in positions of power who wielded agency to shape these developments.
... A linguistic timeline of Aymara reaching the Altiplano only with the Inkas can also be set alongside recent proposed revisions to the chronology of Inka expansion (see Ogburn 2012: 231;Marsh et al. 2017;Lane 2022: 53-9). New methodological approaches to radiocarbon-datings and their calibration set Inka presence in the southern Qullasuyu province decades earlier than traditionally assumed, from interpretations of Inka mytho-history as recorded by early Spanish chroniclers. ...
To appear in: ----
*The Oxford Guide to the Languages of the Central Andes*
---- edited by Matthias Urban ---- publication due in 2024 ----
This chapter reviews the wide range of hypotheses on the origins and dispersal phases of the main expansive language lineages of the Andes, especially Aymara and Quechua. It assesses these hypotheses not just in linguistic terms, but with respect to the archaeological and emerging genetic records, too, to help judge which scenarios seem most plausible. Essential background is that the Andean context — environmental and cultural — is marked by a range of idiosyncrasies. These may have helped shape language expansions here (and much else) in ways that need not match how languages spread in many other parts of the world. Topography and elevation in the Andes, for instance, are reflected in different ecologies, and in some cases also in different social structures and ethnolinguistic identities. How far could this have affected how languages dispersed, in patterns that were either geographically continuous or highly fragmented? Why did detectable major language family expansions only begin relatively late in the trajectory of Andean civilisation, leaving much underlying linguistic diversity still showing through, even into early colonial times? And how, in these contexts, did the major language dispersals proceed in the Andes: by demographic or by cultural mechanisms, or by which complex combinations of both? Certainly, the corollary of the major dispersals was the extinction of many other indigenous language lineages, as their speaker populations progressively shifted language to the successful, expanding ones. For Aymara and particularly Quechua, this talk reviews the history and logic of hypotheses on their expansion (pre)histories over the last sixty years. It concludes with the radically different proposals advanced over the last decade or so, not least in the last few years, which constitute a revolution with respect to the traditional Torero hypothesis for Andean linguistic prehistory, and have repercussions also for our understanding of the Quechua ‘family tree’.
... Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4712166 P r e p r i n t n o t p e e r r e v i e w e d by the Late period marked by the arrival of the Inka state around AD 1400-1450 (Cornejo, 1 2014; Marsh et al., 2017;Troncoso, 2018). 2 Human communities produced diverse ceramic styles with a wide spatial 3 distribution. During the Early Ceramic Period in Chile, different ceramic styles were 4 produced over a millennium between AD 0-1200, including Bato and Llolleo in Central incised and anthropomorphic modeled decoration (Fig. 2a), and in some cases with red 10 surfaces including specular hematite (Sanhueza and Falabella, 2009). ...
... Recientes estudios han intentado aportar precisiones sobre la cronología de la dominación incaica de Mendoza. Marsh et al. (2017) propusieron una entrada temprana, que podría remontarse a 1350 o 1380 cal d.C. (95 y 68% de probabilidad, respectivamente). Alternativamente, mediante el uso de estadística tradicional, García (2021) y propusieron una entrada tardía, entre 1450 y 1475 y hacia 1475, respectivamente. ...
... Al respecto, cabe señalar que por un lado sus límites inferiores se remontan entre ca. 120 y 170 años atrás de la fecha más antigua propuesta por Marsh et al. (2017), y que por otra parte ésta proviene de un estudio que no habría cumplido con una de las premisas básicas para la aplicación de estadística bayesiana: la minuciosa crítica y "limpieza de datos" de los fechados heredados (esto es, los obtenidos por otros investigadores) (Hamilton & Krus, 2018). ...
Existe actualmente una marcada escasez de información sobre la materialidad incaica de la precordillera mendocina, por lo que resulta difícil evaluar el papel de este espacio durante el control estatal regional. A fin de contribuir a llenar ese vacío se presentan aquí algunos datos surgidos del análisis del registro estratigráfico, lítico, cerámico y arqueofaunístico de uno de los sectores del sitio precordillerano más importante, el alero Agua de la Cueva. A partir de los mismos se discuten algunos aspectos relativos a la funcionalidad del sitio, a la cronología de la ocupación incaica, a la movilidad transversal en el noroeste de Mendoza y a propuestas previas sobre el abastecimiento del valle de Uspallata desde las tierras bajas orientales.
... Los modelos cronológicos basados en crónicas están siendo revisados a la luz de los nuevos fechados radiocarbónicos y modelos de calibración, indicando una conquista más temprana, al menos desde el 1400 d.C. (Marsh et al. 2017;Rivolta et al. 2021). 2 El primer fechado es calibrado entre 1296-1435 cal d.C. (99,7%), mostrando dos curvas, siendo la más coherente aquella que nos sitúa a comienzos del siglo XV. Por su parte, la calibración del segundo fechado nos muestra una curva entre 1381-1451 cal d.C. (99,7%), con un pico situado en la segunda década del siglo XV. 3 Al no presentar condiciones anaeróbicas, estas estructuras de almacenaje subterráneas no deberían ser consideradas como silos. ...
La existencia en Coctaca de grandes áreas agrícolas prehispánicas cautivó tempranamente la atención de los arqueólogos, siendo considerada como uno de los principales referentes de la agricultura nativa. Los nuevos estudios indican que, con el establecimiento de los inkas en la región, tuvo lugar en Coctaca una dinámica de neta intensificación de la producción agrícola en la que se readecuaron espacios de cultivo prexistentes y se crearon otros nuevos, en un área aproximada de 450 ha. Se resalta particularmente en las características del sistema agrícola el aprovechamiento pormenorizado de los recursos hídricos y la mitigación de las limitantes ambientales. Más allá de la agricultura, la colosal inversión volcada en este desarrollo productivo hace de Coctaca una de las mayores y más evidentes manifestaciones del poder del Estado inkaico en esta parte de los Andes.
... Los modelos cronológicos basados en crónicas están siendo revisados a la luz de los nuevos fechados radiocarbónicos y modelos de calibración, indicando una conquista más temprana, al menos desde el 1400 d.C. (Marsh et al. 2017;Rivolta et al. 2021). 2 El primer fechado es calibrado entre 1296-1435 cal d.C. (99,7%), mostrando dos curvas, siendo la más coherente aquella que nos sitúa a comienzos del siglo XV. Por su parte, la calibración del segundo fechado nos muestra una curva entre 1381-1451 cal d.C. (99,7%), con un pico situado en la segunda década del siglo XV. 3 Al no presentar condiciones anaeróbicas, estas estructuras de almacenaje subterráneas no deberían ser consideradas como silos. ...
The existence of large pre-Hispanic agricultural areas in Coctaca early captured the attention of archaeologists, being considered one of the main references of native agriculture. New studies indicate that, with the establishment of the Inkas in the region, a dynamic of net intensification of agricultural production took place in Coctaca, in which pre-existing cultivation areas were readapted and new ones were created, on an area of approximately 450 ha. In this agricultural system, the detailed use of water resources and the mitigation of environmental constraints are particularly noteworthy. Regardless of agriculture, the colossal investment in this productive development turns Coctaca into one of the greatest and most evident manifestations of the power of the Inka State in this part of the Andes
La existencia en Coctaca de grandes áreas agrícolas prehispánicas cautivó tempranamente la atención de los arqueólogos, siendo considerada como uno de los principales referentes de la agricultura nativa. Los nuevos estudios indican que, con el establecimiento de los inkas en la región, tuvo lugar en Coctaca una dinámica de neta intensificación de la producción agrícola en la que se readecuaron espacios de cultivo prexistentes y se crearon otros nuevos, en un área aproximada de 450 ha. Se resalta particularmente en las características del sistema agrícola el aprovechamiento pormenorizado de los recursos hídricos y la mitigación de las limitantes ambientales. Más allá de la agricultura, la colosal inversión volcada en este desarrollo productivo hace de Coctaca una de las mayores y más evidentes manifestaciones del poder del Estado inkaico en esta parte de los Andes.
... No ethnohistoric source provides reliable dates (González Díaz and Garrido Escobar, 2017), so we must use radiocarbon dates and subsequent modelling to rebuild an Inca chronology from the ground up. This is clearest in early dates that track Inca influence to the south, implying that initial Inca expansion began during the mid-fourteenth century in this direction, at least a century earlier than Rowe suggested (Dalton, 2020;D'Altroy et al., 2007;Marsh et al., 2017Marsh et al., , 2021Meyers, 2016;Williams, 2022). In this article, we add a crucial piece of the puzzle from the core of the empire: a precise Bayesian chronology of recently published dates from Machu Picchu (Burger et al., 2021;Ziółkowski et al., 2020). ...
... This implies that by this time, the Chimu had been in contact with the Inca long enough for this jar's hybrid style to develop. This time frame is generally consistent with radiocarbon estimates for northern conquests (Ogburn, 2012;Marsh et al., 2017), but should be compared against dates from other Chimu-related contexts. ...
... 62-54: Table 4.1). In a few cases, we have starting boundaries from Bayesian models, for example in central Bolivia ~ AD 1310-1350 (Marsh et al., 2017, p. 138;Pärssinen and Siiriäinen, 1997), northern Argentina ~1380 (Greco, 2012, p. 408-411, Fig. 8.15b), central Chile ~1350 (Swift et al., 2022(Swift et al., , p. 1229, and central Argentina ~1380 , who provide a radiocarbon-only update to the model in Marsh et al., 2017). ...
... The traditional approaches, based mainly on the latter, were more likely to explain the expansion as a homogeneous and progressive advance, the product of a succession of conquests initiated by Pachacuti in 1438 AD (Rowe, 1945), which, upon the arrival of the Spanish in Cusco in 1532 AD, covered the entire Andean area from the south of present-day Colombia to central Chile and Argentina. More recently, from the critical review of the documents and, mainly, from the contributions of archaeology, both the monolithic and linear perspective of the conquest and the chronology of the events began to be questioned (Covey, 2008;DeMarrais, 2013;García, Moralejo, & Ochoa, 2021;Marsh, Kidd, Ogburn, & Durán, 2017;Ogburn, 2012; occupation, and that these facilities were directly related to roads and mining. According to Sempé (1999), the location of the site called "Hualfín Inka" in the north of the valley, and the main center of El Shincal de Quimivil in the south, demarcating the limits of the political core of the Belén chiefdom, was an Inka strategy to incorporate the pre-existing sociopolitical structure into the state. ...
As seen in many examples of imperial expansions throughout history, the Inkas applied a whole range of policies strategically adapted for the different local organizations, in every corner of their empire, and local groups, in turn, were reconfigured based on the new conditions. Starting from the investigation of a group of late local landscapes of the Hualfín Valley (Department of Belén, Catamarca) in the Northwestern Argentina, from a critical perspective of the sociopolitical definitions classically given to these societies, the aim of this study consists of describing the spatial, social, and temporal dimensions of these landscapes and advancing the discussion about how local groups socially and politically organized themselves, in immediately pre-Inka times and after the incorporation of their territories into the Inka state. To this end, a brief discussion on the Late and Inka periods in Northwestern Argentina and theoretical guidelines for landscape analysis are presented. Then, we address the analysis of one of the landscapes in particular: the Cerro Colorado de La Ciénaga de Abajo and its surroundings, and we briefly analyze the cases of Asampay, Palo Blanco, and Puerta de Corral Quemado, and the regional landscape network.
... In Rowe's (1945) traditionally accepted chronology, imperial expansion commenced near Cuzco after AD 1438 and reached Chile and Ecuador by the 1470s. However, recent reassessments have pushed the dates for Inca expansion earlier in both the far north and the far south (Ogburn, 2012;Cornejo, 2014;Marsh et al., 2017;Covey, 2018;Gyarmati and Condarco, 2018;García et al., 2020). The question is far from straightforward: Inca expansion may have involved stages of indirect exchange, direct contact, and/or asymmetrical alliance before eventual political domination and direct incorporation. ...
The Late Intermediate Period (LIP, cal AD 1000–1450) in the central Andes is defined as a hiatus after the collapse of Tiwanaku and Wari, expansive state polities of the Middle Horizon (cal AD 600–1000), and before the domination of the Inca empire in the Late Horizon (cal AD 1450–1532). The LIP is often characterized as a unit, but major developments took place within this long period, including diasporic migrations and the new colonization of some regions, demographic change, intensified conflict, large-scale adverse climate episodes, and changes associated with the onset of Inca expansion. Here we make a preliminary attempt to clarify the chronology of these developments. A database of published and new radiocarbon dates is compiled for the south-central highlands and coastal valleys in order to model overall and subregional demographic trends using an updated “dates-as-data” cumulative kernel density estimate (CKDE) approach, and to examine specific LIP phenomena in two subregions. Our results indicate major demographic change including 1) substantial population growth beginning in the 13th century, 2) a marked 14th-century population surge in most, but not all, subregions included here, 3) evidence of population decline in several subregions during the same intervals when neighboring populations are expanding. Population growth was associated with intensified violence and increased physiological stress in the upper Nasca drainage. In the altiplano of Peru and Bolivia, population growth accompanied the rise of defensive hillforts and monumental cemeteries. Our date models also indicate a more complicated terminal LIP in the altiplano, with the height of classically “LIP” societies overlapping with early evidence for imperial Inca presence. This paper highlights the ways that more refined chronology can make advances in our understanding of a turbulent post-collapse era in the Andes.
