Palacios y ushnus: curacas del Rímac y gobierno inca en la costa central

Abstract

Palaces and Ushnus: Rímac Valley’s Curacas and Inca Government in the Central Coast

The Inca presence in the middle low valley of the Rimac basin, related to architecture, is revealed in two types of evidence: a) the first one corresponds to the incorporation of constructive features and decorative criteria of Cuzco style to the elite residences of the area (e.g. palaces), and b) the second evidence is related to the subtle disposition of constructions that consider similar locations and characteristics, although on reduced scale, of those typical buildings denominated "Inca Administrative Centers" which have the Plaza as organizing axis of the space.

In this context, the validity and use of palaces of the coastal tradition during the Late Horizon can be interpreted as a sample of the local institutions abilities to maintain traditional modalities in the exercise of power. As well, the buildings that imitate Inca architectonic layouts with more complex pretensions represent a challenge for the interpretations on this phenomenon. Were these buildings the locus of the Inca state, official facilities in the zone? Did imperial civil employees resided and made bureaucratic tasks in these settlements, their facilities were used to store diverse goods of the region, among other activities of economic interest for the Tahuantinsuyo?

Characterize the operation of both types of constructions (e.g., palaces and Inca inspiration locations), is fundamental in order to explain the political framework on which the exercise of power in the zone of study was based and its repercussion on local as well as imperial scale. Is the contemporaneity of these constructions evidence of particular and excluding identities as effect of the Inca power installation in the zone? Did they represent the particular Inca strategy domination in the area due to considerations of the special conditions of political, social and economic organization of the coast? In this work, these possibilities are explored, on the basis of the analysis of both the architectonic pattern and settlement pattern in this section of Rimac river basin during the Late Intermediate Period and the Late Horizon.