art299spring12wk13southamerica

WEEK 13 SOUTH AMERICAART 299

The Inca Empire (Inka)

No written language, so the spoken Quechua language has given way to many variant spellings.

Cuzco was the capital city in the center of the empire, Tawantinsuyu, Four Parts, Four Quarters

Empire lasted less than 100 years Conquistador Francisco Pizzaro arrived

at a time of civil war, Inca power already in decline

Key achievements

1. Political administration2. Accounting3. Engineering

1. Road system2. Agricultural terracing3. Stone construction

4. Textile production5. Gold (ransom of Atahualpa)

1 Political administration Resettlement Marriages Organization around industries and

professions

2 Accounting

QuipuLength of cord with knotted strings attached.

quipuDetail of a quipu showing the variety of knots, cord lengths and cord colors used to encode information

quipucamayosRecord-keepers in charge of making, maintaining and reading the data stored on the strings to others.

3 Engineering & Construction

the “12-angled stone” in Cuzco

Spanish cathedral built atop the foundations of theTemple of the Sun

Huacas-sacred locations with powers amplified through landscaping

Moray, Peru

Machu Picchu

terraces at Machu Picchu

characteristic trapezoidal doorways

4 Textile production

military tunic,cotton

Tunic,Dumbarton Oaks,Washington DC,c. 1500 cotton

5 Gold (or, the Ransom of Atahualpa) Room filled with gold and twice over

with silver. (Dimensions of the room vary in different chroniclers’ accounts.)

Arriving from every corner of the empire by the llama-load

Pizarro ordered it melted down so more could fit in the room. The golden façade of Corimancha (Temple of the Sun) was melted down.

Gold figurine,Peru

LOST ARTS, LOST CIVILIZATIONShttp://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Farming-Like-the-Incas.html#