Local Art and the Inca State: Analysis and interpretation of Diaguita-Inca

visual art from structural, contextual and spatial perspectives

Paola Gonzalez

Wednesday 16th July – 4.00pm room 209

The Diaguitas were a series of chiefdoms in Nothern Chile and Argentina who were

incorporated into the Inca Empire in the later 15th Century leading to the incorporation of some

elements of Inca decorative styles within Diaguita material culture. Paola Gonzalez has

analysed ceramic collections, rock art and dwelling sites in the Elqui, Limarí and Choapa

valleys (in the semi-arid regions of Northern Chile) to assess the decorative pattern of Diaguita-

Inca art (Diaguita phase III) from a structural perspective.

Symmetry analysis is used to compare how different groups (Diaguitas, Incas, Inca Paya and

Pacaje or Saxamar) contributed to and altered the iconography of Diaguita during phase III and

to detect stylistic variations within the Diaguita culture. There is a notable transference of Inca-

Cuzqueño decorative patterns in the representational universe of the Diaguitas. This diffusion

of Inca iconography is not simply a decorative aesthetic, as it reflects political intentions and

state ideology. The material culture is analysed in relation to its archaeological context (e.g.

mortuary and domestic) and in relation to ethnohistoric and ethnographic sources, in order to

propose how the symbolic content relates to structures of Inca iconography such as

quadripartite designs and the “double specular reflection” which depicts complex ideological

concepts within Andean culture.

Paola Gonzalez is a Chilean archaeologist and anthropologist. She has a broad experience

in Andean archaeology, in particular, iconographic studies and Landscape Archaeology. Her

most recent research focus is the Andean and Amazonic cultural relationship, in present and

prehispanic times, specifically the South American tradition of shamanic art. She is currently

developing studies in Peruvian Amazon, relating to Shipibo-Conibo concepts of art.

Researcher of Fondecyt Proyect from 1995 to 2014. Author of “Visual Language of the

Incas” (Archaeopress International Series N°1848), “Arte y cultura Diaguita Chilena:

Simetría, simbolismo e identidad” (Ucayali Editores) and “Mining and National

Monuments” (Ediarte S.A.). Vice-president of the Archaeology Associaton of Chile (2010-

2013).

Organizers: Bill Sillar and Miguel Fuentes.

Institute of Archaeology (UCL)