Limatambo

Description

This study, set intermediately between the Inca core territory of the Cuzco Valley and the expanse of provincial Tawantinsuyu, aims to construct a clear image of the spatial organisation of late prehistoric Quichua society, and of the social geography which emerged in one of the first areas to be affected by Inca expansion. These social landscapes were close enough to Inca Cusco to have participated in its formative and subsequent social processes, and the development of its economic, political and ideological character. The research concentrates on surface archaeology, combining the results of survey and analysis of early colonial documents to examine the interaction of the Inca polity and local peoples in the Limatambo region from about AD 1000 to the arrival of the Spaniards in 1533. Dealing with archaeological and historical data first separately, and then in combination, it emphasizes distinct culture-ecological, social and ideological aspects of the two records.