The Incas : new perspectives / Gordon F. McEwan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McEwan, Gordon Francis.

Contributor:

Sabin W. Colton, Jr., Memorial Fund.

Series:

Understanding ancient civilizations

ABC-CLIO's understanding ancient civilizations

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Incas--History.

Incas.

History.

Incas--Social life and customs.

Physical Description:

xiv, 269 pages : illustrations, maps ; 26 cm.

Place of Publication:

Santa Barbara, Calif. : ABC-CLIO, [2006]

Summary:

In a forbidding landscape, without a written language, hard metals, the wheel, or draft animals, the Incas created one of the most innovative empires the world has ever seen, demonstrating a remarkable mastery of engineering, mathematics, astronomy, agriculture, medicine, and politics. That astonishing society is brought to life in The Incas: New Perspectives, a revealing portrait of the ancient Peruvian empire from its earliest stages to its final capitulation to conquistador Francisco Pizarro in the mid-sixteenth century.

Based on revealing new research in archaeology, anthropology, ethnohistory, and other sources, The Incas explores Inca history, culture, religion, politics, economics, and daily life. Readers will learn how the Incas discovered natural medicines still in use today, including the original source of aspirin; how they created masterful networks of highways and stone bridges to traverse the Andes; and how, from seemingly unfarmable lands, they managed to give the world potatoes, beans, corn, squash, tomatoes, avocados, peanuts, and peppers.

Contents:

Sources of Information about the Incas 6

Part 2 Inca Civilization

Chapter 2 Location of the Inca Civilization and Environmental Setting 19

Location 19

The Andean Environment 19

Andean Culture and Its Environment 24

Chapter 3 Historical and Chronological Setting 28

European Discovery of the Incas 28

Andean History before the Incas 33

Development of Andean Cultural Chronology 48

Chapter 4 Origins, Growth, and Decline of Inca Civilization 56

What the Incas Told the Spanish about Their Origins 57

What Scholars Have Learned about Inca Origins 62

The Inca Dynasty 68

Inca Rulers under Spanish Control 79

Chapter 5 The Economic Structure of the Inca State 83

Subsistence Patterns 83

The Inca Imperial Economy 87

Chapter 6 Social Organization and Social Structure 93

Estimating the Population of the Inca Empire 93

The Social Organization of Inca Civilization 96

The System of Social Classes 97

Life under Inca Rule 102

Inca Towns and Cities 108

Chapter 7 The Political Structure of the Inca State 112

Inca Government 112

Inca Decimal Administration 114

Administrative Infrastructure 115

The Inca Army 126

Social Engineering and the Disposition of Conquered Territories 131

Political Relations between the Incas and Their Subjects 133

Internal Politics among the Incas 134

Chapter 8 Religion and Ideology 137

Andean Cosmology 137

Inca State Ideology 138

Local-Level Ideology 139

Inca State Religion 142

Principal Rituals and Ceremonies of the State Religion 151

Principal Temples of the State Religion 155

Huacas: The Animistic Folk Religion 158

Chapter 9 Material Culture 161

Pottery 161

Wooden Objects 164

Metal 164

Cloth 167

Stone 169

Shell and Bone 171

Architecture 171

Chapter 10 Intellectual Accomplishments 179

Fine Arts 179

System of Measures 179

Language and Literacy 180

Inca Literacy, Mathematics, and Methods of Recording 182

Counting and Calculating Devices 185

Astronomical Knowledge 185

Part 3 Current Assessments

Chapter 11 Major Controversies and Future Directions in Inca Studies 195

Historicists vs. Structuralists: The Great Inca Debate 195

Issues in Inca Archaeology 197.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Sabin W. Colton, Jr., Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

1851095748

1851095799

OCLC:

62281813