Inka Storage Systems

Inka storage systems financed the Inka state, the largest prehistoric New World empire, which extended almost three thousand miles along the west coast of South America and into the Andean highlands. In this book, prominent anthropologists and archaeologists fully explore for the first time how Inka storage was integrated into the total Inka administrative system, how the central Inka authorities consolidated their power by controlling access to concentrated resources.
The massive wealth accumulated in Inka storehouses was a major theme in sixteenth-century accounts of the Spanish invasion of the Andes. The recent archaeological studies reported here reveal how and why the circular and rectangular Inka structures known as qollqa were built at high elevations where climatic conditions protected and preserved the contents.
The Inkas tailored the administration of their vast economy - which was without currency - to the resources of each region and the level of political sophistication of the local population. They filled the storehouses with agricultural products, textiles and other manufactured goods, and products of the state-owned mines, through an elaborate system of taxation based on corvee labor. As organization and deployment of economic surpluses became more efficient, the Inka rulers were able to tighten their centralized control.
This important contribution to Andean studies presents research from several regions and from the major projects studying Inka storage today - Huanuco Pampa, Pumpu, Hatun Xauxa, Valle Calchaqui and Huamachuco. The discussions range from a theoretical consideration of the Inka political economy to excavation and analysis of individual storage structures. This collection is unique because of its focus on storage and its emphasis on archaeological data complemented by ethnohistorical interpretations.

Terry Y. LeVine was Research Associate in the Institute of Archaeology and a Research Consultant in the Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California, Los Angeles.