Introduction
The Incas built their empire in less than a century. This in itself was an extraordinary achievement, but other empires have expanded as rapidly or even more so. For example, Alexander the Great’s conquests of the Middle East occurred in less than 30 years. Conquering people is a relatively straightforward thing to do; all one needs is many well-armed soldiers and effective military leaders. However, to integrate conquered peoples into a single empire that functions as a unit with central control is much more difficult. This is especially so when the conquered societies are spread out over a broad area of very rugged terrain, such as the Andes mountains. Perhaps the greatest achievement of the Incas is that they appear to have successfully organized all the groups they conquered into an empire that did function as a unit (Adams, 1999).
The Inca empire was administered by a well-developed bureaucracy that collected tribute and distributed it. At the top was the king, who was the ultimate authority on all matters. Below the king were four officials, called apos, each in charge of one of the quarters. These officials were close advisors of the king and probably relatives as well. Each province had a governor who was responsible for its affairs. There were more than 80 provinces in the Inca empire, so this added 80 or more individuals to the bureaucracy. Each governor was under the orders of the apo of the quarter in which his province lay (Adams, 1999).
Arts and Crafts
During the Initial Period, pottery, or baked clay vessels, made their appearance in the area of modern Peru. Along the coast, a much expanded use of domesticated food plants is associated with this development. There was a dramatic shift in the locations of villages, also: many coastal villages were abandoned and new settlements were located much farther inland, away from the ocean. The shift apparently corresponded to an important new development: irrigation. Towns were now located where water could be drawn out of the rivers through small canals to irrigate the fields (Adams, 1999).
Cultural Identity
The kinds of food and drink consumed by commoners were the same as the Incas consumed. The only difference was that the Inca nobility used plates made of gold or silver while commoners used ceramic or wooden ones.
Both men and women lived in their parents’ houses until they married, at which time they set up their own household. If a son was a member of a royal family, he could live in Cuzco and have his own and his family’s needs met through tribute to his panaca. Daughters of a royal household could remain with their panaca or marry into their husband’s panaca. Many nobles also owned private lands, or estates, that provided the necessary income (food, principally). Thus, like the privileged in many societies, the sons and daughters of the wealthy and elite had their basic needs met by the state or by family means. They were also exempt from paying tribute or participating in the m’ita. A son of a member of the non-royal ayllu might become an administrator or other state official, such as a quipu accountant. He might also serve in the army. He might own land, although it is probable that yanaconas worked it for him (Adams, 1999).
Government
The second key to the Incas’ success in forming a unified empire was their organization of conquered peoples. Pachacuti, the ninth king, is credited with setting up the empire and making it run effectively, although it is possible that the process began earlier. The empire was divided into four suyus, or divisions: Chinchaysuyu (north), Collasuyu (south), Antisuyu (east), and Cuntisuyu (west), which radiated from the capital city of Cuzco. The suyus were not equal in size; the north and south divisions were large, and the east and west quarters were small.
The Inca empire was administered by a well-developed bureaucracy that collected tribute and distributed it. At the top was the king, who was the ultimate authority on all matters. Below the king were four officials, called apos, each in charge of one of the quarters. These officials were close advisors of the king and probably relatives as well. Each province had a governor who was responsible for its affairs. There were more than 80 provinces in the Inca empire, so this added 80 or more individuals to the bureaucracy. Each governor was under the orders of the apo of the quarter in which his province lay (Adams, 1999).
Inca law applied to many activities such as tribal rights, division of land, policy of rotation for work, and even support of the elderly and disabled. Inca law was quite severe, laying out strict punishments for many offenses. The higher the status of the individual, the more severe the punishment for a crime. For example, adultery among commoners was punishable by torture; but if the woman was a noble, both parties were executed. Crimes against the government were treated with special severity. Stealing from the fields of the state was punishable by death.
The judicial system was based on the administrative one, with the appropriate curaca presiding over the proceedings. For example, if a case involved grievances of one individual against another but both were within the same unit of 100 households, then the curaca of that unit officiated. However, if the case was against an individual from another unit of 100, then the curaca of 500 who was in charge of both would be the official. Crimes punishable by death, such as those mentioned above, were taken to the provincial governor or king (Adams, 1999).
Thus a new king had to find a source of wealth for himself and his ayllu members. This involved using the power and authority of the office of king to obtain land, goods, and services. Some experts think this may be why the Incas began their wars of conquest: the new kings had to conquer additional lands to gain wealth for themselves, because all the lands around Cuzco had been taken by earlier kings (Adams, 1999).
Painting, Pottery and Metalwork
In South America, pre-Columbian art is chiefly Peruvian from about the first to sixth centuries A.D. Within this area there were various local cultures, e.g., Early Chimu or Mochica, that produced pottery jars with realistic pictures of human beings and animals; the finest of these are portrait heads of warriors. All show the adaptation of subject to the shape of the jar. The Nazca art of Peru is less realistic and has more geometrical designs, and stylized and fanciful forms. The last Peruvian culture before the arrival of the Spanish was the Inca Empire. This nation, however, abandoned mural painting and used sheets of beaten gold for temple decoration (Adams, 1999).
The Bird-Priest could be identified as such by the occupant’s headdress, which was adorned with an owl, as well nose ornaments and a backflap. Unlike the women in the Warrior-Priest tomb, the woman in this tomb appeared to have been sacrificed. Her skeleton was totally articulated. She was face down, suggesting that her body was thrown into the tomb right before the tomb was sealed (Adams, 1999).
The Incas used metals for various purposes. Gold and silver were used extensively, but only for luxury items and ceremonial objects (e.g., llama figurines) that were often buried with sacrificial victims at the tops of mountains. The use of these two metals was restricted to the Inca nobility. The lower classes used copper, a soft metal that can easily be worked to achieve a variety of shapes, for items of personal adornment (e.g., large pins used for holding shawls closed), as additions to clothing, and for a variety of ceremonial objects such as sacrificial knives. On the other hand, because it is soft, copper is not good for making tools. The metal of choice for tools was bronze, a combination of copper and tin or arsenic. Bronze was used for axes, chisels, knives, tweezers, and war-club heads as well as jewelry and other objects (Adams, 1999).
Silver and copper are found as ores (i.e., rocks with several kinds of materials mixed together). Once the ore was removed from the mine, the valuable metal had to be separated from the rest of the material. This was done by heating the ore. Different metals have different melting temperatures, and can be removed at different times during the heating process. Copper may also have been used without heating, as it is a soft material and is found in relatively pure deposits.
Because the use of silver and gold was restricted to the government, mining for these metals was carefully regulated. Copper was used much more widely and thus was unregulated. The ore deposits and mines were considered sacred places, and ceremonies were conducted in their honor (Adams, 1999).
Architecture ( Talk Mainly About Machu Piccu)
A special kind of settlement in the Inca empire was the private estate. This comprised lands and associated structures that belonged to a particular person or institution. Most of the best-known ones were owned by Inca kings or people close to them: brothers, uncles, even favored concubines. Because each king had to find new land and wealth for himself, he developed his own new estates. Thus much of the agricultural land surrounding Cuzco was actually privately owned. As the number of kings expanded, new estates were founded in the adjacent Vilcanota-Urubamba valley. Other estates, however, were located in the provinces far from the capital.
The Incas made astronomical observations, but only of the sun, moon, and some constellations. Most astronomical bodies were considered to be deities, as they were to many ancient peoples.
Conclusion
The Incas did not have a special medium that could be defined as art in the way that modern paintings or sculptures are considered art. What art existed is found on pottery, wooden cups, and cloth. There can be little doubt that art took a back seat to function. Inca art did not attain the levels of beauty that are attributed to the earlier Moche or Nasca cultures, but it is well made and attractive. This is probably due in part to the Incas’ practice of bringing the finest craftspeople from conquered regions to make their artwork for them.
A common criticism of Inca art is that it is repetitive and lacks imagination with regard to subject matter. The Incas used a relatively small number of decorative elements, especially triangles, feather patterns, and squares. Plants, flowers, llamas, pumas, and human figures were also used, although very often in a stylized and geometric manner. This is partly because Inca art was mass-produced and partly because the purpose of the art was to convey symbolic messages about the Incas’ power. The variety of forms and color combinations is certainly less than in earlier societies.
Some aspects of Inca art have not survived for modern appreciation. There were reports that the walls of the Coricancha were sheathed in gold and that the Inca king had a garden consisting of gold and silver models of plants and animals. It is also likely that houses were plastered and painted. The probable medium of choice for artistic expression was cloth, little of which survived either the Spanish Conquest or the ravages of time.
One can find an aesthetic quality in Inca stone working, in the way that the massive supporting stones were fitted with their edges recessed.
Works Cited
Laurie Schneider Adams, Art across Time, vol. 1 Boston: McGraw-Hill College, 1999