INKA Economic Organization

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下。Terence D'Altroy和Veronica Williams将监督从阿根廷两个地区的一系列因卡遗址中挖掘出来的陶瓷的中子活化分析。印卡帝国兴起于玻利维亚高地，并将其控制范围扩大到从秘鲁北部到阿根廷部分地区的广大地区。考虑到缺乏文字和简单的道路系统，以及极其崎岖的山区地形，这样一个帝国的发展是一个了不起的成就。考虑到在文化和语言上截然不同的群体往往违背自己的意愿被纳入帝国，这一壮举就更令人印象深刻了。考古学家希望了解印卡人实现这种融合的机制，而这个项目试图在印卡人控制的地区的最南端研究这个问题。研究人员将与密苏里大学的反应堆科学家合作，对来自一系列地点的陶瓷进行中子活化分析。这将使他们能够确定微量元素的浓度，作为“指纹”，以表明哪些类型的陶瓷是由同一种粘土制成的。这通常允许陶瓷与单独的粘土来源相匹配。有了这些信息，就有可能确定哪些陶瓷是本地生产的，哪些是在其他地方生产并从很远的地方进口的。调查人员特别希望将具有仪式意义的精致印卡陶器与用于烹饪和其他世俗生活任务的器皿的起源进行比较。陶瓷的起源点提供了对印卡人直接控制的数量的洞察。调查人员推测，如果精美的陶器是在当地生产的，那么印卡人的统治是间接的，相当大的权力被割让给了当地的前印卡政治结构。印卡礼器的进口表明朝贡制度对其进行了更直接的控制。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将提供新的见解，以了解像帝国这样的复杂组织是如何产生的。它还将增加我们对新世界最高度发达的史前文明之一的了解。

With National Science Foundation support Drs. Terence D'Altroy and Veronica Williams will oversee neutron activation analysis of ceramics excavated from a series of Inka sites in two regions of Argentina. The Inka empire arose in the highlands of Bolivia and extended its control over a wide area which stretched from northern Peru to portions of Argentina. Given the lack of writing and a simple system of roads which ran over extremely rough mountainous terrain, the development of an such an empire is a remarkable accomplishment. The feat is even more impressive given the very culturally and linguistically distinct groups which were incorporated, often against their will into the empire. Archaeologists wish to understand the mechanisms which the Inka employed to achieve such integration and this project seeks to examine this question at the southern extreme of the area which the Inka controlled. In collaboration with reactor scientists at the University of Missouri, the investigators will conduct neutron activation analysis of ceramics from a series of sites. This will allow them to determine the trace element concentrations which serve as `fingerprints` to indicate which types of ceramics are made from the same kind of clay. This often allows matching of ceramics with individual clay sources. With this information it will be possible to determine which ceramics were produced locally and which were made elsewhere and imported long distances. In particular the investigators wish to compare the origins of elite finely made Inka wares which have ritual significance with those used for cooking and other mundane subsistence tasks. The points of ceramic origin provide insight into the amount of direct control the Inka exercised. The investigators speculate that if fine wares are produced locally, Inka rule was indirect and considerable authority was ceded to local pre-Inka political structures. Importation of ritual Inka ware suggests more direct control with a tribute system. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide new insight into how complex organizations such as empires arise. It will also increase our understanding of one of the most highly developed prehistoric civilizations in the New World.