Doctoral Dissertation Research: Processes of Early Inca State Expansion in the Sacred Valley (Cusco, Peru)

在乔伊斯·马库斯博士的指导下，R·艾伦·柯维先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。利用草、碳化的玉米和烧焦的木头的样本，他将获得放射性碳日期，这将有助于回答关于印加帝国的几个重要问题。这些样本是柯维在维尔卡诺塔山谷(俗称圣谷)进行区域调查研究和挖掘时收集的，该山谷位于印加首府库斯科以北。新的日期将有助于我们加深对公元1000-1450年之间地区陶器和建筑风格发展的理解，在这段时间里，印加帝国在库斯科山谷形成，并开始了第一次帝国征服。一份明确的这一时期的考古年表将阐明印加帝国迅速扩张的一些过程，提供额外的证据，可以与殖民时期西班牙对印加历史的描述相提并论。柯维的研究目标是描述印加如何创造一个整合良好的帝国心脏地带，其中包括圣谷，这是一个在前印加时期被几个不同民族占领的地区。这项工作整合了四个独立的数据集：(1)系统调查中收集的区域聚落模式；(2)前印加家庭的挖掘数据；(3)殖民时期西班牙对印加历史的记载；(4)关于研究区域土地保有权的殖民档案文件。虽然西班牙编年史提供了关于印加起源的宝贵信息，但它们并没有提供这一时期的可靠年表。考古数据的全部潜力仍然没有实现，因为仍然没有清晰的放射性碳年代学来细分公元1000年至1450年的时期。更准确的年表将反过来为分析早期印加领土扩张过程提供更有力的区域数据。这一研究具有重要意义，因为它将有助于证明印加帝国的扩张和管理过程是通过长期的区域政治互动和一体化战略发展起来的。柯维先生的研究将促进我们对促进帝国形成和扩张的条件的理解。它还将帮助培养一位有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Joyce Marcus, Mr. R. Alan Covey will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. Using samples of grass, carbonized corn, and charred wood, he will obtain radiocarbon dates that will help to answer several important questions about the Inka empire. The samples were collected during Covey's regional survey research and excavations in the Vilcanota Valley (known popularly as the Sacred Valley), located immediately to the north of Cusco, the Inka capital. The new dates will help to refine our understanding of the development of regional pottery and architectural styles between AD 1000-1450, the time during which the Inka empire formed in the Cusco Valley and began its first imperial conquests. A well-defined archaeological chronology for this period will elucidate some of the processes enabling rapid Inka imperial expansion, providing an additional line of evidence that can be compared to Colonial Spanish accounts of Inka history.The goal of Mr. Covey's research is to describe how the Inka created a well-integrated imperial heartland that included the Sacred Valley, an area occupied by several different ethnic groups in the pre-Inka period. This work integrates four independent datasets: (1) regional settlement patterns, collected in a systematic survey; (2) excavation data from pre-Inka households; (3) Colonial period Spanish accounts of Inka history; and (4) Colonial archival documents on land tenure in the study region. While the Spanish chronicles provide valuable information about Inka origins, they do not offer a reliable chronology for this period. The full potential of archaeological data has remained unrealized because a clear radiocarbon chronology is still not available to subdivide the period from AD 1000-1450. A more accurate chronology will in turn yield more powerful regional data for analyzing the processes of early Inka territorial expansion.This research is important because it will help to demonstrate that processes of Inka imperial expansion and administration were developed through a long period of regional political interactions and integration strategies. Mr. Covey's research will advance our understanding of the conditions that promote the formation and expansion of empires. It will also assist in training a promising young scientist.