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

在Joyce Marcus博士的指导下，R. Alan Covey先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。利用草、碳化玉米和烧焦木材的样本，他将获得放射性碳测年，这将有助于回答有关印卡帝国的几个重要问题。这些样本是柯维在维尔卡诺塔山谷（通常被称为圣谷）的区域调查研究和挖掘中收集的，该山谷位于印卡首都库斯科的北部。新的日期将有助于完善我们对公元1000年至1450年间地区陶器和建筑风格发展的理解，在这段时间里，印卡帝国在库斯科山谷形成，并开始了第一次帝国征服。对于这一时期，一个明确的考古年表将阐明使印卡帝国快速扩张的一些过程，提供额外的证据，可以与西班牙殖民时期对印卡历史的描述进行比较。柯维的研究目标是描述印卡人如何创造了一个整合良好的帝国中心地带，其中包括圣谷（Sacred Valley），在印卡之前，这个地区被几个不同的民族占领。本研究整合了四个独立的数据集：(1)通过系统调查收集的区域聚落格局；(2)印卡前民居的发掘资料；(3)殖民时期西班牙语对印卡人历史的描述；（四）研究地区的殖民时期土地权属档案资料。虽然西班牙编年史提供了有关印卡人起源的宝贵信息，但它们并没有为这一时期提供可靠的年表。考古数据的全部潜力仍然没有实现，因为仍然没有一个明确的放射性碳年表来细分从公元1000年到1450年的时期。更准确的年表将反过来为分析印卡早期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卡帝国扩张和管理的过程是通过长期的区域政治互动和整合战略发展起来的。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。它还将帮助培训一名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.