INKA Economic Organization

在国家科学基金会的支持下，Terence D‘Altroy博士和Veronica Williams博士将监督从阿根廷两个地区的一系列印加遗址挖掘出的陶瓷的中子活化分析。印加帝国兴起于玻利维亚的高地，并将其控制范围扩大到从秘鲁北部延伸到阿根廷部分地区的大片地区。考虑到文字的缺乏和穿越极其崎岖的山区的简单道路系统，这样一个帝国的发展是一个了不起的成就。考虑到文化和语言上截然不同的群体被合并到帝国中，往往是违背他们的意愿，这一壮举甚至更令人印象深刻。考古学家希望了解印加人用来实现这种融合的机制，这个项目试图在印加人控制的地区的南端检查这个问题。与密苏里大学的反应堆科学家合作，研究人员将对一系列地点的陶瓷进行中子激活分析。这将使他们能够确定作为指纹的微量元素浓度，以表明哪些类型的陶瓷是由相同类型的粘土制成的。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在当地生产的，哪些是在其他地方生产并远距离进口的。特别是，调查人员希望将具有仪式意义的精品印加瓷器的起源与用于烹饪和其他日常生活任务的印卡瓷器进行比较。陶瓷起源的观点提供了对印加实行的直接控制的数量的洞察。调查人员推测，如果精美的瓷器是在当地生产的，那么印加统治是间接的，相当大的权力被割让给了当地前印加时代的政治结构。礼仪墨器的进口意味着通过贡品系统进行更直接的控制。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将为了解帝国等复杂组织是如何产生的提供新的见解。它还将增进我们对新世界最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.