The Perception and Study of Rural Change in the Andes: The Inka Case

Abstract

Archaeologists investigating social complexity often focus on traits that differentiate complex societies from the simpler organizational forms preceding them. Few approaches address the role of households or communities in the development and consolidation of complex polities. Those that do, notably hierarchy models, treat such constituent elements as unchanging and irrelevant to the operation of the system as a whole. An examination of the Inka empire indicates that imperial expansion both modified and was predicated upon the organization of conquered groups. This suggests that archaeologists must address both the structure and history of rural hinterlands in models of social complexity.