How did the Incans maintain power
over their empire?
In
the National Geographic Special Inca
Mummies: Secrets of the Lost World (2009), it is noted that during the time
of the Incan Empire, as few as 100,000 Incas were able to rule over 10 million
subjects. In an interview, Terence D’Altroy, a professor of anthropology at
Columbia, points to a combination of innovations and the continuation of
existing structures as allowing the Inca to maintain control over this huge
empire. The Inca moved many of those living in the lands they came to control,
to increase the agricultural productivity of the empire or for political
reasons, and created a vast system of roads (Tyson, 2010). However, the Inca
also tried to present themselves as a larger version of the pre-existing system
of local lords, seeking to create a system of mutual obligations that tied
their subjects to the Empire (Tyson, 2010).
What was the role of the
Capacocha sacrifices in the power structure of the Empire?
In
addition to the religious associations of the Capacocha child sacrifices, these
acts played an important role in the way that Inca rulers maintained control
over the expanse of their Empire. Andrushko, Buzon,
Gibaja, McEwan, Simonetti, and Creaser (2011) note that one reason such rituals
would be performed would be to mark a historic event in the life of the
emperor. Furthermore, they point out that the children selected were chosen
from the far reaches of the Empire (2011).
This incorporation of children, and through them of villages, from well
away from the center of the state into an event that could have as its primary
cause the life of the person who most represented that state served as a form
of bringing the more geographically isolated elements into closer association
with the whole. Reinhard and Stenzel (1996) also comment on the unifying
element of the sacrifices. They point out how the children were often taken to
Cuzco, the capitol city, for celebrations before the sacrifice, refocusing
attention on this center. Capacocha sacrifices also occurred on sacred
mountains that had strong religious importance for the people of those areas;
by holding this ritual in those places, the Inca authorities incorporated the
deities of the mountain into the state religion (Reinhard, J., & Stenzel,
M., 1996).
The element of honor of
these rituals also enabled further Inca control by encouraging a desire to
participate. The child involved in the sacrifice was thought to become a deity,
and becoming such a sacrifice brought great honor and prestige to the family
involved (Hammond, 1991). This is illustrated in the National Geographic Mummified Child Sacrifice video. Through
analysis of a sample of hair from the mummy La Doncella, researchers learned
that a year prior to her death, the girl’s diet shifted to include maize and
animal proteins, markers of a noble diet. Such changes as diet were likely ways
that those chosen to participate in Capacocha sacrifices experienced the honor
of the act. It is possible that one of the reasons the Inca were so successful
in expressing control in this way was because the people welcomed this honor.
What was the role of the royal
mummies in the power structure of the Empire?
Baur
and Rodríguez (2007) discuss an excavation hoping to uncover some of the royal
mummies lost during the Spanish conquest of the Incan Empire. They remark that
“when the Spaniards entered the city, they were amazed to see the mummies of
previous kings and queens playing an active role in the politics of the day”
(Baur, B.S., & Rodríguez, A.C., 2007). The mummies of previous Inca rulers
were not separated from the day to day functioning of the empire. In the
palaces, they were used as advisers to the current king, and the most trusted
were used as ambassadors; at times throughout the year, the mummies were
publically assembled in the plaza. Baur and Rodríguez explain this approach as
a way to legitimize the current king. They argue that this display served as a
physical, direct line of descent of divine leaders stretching back through
time. Such proof of descent was perhaps particularly important for the Inca
leaders because, in addition to the need to maintain the loyalty of the outer
regions of the empire, there could often be internal power struggles. The Inca
did not have a concept of primogeniture; legitimacy as a ruler was decided
through success, fostering competition and disagreement (Tyson, 2010). In such
a system, the ability to display a line of ancestors and predecessors may have
been a way to further legitimize rule.
One
of the topics discussed by Metcalf and Huntington in Celebrations of Death
(1991) is the way that royal corpses are manipulated to serve the living (p.
135). Some of the examples they discuss include the use of effigies, such as
with the Shilluk or in France, that represent the immortal kingship by
representing the ruler or the power of the ruler in the period between the
death of the old ruler and the time the new ruler formally takes power (p. 163,
173). With the French monarchy particularly, the effigy is made to resemble the
king as closely as possible, and for several days it is treated as though it
were the king himself (p. 175). Such a situation seems to draw an interesting
parallel with the Inca example. There certainly seem to be important ideas of
religion and ancestry involved with the treatment of Inca mummies;
additionally, in the Inca practice the mummies continue to hold importance
after a new ruler has taken power, while in France the effigies serve largely
to hold the place for the next king. However, the line of leaders that was at
times put on display in the plaza could be related to the importance of the
idea of an immortal kingship that lives beyond individuals who may hold it for
a time. In both situations, the divine right and inevitable continuity of
leadership seem to be expressed to at least some extent.
Works Cited
Andrushko, V. A., Buzon,
M. R., Gibaja, A. M., McEwan, G. F., Simonetti, A., & Creaser, R. A.
(2011). Investigating a child sacrifice event from the Inca heartland. Journal of
Archaeological Science, 38(2), 323- 333.
Bauer, B. S., & Rodríguez, A. C. (2007). The
Hospital of San Andrés (Lima, Peru) and the
Search for the Royal Mummies of the Incas. Field Museum of Natural History.
Hammond,
N. (1991, May 28). Mummified body is key to Inca ritual. The Times.
Inca Mummies: Secrets of the Lost
World. (2009).
National Geographic. Retrieved
February 29, 2012 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OerL1XonmEs&feature=relmfu.
Metcalf,
P., & Huntington, R. (1991). Celebrations
of Death: The Anthropology of Mortuary
Ritual. Cambridge: Cambridge University.
Mummified Child Sacrifice. (2009). National Geographic.
Retrieved February 29, 2012 from
Reinhard, J., &
Stenzel, M. (1996). At 22,000 feet children of Inca sacrifice found frozen in
time.
National Geographic, 196(5).
Tyson,
P. (Ed.). (2010, January). Rise of the
Inca. Retrieved March 14, 2012, from
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