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The Huánuco Pampa Archaeological Project. Volume 1, The plaza and palace complex

2011; American Museum of Natural History; Volume: 96; Linguagem: Inglês

10.5531/sp.anth.0096

0065-9452

Craig Morris, R. Alan Covey, Pat H. Stein,

Indigenous Cultures and History

This volume represents the first in a series of publications detailing the archaeological research conducted by Craig Morris and his colleagues at Huánuco Pampa, an Inka provincial administrative center located in highland Peru.The site offers a unique opportunity to study Inka urbanism, and the present publication discusses the form and function of Inka cities, as well as the extent to which the Andean urban form could be coopted by the Spanish empire after the conquest of the Inkas.Open spaces and special state compounds were key components of Inka administrative centers, and attention is given to the archaeological remains found in and around the central plaza at Huánuco Pampa.Buildings on the plaza were probably used by local provincial groups for festive and ceremonial activities presided over by Inka officials.While the central plaza provided space for a broad provincial constituency, a series of smaller open spaces in the Zone IIB administrative palace offered more exclusive areas for encounters between provincial and Inka elites.After discussing Inka palace compounds, the archaeological focus turns to excavations inside structures and in exterior spaces in the palace, revealing patterns of access and degrees of status in the transit from accessible administrative spaces to restricted residential ones.An appendix to the volume provides a detailed description of the analysis of ceramic artifacts from excavations at Huánuco Pampa.This monograph is the product of roughly 40 years of research and analysis in the field and laboratory.The Huánuco Pampa project would never have been designed or implemented without Craig Morris' perseverance and professional commitment, and it would never have achieved success without the determination and good judgment that he invested over the years as he established himself as the preeminent Inka researcher of his generation.Sadly, Morris' untimely passing in June 2006 prevented him from shepherding this monograph through its final drafts, and his absence is felt in the final production of this publication.The Huánuco Pampa Archaeological Project successfully conducted excavations and laboratory analysis at a scale seldom achieved in Andean archaeology, and Morris would have been the first to note that this was only because he could rely on dedicated fieldworkers, capable supervisors, devoted friends, and supportive colleagues along the way.The full dramatis personae of the project-more than 300 people working from the 1960s to the present-is too long to list, and in his absence I cannot name every individual who made valuable contributions to the overall success of the project.Instead, I recapitulate acknowledgements that Morris made over the years in print, correspondence, and conversation, with apologies to those whom I fail to mention.Morris' excavations at Huánuco Pampa came on the heels of his participation in John Murra's anthropological study of the region in the 1960s, a project that served as the model for interdisciplinary research at the Inka administrative capital.Murra provided inspiration, advice, and collegial input throughout the many years that Morris directed archaeological research in the Huánuco region.Morris' dissertation excavations and the subsequent urban excavation project benefited from interactions with colleagues who were involved in other aspects of Murra's Huánuco research, including