Further Reading
D’Altroy, Terance. Provincial Power in the Inka Empire. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press,
1992.
Mackey, Carol. “The Socioeconomic and Ideological Transformation of Farfán under Inka Rule.” In Distant
Provinces in the Inka Empire. Toward a Deeper Understanding of Inka Imperialism, edited by Michael
A. Malpass and Sonia Alconini, 221–59. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2010.
Pozorski, Shelia. “Subsistence Systems in the Chimú State.” In Chan Chan. Andean Desert City, edited by
Michael E. Moseley and Kent C. Day, 177–96. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1982.
Rostworowski de Diez Canseco, María. Étnia y Sociedad: Costa Peruana Prehispánica. Lima: Instituto de
Estudios Peruanos, 1977.
Wilk, Richard R., and William L. Rathje. “Household Archaeology.” American Behavioral Scientist 25, no.
6: 617–39, 1982.
■MICHAEL A. MALPASS
ESTATES, ROYAL
Royal estates formed a critical part of Inca imperial life. They served as private
retreats for the acting Inca ruler, as temporary capitals when the ruler was in
residence, and as centers for the panacas (royal descent groups) after a king’s
death. Thus, royal estates reflected the personal interests of a ruler, the
particularities of his reign, and the collective identity and power of his panaca.
In Cuzco, each ruler had a palace or royal compound that symbolized his
authority and housed critical functions related to his life and rule. In rural areas,
royal estates had similar associations and functions, and thus extended imperial
and personal authority from the sacred capital to the countryside. Pachacuti, for
instance, is reported to have had a royal complex in Cuzco called Condorcancha,
but built at least three royal estates: Pisac, Ollantaytambo, and Machu Picchu.
His son Topa Inca Yupanqui erected an urban compound called Calispuquio in
Cuzco, but toward the end of his rule built Chinchero, a royal estate north of
Cuzco overlooking the Urubamba valley. Pachacuti’s grandson Huayna Capac
had at least one Cuzco compound called Casana, but also constructed a lavish
retreat in the Urubamba valley known variously as Yucay and Quispihuanca.
Pachacuti’s great-grandson Huascar, who rose briefly to power amidst a violent
civil war, seized land in Cuzco for his urban compounds of Amarucancha and
Colcampata yet still found the time to build his own royal estate at Calca (not far
from where his great-grandfather Viracocha built his estate of Caquia
Xaquixuaguana). For the Incas, royal estates were not simple expressions of
leisure, but instead, constructed to be the material manifestations of a potent
leader beyond the imperial capital.