Encyclopedia of the Incas

governing elite—at once establishes both social relations and social hierarchy.
The recognition that feasts are often aimed at the acquisition or maintenance of
social or economic power is articulated by the notion of commensal politics,
which has been employed by archaeologists to good effect in a variety of studies
focused on early states and empires.
The processes and practices of feasting are amenable to archaeological
detection due to the fact that many of the activities associated with feasting,
including especially food preparation, consumption, and disposal, leave behind
significant material remains. The different types of archaeological data that have
been brought to bear in the investigation of commensal politics and state-
sponsored feasting include paleobotanical and zooarchaeological remains;
culinary equipment; architectural, osteological, and funerary remains; soil
geochemistry; spatial and contextual data; and iconographic and epigraphic
materials. Ethnohistoric and ethnographic data also provide useful sources of
information and analogy for the investigation of feasting as a significant cultural
practice within early states.
In the Andean context, food presentation and feasting have long been seen as
critical to the consolidation of power. Archaeological studies of the Inca’s
imperial predecessors, the Huari and the Tiahuanaco, have provided insights into
the importance of ritual feasting and large-scale chicha (maize beer)
consumption during the Middle Horizon (see Chronology, Pre-Inca). These
earlier Andean states promoted new culinary and commensal traditions that saw
the creation of new and distinctive ritual feasting wares. The Middle Horizon
approaches to empire-building in the Andes arguably laid the groundwork for the
political practices developed by the Inca several centuries later.
For the Inca, the importance of reciprocity, hospitality, and feasting as key
components of imperial statecraft was first discussed by John V. Murra. The
labor service owed the state by local communities (mit’a) was typically
appropriated under the rubric of reciprocity. An important aspect of labor
exchange in the Andes was the understanding that the work party would be fully
provisioned by the sponsor in terms of raw materials, tools, food, and drink.
Such ethnographically derived insights have been borne out archaeologically at
Inca administrative centers such as Huánuco Pampa, where enormous quantities
of imperial Inca jar and plate fragments, suggesting large-scale chicha
consumption and food-serving activities, were recovered in structures flanking
the main plaza. Archaeological mapping of Inca administrative centers together
with analysis of spatial layouts and architecture make clear that the characteristic