indigenous communities have been able to keep keros as prized possessions.
They are carefully wrapped in textiles and on special ritual occasions are brought
out as heirlooms, passed down from father to eldest son.
Further Reading
Cummins, Thomas B. F. Toasts with the Inca: Andean Abstraction and Colonial Images on Quero Vessels.
Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2002.
Howe, Emily, Emily Kaplan, Judith Levinson, and Ellen Pearlstein. “Análisis técnico de qeros pintados de
Períodos Inca y Colonial.” Iconos: Revista peruana de conservación, arte y arqueología no. 2, 30–38,
1999.
Ochoa, Jorge Flores, Elizabeth Kuon Arce, and Roberto Samanéz Argumedo. Qeros: Arte Inka en Vasos
Ceremoniales. Lima: Banco de Credito, 1998.
Rowe, John. “The Chronology of Inca Wooden Cups.” In Essays in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology,
edited by S. Lothrop et al., 317–41. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1961.
■THOMAS B. F. CUMMINS
KING LIST
Most scholars describe the Inca dynasty as composed of 12 male monarchs who
passed a royal office (Sapa Inca, sole or unique Inca) from father to son from
the time of the founding ancestor until the 1530s. The list currently used (see
table) comes from chronicles written from the 1550s until the 1570s, but king
lists recorded before or after that period differ from the “official” dynasty used
today. Many early sources only mention the last three or four rulers, and
accounts tracing the Incas from their creation myth to the conquest present early
rulers in different order and include individuals who were omitted in the 1570s
list. Pedro de Cieza de León, for example, names Inca Urcon as the ninth ruler,
whereas later lists omit him. The king list that was established by the 1570s
differs from the later account of Antonio Vázquez de Espinosa, which reflects
the Inca lineages that were recognized by the Spanish crown throughout the
Colonial period.
Inca Rulers and Their Colonial Descendants
Name Colonial Lineage
1 Manco Capac Chima
2 Sinchi Roca Raora
3 Lloque Yupanqui Hahuanina
4 Mayta Capac Usca Mayta
5 Capac Yupanqui Apu Mayta
6 Inca Roca Vicaquirao