understanding the global diversity of economic formations from a comparative
standpoint, a better understanding of the multiple spatial scales and the long-
term genesis of Inca systems of resource flow and accumulation remains a goal
of considerable interest beyond the specific realm of Andean studies.
Further Reading
D’Altroy, Terence N. Provincial Power in the Inka Empire. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press,
1992.
Hyslop, John. Inka Settlement Planning. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990.
LeVine, T., ed. Inka Storage Systems. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992.
Murra, John V. The Economic Organization of the Inka State. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 1980 [1956].
■NOA CORCORAN-TADDSUBSISTENCE
Subsistence practices in the Inca Empire varied widely due to the enormous
variability in environments. By minimizing disruption to local food production,
the Incas were able to generate the surpluses they needed to expand their empire
and maintain it. Subsistence can be divided into three main activities: farming,
herding, and fishing. Hunting of wild game such as guanaco, vicuña, and deer,
was apparently restricted to the Inca elite, though commoners probably engaged
in some small-scale hunting, such as trapping birds for their feathers.
Farming was the foundation of the Inca economy. It involved preparing the
fields for planting, which often began with clearing new land. Farming
implements were simple, consisting of a chaquitaqlla (foot plow), a hoe, and a
clod buster. Modern chaquitaqllas consist of a long wooden pole with a pointed
end or metal tip, a handle, and a foot rest near the tip; drawings by the Native
chronicler Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala indicate that Inca-era ones were
basically the same. The chaquitaqlla was used to dig up large chunks of earth
that were then turned over. The clod buster was a rock attached to a handle that
was used to break up the large clods of earth. A hoe consisted of a rock attached
at an angle, much like a modern hoe. The hoe was used both for fieldwork and to
clear irrigation canals.
Once the planting was done, which typically involved men and women, the
field would be left until harvest, unless irrigation was practiced, in which case
the field would periodically be watered from the local irrigation canal. When the
field was ready to be harvested, all members of the family participated, and often
ayllu members helped each other. The food was stored in each family’s house.
Today, and likely during Inca times, people celebrated the harvest, feasting,