Encyclopedia of the Incas

drinking, dancing and playing music, and making offerings of thanks to the gods.
Harvest celebrations for different crops followed a ritual calendar.
Crops grown for the empire were transported to a regional administrative
center where they could be stored for the empire’s uses (see Storage). Thus,
local people not only harvested and stored their own food, but harvested and
transported the crops of the Incas as well.
In addition to local production, the Incas developed state farms in many
regions of the empire and staffed them with permanent workers, either
mitmacuna or yanacuna (see Labor Service). Crops grown on state farms were
also transported to storage facilities, though often these farms were located close
to such facilities.
Herding was a second major activity of Andean people. Llamas and alpacas
were the two domesticated camelids; the former served principally as a pack
animal, while the latter was largely exploited for its fine fiber (see Animals,
Domesticated). Domesticated camelids also served as sacrificial animals, with
hundreds used for this purpose yearly in Cuzco (see Religion). Finally, llamas
and alpacas were a source of food. For local people, they were consumed when
they were too old for other purposes, while for the Inca elite, they could be eaten
at a younger, tenderer age.
It is likely that most highland households herded llamas and alpacas, though
the numbers of animals varied widely. Unlike fields, which were considered the
property of an individual’s ayllu and not the individual, animals were owned by
households. Many chroniclers observed that individuals also owned herds, and
certainly local lords maintained herds, some of considerable size.
Llamas and alpacas were essential to the operation of households. Llamas were
needed for transporting goods from fields to home. Alpaca fiber was used for
clothing, although llama fiber could also be used. There were no tools specific to
herding, as the animals were simply driven to pasture or fields until they
returned home. This was work of older children and adolescents. Pasture land
was likely owned by ayllus and used jointly by its members.
The Incas also developed large herds of camelids for state purposes. While
fields could be divided for state and local uses, herds could not. Chroniclers and
legal documents from the Colonial period note the taking of local herds by the
Incas. As large herds of camelids thrived on the altiplano in pre-Inca times, it is
no surprise that this region was a target of early Inca conquests.
The Incas needed large herds of llamas for transporting food to warehouses
and also to provision the armies as they conducted their campaigns. A male