I am having a hard time explaining the material culture of the pre-Columbian Andean world to my students. Most of the time they fall into the trap of describing the Andean economic system as a type of proto-Communist existence. I try to incorporate the work of Salomon's Native Lords of Quito, but since it is a different region, it does not always convince them that the Andean economic system was as complex as it was. Even their understanding of reciprocity drifts to an inaccurate understanding of the system. How would you describe the economic system of the Andean world, in general? How would you suggest avoiding the proto-Communism trap? Thanks for doing the AMA.

Oh man, I'm excited for this one!

For /u/Pachacamac: What is your take on the origins complexity in the Norte Chico region? In what ways does this differ from the traditional "Old World" models for the origins of complex societies? Does this contradict the classic "neo-evolutionary" model? In terms of the current academic debate, do you side more with Shady or with Haas and Creamer (and could you explain)?

For /u/Qhapaqocha: It's my understanding that a good chunk of the Inca highway system was actually built by the Wari - an earlier highland empire. My question is: If the Inca were incorporating earlier Wari infrastructure, were they also incorporating Wari ideas of statecraft? Did they have any records and/or oral history from the time of the Wari? Did they consciously or unconsciously borrow from the Wari imperial strategy?

Hello!

Which books can you recommend to read for non-specialist about Andean cultures? Are there anything like Illustrated History of Andes?

Thanks!

Why were the andean civilizations so much more succesful than others that had much better starting points? Or is the premise flawed? A priori, one would think that the people from the plains on the Río de la Plata had much better starting conditions to found an agricultural civilization (better terrain, more benign weather, easy access to food, etc)

I have limited knowledge of this stuff but what I remember has always left me wondering how accurate it was. Sorry for a lot of questions but these are the ones I've always wondered about.

1. Is there an indigenous written language for you to work with?

2. To what extent do you rely on early European documents from the area?

3. What about the 'sequence of knots' way of keeping records is that a thing?

4. How about the complex artwork with all the inlaid birds and caymans and jaguars and stuff, is that like heiroglyphics, does it have meaning or are they just cool pictures?

5. How extensive was the road network and does any of it still survive today?

6. Is it true that the pre-European people never made use of or 'invented' the wheel? Thanks

• Earlier today we had a question about non-Inca civilizations in South America. For reasons I won't get into here, that question was removed. But since the Inca do tend to dominate modern perception of Andean history, could either of you assemble of quick timeline of other Andean civilizations.

• The use of llama and alpaca wool in the Andeans is well known, but one of the first things that sent me scrambling through Charles Mann's awkward citations in 1491 was mention of Wayna Qhapaq wearing vampire-bat wool (the source on that is a 1969 translation of Pedro Pizarro's Relation of the Discovery and Conquest of the Kingdoms of Peru). Unfortunately no additional information is given and it's been driving me crazy. Is it legitimate, a translation error, a case of mistaken identity, a Spanish flight of fancy? If it's legitimate, how would the Inca have acquired the number of bats necessary to make wool? Would it be a luxury item? Perhaps a bit easier to address: what other unexpected uses of animals might one have found in the pre-Spanish Andes?

• The Chimu and the Chachapoya were both conquered by Tupac Inca Yupanqui, but we seem to know a lot more about the Chimu than the Chachapoya. Why is that?

• EDIT: Just to toss another Inca conquest question on the list. Early conquests seemed to focus on the area north of Cuzco and conquered bits and pieces over several generations. When the Inca turned their attention south, they seem to have conquered a huge swath of territory in a comparatively short time. Did they just have conquering momentum behind them at that point, less substantial opposition, or was something else going on?

Europeans are famous for their invention and widespread use of things like the heavy plough, horseshoe, waterwheels and so forth to really 'industrialize' and improve the output of food production, especially in formerly inarable lands.

So I'm curious how the South American natives faired. What kind of situations did they have to deal with on an agricultural level that may have stunted or improved growth and production of foodstuffs? What significant technologies or methods were developed throughout the ages? Were there any parallels in technology or methods between the natives and the European people that you know of?

Kind of a side question on that note, just how centralized was agriculture in your respective areas of study? Was it more of everyone worked on their own sustenance, was it more of a feudal type of organization, or was it a heavily centralized government run system? Maybe other?

1. What are the origins of the story about an Inca emperor setting sail with a fleet into the Pacific?

2. What happened to the shaft tomb culture of Ecuador?

3. Are there any trade items in the archaeological record that come from the Amazon basin? Are there any trade items from northern South America/southern Central America or are any Andean items found there?

4. Did any other cultures mummify their leaders like the Inca did with their emperors?

5. What are your thoughts on maize being domesticated in the Andes rather than Mesoamerica?

So glad to see this got off the ground!

• Potatoes! Give us a rundown on potatoes. Specifically, I have heard that the reason the potato blight was so devastating in Ireland was because they only farmed a small handful of potato varieties while the Andeans had scores if not hundreds. How accurate is this? How did they manage the different varieties?

• More generally in agriculture, I am curious about competing systems of agricultural land use, particularly in terms of the introduction of crops from Mesoamerica (ie maize) or bean cultivation? How did methods of cultivation develop (or did lan use patterns stay fairly stable?), and did particular crops have particular status connotations (such as how modern Europe has seen wheat as higher status than millet)?

• A non-potato question, what is the current consensus on Norte Chico? Did it develop through agricultural or maritime resources?

Could a certain (memory) quipu that was formed by a khipuqamayuq be understood by another khipuqmqyuq?

What sort of things did almost all Incans have in common with each other? I mean in terms of cultural practice, appearance, technology - anything, really. The empire was pretty huge so I'm interested in the common ground someone in the far north would have had with someone in Cusco or the far south.

Can either of you speak a bit about the persistence of deities/religious iconography in the region? How Moche religious practices and imagery might have been carried forward into later groups like the Wari, for instance? Or how the Inca co-opted/adapted religious practices and symbols of conquered peoples into their own religious system?

Whoa! This is awesome! First thanks. Second:

1. Do you have any reading suggestions for Macchu Picchu? I know almost nothing about it except that Pizarro and his ilk seemed to know nothing about it except for the Wikipedia entry and well, that's not a whole lot. I'm really interested in what the lives of the people living there might have been like, so any reading suggestions would be great!

2. Could you elaborate on state-creation in the Andes and what exactly that means (aside from "strong central leadership, classes, and ability to command the population)? I'm guessing three of the other "six" areas where state creation occurred was Europe, the Islamic states, and China. Where are the other two supposed to be (John Keay supports the hypothesis that state creation was "still born" in India). So what exactly are we dealing with when we talk about state-creation? And why was it not enough to deal with the Spanish upon arrival?

3. What's record keeping like when dealing with the Pre-Columbian Andes? What are your major challenges when building a comprehensive narrative of what happened up there?

I've heard a lot of talk about the "vertical archipelago" as a shorthand for describing pre-Columbian trade relations, but I've never actually read a lot of work on it (I've thumbed through Mumford's Vertical Empire but that's about it). Is this still the dominant view among historians/anthropologists/archaeologists for how resources were distributed between communities? I'm particularly interested in the idea that so-called "market-based" trade was weaker in the Andes than in other areas and how kinship networks operated between different areas.

What are your favorite fun facts about the Andes? I don't know anything about it.

What can you tell me about the importance of birds? Is there much or anything known about the extent, importance, character, and/or development of bird-related knowledge in this cradle of civilization?

I"m curious if there are any new developments recently regarding pumapunku complex and the Gate of the Sun.

What was the religion like? How did it function as an organized part of society?

All I ever hear about is the mythology of the Incas. I'm far more interested to know how religion actually worked in Andean society. Did people choose to worship only one god, or many? Were priests from a caste, or elected? How did temples get their money? Who had more power, the Inca or the high priest? What did the average Andean think about religion? How did they deal with blasphemy? Were there divisions among worshippers? Did the religion change over time?

So many questions. Anything you can answer, or want to discuss, would be gratefully received.

How were Anadenanthera and San Pedro used by Andean societies?

In what important ways did Inca religion change and stay the same into the modern day traditional Quechua religion?

I just (days ago) toured the Cusco region and all of our tour guides were Quechua who were proud that they practiced the religion of their ancestors (some of them were former Catholics who chose to return to traditional religion). I assume, though, that Quechua religion has changed at least as much since the conquest of the Inca empire as other religions have changed in similar amounts of time.

Can you tell us about Inkan art? How does it differ from earlier art of Andean societies? To what degree do the motifs of Chavin or Wari art (e.g. fanged figures) recure in Inkan art? On an unrelated note, can you talk a little about Andean oracular practices?

What can you tell us about the castle and astronomy-related structures in Ingapirca, Ecuador? The Incans seem to get more credit for this, but I understand that it was originally developed by the Cañari...who I know little about.

What happened to the Cañari? What were the original reasons for these structures and were they re-adjusted to new purposes as the Incans took over?

On another note, would you happen to have some recommendations on a good / accurate Simón Bolívar biography? Some good reading about the process South America went through to gain independence?

Thanks for doing this, btw! Much appreciated.

Is it true that looting of archaeological sites in the Andean region is as widespread and rampant as we hear? What can ordinary people do to help protect the cultural sites from destruction?

The sweet potato, or kūmara as it is known in Māori, was a staple food for the peoples of New Zealand pre-European contact. It is widely acknowledged that the centre of origin for the sweet potato is Central or Southern America, and that the Polynesians probably sailed across the Pacific and bartered or took the plant back with them.

Have you come across any evidence specific to this supposed pan-Pacific trade route in the Andes themselves? Thanks for the great AMA!

Thanks to a prior AskHistorians response, I've had John Hemming's The Conquest of the Incas on my to-read list for a while. Do either of you have any thoughts about this? Trash, good, inaccessible, never heard of it?

I lived in Sanchez Carrion of La Libertad for 2 years, visted Markahuamachuco a number of times. Despite having various levels of guides I was never clear on how that culture came to be and how that citadel was built supposedly a 1000 years or so before the Incas. Are either of you familiar with that culture( I do believe I heard them referred to as the Coya, but am not confident on that) and can give me more information on them?

Edit in a 2nd question: Quinoa has become a fashionable food in the more developed world the last few years, raising the price greatly. During my time in the mountains there I was surprised at how little Quinoa was consumed despite it being grown there. Is there any evidence about this being a relatively new mountain diet? Did the Inca and pre-Inca culture consume quinoa at a rate similar to potatoes?

I recently watched a documentary on Incan architecture. The main focus was on the almost uncanny precision that the Inca had when carving stone for the walls and structures of their cities.

The most fascinating part of this is that without access to advanced metal tools or modern technology, the historians in the documentary are still conflicted as to how the Inca carved such precise and jigsaw-puzzle-like angle. One man claimed that it is even possible that they used mirrors to reflect the Sun's days and break the stone apart. However, he was not able to replicate this action in the documentary.

What are the prevailing beliefs of historians on how the Inca did such marvelous stonework? What are the problems with each belief?

How far did the Inca Empire expand into what now are neighbouring countries? I've heard they moved into Nariño, here in Colombia but due to proximity, I assume that if they made it that far, they would have populated most of Ecuador. Did they expand far into Brazil? And how far did they go into Chile?

Basically, what I'm asking is, did the Inca Empire expand far from the Andes, into Brazil and maybe Argentina or were they constrained to them?

Thanks for doing this. A couple questions.

• A few years back Gordon McEwan took me around some Wari sites and was explaining some of the psychological tactics used on visitors/prisoners (using a lot of white surfacing (gypsum) to reflect sunlight and blind the visitor, pumping them full of mind-altering substances, taking them to areas where the architecture was deliberately labyrinthine so they couldn't orient themselves, etc.). From what I recall this was intended to instill a sense of fear/awe in the visitor/prisoners. Can you elaborate on this at all?

• There seems to be some pushback/revisionism about the role of drought in the decline of the Wari/Tiwanaku in recent scholarship. Given the enormous influence of ENSO on this area of the world, and the persistently ENSO negative conditions and accompanying drought during the Medieval Climate Anomaly, from a paleoclimate perspective, downplaying the significance of the climate as a driver of collapse seems ludicrous to me. Do you have any thoughts on this?

I went to Perú last year and saw the Señor de Nazca exhibition, it's fascinating. Can you share your knowledge about him and his kingdom?

Did the Spaniards construct their cities and towns mainly on top of Incan settlements? Did the environment and materials affect any of the architecture of the Spaniards? Were the Catholic churches based on those of Europe?

What were the early towns like? What would be their historical equivalents? How did they interact with the native populations on an everyday basis?

Was there ever a sense pre-Columbus of just how long the Andes were? Like, did someone in, say, Cusco know that, given infinite supplies and ability, he/she could walk south and see nothing but mountain until they reached what we call the Tierra del Fuego?

So I just got a passport and plane ticket and I'm at the airport headed to Lima without much money in my pocket. What do you recommend I do?

I recall from a class in college (many moons ago) that the Andeans had no native pack animals, and didn't have the wheel. How did they build all those structures on top of mountains without animals and wheels (i.e. Macchu Picchu)?

Has there been any recent discoveries relating to the peopling of South America and specifically the Andes region? I know there are sites such as Monte Verde that pre-date the accepted timeline for a possible Clovis migration southward. Also if I recall correctly I did see a show documenting some striking similarities between ancient Japanese pottery and fragments found in Chile/Moche island.

Is the generally accepted theory still that humans came across the Bering Straight before migrating southwards alone the coast? Or has there been any concrete evidence of earlier migration from non-Siberian groups, (ie Japanese or Polynesian)?

I studied archaeology on the Copacabana peninsula in Bolivia this summer with a professor of mine who studies the Yaya-mama tradition, and I am currently working on a research project on the religious history of Copacabana. I have already read a lot about Tiwanaku and Inca times in Bolivia, but what was it like during the Aymara Collas(?) time between the two civilizations. It's a part of Bolivian history neglected in most of the books and articles I have read.

I hope I'm not too late on asking questions!

Why was the Andes region on of the main hubs of the Mesoamerican/South American civilization? I'm not familiar with the entire geography of South America, but I still find it amazing how a society flourished in a mountainous region. Were there many precious metals or stones in the region that made the Inca civilization so rich, like gold for Aztecs and jade for Mayans?

Did the Inca conquer regions through warfare or just exploration?

Also, we know the main culture in South America hundreds of years ago was the Inca, but were there other major civilizations close to the Andes or elsewhere in South America specifically that became as influential as the Inca?

I read this interesting article about music in Bolivia from the NYTimes. Can you give an overview of music as it was and is practiced in the Andes pre- and post-contact?

How was Lake Titicaca utilized, exactly? I understand it had high spiritual significance, but were there political, agricultural or military uses too?

I remember seeing something in a documentary about a dead king who was mummified and used as a battle standard during an important battle. This was either because the living were just so terrified of the king that they followed him or were inspired by him even in death, or he was revered, I can't quite remember. When the corpse of the king was knocked out of its chair during the battle, the entire opposing army just gave up the fight, either retreating or surrendering.

Are you familiar with this event? Was this a part of the Andes history? Or should I keep looking?

Is today's attitude toward coca leaf and cocaine historically unique?

I mean, did the Cloud People possibly think of coca as a "bad habit" or "addictive scourge"?

And (less historically) do you think any vestiges of older attitudes toward coca might have survived?

"Ayahuasca shamanism" is still, like, a thing that certain tourists go for in Peru and Brazil... authentic or not, there's still some kind of survival of older attitudes there, I think. Wondering if the same might be true for the hard narcotics.

Hey brother, interesting AMA.

One question: What was the known relationship between Incas and the Mapuche people in southern Chile?

Thank you!

I'll give you guys an easy one: what obscure fact about the Andes and your area of study do you find most interesting or wish more people knew?

Hey. I'm not sure if this can go here. Let me know if I should pm you on this instead of posting it here so I delete it.

I live in Argentina, and I'm almost sure I'll be majoring in Anthropology/Archaeology. What can you tell about the field work or research opportunities in the area?

Is there any evidence of contact between the highly developed cultures of the Andes and the less material developed Amazonian Amerindians groups? If it is so, could you give us some exemples about the effects of that impact? Did the Amerindians who had the contact learned some crucial skill who put the group in an advantaged position compared with the others Amazonian groups, for example?

Thank you!

Which lesser known facts do you think the general public would be most amazed by about the Andean culture?

I hope you don't mind me asking two questions but it is a very interesting topic for me :)

1. Traveling through Peru and Bolivia I saw a very heavy use of masks (i.e. Oruro festivities); is this a post-colonial/catholic tradition or does it have a more ancient source?

2. Besides the Wari and Tiwanaku what other groups shared the region at that time? Where the Urus around in that particular time as well?

I'm pretty fascinated by the mapping of the Himalayas as part of the Survey of India. Was there a similar effort undertaken in the Andes?

I recently read The red queen by Matt Riddley, it's considered a controversial book by many. I don't know if you read it... one idea it presents that society in the past was always created with natural selection in mind. It says that from the creation of the nuclear family all the way back to Christianity, marriage, kings having harems etc where all created ( directly and indirectly) to secure resources for the future generations and make only the worthy survive. Evolution in a synthetic environment.

I wonder if early cultures you study can be viewed with that scope in mind. Did sexual selection dictate the way society was structured back then?

Sorry if I seem all over the place, English is not my first language. Hope you understood and thank you for this AMA!

What knowledge did they have of land or tribes of the pacific north west?

What were the different classes of people, royal, priest, warrior, peasant?

How did they store their grain or crops? Was it in pyramids or large structures?

PS I have tried making chicha at home, it was OK

I've always wondered why has the writing system of the Inca been so hard to decode. It's obvious it's a writing system from accounts left by the Spanish... Who burned most of it. But why can't we decode one of the most unique systems ever designed

Did you read/watch the celestine prophecy? If so, how do you feel about it?