Avaliação: Arqueologia Inka – Inka Kallawayas: Cuisine, identity and status negotiations in the eastern imperial fringes

The Kallawayas were valued traveling shamans and herbal healers of the Tawantinsuyu that dwelled in the eastern valleys of the Titicaca basin. Located along an ancient trading route that penetrated deep into the tropical Yungas was the Inka center of Kaata Pata, conceived as the mountain’s heart. Excavations in this center have revealed its sociopolitical importance, as lavish feasting events were recurrently celebrated. Such commensal celebrations, targeted to elite segments in the region, comprised conspicuous consumption of camelid meal and chicha corn beer served in elaborate serving vessels in the Inka Taraco Polychrome and Urcosuyo Polychrome styles. Using faunal data, archaeobotany, ethnohistory and stylistic ceramic analyses, this presentation will explore Inka cuisine and identity construction, and the ways in which indigenous elite segments attained status and power in the eastern imperial fringes.

• Inka, empire, provinces, feasting, exchange, landscape