A Multidisciplinary Review of the Inka Imperial Resettlement Policy and Implications for Future Investigations

Abstract

The rulers of the Inka empire conquered approximately 2 million km² of the South American Andes in just under 100 years from 1438-1533 CE. Inside the empire, the elite conducted a systematic resettlement of the many Indigenous peoples in the Andes that had been rapidly colonised. The nature of this resettlement phenomenon is recorded within the Spanish colonial ethnohistorical record. Here we have broadly characterised the resettlement policy, despite the often incomplete and conflicting details in the descriptions. We then review research from multiple disciplines that investigate the empirical reality of the Inka resettlement policy, including stable isotope analysis, intentional cranial deformation morphology, ceramic artefact chemical analyses and genetics. Further, we discuss the benefits and limitations of each discipline for investigating the resettlement policy and emphasise their collective value in an interdisciplinary characterisation of the resettlement policy.

Keywords: Inka; ethnohistory; interdisciplinary; isotopes; paleogenetics; resettlement.

Figure 1

Political regions in the Andes. The Tiwanaku sphere (orange) and Wari sphere (purple) are overlayed with the maximal range of Tawantinsuyu (yellow). Locations mentioned in the text are also shown. Globe inset shows the location of Tawantinsuyu in the American continents. Made with Natural Earth.

Figure 2

Schematic comparison of isotopic patterns of residential mobility for local individuals, mitmaqkuna or aqllakuna/yanakuna. Vertical axis separates samples in space. Modified with permission from [13].

Figure 3

Schematic summary of evidence that could be combined from multiple disciplines to comprehensively address the Inka resettlement policy. (A) Evidence that could potentially be obtained from a buried individual. We strongly advocate merging multiple lines of evidence into an interdisciplinary framework. (B) Possible demographies of a hypothetical buried population. Individuals from a local population with no migration cluster together genetically, show no indication of migration during their lifetime, and a ~50:50 sex ratio is observed. Mitmaqkuna would be indicated by a significant proportion of individuals with isotopic evidence of during-life migration and shared ancestry distinct from the local population, and a ~50:50 sex ratio is expected. Groups of buried females or males with multiple isotopic profiles from enamel (early life) and diverse ancestry are likely to be aqllakuna or yanakuna, respectively. Created with BioRender.com (accessed on 2 February 2021).