Reconstructing Inca Socioeconomic Organization through Biography Analyses of Residential Houses and Workshops of Pucara De Tilcara (Quebrada De Humahuaca, Argentine)

Abstract

This paper presents a micro-structural analysis from a house of the Pucara de Tilcara, one of the most important archaeological sites of the Argentina northwestern region. These results reconstruct the biography of a dwelling space during the last pre-Hispanic period. Beyond its constitution like a preinca dwell space we identify its reconfiguration to become a house-workshop for the production of luxury goods after Inca domination, and its posterior abandonment and reoccupation as a burial place. We compare this residential unit with another structures excavated in early 20th century, that also had been occupied as house-workshops. Available evidences have allowed us to estimate the social-economic organization of the Pucara de Tilcara and to advance in the characterization of the Inca domination in the region. We suggest that the Pucara de Tilcara was a main production center destined to specifically enlarge some local technology and to develop new production within the lapidary industry.