Tafi Valley (Argentine Northwest): Rethinking the Local Positions in the Global Context of SXV

Abstract

Tafí’s situation in the context of Inca politics is particular, because of its marked eastern position in relation to other sites from Argentina’s northwest. The region is characterized by the total absence of architectural and structural patterns responding to the Inca standards, in contrast with a lot of pottery of inca styles. The archaeological site more representative of this is called Pucara de las Lomas Verdes. The archaeological record indicates that the Inca presence did not apparently respond to a centralized administration in thisfrontier place. Quite on the contrary, it is from this local place that positions are negotiated in relation to imperial interests, having local hierarchical groups as main protagonists.