Approaching imperial narratives one sense at a time: views and sounds at an Inka settlement in northwest Argentina

ABSTRACT

Throughout history, empires have deployed a vast array of strategies to promote their worldview and to control the colonized. Amongst non-violent ones, hosting public ceremonies to show off an empire’s capabilities and to enact and reinforce new desired relations and identities, seemed to be especially effective. This article presents new data and interpretations on how the Inkas employed ritual architecture to manipulate the somatic experiences of the colonized. Specifically, we analyze the public space of an Inka settlement located in the North Calchaquí Valley (Argentina) in order to show how the Inkas used architecture and spatial design to impose certain sensorial modalities and to manage their sequential stimulus and intensity. In an attempt to overcome a reigning visual paradigm among this line of inquiry, we present an analysis that combines visual and acoustical data collected on site, with three-dimensional modeling of terrain, architecture, and sound propagation. Results indicate that through a careful layout design that involved the management of visual and acoustic permeability, the Inkas not only organized groups and practices, but also created different experiences for different people.

KEYWORDS:

• Inka colonialism
• public spaces
• architecture
• experience
• soundscapes

Acknowledgments

This investigation has been conducted with support of the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET – Argentina). Ferraria’s doctorate is being funded by CONICET. We would also like to thank the Diaguita-Kallchaqui community for their logistical support, constant interest and active engagement.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. A third major obstacle that deserves further development involves our comprehension of the dynamics of being sentient. Not only how many senses we should consider, but also their historical and culturally specific importance. How we experience the world and whether synesthesia or inter-sensoriality models are analytically suitable and even representative of our becoming, is a topic yet to be fathomed (see Howes 2006 for a discussion of this issue).

2. As many as we may consider aside from the Aristotelian’s, like thermoception, nociception, equilibrioception, proprioception, interoception, etc. (see Fahlander and Kjellström 2010).

3. The main reason behind choosing these sound sources is that they are frequently mentioned in chronicles, usually related to feasts, ceremonies and pilgrimages (see for example Acosta [1590] 2003, 268; Betanzos [1561] 1992, 126–127; Garcilaso de la Vega [1609] 1985, II, 39–40; Garcilaso de la Vega [1609] 1985, I, 107, 113; Molina [1575] 2011, 39 [sixteenth century]).

4. Many items of software and plug-ins have been developed to run these tests and to offer suitable results to be compared with on-site measurements and to refine variables, amongst them, I-SIMPA, COMSOL, Ramsete, CATT-Acoustic.

5. Sound itself consists of pressure waves. As such, sound intensity along a thin pressure zone near a given surface is enhanced due to the sum of the incident and the reflected sound wave. Therefore, sound pressure levels may offer an indicator for a layout’s general behaviour regarding sound dispersion, but not necessarily what a person might have heard.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alejandro A. Ferrari

Alejandro A. Ferrari is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Archaeology for the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET – Argentina), Austral University (Instituto de Estudios Americanistas Julián Cáceres Freyre), and School of Philosophy and Letters (University of Buenos Aires). He has been working in the North Calchaquí Valley for the past 10 years, mainly dedicated to studying Inka and local spatiality with a focus on architecture.

Iván Leibowicz

Iván Leibowicz is currently a researcher for the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET – Argentina). Dr Leibowicz has been working in the North Calchaquí Valley for the past 10 years, mainly dedicated to the study of Inka high altitude shrines and pilgrimage routes.

Félix Acuto

Félix Acuto is currently a researcher for the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET – Argentina). Dr Acuto has been working in the North Calchaquí Valley for the past 20 years, mainly dedicated to the study of local and Inka spatiality and materiality and colonial interactions.