Pucara versus Fortress: Defensive Arrangements during the Late Intermediate Period on the Coast and Sierra of the Central Andes (2024)

Archaeological and Ethnographic Evidence of Domination in Indigenous Latin America

Yamilette Chacon (ed.), Richard J. Chacon (ed.)

Published:

2023

Online ISBN:

9780813067803

Print ISBN:

9780813069708

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Archaeological and Ethnographic Evidence of Domination in Indigenous Latin America

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Vincent Chamussy,

Vincent Chamussy

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Romuald Housse

Romuald Housse

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Pages

75–118

  • Published:

    July 2023

Cite

Chamussy, Vincent, and Romuald Housse, 'Pucara versus Fortress: Defensive Arrangements during the Late Intermediate Period on the Coast and Sierra of the Central Andes', in Yamilette Chacon, and Richard J. Chacon (eds), Archaeological and Ethnographic Evidence of Domination in Indigenous Latin America (Gainesville, FL, 2023; online edn, Florida Scholarship Online, 23 May 2024), https://doi.org/10.5744/florida/9780813069708.003.0004, accessed 5 June 2024.

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Abstract

In chapter 4, “Pucara versus Fortress: Defensive Arrangements during the Late Intermediate Period on the Coast and Sierra of the Central Andes,” Chamussy and Housse provide an in-depth study of the characteristics of coastal fortresses and sierra pucaras on a cross-regional scale in order to understand the location, importance, and the particular military characteristics of these defensive structures during the LIP. It is well documented that the Late Intermediate Period (LIP), that preceded the expansion of the Inca Empire, was profoundly divided and marked by conflicts and warfare. During this period, political instability in both coastal and sierra areas led to the adoption of dissimilar defensive structures. Called pucara in the Andes and fortresses on the Peruvian coast, both terms seem to convey the same archaeological reality: highly strategic and defensive sites. This intriguing duplicity of terms led the authors to analyze whether this duplicity was a mere semantic artifact or did it reflect a conceptual difference between the coastal fortresses and the sierra pucaras. While researchers have documented the military roles and functions of the coastal fortresses employed against the Chimú or Inka, there is no consensus on the military roles and functions of the hilltop pucara.

Keywords: Andes, warfare, pucara, fortress, Inca, conflict, Late Intermediate Period (LIP), military roles

Subject

Historical Archaeology

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