Cuzco - Early Intermediate II

  General Description   The Early Intermediate Period of Andean history lasted from 400 BCE to 550 CE, ^[1] and is known for the emergence of regional forms of political organization, such as the Moche in northern Peru (100‒800 CE) and the Nazca in the Rio Grande de Nazca and Ica regions (100 BC‒800 CE). In the Cuzco Valley, this period saw the development of numerous chiefdoms of varying sizes. ^[2] One of these polities is known as Qotakalli (200‒500 CE), ^[3] and may have controlled an area of up to 1000 square kilometres. ^[4]
The period also saw a change in settlement patterns. Wimpillay no longer dominated the valley, as several new large sites grew in the west of the basin, with a possible large settlement under the modern city of Cusco. ^[5] New settlements grew along the lower valley slopes below 3500 metres above sea level, which archaeologist Brian Bauer interprets as evidence for population growth and a possible shift in the valley’s economy towards maize production. ^[6]
In the Lucre Basin further to the east, the Chanapata culture still flourished in the form of small farming villages until 600 CE: Chanapata ceramics were found in the lowest strata during excavations at the site of Choquepukio. ^[7] These polities may have centred around the sites of Choquepukio and Mama Qolda. ^[5] Furthermore, the presence of Pucara ceramics and early Tiwanaku-related wares indicate possible contacts between the Cuzco Valley polities and the Titicaca cultural sphere, perhaps through trade, but not through political assimilation. ^{[7] [8]}
Population and political organization
Although the population of the region during this period is currently impossible to determine, it is worth mentioning that 16 Qotakalli sites with an area of between 1 and 5 hectares have been surveyed, as well as 35 sites between 0.25 and 1 hectares, ^[9] suggesting a possible two-tiered settlement pattern. ^[10] The density of sites near modern Cuzco may indicate various groups of elite households interacting with each other within the Qotakalli chiefdom. ^[5]
The chronological boundaries between this polity and the previous one are not clear-cut. Brian Bauer designates 200-600 CE as the Qotakalli period, ^[3] while Alan Covey states that Qotakalli appeared around 400 CE. ^[4] Moreover, Covey refers to a settlement shift after 400 CE in the Sacred Valley (within our NGA, natural geographical area): before 400 CE, he says there was a small chiefdom with a three-tiered settlement hierarchy, and another one in the Cuzco Basin. After 400 CE the large villages were abandoned and new ones built at about 3500 metres above sea level. In the Sacred Valley, the abandoned sites represent 70% of the sample. Qotakalli pottery has been found at the new sites. ^[11] Depending on the chronology used, we could postulate either continuity or cultural assimilation of the previous polity in the Qotakalli circa 400 CE.
What can be noted with more confidence, however, is that the 6th and 7th centuries CE saw the incursion of Wari colonies into the Cuzco valley, interacting with smaller local polities in the south and west of the valley. ^[12] Araway ceramics may have been one of the markers of elite status, exchanged between local chiefs and Wari representatives. ^[13] There seems to be strong cultural continuity between the Qotakalli sites and the sites where Araway pottery is present: although Wari colonists were present in the valley, their numbers remained low and evidence suggests that they did not exert political or military dominance over other groups. ^{[14] [15]}

[1]: (Bauer 2004, 12) Brian S. Bauer. 2004. Ancient Cuzco: Heartland of the Inca. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

[2]: (Bauer 2004, 54) Brian S. Bauer. 2004. Ancient Cuzco: Heartland of the Inca. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

[3]: (Bauer 2004, 47) Brian S. Bauer. 2004. Ancient Cuzco: Heartland of the Inca. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

[4]: (Covey 2006, 59) Alan R. Covey. 2006. How the Incas Built Their Heartland: State Formation and the Innovation of Imperial Strategies in the Sacred Valley, Peru. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

[5]: (Bauer 2004, 52) Brian S. Bauer. 2004. Ancient Cuzco: Heartland of the Inca. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

[6]: (Bauer 2004, 53) Brian S. Bauer. 2004. Ancient Cuzco: Heartland of the Inca. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

[7]: (McEwan 2006, 88) Gordon F. McEwan. 2006. ’Inca State Origins: Collapse and Regeneration in the Southern Peruvian Andes’, in After Collapse: The Regeneration of Complex Societies, edited by Glenn M. Schwartz and John J. Nichols, 85-98. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press.

[8]: (Bauer 2004, 143) Brian S. Bauer. 2004. Ancient Cuzco: Heartland of the Inca. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

[9]: (Covey 2006, 60) Alan R. Covey. 2006. How the Incas Built Their Heartland: State Formation and the Innovation of Imperial Strategies in the Sacred Valley, Peru. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

[10]: (Bauer 2004, 51) Brian S. Bauer. 2004. Ancient Cuzco: Heartland of the Inca. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

[11]: (Covey 2006, 60-63) Alan R. Covey. 2006. How the Incas Built Their Heartland: State Formation and the Innovation of Imperial Strategies in the Sacred Valley, Peru. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

[12]: (Bauer and Covey 2002, 850) B. S. Bauer and A. R. Covey. 2002. ’Processes of State Formation in the Inca Heartland (Cuzco, Peru)’. American Anthropologist 104 (3): 846-64.

[13]: (Covey 2006, 77) Alan R. Covey. 2006. How the Incas Built Their Heartland: State Formation and the Innovation of Imperial Strategies in the Sacred Valley, Peru. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

[14]: (Covey 2006, 74) Alan R. Covey. 2006. How the Incas Built Their Heartland: State Formation and the Innovation of Imperial Strategies in the Sacred Valley, Peru. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

[15]: Alan Covey 2017, personal communication