John V. Murra

Staple Finance, Wealth Finance, and Storage in the Inka Political Economy [and Comments and Reply]

The development of the regionally integrated institutions of an expanding state society is predicated on the growth of systems of economic support. Both expansion of existing systems of finance and the development of alternative systems of revenue, such as tribute, administered exchange, and centralized taxation, may be of central importance to the state political economy. This paper examines the reorganization of the economic systems of the Inka state and the development of new forms of finance. State finance is dichotomized as staple finance, the direct or indirect mobilization of subsistence and utilitarian goods, and wealth finance, the manufacture and procurement of valuables, primitive money, and currency. It is argued that the requirements of production and management of goods were as important as the social relations of labor and exchange that are the focus of current discussions of the state political economy. The organization of the massive state storage system, specifically in the Upper Mantaro Valley of the central highlands of Peru, and the states mobilization and control of valuable commodities and special-purpose moneys are examined.

Andean societies before 1532

Andean region was invaded by Francisco Pizarros troops in 1532. A major step in the scientific understanding of Andean geography came in the late twenties when the German scholar, Carl Troll, did fieldwork in Bolivia. Andean agriculture has begun to attract the attention of agronomists. Dispersed settlement patterns were a feature of Andean territoriality which Europeans noticed early. The Early Horizon, also known as the Formative in the Andes, centred on Chavin, a temple at 3,135 metres altitude in the eastern highlands; best known for its religious art. Oral tradition in the Andes agrees with archaeology that the Late Intermediate period, the centuries just before the Inka expansion, had been awqa runa. The rapid expansion of Tawantinsuyu over 4,000 kilometres from what today is Ecuador in the north to Chile and Argentina in the south implied changes in the basic and ancient dimensions of Andean organization.

The Transition to Statehood in the New World.

Preface Part I. Introduction: 1. Issues in the study of New World state formation Grant D. Jones and Robert R. Kautz Part II. Sociopolitical Factors in State Formation: 2. The chiefdom: precursor of the state Robert L. Carneiro 3. Class conflict and the state in the New World Jonathan Haas 4. The ecological basis for New World state formation: general and local model building Mark N. Cohen 5. The transition to statehood as seen from the mouth of a cave Richard S. MacNeish Part IV. Ideological Factors in State Formation: 6. Religion and the rise of Mesoamerican states Michael D. Coe 7. The nature and role of religious diffusion in the early stages of state formation: an example from Peruvian prehistory Richard W. Keatinge 8. Civilization as a state of mind: the cultural evolution of the Lowland Maya David A. Friedel Works cited Index.