The Incas: (Ancient Peoples and Places) - Hardcover

'I know of no other book in English that provides such a good region by region description of the Inca empire ... Both a useful review of the main Inca sites and a new perspective on the structure of the empire' - Bill Sillar, Institute of Archaeology, University College London 'A lively, deeply informed and highly readable account of the last great empire of pre-Columbian South America' - Gary Urton, Harvard University

This new survey from the leading authorities on the subject provides the most comprehensive, up-to-date and authoritative account available of the rapid ascendancy of the Incas, their politics, economics, religion, architecture, art and technology, and their subsequent downfall. The authors look in detail at Cusco and at the four parts of the empire, following the vast road system to explore not just famous sites such as Machu Picchu, but all the major regional settlements, on and off the Inca Trail. The concluding chapter and epilogue are devoted to the end of the empire: the arrival of the Spaniards, the assassination of the Inca ruler Atawallpa, and the final years of the rebellious, neo-Inca state in the tropical forests of Vilcabamba.

Table of Contents

1. The Birth and Growth of Tawantinsuyu · 2. The Principles of Inca Statecraft: Feared Warriors, Generous Rulers · 3. The Wealth of the Empire: Land, Labour and the Worth of Goods · 4. Religion and Ideology: the Sun, the Moon, the Oracles, the Ancestors · 5. Technology and the Arts: Architects, Weavers, Smiths and Potters · 6. Cusco: Capital of the Realm · 7. Chinchaysuyu: Land of the Setting Sun and the Sacred Shell · 8. Antisuyu: The Road to Machu Picchu and Beyond · 9. Qollasuyu and Kuntisuyu: Herds, Metals and Mountains of Sacrifice · 10. The Fall: Bearded Men from across the Sea · Epilogue