Chiquitoy Viejo: An Inca Administrative Center in the Chicama Valley, Peru

Until recently most knowledge of Inca government was derived solely from Colonial Spanish chronicles, which contain only generalized, idealized accounts. Lately, however, investigations at several sites have begun to provide data that will ultimately permit a more detailed picture of the complexity and variability of Inca provincial administration.One provincial region for which some archaeological data are now available is the North Coast of Peru, once the seat of the Incas' most powerful rival, the Kingdom of Chimor. Excavations at Chiquitoy Viejo in the Chicama Valley have identified the site as an Inca administrative center established for the supervision of commerce along the empire's coastal highway. More specifically, it is argued that one of Chiquitoy Viejo's principal functions was the inspection of shipments of high-status goods being sent from the Chimu heartland to the Inca capital at Cuzco. This function made the site a strong and direct symbol of the Inca subjugation of Chimor. Furthermore, the existence of Chiquitoy Viejo shows that the prevailing interpretation of the Inca government of the North Coast, which postulates minimal interference with native Chimu administrative patterns, must be modified.