Jack Kim

Ceramics I A2
Mrs. Lopez
December 8, 2015
World Culture Project Plan
Name of culture: Inca Civilization (South America)
Basic information:
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The largest empire in pre-Columbian America.

The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was
located in Cusco in modern-day Peru.
The Inca civilization arose from the highlands of Peru sometime in the
early 13th century, and the last Inca stronghold was conquered by the
Spanish in 1572.
The number of people inhabiting Tawantinsuyu at its peak is unclear,
with estimates ranging from as few as 4 million people, to more than
37 million.
The reason for these various estimates is that in spite of the fact that
the Inca kept excellent census records using their quipu, knowledge of
how to read them has been lost, and almost all of them had been
destroyed by the Spaniards in the course of their conquest.
The official language of the empire was Quechua, although hundreds of
local languages and dialects of Quechua were spoken.
Since the Inca Empire lacked a written language, the empire's main
form of communication and recording came from quipus, ceramics and
spoken Quechua, the language the Incas imposed upon the peoples
within the empire.
The Incas kept lists of their kings (Sapa Inca) so that we know of such
names as Pachakuti Inka Yupanki (reign c. 1438-63 CE), Thupa Inka
Yupanki (reign c. 1471-93 CE), and Wayna Qhapaq (the last preHispanic ruler, reign c. 1493-1525 CE).
Inca rule was, much like their architecture, based on
compartmentalised and interlocking units. At the top was the ruler and
ten kindred groups of nobles called panaqa.
The Inca Empire was an amalgamation of languages, cultures and
peoples. The components of the empire were not all uniformly loyal,
nor were the local cultures all fully integrated. The Inca empire as a
whole had an economy based on exchange and taxation of luxury
goods and labour.
The Inca Empire was founded on, and maintained by, force, and the
ruling Incas were very often unpopular with their subjects, a situation
that the Spanish conquistadores, led by Francisco Pizarro, would take
full advantage of in the middle decades of the 16th century CE.

Ceramic artwork of Incan:

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Almost all of the gold and silver work of the empire was melted down
by the conquistadors.
Ceramics were painted using the polychrome technique portraying
numerous motifs including animals, birds, waves, felines and geometric
patterns found in the Nazca style of ceramics.
In culture without a written language, ceramics portrayed the very
basic scenes of everyday life, including the smelting of metals,
relationships and scenes of tribal warfare. It is through these preserved
ceramics that we know what life was like for the ancient South
Americans.
The Inca recorded information on assemblages of knotted strings,
known as Quipu, though we no longer know how. Originally it, was
thought that Quipu were used only as mnemonic devices or to record
numerical data. Quipus are also believed to record history and
literature.
The Incas revered the coca plant as sacred or magical. Its leaves were
used in moderate amounts to lessen hunger and pain during work, but
were mostly used for religious and health purposes
Incan potters made the desired shape with hands, sometimes they
placed a pot on a rounded, specially molded plate and twirled it. To get
a thinner finish they used smooth stones. A stone was put inside a
freshly made pot, then it was pressed against the metal.

Images:

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inca_Empire#Society
http://www.ancient.eu/Inca_Civilization/
http://www.livescience.com/41346-the-incas-history-of-andeanempire.html
http://www.machupicchu-inca.com/inca-pottery.html
http://www.classic-play.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Incamask2.jpg
http://www-tc.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/assets/img/lost-inca-empire/image-04large.jpg
http://medias.photodeck.com/bf74a45c-e3f0-11e0-bdafc32db70ad74d/2002_05_SlumMummy65_xgaplus.jpg