| Traditionally, treatments of the Inca Empire have sought to document its deep economic and political impact on local populations in the Andes. There has been less study of how subject groups might have independently negotiated opportunistic economic responses to the Inca Empire. This research explores this issue through the investigation of the relationship between the Inca Road and a recently discovered, non-Inca system of mining camps, isolated deep in the Atacama Desert, northern Chile. Study of the development of these camps, and of their relationship with the Road aimed at addressing whether the Atacama Inca Road, served as a linear exchange nexus, or only as a highway servicing Inca imperial needs.;To address this objective, I conducted a one-year project of survey, surface collection, and excavation to investigate: (1) the social organization and chaine operatoire of turquoise and malachite beads, and red pigment production at the Cachiyuyo de Llampos Mountain camps; and (2) the nature of settlement and associated artifact assemblages along a nearby section of the Inca Road. In contrast to Inca state-ruled mining sites from the Inca epoch, these Chilean camps lacked Inca architecture and production patterns, presenting instead a pattern of artisan household mining and craft production of copper ore beads, iron oxide red pigment, and the crafting of items with distantly acquired raw materials. This craft production predated the Inca, and was not greatly altered following Inca conquest. However, occupation and production did intensify following Inca conquest, as the Road became a logistical resource for the camps, facilitating provisioning and exchange. Local miners and artisans worked full time in the desert, far from agricultural areas; the Inca Road became their main connection for the acquisition and movement of goods, independent of the Inca Empire's imperial purposes. The data generated on domestic and craft activities, and on local and long distance exchange, contributes to our understanding of the use of the Inca Road and to how populations respond to imperial infrastructure. |
