Power in Stone: The long-distance movement of building blocks in the Inca Empire

TitlePower in Stone: The long-distance movement of building blocks in the Inca Empire
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2004
AuthorsOgburn, D. E.
JournalEthnohistory
Volume51
Issue1
Pagination101-135
AbstractThis article analyzes the objectives and implications of the long-distancetransport of building blocks in the Inca Empire. Recent research has demonstratedthat the Incas transported building stones from Cuzco, Peru, to Saraguro, Ecuador,much as described by the Spanish chronicler Martín de Murúa. Additionalpassages from sixteenth- and seventeenth-century chronicles suggest that the Incascarried out a number of such projects to bring stones from Cuzco to the northernpart of the empire. These stones embodied the transfer of sanctity and power fromthe imperial capital to the city of Tomebamba in Ecuador, while their movementwas a major public demonstration of state control over labor.