Huanuco Viejo: An Inca Administrative Center

Abstract

AbstractSurvey and excavations carried out at the Inca administrative center of Huánuco Viejo revealed a large city with a ceremonial and palatial section, large residential zones, and huge storage facilities. Well-cut Cuzco style masonry was limited to the ceremonial areas, which included platforms, gateways, a bath and an elaborate apartment, probably intended to house royalty or important officials. The residential districts were Inca derived in architecture and planning, and the pottery was virtually limited to Inca inspired wares, thus demonstrating a lack of influence in either architecture or ceramics of the local peasants who served at the site. The huge storage areas housed mostly local highland produce which was used to sustain the city, mita laborers, and transients, and was probably not used for extensive redistribution to the local villages in the surrounding area. The city, then, must be described as an artificial device imposed by the Inca for administrative and political purposes, rather than as a city which arose because of local conditions or needs.