Abstract

DURAN, Víctor et al. ROADS, PASSAGES AND SACRED LANDSCAPES IN EXTREME SOUTHERN TAWANTINSUYU. Comechingonia [online]. 2023, vol.27, n.1, pp.71-80. ISSN 1851-0027.

We present the results of an archaeological survey conducted on segments of the southernmost transversal path of the Qhapaq Ñan or Inca Road in NW Mendoza Province (Argentina). We suggest that this part of the road was connected to a complex set of related trans-Andean tracks. The evidence presented here suggests that the Inca simultaneously utilized the highland passes Cristo Redentor and Navarro, and that the latter could have been part of a ceremonial pathway leading to the Aconcagua Mount, the main regional apu/waca. We also propose that this complex was associated with other paths with logistic and ritual significance in the Tupungato and De las Vacas Rivers. Overall, the new results allow suggesting that the Inca applied policies of social control based on ideological means in this part of the southernmost expanse of the Tawantinsuyu. The sacralization of the highland pathways and their setting would have been a key component of these strategies.

Keywords : Qhapaq Ñan mountain passages and paths rock art; sacred landscapes; Southern; Tawantinsuyu.

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