The myth of the short duration of Tawantinsuyu

Abstract

The archaeological discourse about Tawantinsuyu is that it lasted less than one hundred years and that the great achievements attained by the Cusco rulers, including the incorporation of a massive territory occupied by a diversity of nations, were obtained within a relatively short period of time. The foundation of this discourse is nothing less than a text belonging to Friar Miguel de Cabello Balboa that includes dates that are apparently related to the emergence of the Inka state. In his attempt in establishing Inka chronology, John H. Rowe adopted Cabello Balboa’s dates, even though he knew that the dates were of dubious origin. Since its adoption, the dates have been maintained to the present, receiving only timid reactions. However, in recent times an increasing number of researchers have begun to show their discontent with the traditional Inka chronology after verifying that radiometric dates secured for several Inka provincial centers distributed across Tawantinsuyu are consistently older than the traditional chronology. Absolute dates obtained for Tambo Viejo, the Inka provincial center of the Acari Valley, also suggest the Inka presence on the Peruvian south coast several decades earlier than the traditional chronology maintains.