representations of western amazonian indians on inca ... · amazônia ocidental (ou antis),...

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hether it was cheering either the Incaor the sun, toasting as a social activity

to strengthen social bonds or celebrating theharvest, drinking certainly had a special andfundamental place in many Andean social,economical and religious activities. So too didthe “Andean beer” or chicha1 and the Incawooden or metal vases that held this preciousliquid so valued among the Incas.

These Inca ceremonial wooden vases arecalled qeros (or aquilla when made of metal,

Representations of western Amazonian indians on Inca colonial qeros

Cristiana Bertazoni*

BERTAZONI, C. Representations of western Amazonian indians on Inca colonialqeros. Revista do Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia, São Paulo, 17: 321-331, 2007.

Resumo: Este artigo propõe uma análise iconográfica dos vasos coloniais Incaconhecidos como qeros, oferecendo, dessa forma, uma visão da história Inca emque pode ser observado um dos meios de expressão que os Incas utilizavam paradisseminar seus valores, tradições e, em última instância, sua ideologia. Umexpressivo número de qeros retrata cenas de batalhas entre Incas e índios daAmazônia ocidental (ou Antis), repetidamente retratando a fauna e floraamazônica. A análise iconográfica dos qeros sugere que dos quatro suyus doimpério, o Antisuyu (a parte amazônica do Tahuantinsuyu) é a região de maiorrelevância no que se refere às imagens representadas. Assim sendo, serãoanalisados alguns qeros na tentativa de melhor compreender as imagens doAntisuyu e seus habitantes que os Incas escolheram projetar através desse meio decomunicação.

Unitermos: Incas – Antisuyu – Amazônia Ocidental – Vasos qeros.

either silver or gold) and fulfilled many purposesin Andean society in addition to their morepractical and immediate purpose of holdingdrinks. Besides functioning as a vessel, it alsoserved as a visual medium that acted on behalfof Inca propaganda as well as resistance duringcolonial times.2 As suggested by Flores Ochoa(1998: 20), these vases had a strong ideologicalimportance within the Inca Empire and were

W

(*) Pós-doutoranda do Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologiada Universidade de São Paulo, bolsa FAPESP. Centro deEstudos Mesoamericanos e Andinos da Universidade deSão Paulo (CEMA-USP). [email protected](1) Chicha is a drink produced from the fermentationof maize and which was (and still is) very common andwidespread throughout the Andes.

(2) In an interesting discussion, Cummins reminds us thatbeyond Inca propaganda, qeros were crucial for themaintenance of Inca culture during colonial times since the“[…] Incas needed to project for themselves a legitimateidentity in relation to the Andean past […] Without such a‘history’, the Inca could not explain their existence tothemselves or anyone else, and their rise to an Andean powerwould have been outside any common understanding andimpossible to sustain” (2002: 59).

Cristiana Bertazoni.pmd 24/02/2008, 15:15321

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Representations of western Amazonian indians on Inca colonial qeros.Revista do Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia, São Paulo, 17: 321-331, 2007.

used to establish social, political and religiousrelations, always with a significant ideologicalcontent.

In the following pages, we shall look closelyat these particular objects which so oftenportray scenes of battles between Incas andAntis3 and, sometimes, even take the shape ofthe heads of Amazonian inhabitants and jaguars.

On November 16th, 1532, a famousencounter described by so many chroniclers,both native and Spanish, took place in thetown of Cajamarca, Peru. There, a memorablemeeting took place between the Inca king anda Spanish conquistador. Facing each other wereInca Atahualpa on his royal litera, with thousandsof unarmed followers behind him; and Pizarroon his horse, flanked by a few armed soldiers.In an act of hospitality, Atahualpa twiceoffered Pizarro a gold aquilla filled with chichawhich was unexpectedly poured onto theground by the foreigner. Puzzled by Pizarro’srejection, Atahualpa wondered how theSpaniard could dare decline such a sacredliquid offered by an Inca king.4 Pizarro, inturn, offered Atahualpa what he consideredmost sacred: the bible. However, from theSapa Inca perspective – himself the expressionof God on earth – the bible seemed like an

alien object with no significance within theAndean context whatsoever. Outraged byPizarro’s refusal of chicha and not recognisingthe bible as an element of importance withinInca culture, the king threw the sacred bookaway. What followed is well known: Pizarroused Atahualpa’s act as a pretext to accuse theInca Emperor of committing a serious offenceto Christianity by throwing away the word ofGod, and with this, the Spanish had theperfect excuse for the kidnap and subsequentexecution of the Inca king – the infiel accordingto the Europeans – even after the Incas hadpaid the ransom required by Pizarro.

As seen from the historical event describedabove, the Inca golden aquilla filled with chichahad at that specific moment, from an Incaperspective, a similar and parallel significanceas the bible had for the Spanish. Both objectsplayed an equal role in a decisive moment ofAndean history and can be seen as a symbolicrepresentation of a cultural clash which wouldonly become deeper with time. In the sameway that Pizarro was angry due to Atahualpa’sfailure to recognise the bible, Atahualpa feltoffended by Pizarro’s rejection of the aquilla filledwith chicha. Many Spanish chroniclers wroteon this specific episode, always emphasisingthe moment when Atahualpa threw the bibleon the ground and never seeming to recognisethe significance of the drinking vase and thechicha offered to Pizarro.5

Given the episode described above and thecrucial role the golden aquilla performed, whatexactly are these vases which held so muchimportance among the Incas and passedalmost unnoticed by the Europeans, at least inthe beginning of the conquest? What was themeaning, inside Inca culture, of raising qeros inorder to drink, of cheering in order to celebratesomething, honour someone important or

(3) The Quechua word Antis by itself is a general orcollective name used to describe a great variety of ethnicgroups living in the Antisuyu. Indeed, the term does notdefine only one, but many indigenous groups. Tahuantinsuyu,the land of four quarters, comprised Chinchaysuyu,Collasuyu, Condesuyu and Antisuyu, the last of whichrepresented the Amazonian corner of the Inca Empire.Hence, we see the use of Antis as a general term to refer tothose inhabiting the Antisuyu. Here the word Antis will beused synonymously with western Amazonian Indians, forexample, the Piro, Ashaninka, Cashinahua, Shipibo,Amuesha and Machiguenga among others.(4) Destos Viracochas traxeron dos dellos unos yugan a my tioAtaguallpa, que a la sazon estava en Caxamarca, el qual losrecibió muy bien y mando de bever al uno dellos con un vaso de orode la bebida que nosotros usamos, el español en recibiéndolo de sumano lo derramó, de lo qual se enojó mucho mi tio, y despuésdesto aquellos dos españoles le mostraran al dicho my tio unacarta o libro o no sé qué, diziendo que aquella hera la quillca deDios y del Rey e mi tio, como se sentio afrentado del derramar lachicha, que ansy se llama nuestra bebida, tomó la carta o lo quehera y arroj´lo por ay, diziendo: Qué se yo que me dais ay? (TituCusi Yupanqui 1992 [1570]: 5).

(5) As in many other historical events concerning Incahistory, there are many versions of this historical meetingbetween Atahualpa and Pizarro; Titu Cusi Yupanqui beingthe only writer to emphasise the importance of Pizarro’srefusal in accepting Atahualpa’s drink and hospitality. Allthe Spanish chroniclers seem to give little importance to thisside of the famous encounter. See also Cummins 2002.


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welcome a guest? And, essentially, why wouldthese Inca wooden vases have any importancewhen investigating the Inca attitudes towardstheir western Amazonian territories?

Vases similar to the Inca qeros are not an Incainvention and their genealogy goes back at least toMochica and Chimú, as well as the Tiahuanacoperiod when it acquired more complexdevelopments (Flores Ochoa 1998: 4-11). Incaqeros and aquillas were present in many Andeanrituals and celebrations, for instance, whenhonouring the Inca Emperor, when the Sapa Incahosted a guest, when cheering in honour of thesun, celebrating the harvest, during the rituals ofreciprocity, among many other occasions (Fig. 1).Its importance in Andean culture is fundamentaland it could, for example, be placed among otherobjects valued by the Incas such as textiles. Besides,according to Cummins (2002: 1) so importantwere the qeros within Inca culture that they werepassed from one generation to another.

They were predominantly made in pairs,meaning that for every qero there was alsoanother identical one, both in shape andimagery. Some authors have seen this dualquality of the qeros as a material representationof hanan and hurin, an Andean duality patternthat could be expanded to high and low, maleand female and so forth (Cummins 1992). Inaddition, the fact they were made in pairsindicates their potential for creating socialbonds between the two people (and therespective groups represented by them)drinking together from an identical pair of vases.

As for their physical qualities, most qerosare made of montaña wood (gold or silver inthe case of aquillas, and a very tiny minoritymade of clay),6 which came mostly from theeastern slopes of the Andes, where an abundanceof trees can be found (Cummins 2002: 23).Moreover, qeros did not have a plain surface, asthey always came either painted or with incisedengravings (or both), which suggests thatbesides fulfilling the immediate function ofcontaining liquids, they also served as amedium where shapes, formats and imageswere crucial components with the potential tocommunicate and express ideas as well as torepresent history.

While pre-Hispanic qeros tended to displaygeometrical designs and were strongly linkedwith Inca Imperial culture, it was only duringcolonial times that they gained a pictorialcharacter (Rowe 1992), which illustrates avariety of figurative images such as animals,

Fig. 1. Image showing two pairs of qeros. Source:Guaman Poma de Ayala (1980 [c. 1613]).

(6) A qero made of clay has been found in a privatecollection of Tapajó pottery now held by the Museu deArqueologia e Etnologia da Universidade de São Paulo.Since the collection lacks archaeological context, it is indeedhard to say whether the qero was included in the collectionby its former owner or if it was found together with theAmazonian pottery on the archaeological site. If the latter istrue, it is interesting that a vase from the Andean traditionshould be found among Santarém ceramics in the very heartof the Amazon. In this case, it would probably either havebeen produced there according to Inca influences or, morelikely, would have arrived there via the long distance webs ofcommerce established between highlands and lowlandsIndians. A picture of this specific qero was published byGomes (2002: 270).


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birds, flowers, plants as well as people andbattle scenes. In his qero chronology, Rowe(1992) distinguishes between two periods ofcolonial qeros: archaic and late (or tardío). Inthe case of archaic wooden vases, the physicalspace that receives the paint is divided intofour parts by rainbows emanating from felinemouths. In general, these qeros show imagesof the Sapa Inca and coyas (Inca’s wives). Onthe other hand, late colonial qeros displayscenes of Inca history, myths and sometimesof colonial narrative. Among the imagerydisplayed on colonial qeros, one theme standsout from the rest given the high frequency inwhich they appear: representations of theAntisuyu and its inhabitants occur very oftenand proportionally with a much higherfrequency than any other suyu or Tahuantinsuyu’squarter.

On investigating the multifaceted problemof the Antisuyu which permeates so manyspheres and layers of Inca culture and manifestsitself in several ways and formats such asplays, dances, rituals and images; one canobserve the existence of numerous qerosimages portraying Antis hunting with bowsand arrows (Fig. 2), tropical forest animals,Amazonian wooden houses and, mainly,scenes of battles between Incas and Antiswhich are repeatedly represented on theseInca colonial vases. In addition, even moresignificant is the fact that no other ethnicgroup is represented anywhere near as oftenin battle scenes with the Incas – it is almostalways only the Antis. Moreover, besidesbeing so often represented on wooden vases,the Antisuyu also ‘shaped’ some qeros whichare in the form of the heads of AntisuyuIndians. Alternatively, in a more indirectreference to the jungle, many qeros havehandles in the form of a jaguar or are even inthe shape of a jaguar’s head itself.

Given these peculiarities found in bothqeros’ form and imagery, one may be temptedto enquire why exactly these wooden vasesoften portrayed icons and symbols whichclearly refer to the Antisuyu, its inhabitants,its flora and fauna. Why do a significantnumber of qeros have the shape of the head

of a jaguar or of Amazonian dwellers? Couldthis display of Antisuyu motifs be merecoincidence? Additionally, it seems thatqerocamayocs (those specialising in qeromaking) were from the east of the Empireand until the present day, the communitiesthat have adhered more strongly to the qero-making tradition are also located to the eastof Cuzco and even call themselves Q’eros(Cummins 2002: 24). Thus, did the qeros, itsimagery and production have any specialrelationship with the Antisuyu and if theydid, to what degree? Why are other suyus notrepresented on qeros in the same manner andregularity as the Antisuyu? Does this suggestthat the Incas had a different relationshipwith their Amazonian territories?

If Cummins is correct (as I believe he is)that qeros and aquillas were Inca symbols ofboth reward and punishment or in his ownwords “promise and threat, in relation to orderand disorder in Tawantinsuyu” (2002: 91),then the recurrent Antisuyu theme displayed

Fig. 2. Back of an anthropomorphic qero (shaped asan Anti’s head) depicting Antisuyu hunters with bowsand arrows. Source: Flores Ochoa; Arce; Argumedo(1998: 244).


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on qeros could be understood as being aquintessential representation of the opposition/reconciliation or rejection/admiration equationso often established between the Incas and theAntisuyu.7

Anyhow, in order to further and betterunderstand these Antisuyu images on Incacolonial qeros, we shall analyse systematicallytwo different types of vases on which the Antiswere portrayed: firstly, the wooden vasesdisplaying images of battle scenes betweenIncas and Antis, and secondly the qeros whichacquired the head shape of either an AntisuyuIndian or a jaguar.

The scene of an Inca/Antis battle seemslike a good starting point (Fig. 3). On a qerowith a feline shaped handle, one sees that theleft hand side of the image is populated by theInca warriors, while the right hand side is filledwith Anti combatants with painted faces (atypical Inca way of representing Indians fromthe forest). Numerous details and differencesbetween these two groups can easily beidentified. To start with, the Incas appearslightly taller than the Antis, signalling forthe viewer a hierarchy where the Incas aredoubtless in a superior position. In thisimage, many other elements suggest Incasuperiority in relation to the Antis. Forinstance, the Incas wear helmets and haveshort hair, while the Antis wear a sort ofhat and have long hair. According toCummins (2002: 257), hair length is avery important attribute since it was anindication or a sign of social and politicalhierarchy among the Incas. Pizarro, forexample, mentions that in Cuzco those whowere sons of older brothers had short hairwhile the offspring of younger brothers wererequired to have longer hair. As can be observedfrom this image, besides the hierarchicaloppositions of height and hair length, otherelements reinforce this superiority/inferiorityor Incas/Antis opposition discourse: the Incas

wear tunics and hold their typical weaponswhile the Antis wear jaguar coat motifs andhold their bows and arrows. Here again, oneidentifies the presence of the quintessentialjungle creature, the jaguar, or rather its skinbeing worn by Antis Indians which was seen toenable the warriors to acquire the strength andother qualities of the jaguar. The antagonismcontinues: at the far right, on the Inca side, asunturhuasi8 can be seen; while on the Antisside, tropical animals such as a monkey and aparrot can be identified. It is worth noting thatin the Antis part of the picture, human beingsshare the same space with tropical animals andplants, while on the Inca side, only people andthe sunturhuasi can be identified. The idea of asymbiosis between the Antis and natureappears to be present in this image. In fact, inalmost all images of the Antis – both thosefrom Guaman Poma’s manuscript or on theInca colonial qeros – the Antisuyu Indiansshare the space with either animals or plants(or both). It is as if these elements are permanentlyassociated with each other and one cannot bedescribed without the other, as if Antis andnature were part of one and the same category.Moreover, this dichotomy reinforces the ideaof a civilised Inca (reinforced in this particularimage by the sunturhuasi) in opposition to thesupposed lack of both technology and cultureof the Antis, from an Inca perspective.

In summary, the whole image and all itsconstituent elements are part of one singlediscourse: Inca superiority over the Antis andits derivative elements such as hanan/hurin,male/female, and right/left, taller/shorter,high/low and so forth. Despite the battle inthe image being frozen in time, and the apparentlack of a winner, a closer look based on theopposed elements mentioned above informsthe attentive observer that there was only onewinner: the superior, taller, shorter-haired,hanan Incas. Here, the Antis stood no chanceof winning from the start. From this Inca

(7) For a detailed discussion on the Inca attitudes to theAntisuyu, see Saignes (1981, 1985); Renard-Casevitz (1988);Santos (1992); Taylor (1992, 1999) and Bertazoni (2007).

(8) According to Flores Ochoa (1998: 172), sunturhuasi aresymbols of Inca Imperial power. It may be an architecturalstructure such as the one seen in the image in question.


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colonial perspective, the Antis were already thevanquished ones. Furthermore, in other Incas/Antis battle scenes displayed on qeros, the Antisare even depicted as being killed, as prisoners orservants (Fig. 4) in a more direct and ‘live’ way ofrepresenting the Incas conquering the Antis.Alternatively, and conversely, it was a very directway of demonstrating pictographically whathappened with the Indians who refused Incaauthority and rebelled against Inca power, suchas the case of the Antisuyu Indians. Thus, in away, these battle scenes portraying Antis asprisoners or being killed served simultaneously as

Inca propaganda and as a ‘pedagogical’ device inorder to maintain peace and avoid insurgences.

Do these battle scenes between Incas andAntis represent any particular historical periodin Andean history? As discussed elsewhere(Bertazoni 2007; Santos 1992; Renard-Casevitz 1988), the Incas did manage tosubjugate certain Antisuyu groups, albeit onlyto a limited extent. As Cieza de León (1985[1553]: 120, XCV) and Santa Cruz de PachacutiYupanqui (1995 [1611]: 235-238) remind us,very often the Incas would not only fail inconquering the Antis, but would also be

Fig. 4. Battle scene with the Incas killing Antis Indians, XVIII century. Museo Inka, Universidad Nacional delCuzco. Source: Flores Ochoa; Arce; Argumedo (1998).

Fig. 3. Battle scene between Incas and Antis, XVIII century. Museo de America, Madrid. Source: Flores Ochoa;Arce; Argumedo (1998).


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defeated by them, being forced to withdrawquickly from Antis country on many occasions.Cieza de León narrates how frightened theIncas were of the ferocious [sic] Anti warriorsas well as the huge snakes and jaguars that alsoinhabited the jungle. Thus there is here thepresence of two contradictory elements. Onone hand, qeros battle scenes where the Incasare clearly portrayed as superiors who alwaysdefeat the Antis. On the other, historicalevidence of the opposite (the Antis defeatingthe Incas and therefore being in a superiorposition), suggesting a case of Inca propagandaand ideology – an idealised but unrealistic Incaoutlook regarding the Antisuyu, the quarter(suyu) they had the most difficulty in conquering.

Still regarding the historicity of the battlesfound in Inca qeros, in a brief but interestingarticle, Teresa Gisbert (1999) discusses someqeros images and their relationship with theconquest of the Antisuyu. There, Gisbertanalyses a colonial (eighteenth century)Callahuaya coffer, where she identifies thefigures of both Inca Tupac Yupanqui and hisfather Pachacuti. The author concludes thatthis depiction in representing the Inca Emperorsin the very process of conquering the Antisuyuindicates that some qeros (in this case a coffer)images in fact represent particular historicalmoments in the Inca period. The advantage forthe Incas was that it was they who wereproducing the imagery; hence the fact that inthe images they are always shown as the victors.Other important Inca historical moments werealso depicted on colonial wooden vases – theInca/Chanca war being an example.

However, there is one point which makesthis matter more intricate: these scenes ofIncas/Antis battles were made during colonialtimes or more specifically during the lateseventeenth and early eighteenth centuries – afact that inspires one to enquire whether itwould have been possible that Inca Imperialpropaganda or simply Inca culture and itshistory were still active even almost twocenturies after the arrival of the Europeans. Inthis regard, we should remember that manycenturies after 1532, ritual battles representingthe historical fights between Atahualpa and his

brother Huáscar or simply between differentmoieties still occur in several Andeancommunities (Cummins 2002: 251-252).Some of these ritual battles are so realistic thattheir participants are often hurt, sometimesfatally (Flores Ochoa 1998: 243). This suggestsa long and strong pre-Hispanic tradition thatendured, reinvented itself and continued to bea live and present element during the colonialperiod and continues even to this day. Sostrong and alive was Inca culture over colonialtimes that during the movement of extirpaciónde idolatrias, the Spaniards prohibited not onlythe borracheras9 but also tried to stop theproduction of qeros (Flores Ochoa 1998: 38).Inca colonial wooden vases and everything elsethat revived or celebrated Inca culture was seenas a threat to the colonial order and, from aSpanish perspective, it was imperative that theywere extinguished.

Complementary interpretations help us tobetter understand the battle scenes on colonialqeros. For instance, Cummins (2002) suggeststhat these Inca/Antis scenes of combatrepresent ritual or mock battles which are acommon element of Andean culture whendifferent moieties would fight between themselves,as are also drinking competitions, when qeroswould be used. Cummins’ interpretation(1992: 255, 260) of these battle scenesconverges with the idea of a complementaryopposition between Incas and Antis, whichrepresent Inca dominance over the forestIndians; a symbolic representation whereculture and civilisation triumph over savageryand chaos, as well as being a visual version ofthe dichotomy opposition/reconciliationexpressed in the duality between, respectively,hanan and hurin.

On continuing our analysis of Incacolonial qeros imagery, we shall move toanother type of wooden vase that differs inform from the majority of vases. Most qeros

(9) Literally, borrachera would be translated as ‘drunkenness’.However, the social activity of drinking together has abroader meaning in the Andean region. For a detaileddiscussion on the borracheras, see Saignes (1993).


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have an upside down trapezoidal format, wherethe base is always narrower than the top. Theonly time when qeros adopt an anthropomorphicshape is when the vases acquire the form ofAmazonian Indians’ heads (Figs. 2 and 5). Thisfact is extremely important for two reasons.Firstly, because it is only the Anti Indians whoappear in this form when being represented onqeros. Collas, Chinchays or Condes are neverrepresented anthropomorphically in qeros. Thisfact by itself is already significant because itsuggests that, from a Cuzco viewpoint, theAntisuyu had a different position in relation tothe other quarters of Tahuantinsuyu.

Secondly, because the act of drinkingchicha in a vase in the shape of an Antis’ headsuggests a trophy-head relation where the onewho wins a battle celebrates its victory bydrinking from the symbolic decapitated headof the vanquished. According to Cummins,drinking from an Antis’ anthropomorphic qeronot only represented Inca victory over the

(10) Otorongo is the Quechua word for the jaguar.Otorongo Achachi was the sixth Inca captain whoconquered parts of the Antisuyu. In one of Guaman Poma’simages, Otorongo Achachi appears as a zoomorphic figurewith the body of a jaguar and a face that is half jaguar andhalf humanoid. According to the chronicler, OtorongoAchachi was the son of Ynga Roca and in order to conquerthe Antisuyu he was transformed into a jaguar and his childwas born by a ch’unchu (synonymous with Antis) woman(Guaman Poma 1980 [c. 1613]: 119, 122). For moreinformation on jaguar symbolism in the Americas seeBenson, 1998.

Fig. 6. Zoomorphic qero in the shape of a jaguar.Source: Flores Ochoa; Arce; Argumedo (1998: 136).

Fig. 5. Anthropomorphic qero shaped as a human(Amazonian Indian) head. XVIII century. Museo Inka,Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima.Source: Flores Ochoa; Arce; Argumedo (1998: 185).

Antis, but also symbolised the transformationsof disorder into order or the restitution ofharmony (2002: 256). An alternativesymbolism, I would suggest, would be avictory of culture over barbarism, of civilisationover savagery which is a dichotomy veryoften identified when discussing the Incas/Antis relationship.

As for the qeros that adopt a zoomorphicshape of a jaguar’s head (Fig. 6), I wouldinclude them in the same category as the Antis’head. As the Antis were associated with jaguarsor otorongos,10 often being understood assynonymous.


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As suggested by Gisbert, qeros were amedium that the colonial Andean men employedin order to preserve their history and mythology,culture and traditions (1999: 95), in order toresist colonisation and, in the words ofCummins, “occupy a place of agency incolonial society in multiple and simultaneousways” (2002: 5). Moreover, beyond Gisbertand Cummins’ statements, I would alsosuggest that the combat images depicted inthese Inca colonial wooden vases indicate thatsomething reminiscent of Inca propagandacould still be identified even during the lateseventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.This suggests that even about two centuriesafter the arrival of the Spaniards, reverberationsof what was once the Inca/Antis relationshipcould still be noticed. Alternatively, as similarlystated by Cummins, “the colonial quero [sic],with figures carved and painted into its surface,came to materialize, among other things,Andean memory, conjuring an image of thepre-Hispanic Inca for the colonial viewer”(Cummins 2002: 2). Additionally, I wouldargue that in the case of the Antisuyu, it wasprecisely because the Incas did not manage tocompletely conquer the western Amazonianterritory that battle images between Incas andAntis are so abundant in colonial qeros.

Conclusions

The analysis of the qeros imagery suggeststhat some pre-Hispanic patterns regarding theIncas/Antis relationship manifest themselves indifferent ways and formats during the colonialera. It indicates that some pre-Colombianstructures continued to exist even after manycenturies and despite several changes inAndean society caused by the new colonialorder.11

Besides, as a live organism which interactsand is in dialogue with its own times, Andeanculture has also incorporated new elements. Inthe case of the colonial qeros, these newadditions are represented by a new method ofvisual communication: if during Inca times itwas via abstract symbols, during the colonialera a new format was required since with theSpaniards, there was now a new audience tocater for. Thus, with the requirement of a newvisual layout, Inca colonial qeros incorporatedthe use of figurative images into its body ofvisual representations.

Essentially, the analysis of Inca colonialqeros suggests that despite colonisation and itsupheavals, the history of the Incas togetherwith its pre-Colombian elements continued toplay a critical part during colonial timesthanks, fundamentally, to indigenous agency.The matter not only concerns the persistencyof indigenous traditions throughout thepostcolonial world, but also how the Indiansmade use of pre-Colombian traditions andmental structures for their own conveniencein order to accommodate, resist and survivewithin the new state of affairs imposed by theSpaniards. On the whole, it concerns bothnative resistance and resilience; reinventionsand interpretations of the past in order tobetter fit in the new panorama brought by theconquest.

It was indeed through media such as theqeros vases that the Incas could express themselvesand find their place within colonial society.Telling their history and most importantly, thecontinuity thereof, was vital in reinforcing theirpresence and active participation at the forefrontin the new order of things. Rather than showingthe natives as passive recipients of Europeantraditions, what the investigation of qero imageryshows is indigenous agency responding to thesocio-economic changes initiated in 1532.

(11) For discussions on the continuity of pre-Columbianstructures during colonial times see Ossio 1973 and Boone& Cummins 1998.


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BERTAZONI, C. Representations of western Amazonian indians on Inca colonialqeros. Revista do Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia, São Paulo, 17: 321-331, 2007.

Abstract: This article proposes to put together an iconographical analysis ofInca colonial qeros, offering an insight into Inca history where one can observe, invisual format, one of the media of expression the Incas used in order todisseminate their values and traditions and, in the ultimate instance, theirideology. A remarkable number of qeros portray scenes of battle between Incasand western Amazonian Indians (or Antis), often with Amazonian fauna andflora forming a backdrop. It seems that from all the four corners ofTahuantinsuyu, the Antisuyu (the Amazonian part of the Inca empire) is thequarter that holds a very special place when it comes to the imagery on Incawooden vases known as qeros. Bearing this in mind, we shall analyse some ofthese wooden vases in order to better understand the images of the Antisuyuand its inhabitants which the Incas chose to project through this particularmedium.

Keywords: Incas – Antisuyu – Western Amazonia – Qeros.

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representations of western amazonian indians on inca ... · amazônia ocidental (ou antis),...

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