The Cuzco Valley of Peru was both the sacred and the political center of the largest state in the prehistoric Americas—the Inca Empire. From the city of Cuzco, the Incas ruled at least eight million people in a realm that stretched from modern-day Colombia to Chile. Yet, despite its great importance in the cultural development of the Americas, the Cuzco Valley has only recently received the same kind of systematic archaeological survey long since conducted at other New World centers of civilization.

Drawing on the results of the Cuzco Valley Archaeological Project that Brian Bauer directed from 1994 to 2000, this landmark book undertakes the first general overview of the prehistory of the Cuzco region from the arrival of the first hunter-gatherers (ca. 7000 B.C.) to the fall of the Inca Empire in A.D. 1532. Combining archaeological survey and excavation data with historical records, the book addresses both the specific patterns of settlement in the Cuzco Valley and the larger processes of cultural development. With its wealth of new information, this book will become the baseline for research on the Inca and the Cuzco Valley for years to come.

• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1. Introduction to the Inca
  • The Cuzco Valley at the Time of the Inca Empire: A Brief Overview
  • The Cuzco Valley and Its Natural Resources
  • Overview of Cuzco Archaeological Research
  • The Cuzco Valley Archaeological Project
  • The Cuzco Chronology
• Chapter 2. The Inca Heartland
  • The Social Hierarchy of the Cuzco Region
  • Summary and Discussion
• Chapter 3. Human Impact and Environmental History of the Cuzco Region (Alex Chepstow-Lusty, Brian S. Bauer, and Michael Frogley)
  • Ice Cores
  • Lake-Sediment Cores
  • The Cuzco Environment and Human Impact: 10,000-2000 BC
  • The Cuzco Environment and Human Impact: 2000 BC-AD 100
  • The Cuzco Environment and Human Impact: AD 100-1100
  • The Cuzco Environment and Human Impact: AD 1100-1490
  • The Cuzco Environment and Human Impact during the Little Ice Age: AD 1490-1880
  • Summary and Discussion
• Chapter 4. The Archaic Period and the First People of the Cuzco Valley (9500-2200 BC) (Brian Bauer, Bradford Jones, and Cindy Klink)
  • The Cuzco Archaic Period
  • Summary and Discussion
• Chapter 5. The Formative Period and the Emergence of Ranked Societies (2200 BC-AD 200)
  • The Early Formative Phase (2200-1500 BC) and the Beginnings of Ceramic Production
  • The Middle Formative Phase and the Establishment of Autochthonous Village Leadership (ca. 1500-500 BC)
  • The Late Formative Phase and the Development of a Valley-wide Chiefdom (500 BC-AD 200)
  • The Late Formative Phase in the Cuzco Valley
  • Summary and Discussion
• Chapter 6. The Qotakalli Period: Time of Regional Development (AD 200-600)
  • Previous Research on the Qotakalli Period
  • Altiplano Influence in the Cuzco Region during the Qotakalli Period
  • The Cuzco Valley during the Qotakalli Period
  • The Distribution of Qotakalli Ceramics beyond the Cuzco Valley
  • Summary and Discussion
• Chapter 7. The Wari Period (AD 600-1000) in the Cuzco Region
  • Indicators of Wari Influence
  • The Development and Expansion of the Wari Empire
  • The Site of Pikillacta
  • The Wari in the Cuzco Region
  • Dating the Period of Wari Influence in the Cuzco Region
  • Summary and Discussion
• Chapter 8. The Development of the Inca State (AD 1000-1400) (Brian S. Bauer and R. Alan Covey)
  • Previous Research on the Development of the Inca Heartland
  • Archaeological Surveys in the Inca Heartland
  • Ceramic Styles of the Killke Period
  • Other Killke-Related Styles in the Cuzco Region
  • State Formation in the Cuzco Basin
  • The Region South of the Cuzco Valley
  • The Region West and Northwest of the Cuzco Valley
  • The Region North of the Cuzco Valley
  • The Region East and Southeast of the Cuzco Valley
  • Inca State Formation and Imperial Administrative Strategies
  • Summary and Discussion
• Chapter 9. The Cuzco Valley during Imperial Inca Rule
  • Identifying Inca Sites
  • Distribution of Inca Sites in the Cuzco Valley
  • Storage Facilities in Cuzco and the Valley
  • The Site of Sacsayhuaman
  • Summary and Discussion
• Chapter 10. Inca Cuzco
  • Important Documents
  • The Arrival of the First Europeans in Cuzco
  • The Fall of Inca Cuzco (1533-1536)
  • The Plazas of Central Cuzco
  • The Casana Compound
  • The Coracora Compound
  • East Side of the Plaza
  • The Amarucancha Compound
  • The Sondorhuasi Tower
  • The Acllahuasi Compound
  • The Hatuncancha Compound
  • The Pucamarca Compound
  • Cusicancha
  • Other Important Buildings in Cuzco
  • Summary and Discussion
• Chapter 11. The Coricancha
  • Atahualpa's Ransom and the Gold of the Coricancha (1533-1534)
  • Other Early Descriptions of the Coricancha
  • The Coricancha and Inca Astronomy
  • The Coricancha as the Center of the Empire
  • The Coricancha and the Shrines of the Cuzco Ceque System
  • Summary and Discussion
• Chapter 12. The Mummies of the Royal Inca
  • Polo de Ondegardo and the Inca Mummies
  • Ancestor Worship in the Andes
  • The Royal Panacas of Cuzco
  • Care for the Mummies
  • Representations of the Inca Kings and Their Huauques and Bultos
  • Discovery and Destruction of the Royal Inca Mummies
  • Polo de Ondegardo, Viceroy Hurtado de Mendoza, and the Fate of the Inca Mummies
  • Summary and Discussion
• Chapter 13. Overview of the Inca Heartland
• Appendix. Radiocarbon Dates from the Cuzco Region
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index