Archaeological Institute of America Lecture

Terence D’Altroy, Columbia University

In the last century or so before the Spanish invasion of 1532, the Inkas created the largest empire ever seen in the independent Americas. As the Inkas saw it, humanity shared the world with living ancestors and a social space populated by sentient mountains, living rock, and willful water—and a past that never went away. This talk explores how they sought to be successful in such a land, civilizing both humanity and everything else they could draw into their domain. It will draw on evidence from Cuzco, Machu Picchu, and the Sacred Valley for illustration.

Lecture begins at 6:30 pm. Refreshments precede lecture at 6:00pm.

(Co-Sponsored by the Columbia Center for Archaeology and the Department of Art History and Archaeology.)