Putting the rise of the Inca Empire within a climatic and land management context

63Citations
Citations of this article
143Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

Abstract

The rapid expansion of the Inca from the Cuzco area of highland Peru (ca. AD 1400-1532) produced the largest empire in the New World. Although this meteoric growth may in part be due to the adoption of innovative societal strategies, supported by a large labour force and a standing army, we argue that it would not have been possible without increased crop productivity, which was linked to more favourable climatic conditions. Here we present a multi-proxy, high-resolution 1200-year lake sediment record from Marcacocha, located 12 km north of Ollantaytambo, in the heartland of the Inca Empire. This record reveals a period of sustained aridity that began from AD 880, followed by increased warming from AD 1100 that lasted beyond the arrival of the Spanish in AD 1532. These increasingly warmer conditions would have allowed the Inca and their immediate predecessors the opportunity to exploit higher altitudes (post-AD 1150) by constructing agricultural terraces that employed glacial-fed irrigation, in combination with deliberate agroforestry techniques. There may be some important lessons to be learnt today from these strategies for sustainable rural development in the Andes in the light of future climate uncertainty.

References Powered by Scopus

Extended <sup>14</sup>C data base and revised CALIB 3.0 <sup>14</sup>C age calibration program

7308Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Preservation of elemental and isotopic source identification of sedimentary organic matter

2316Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Carbon isotope fractionation in plants

1758Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Cited by Powered by Scopus

Earth system impacts of the European arrival and Great Dying in the Americas after 1492

312Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

The geomorphology of the Anthropocene: emergence, status and implications

172Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Climate variability and human impact in South America during the last 2000 years: Synthesis and perspectives from pollen records

110Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Chepstow-Lusty, A. J., Frogley, M. R., Bauer, B. S., Leng, M. J., Boessenkool, K. P., Carcaillet, C., … Gioda, A. (2009). Putting the rise of the Inca Empire within a climatic and land management context. Climate of the Past, 5(3), 375–388. https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-5-375-2009

Readers' Seniority

Tooltip

PhD / Post grad / Masters / Doc 55

56%

Researcher 21

21%

Professor / Associate Prof. 18

18%

Lecturer / Post doc 5

5%

Readers' Discipline

Tooltip

Environmental Science 26

32%

Earth and Planetary Sciences 25

30%

Agricultural and Biological Sciences 17

21%

Social Sciences 14

17%

Article Metrics

Tooltip
Mentions
References: 4
Social Media
Shares, Likes & Comments: 2

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free