Talk:Inca society

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Kmmy47, Sustainablility4life, Tannbonn. Peer reviewers: Rahel Pommerenke, Hemnq9, Sjwkcc.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 00:22, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Economy
The economy section is just two short quotes from a single source with a board conclusion draw from them. Are there any more sources on this topic or even more information from this one source. Murph0008 (talk) 20:22, 22 September 2017 (UTC)

Food and Farming
In the food and farming paragraph, it states that the Inca originally created salsa. I could not find any information about this being correct. Is this true, and if so, what source did it come from? The whole paragraph needs to have citations added. Athroop (talk) 19:07, 22 September 2017 (UTC)

Vampire Bat Hair
Under the clothing portion it says "...the Inca Atahualpa commissioned a llawt'u woven from vampire bat hair...". All I can find about this is this exact sentence. This sounds fake. Can anyone back this up ? K-star (talk) 22:13, 21 September 2017 (UTC)

Edited out 'child punishment' nonsense
There was some completely unreached nonsense suggesting babies were left in pits and youth could expect to be "punished harshly" for apparently no reason. Sounded mythy, no sources whatsoever were provided, and attempts to even find a book in which that information was written in proved futile even after a thorough search. This also directly contradicts actual cited sources in this article's references that unanimously indicate that child birth was a particularly celebrated event in Incan culture. I know some mesoamerican cultures had some clearly morally unsound practices, but the way this was written it made it sound like they gave children the Spartan treatment, which is as far as I can tell inaccurate as only some children were molded into a military caste. I would like to see an actual source provided for this (again, looking it up only led to random uncitable blog-like pages that straight copied and pasted - do if anyone is thinking that those should be cited, it would be ridiculously unacceptable by Wiki (and, really, all scientific) standards because the statement would essentially be citing itself as evidence. If sources aren't provided for this I'm going to keep deleting it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.130.95.53 (talk) 03:40, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

A 3000 year long "short-lived" empire?
The first paragraph currently says: ''from 1438 BC to 1533 AD. Over that period, the Inca used conquest and peaceful assimilation to incorporate in their empire a large portion of western South America, centered on the Andean mountain ranges. The Inca empire proved short-lived:''  By my math, 1438 BC to 1533 AD is most of 3000 years. Why is this described as short-lived? It also needs more information on there boats — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mwengler (talk • contribs) 03:03, 23 April 2012 (UTC)

Spanish conquest
Reading this article and the one on the Incas themselves, there is no mention of how was it that the Spaniards were able to so easily conquer the empire.

Clearly, on capturing Atahualpa, the Spaniards must have captured the key to the society, as it were—yet the article doesn't make this clear, nor does it really explain what happened.

Imagine, say, the Queen of England being taken hostage by Al-Quaeda—no way would Bin Laden rule over the United Kingdom. Yet that seems to be exactly what happened with the Incas. My question, to those who are knowledgeable, is why did this happen? Why did the Incas fal under the control of the Spaniards so easily? Was the Inca society so rigid that it could not survive its dictator being captured? Or were there some other causes?

An honest question. --TallulahBelle 18:12, 11 August 2006 (UTC)


 * In my trip to Peru in 2004, the story I heard was that the Spaniards used the Incas against themselves. They would deceive different leaders into fighting each other, so that the Incas were fighting the Incas.  The Spaniards then came in and conquered after the cities were destroyed by the small civil wars.  The Incas built their cities in the middle of the sides of mountains, not in the valleys like the Spaniards did, which made them easier to defend.  After having hiked the Inca trail, I can attest how very difficult it would be to effectively attack an Inca city.  The Spaniards also had (single-shot) guns and artillery (though I'm not certain if the artillery was used in the mountains).  If anyone else can second this claim or find a cite, we should include it in the article.  Halcyonhazard 17:34, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Q. Why did the Inca Empire fall so easily to the Spaniards?

A. ''' Smallpox. ''' WaynaQhapaq 23:36, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

Merge from Women and clothing in Incan Society
There may be a few material woth merging here, and eventually then splitting into their own article, at Women and clothing in Incan Society - Nabla 21:49, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Totora titicaca.jpg
Image:Totora titicaca.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot 20:18, 3 December 2007 (UTC)

Childhood/Other practices
Since cranial deformation is the only practice listed in the 'Other Pratices' section, i would suggest condensing and making it part of the childhood section. Pedestrian65 (talk) 21:25, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Semi-protection
I have been watching this page for a long time, and the vandalism has been fairly constant. If you look at the history, a good chunk of the edits are undos of vandalism. Does anyone else think this page should be semi-protected, and if so, what is the process for semi-protecting this page? Halcyonhazard (talk) 07:05, 20 November 2008 (UTC)

Medicine section needs clarification
Perhaps it would make sense to ask for clarification of the last sentence in Medicine section?


 * ''The Inca also used guinea pigs not only for food but for a so-called well-working medicine

What is meant by "well-working medicine"? Was their meat eaten for medicinal purposes? Or their mere presence in Incan dwellings was sufficient to elicit beneficial effects? Perhaps, some other use of those animals is implied? 212.58.193.37 (talk) 10:00, 9 June 2009 (UTC)


 * 25, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

Women in Inca society
The article currently states: "Women were an essential part of Inca society. Their principal role in society was to care for their children, cook, weave, make beer and work at the fields; however, they had many other husbands. They cleaned to make their lives after marriage very busy." (end quote)

I can't help but wonder if the word "husbands" here should be "chores" instead. And the second sentence is also a tad unclear. Perhaps something was lost in translation? As for being an essential part of Inca society, I dare say that's true of every society, but this might be nitpicking. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.35.64.19 (talk) 05:48, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

--- I have to agree, this needs to be changed immediately if it has not already. Only Incan nobles were offered the luxury of polygamy. Monogamy was the norm for the overwhelming majority of Incan society. I also agree that the "essential part" comment is strange though harmless. It's kind of like saying, "People formed an essential part of civilization". Seems a bit of a redundant 'no-brainer' (I hate that term though). 99.130.95.53 (talk) 03:44, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

Ceramics and Metalworking
Is it possible to break these two arts into their own sections? The way this section is currently written it can be hard to follow at times as they are talked about in the same sentence/paragraph and sometimes textiles are brought up with it. I think it would be easier to talk about what they meant and did for Inca society this way and allow for readers to understand these things better as well.--Tdbdh4 (talk) 18:59, 22 September 2017 (UTC)

Adding to Marriage Section
I'd like to add more into the marriage section of the article. I have a few sources, but are there any thoughts about these sources and how useful they will be? Anyone have any other suggestions for sources?

Powers, Karen Vieira. "Andeans and Spaniards in the Contact Zone: A Gendered Collision". American Indian Quarterly. 24: 511–536 – via Ebscohost.

Silverblatt, Irene (Oct. 1978). "Andean Women in the Inca Empire". Feminist Studios, Inc. 4: 36–61 – via JSTOR. Check date values in: |date= (help)

Guengerich, Vicuna (April 2015). "Capac Women and the Politics of Marriage in Early Colonial Peru". Colonial Latin American Review. 24: 147–167 – via Scopus.

Sustainablility4life (talk) 06:58, 6 October 2017 (UTC)

Making Edits to Marriage Section
Today I will be making edits to this section of the article. I will be adding additional information about women vs. men's role in marriage, reasons for marriage, and the steps preceding the marriage ceremony. I will also be rearranging some of the information to make sure the article flows well. Sustainablility4life (talk) 16:06, 3 November 2017 (UTC)

I made a few more edits. Got rid of the link to the "kurca" article link because it does not exist. Also, added links to the "Spanish Conquest of the Inca Empire" and the "Kanopa" articles from this section. Moved a paragraph to the end to help make section flow better. Sustainablility4life (talk) 15:15, 10 November 2017 (UTC)

Just found out that "kurca" was spelled wrong (proper spelling is kuraka or curaca) and found and article to link. Also added additional information about ages/stage of life to the second paragraph and a transition sentence to add information as well as help the section flow.Sustainablility4life (talk) 15:35, 10 November 2017 (UTC)

Making Additions
I added some information to the religion section that focuses on the capacocha, what they were, why they were performed, and how. I also created an infrastructure section and added information about Incan roads.Kmmy47 (talk) 16:07, 10 November 2017 (UTC)

I edited some of the references within the infrastructure section so that they give more information about the source and also so that they can be accessed through links. Along with this I also linked Capacocha in the religion section so that readers may be able to read in more detail about them if interested. I am also trying to find a reference for a previous statement made in the religion section to make sure that it is valid.Kmmy47 (talk) 16:31, 10 November 2017 (UTC) Found that some of the information in the original sentence in the religion section was not valid. I took out the part that claimed that Inti was the most important god and was believed to be descended from some ancestors of imperial rule and added in information about Viracocha and some other information about Inti. It seems that although Inti was a very important god to the Incas, he was not seen as the most important. Kmmy47 (talk) 17:14, 10 November 2017 (UTC) Added a link to Lake Titicaca in the Religion section, because it was very important to Inca and their religion. Kmmy47 (talk) 17:23, 10 November 2017 (UTC)

I added information to the Politics section of the article focusing on the imperialism in the Inca society. I also added information about the water systems and some information about the Incan roads to the Infrastructure section that my partner (Kmmy47) and I added to the article. Tannbonn (talk) 16:48, 10 November 2017 (UTC) I also added a hyperlink to a "tambo" for extended information for the reader. Tannbonn (talk) 17:24, 10 November 2017 (UTC) I also fixed citation errors and sources for the politics section and the infrastructure section. Tannbonn (talk) 17:50, 10 November 2017 (UTC) I reworded my original addition from the Politics section and replaced it with what I had added previously to the original article. I wanted more concise language. I also linked the article "Inca Religion" to this article. Tannbonn (talk) 18:06, 10 November 2017 (UTC)

dont use wikipedia
people can edit stuff 208.253.247.50 (talk) 15:15, 16 November 2023 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: ARCN 111 Archaeology of the Americas
— Assignment last updated by Sak201 (talk) 13:05, 13 May 2024 (UTC)