Callachaca

Inca constructions, designed to conform to a state aesthetic, reveal the worldview of these masters of social and architectural engineering. In her meticulous analysis of Callachaca-the fifteenth-century estate of the royal Amaro Topa Inca and his retainers near the ancient capital of Cuzco-Susan Niles shows us that the physical order seen in this planned community reflects the Inca vision of an appropriate social order.Callachaca: Style and Status in an Inca Community will be valuable reading for archaeologists, art historians, geographers, architects with an interest in pre-Columbian cultures, landscape architects, anthropologists, folklorists, and historians with a special interest in the Andes. Since she focuses on all the varied architectural remains at one site in the Inca heartland, Niles provides a unique model for examining royal Inca architecture and society.