Pachacamac and the Inca Empire in ancient Peru – Peter Eeckhout

At the Academia Belgica in Rome on Friday 27 September, at 5 p.m., the lecture ‘Pachacamac and the Inca Empire in Ancient Peru – Peter Eeckhout’ will be held.

From the end of the 14th century, the Inca Empire expanded from its capital Cuzco to cover an area of about one million km2 in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile. Pachacamac, on the Pacific coast of Peru, was one of the empire’s main ceremonial centres and the destination of large pilgrimages from remote regions. Excavations and investigations conducted over more than 30 years by the Ychsma Project team (Université libre de Bruxelles) have shed new light on the Inca domination of this ancient and important settlement. The impact of the Incas on the architecture, planning and management of the site reveals the extent of the integration programme implemented by the new masters. The study of textiles, ceramics, feather ornaments and shell artefacts suggests that foreign master craftsmen were employed at Pachacamac to produce prestige artefacts for the elite and the cult.

Peter Eeckhout is Professor of Pre-Columbian Archaeology and Arts at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. His research focuses on the complex societies of the Americas, monumental architecture and funerary archaeology. Since 1993, he has directed excavations in Peru and is director of the Ychsma project at the Pachacamac site. He is the author, editor and co-editor of several books and more than ninety book chapters and scientific articles published in international journals.

The conference will be held in English. To book: info@academiabelgica.it