Inca society
The Inca society was the society of the Inca civilization in Peru. The Inca Empire, which lasted from 1438 to 1533 A.D., represented the height of this civilization. The Inca state was known as the Kingdom of Cusco before 1438. Over the course of the empire, the rulers used conquest and peaceful assimilation to incorporate a large portion of western South America, centered on the Andes mountain ranges. The empire proved relatively short-lived however: by 1533, Atahualpa, the last Sapa Inca of the Inca Empire, was killed on the orders of the conquistador Francisco Pizarro, marking the beginning of Spanish rule. The last Inca stronghold, the Neo-Inca State in Vilcabamba, was conquered by the Spanish in 1572.
Population
Population estimates for the Tawantinsuyu society range from as few as 4.1 million people to more than 36 million. Most estimates are between 6 and 14 million people. The reason for these various estimates is that, while the Inca kept excellent census records using their quipus, knowledge of how to read them has been lost. Almost all of them were destroyed by the Spanish in the course of their conquest and rule.Marriage
Women and men had parallel roles, but were separate in Inca society. They were equally valued for the part they played in their society despite their differing roles. Marriage was no different.Inca women were typically married at the age of sixteen, while men married at the age of twenty. Age, however, was not as important as keeping track of the stage of life that a person was at, such as whether or not they were able to work or be married. Ranks played a role in a person's marriage status as well. Men of lower rank could only have one wife; people of higher ranks than the kuraka were allowed more. If a man had more than one wife, one served as the principal wife while the others were considered secondary. Having more wives showed that the man had more labor showing that the household was wealthy. The death of the principal wife was sometimes met with the suspicion that the husband played a role in her death. The man had to find a new principal wife before he was able to recover from the previous wife's death. To prevent such suspicion and to increase the likelihood of a successful marriage, there were situations in which the couple could test how well the marriage would work out.
Trial marriages were typical of Inca culture. In this type of marriage, the man and woman would agree to try out being married to one another for a few years. At the end of this time, the woman could go home to her parents if she wished and her husband could also send her home if he did not think it would work out. However, once the marriage was made final, they could only divorce if the woman was childless. To make the marriage final, the provincial governor had to approve the union.
In the Incan society, a wedding wasn't a simple event. Instead, it was looked at more as a business-like agreement. Therefore, marriage was an economic agreement between two families. Parents on either side had to come to an agreement before the marriage took place and the couple could not be directly related to one another. Women would almost always marry men in the same social class as themselves. However, while it was very rare for them to marry a man with a higher social ranking, it was still possible for some young women. The only way for a young woman to alter her social ranking would be if a man of higher ranking took notice of her.
Once a woman was married, she was expected to collect food and cook, watch over the animals and the children and supply cloth to the government. Women of higher ranking also weaved, like those of lower ranks, but their work was used in special clothing for the higher ranks. A man's role sometimes resembled that of a woman, but acted in conjunction with one another. A woman’s household obligations would not change after she became pregnant. When she did find out she was pregnant she prayed and made offerings to an Inca god, Kanopa. Using marriage as an alliance strategy was also common among the Inca. Even before the Spaniards' arrival, the Inca used marriage as a way to claim themselves to power. After the Spaniards arrival the Inca allowed marriages between the Inca and Spaniards to gain power during a time of civil war.
The Incas were a conquering society and their expansionist assimilation of other cultures is evident in their artistic style. The artistic style of the Inca utilized the vocabulary of many regions and cultures but incorporated these themes into a standardized imperial style that could easily be replicated and spread throughout the empire. The simple abstract geometric forms and highly stylized animal representation in ceramics, wood carvings, textiles and metalwork were all part of the Inca culture. The motifs were not as revivalist as previous empires. No motifs of other societies were directly used except Huari and Tiwanaku arts.
Shipbuilding
For fishing, trade, construction, transport and military purposes, the Inca built seagoing vessels called balsas by weaving together totora reeds. The largest of these vessels were long, making them comparable in length to the Spanish caravel. This method of constructing ships from woven reeds is an ancient Peruvian tradition which long predates the Inca. There are depictions of such vessels in Moche pottery dating back to 100 A.D.Cloths/Textiles
Cloth is one of Inca society’s most highly valued items and was used in a variety of contexts within the Inca empire. Different types of woolen cloth were used as garments by people of different social classes. The coarsest cloth, avasco '', was used by the common people, whereas a finer cloth called compi was worn by nobility of both the bureaucracy and military. Compi was made with various colors and patterns, and woven to a higher finish than avasco, with characteristically sewn seams on both sides. Particular care was taken when weaving cloth for royal usage, which utilized expert tapestry weaving to make densely woven fabric that could be pictorially designed.One of the largest consumers of cloth was the Inca military. All active soldiers were rewarded with two shirts annually, and were also given blanket and tent material during service. Huge quantities of cloth were also distributed to civilians in all social classes as items of payment; civilian elites would wear fine, elaborate cloth to shirts, tunics, cloaks, and belts, and would often gift them to lower nobles as tokens of favor or reward. Cloth was commonly woven into unqu, an Andean male garment akin to a tunic. Men would also wear llauutu, a cloth band wrapped four or five times around the head. Women wore aqsu, a long rectangular cloth wrapped around the body and held with a woven waist belt. Fine quality colorful cloth was also used as sacrificial offerings, often provided by the royal lineage to be burned in honor of their deities. Some rituals would also require certain cloths or tapestries to be worn by key figures during the proceedings.
Inca cloth was decorated with insignias of rank, prestige, and societal status. Studies of surviving compi suggest Inca-style tunics use a grid of squares or rectangles. Simple checkerboard patterns are associated with military personnel, with usage of colors into a red and white checkerboard pattern signifying higher military rank. More complex expressions of the grid, called t’oqapu, were made of abstract geometric motifs and were worn by bureaucrats, nobles, and royalty. Specific patterns signify certain social identities; for instance, a zig-zag band at the bottom-edge of checkerboard tunics would differentiate Inka royalty and nobility, and other patterns would visually distinguish the 12 royal lineages. In this sense, individuals of higher status and more societal roles likely owned several tunics with differing designs, representing different aspects of their social identities. Transitions in social identities were also reflected in cloth; people would be buried with multiple tunics representing their journey up the social hierarchy, and defeated warriors were stripped of their garments and given new ones to indicate their conquered status.
Jewelry
The wearing of jewelry was not uniform throughout Peru. Chimú artisans, for example, continued to wear earrings after their integration into the empire, but in many other regions, usually, only local leaders wore them. Jewelry may have been common among the Inca people, however it did not hold as much value to them because labor was the main way people paid each other.Ceramics
Ceramics were for the most part utilitarian in nature but also incorporated the imperialist style that was prevalent in the Inca textiles and metalwork. In addition, the Inca played drums and on woodwind instruments including flutes, pan-pipes and trumpets made of shell and ceramics.Incan ceramics are usually very distinct and easy to recognize. The shapes of the vessels are highly standardized. The most typical Incan pottery would have a spherical body with a cone-shaped base. This spherical body usually includes two vertical side handles with a tall neck and flaring rim. The Incans often would place animal heads on their pottery as well usually near the top of the vessel. There were also several other popular styles for Incan ceramics which included a shallow dish with a single bird head and handle, a pedestal beaker and a single or double handled bottle.
Incans often decorated their ceramics with a multitude of images and colors. They usually decorated their pottery with bright colors like red, yellow, orange, black and white. Much like all other forms of Incan art, the pottery was often decorated with geometric shapes. The Incans would put diamonds, squares, checkers, triangles, circles and dots on almost all of their ceramic work. Other common themes were animals and insects like llamas, birds, jaguars, alpacas, bees and butterflies as well as block-like humans.