ABSTRACT
The Andean past has been characterized as cultural continuity, with Inca institutions such as dualism, ayllu and pachaca, ancestor mummy worship, and vertical ecological organization extending unaltered, far into the archaeological past. This chapter takes an alternative perspective, examining prehispanic culture in terms of a different Andean concept, the Pachacutec—to turn the world upside-down—bringing about radical change. It is argued here that close inspection of the Andean sequence, from first sedentism in the Middle Preceramic through the beginning of empire in the Middle Horizon, reveals an impressive series of innovative new strategies and radically different practices for organizing and materializing identity, memory, and social solidarity. While the Andean past may have involved many continuities, it very significantly also involved numerous transformational changes that can only be understood as revolutionary.
