Reconstructing Agriculture in Vitcos Inca Settlement, Peru
2015
Meseth, Enrique | Wang, Liang‐Chi | Chen, Su‐Hwa | Yu, Jason C. S. | Buzinny, Michael
Vitcos was occupied by the Incas of Vilcabamba in the sixteenth century, which included about 20 ha of agricultural fields with crops such as maize, potato, quinoa, amaranth and beans. The current study assessed water management for agriculture on this site. Desk research included relating past climatic data to a parallel study on modern climate, evapotranspiration, crop schedules, crop water requirements and capillary rise estimates; additionally, field studies comprised soil sample collection and analysis, watercourse flow measurements and hydrological interpretation, GIS mapping of crop fields, and the reconstruction of crops with palynology techniques and radiocarbon dating. Results indicate that irrigation requirements for crops sown once a year occurred only in May, for potato (15.3 mm) and quinoa (3.5 mm), but rainfed irrigation was feasible if capillary rise is considered. Finally, the Inca population of Vitcos was estimated in relation to food production, considering dietary habits, crop field area, crop yields, nutrition value of crops and calorie requirements, reaching 365 people, taking into account that crops were sown once a year and meat supply represented 10% of the diet. This estimate matches with the number of people that could have been accommodated in Vitcos Inca dwellings.
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