Dis-embedded centers and architecture of power in the fringes of the Inka empire: New perspectives on territorial and hegemonic strategies of domination

Empires were expansive polities based on the extraction of resources and economic surplus from subdued territories and people through a range of strategies of domination. Based on research on Oroncota in the Southeastern Inka region, this article presents evidence from architecture, settlement shifts, storage capacity and artifacts distribution, to illustrate the mechanics of dis-embedded Inka imperial centers. As an alternative form of control in the territorial and hegemonic spectrum, this research focuses on the nature and evolution of Inka dis-embedded centers as an alternative form of provincial control based on the use of architecture of power.