Cusco : urbanism and archaeology in the Inka world /

Farrington (archaeology, Australian National Univ.) specializes in Latin America and landscape archaeology. Based on over three decades of personal research, Cusco (preferred spelling of Cuzco) is the third volume in the "Ancient Cities of the New World" series and focuses on the three-millennia-old city, which served as the capital of the Inka empire, Tawantinsuyu. In 13 clearly written chapters (plus 82 figures, 34 tables, 121 endnotes, a 121-item glossary, and a 490-entry bibliography), Farrington (influenced by mentor Paul Wheatley) integrates geographical, archaeological, ethnohistorical, and cartographic approaches, leading to a fascinating, compelling narrative covering Inka and Spanish domination through early-20th-century Cusco. This book, the first comprehensive publication in English or Spanish on the archaeology of the Inka capital, employs analytical concepts derived from urban planning: building plans, architectural forms, and settlement patterns. The latter includes the urban center and suburban, workers', and rural villages. Farrington does not neglect the city's sociopolitical organization, economy, and religious and mortuary practices. No other book has focused so extensively on the oldest existing city in the Americas, and it fills a significant void in the study of pre-Hispanic urbanism. A magnificent accomplishment and model for other ancient urban studies. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates and above. C. C. Kolb Independent Scholar