From Stewards to Bureaucrats: Architecture and Information Flow at Chan Chan, Peru

Author(s): John R. Topic

Source: Latin American Antiquity, Vol. 14, No. 3, (Sep., 2003), pp. 243-274
Published by: Society for American Archaeology
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3557559
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 lmlR115:

FROM STEWARDS TO BUREAUCRATS:

ARCHITECTURE AND INFORMATION FLOW AT CHAN CHAN, PERU

John R. Topic

Archaeologists working with complex societies are concerned with the administration of political economies. Beginning
with the premise that there are differingforms of administrationand that bureaucracy, in the classic formulation of Max
Weber,is one of these, I develop a heuristic dichotomy between two types of administrators:stewards (who closely super-
vise goods andpeople) and bureaucrats(whoprocess and control information).Bureaucracyis often linkedto writtenrecords,
but in the CentralAndes alternative methods of record keeping were developed, such as the quipu or knottedstring record.
I argue that one alternative record-keepingdevice was an architecturalform, the U-shaped structure. U-shaped structures
are closely identifiedwith the administrativearchitectureof the Chimukingdom (ca. A.D. 850-1470) on the north coast of
Peru. Four independentlines of argumentdemonstrate the development of bureaucracyfrom stewardshipat Chan Chan,
the capital of the Chimukingdom.Brief comparisons are made between the Chimuadministrativepattern and commodity
and informationflow in the earlier Huari and Tiwankucivilizations, and with the later Inka pattern. These comparisons
show how record-keepingtechnology affects political economy and the strategy of expansion.

Arqueologos investigandolas sociedades complejas tienen interes en la administracionde la economia politica. Afirmoque
hay variasformas de administracionpuiblicay que la burocracia,en la formulacion cldsica de Max Weber,es una de estas
formas. Desarrollo una dicotomia heuristicaentre dos tipos de administradores:mayordomos(quienes vigilan acerca de los
productosalmacenados)y burocratas(quienestrabajancon informacionacerca de los productosalmacenados).El desarrollo
de la burocraciaes generalmenteasociado con la escritura,pero en los andes centrales otras manerasde registrary archivar
informacionse desarrollaban.Mi tesis es que una manera altemativa andina utilizaba unaforma arquitectonicaespecial: la
estructuraenforma de "U."Estas estructurasocurrencomunmenteen la arquitecturaadministrativadel reino de Chimu(ca.
850-1470 d.C.), costa norte peruana. Presento cuatropruebas independientesmostrandocomo la burocraciadesarrollaba
del mayordomiaen Chan Chan, capital del reino Chimiu.Hago comparacionesbreves entre el patron administrativoChimuy
lo conocido de los patronesadministrativosen las culturasHuariy Tiwanaku,antecesores a los Chimues,y en la culturaInka
que sucedio a los Chimues.Las comparacionesdemuestrancomo la tecnologia de registrary archivarinformacionafecta la
economia politica y la estrategiade expansionestatal.

Genuine history has no room for the merely eratethemselves)who controlledscribes,andnon-

probable or the merely possible; all it permits
the historian to assert is what the evidence
before him obliges him to assert [Colling-
wood 1994:204].
ince V. Gordon Childe (1950), archaeolo-
gists have debated the role of writing in
ancient civilizations. Consideredas just a
trait,like monumentalart or craft specialization,
its importancein definingcivilizationis not clear
(e.g., Braidwood1967:137;SabloffandLamberg-
Karlovsky1974:1).Structurally,however,writing
differentiated at least three classes of people:
scribes,people(who mayor maynothavebeenlit-
John R. Topic * Departmentof Anthropology,TrentUniversity, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough,Ontario,Canada
K9J 7B8
literate people (e.g., Houston 1994; Weber
1946:229).
Even more important, writing set up a new
sourceof powerthatthe historicalsociologistMax
Weber(1946:232-239) firstclearlyrecognizedand
defined:the controlof information.ForWeber,the
controlof informationresultedin the formationof
bureaucracyin the same way that the control of
wealthresultedin the formationof classes, the dis-
tributionof prestigeresultedin theformationof sta-
tuses, and the distributionof political authority
resultedin the formationof factions. He viewed
bureaucracyas a form of managementin which

LatinAmericanAntiquity, 14(3), 2003, pp. 243-274

CopyrightO2003 by the Society for AmericanArchaeology

243
244 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY
areasof jurisdictionarefixed andorderedby rules
andregulations,resultingin a stabledistributionof
authorityacross a groupof officials who are able
to impose sanctions and are employed in their
offices because they have the requisitequalifica-
tions to fulfill theirduties.
Bureaucracy,strictlydefined,is a very impor-
tant component of civilization and the state.
Bureaucracyis partof the complex of institutions
thatorganizespowerin state-levelsocieties (Fried
1967:Chapter6; Service 1975). It formsanadmin-
istrativeinterfacebetweenthe rulersandthe ruled
that acts as the agency of control,in largepartby
controllingsourcesof informationand communi-
cation.The bureaucracy, functioningefficientlyby
well-orderedrules,not only helps to legitimatethe
governingstructure,but also stabilizesit; the sta-
bilization is achieved in partby establishingthe
means to perpetuateitself.
In the studyof precolumbianstates,wealthand
political authorityare frequentlydiscussed and,
increasingly,in precise terms (Brumfieland Fox
1994); the role of prestige in legitimizing both
chiefdoms and states has also been addressed
(Helms 1979;Yoffee 1991). The discussionof the
role of bureaucracyhas notbeen as clear,exceptin
the cases of the Aztec and Inka, in which ethno-
historicevidencehas been especially useful.
In thispaperI arguethattruebureaucracy devel-
oped for the firsttime in the Andes at ChanChan,
the capital of the Chimu kingdom. Bureaucracy,
however,is not the only possibleformof adminis-
trationin complexsocieties.The bureaucratic form
of administration has been contrastedto the sefior-
ial form,wheretheadministration of thestateis con-
ductedthroughcooptingthe offices of traditional
local lords(e.g., Netherly1990), in a manner some-
what similarto, thoughnot equivalentto, the feu-
dal system. The degree to which administration
takeseitherthe seiiorialor the bureaucratic formis
to
related contrastingconcepts of territorialand
hegemonic states (e.g., D'Altroy 1992). These dif-
ferent forms of administration are not necessarily
mutuallyexclusiveandtherecanbe continuity,and
mixing, of the formswithina single complexsoci-
ety. For example,I arguethatbureaucracydevel-
oped at ChanChanandcharacterizedthe lateform
of administration in the Chimucapitalbutthatthe
provinces were administered through a seiiorial
[Vol. 14, No. 3, 2003
form.Whilecomplexsocietiescanbe administered
in a varietyof ways, at some point largeterritorial
stateswill needa centralcoreof administrators that
gather,process, and store informationabout the
state,itsresources,anditsgovernance.Inmoststates
this involvesthe developmentof writingsystems,
butin theAndesalternativemethodsof recordkeep-
ing were developed.
Bureaucracy and Writing
Because bureaucracyis based on the controland
processingof information,an archaeologicalcor-
relateof bureaucracy is a methodforphysicallypre-
servingandtransmitting information.Theexistence
of writing(or,better,recording)systemsallowsfor
thedevelopmentof bureaucracy, butrecordingsys-
tems can also be used for nonbureaucratic forms
of expression.Santley(1989), for example,distin-
guishes between Mesoamericanpublic texts on
stelaandprivatedocumentsin the formof codices;
while both are used to legitimize the rulingelite,
the differentaudiencesfor the two types of texts
suggeststhatprivatedocumentscorrespondto more
centralized(i.e., bureaucratic)political systems.
Similarly,in a comparativeanalysis of Maya and
Mesopotamian political systems, Yoffee
(1991:287-292)findsthattheWeberiantrichotomy
of wealth,prestige,andauthoritymaybe sufficient
to understandthe exercise of power, since the
glyphsdisplayedon publicmonumentsarelargely
used to legitimize the power and prestige of the
rulers.Again, the more privatedocuments,rather
thanpublicmonuments,recordthe kindsof infor-
mationtypical of bureaucraticmanagement,such
as tributelists, and in Mesoamerica these only
appearin the Postclassicand Colonialperiods.
Hence, documentingthe presenceof an elabo-
ratedsystemof symbolicrepresentation, whichhas
been done for severalpre-InkaicAndeanciviliza-
tions, is not equivalentto demonstratingthe exis-
tence of bureaucracy.Moreover, the control of
knowledge,oftenesotericin nature,is alsoa source
of power in nonbureaucraticchiefly societies, so
thatdocumentingrestrictedaccess to information
is not equivalentto documentingthe existence of
bureaucracyeither. Documenting bureaucracy
entails the difficultprospectof defining a highly
structured setof officialswho operateto controland
process information.
Topic] ARCHITECTURE AND INFORMATIONFLOW AT CHAN CHAN
However,as importantas bureaucracyis to the
functioningof state-levelsocieties, in recentstud-
ies of the pre-InkaicTiwanakuand Huariempires
(e.g., Isbell and McEwan 1991; Kolata 1993;
Schreiber1992), the discussionof bureaucracyis
attenuated.The term "bureaucracy" is sometimes
used (e.g., Isbell 1991:301;Kolata1993:230),but
administrationis discussedlargelyin termsof site
hierarchiesrather than in terms of information
recordingandflow. In bothcases, extendedanalo-
gies are also made to the Inkapolitical economy,
in which landandlaborwereconvertedinto goods
that financed state activities (e.g., Kolata
1993:206-214; Schreiber 1992:Chapter2). We
know from ethnohistoricsources that the flow of
labor and goods in the Inka empire was meticu-
lously documentedand controlled by a bureau-
cracy. However, the administrationof the Inka
political economy involved the managementof
large-scale storage facilities (e.g., D'Altroy and
Earle1985andcommentaryfollowing),while evi-
dence for large-scale storage is not availablefor
Tiwanaku(e.g., Janusek2002:49) and has been
questionedforHuari(Anders1991;McEwan1991,
1996). Hence, the assumption that Huari and
Tiwanaku were bureaucraticcentralized states
remains undocumented.Indeed, alternativeper-
spectiveson both HuariandTiwanakude-empha-
size the bureaucraticnatureof these cultures,and
to some extent the degree of political centraliza-
tion (Albarracin-Jordan 1996; Bauer and Stanish
2001:38-42; Bermann 1997;Graffam1990,1992;
Janusek2002; Jenningsand Craig 2001; Stanish
1994;TopicandTopic 1992, 2000).
Whileit is acknowledgedthatbureaucracy, espe-
ciallywhenitemploysperishablematerialsto record
information,is difficultto study archaeologically,
we cannotsimply assumethatculturespre-dating
theInkaby almosta milleniumemployedsimilarly
sophisticated administrative practices.Sincebureau-
craticforms of controlcan be expectedto develop
of
over a period time, the archaeologicaldocu-
mentation bureaucracy importantto ourunder-
of is
standingof the evolutionof the state.
Thecase studypresentedheresupportstheargu-
ment thatin the Andeancontext,truebureaucracy
(i.e., a groupof officials who process and control
information)developedfromthe more"hands-on"
direct administrationof goods and labor. As a
245
heuristic dichotomy, I refer to the "hands-on"
administrators of realgoodsas stewardsandreserve
the term bureaucratsfor administratorswho are
concerned with the control of informationflow.
However, in reality bureaucraticadministrations
will also have stewardsin the lower levels of the
administrativehierarchy.Still, the terms have a
developmentalconnotationthatis probablyappro-
priate:the term"steward(s)"refersto the chief ser-
vantsof a largehouseholdor court,while the term
"bureaucrat(s)" implies an institutionalized"ratio-
nal-legalauthority."
Andean Recording Methods
Since argue that a class of architecture,the U-
I
shaped structures1at Chan Chan,functionedas a
means of recording information, it is useful to
review the general principles used in Andean
recordingsystems. I drawon archaeological,eth-
nohistoric,and ethnographicinformationto illus-
tratethecommonprinciplesemployedin recording
informationin a varietyof media.
The best-knownAndeanrecord-keepingdevice
is thequipu(AscherandAscher1981;Locke 1923;
Mackey 1970; Mackey et al. 1990; Radicati di
Primeglio 1979; Urton2001). Quipuare made of
stringor yar, usuallywith a long headerstringto
which pendentstringsareattached(Figure1). The
pendentstringshaveknotsthatrecordinformation.
Quipuareknownto have existed since the Middle
Horizon(approximatelyA.D. 550-1000) (Conklin
1982; PereyraS. 1997 ),2 but are best known and
understoodfromtheLateHorizon(i.e., Inkaperiod:
A.D. 1476-1532) and early years of the Colonial
period(e.g.,A.D. 1532-ca. 1653)3;quipucontinue
to be used in some ruralareaseven today.
The quipu could record numbers, but it is a
mnemonicdevice(a memoryaid);hence,like many
other New Worldrecordingmethods, it was not
designedto preciselyrecordspeech (Boone 1994;
Mignolo 1994:229). The quipucamayoc(official
who keptandreadthe quipu)neededto remember
what each string signified, but knowing this, he
could readthe numbersoff it readily.The numbers
were recordedby differentkinds of knots and the
order of magnitude(1, 10, 100, 1000, etc.) was
indicatedby the location of the knot on the string
(Cieza de Leon 1985:30-31 [1553]; Garcilasode
la Vega 1966:330 [1609 and 1617]).
246 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 14, No. 3, 2003

115`

Figure 1. Inka officials in the drawings of Guaman Poma (1980 [1615]). Top row, from left: a chasqui (runner stationed
along the royal roads) carrying a quipu labelled "carta"(letter); an administrator of a province; the secretary of the Inka.
Bottom: treasurer,with quipu and yupana (abacus); administrator of a Suyu, or Quarter of the empire showing accounts
to the Inka among a group of storerooms.

Thebasicstructuralcharacteristicsof thequipu, tics. First,a numberof stringscould be combined

then, consist of numericvalues recordedin a par-
ticularplacethathaspredefinedvalues.Thisis very
similarto how the Spanishviewed memory aids
(cf. Cummins1994:193-194),4and they not only
recognizedthe quipu as a valid form of informa-
tion recordingbut they were also quite willing to
acceptit as the basis for experttestimony(Acosta
1940:290-292 [1590]; Callapifia 1974 [1542];
Cieza de Leon 1985:32 [1553]; Sarmiento
1907:41-43 [1572]).
The basic structureof the quipu informational
systemwas augmentedby a few othercharacteris-
into a single largerquipuin orderto recorddiffer-
ent categorieswithina single quipurecord(Figure
1). To facilitate rememberingthe differentcate-
goriesrepresentedby each string,they were some-
times coded by color, the directionthe stringhad
been spun,the thicknessof the string,etc. (Calan-
cha 1974-82:203-206 [1638];Garcilasode laVega
1966:330 [1609 and 1617]; Mackey 1970:Chap-
tersII andVI). Thus,qualitativevaluesandnotjust
numericvalues are importantto the structureof
informationrecording.
Moreover,at least by late Inkatimes, the cate-
Topic] AND INFORMATION
ARCHITECTURE FLOWATCHANCHAN
goriesrecordedon a seriesof stringswithina quipu
wereorganizedin a standardorderbasedon therel-
ative importance of the items (Calancha
1974-82:204-205 [1638]; Garcilaso de la Vega
1966:330 [1609 and 1617]; Murra1975, 1982).
This correlation of cognitive ranking with the
sequentialorderingof the stringsagainemphasizes
the structuralimportanceof the place, with prede-
finedvalue,in which qualitativeor numericalval-
ues arerecorded.
AlthoughCobo(1979:254[1653])notedthatthe
quipucamayoccould not understandeach other's
quipu,thereis actuallyquite a bit of standardiza-
tion amongLateHorizonquipu.Forexample,two
basic kindsof quipuhave been recognized:quan-
titativequipu,in which the numberson different
strings can be shown to be relatedto each other
arithmetically(e.g., one string sums others), and
quipuin whichthe numberson the stringsseem to
serve as labels,ratherthanas arithmeticquantities
(Ascher 1990). The knots are themselves stan-
dardized,so that there are usually only threedif-
ferent kinds of knots and these are used
preferentiallyto denotetheunitsorthehighernum-
bers. Moreover,sequences of color combinations
recur frequentlywithin a single quipu or within
associated lots of quipu, demonstratinganother
form of standardization,at least within the quipu
used by a single quipucamayoc(Mackey 1970:
76-77).
It is these types of standardizationsand pat-
terings thatallow even modem researchersto be
able to readthe numbersand have a sense of the
structureof the ancientquipu. Indeed,an indica-
tionthatquipucamayoccoulddeciphereachother's
quipu,if given an idea of the contentand structure
of the quipu,is theirapparentuse in the"postalser-
vice"by chasqui(runnersstationedalongtheroyal
roads) who relayed messages along the imperial
road system (Garcilasode la Vega 1966:328-329
[1609 and 1617]; Guaman Poma de Ayala
1980:202-204 [1615]; Mackey 1970:19). As the
quipuwaspassedfromrunnerto runner,a shortver-
baldescriptionof thecontentswouldalso be passed
along (Figure1).
Cobo's comment, though, is also valid. There
certainlyis evidence for idiosyncrasyamong the
quipuandquipucamayoc,especiallyin termsof the
significanceof colors.Theywere,afterall,intended
247
as mnemonicdevices to aid oral recitation.More-
over, Cobo (1979:254 [1653]) goes on to say that
there were many different quipus for different
things, that the quipucamayocwere trainedvery
carefullyin theiruse, and that those who had not
been trainedwerenot ableto understandthequipu;
thus his comment occurs in the context of such
Weberianbureaucraticconcepts as fixed jurisdic-
tions for officials,the need for officials to develop
requisiteskills, andthe privilegingof information
(Weber1946).
There were numerousofficials, each with his
own area of competence, and these formed an
administrativehierarchy.The picturesand text in
the chronicle of GuamanPoma (1980:335-365
[1615]) gives one list of officials(Figure1).A vari-
ety of officials kept trackof the contentsof store-
rooms, the herds, and the affairs of individual
towns;these accountants,like stewards,would be
in directcontactwith the goods, animals,andpeo-
ple for which they hadresponsibility.An adminis-
tratorof a province was a true bureaucratwho
gatheredinformationtogether for a region. This
might include the numberof men, women, and
children;the maritalstatusof these individuals;the
numberof llamasand alpacas;the amountof trib-
ute paidin potatoes,honey,andcoca leaf;the num-
berof stonemasonsdrafted,andso forth.All these
need neverbe physicallyin one place at one time
to be counted, but the information could be
recordedon a singlequipuora seriesof quipu.Both
the local accountantsand regional administrators
kept largely statisticalinformation.Officials such
as the secretaryof the Inkarecordedmore histori-
cal ortextualinformation,assistedby philosophers
and poets (amautasand arawicus) who made up
storiesandpoemsbasedon thisinformation(Calan-
cha 1974-82:204-208 [1638];Garcilasode laVega
1966:332 [1609 and 1617]); the recitationof the
storyor poem was promptedby quipuin whichthe
attributes,suchas colors,knots,thicknessof cords,
etc., actedas labels ratherthanas arithmeticinfor-
mation.
Otheraspects of Andeanrecordkeeping were
methodsof gatheringdata and performingcalcu-
lations.TheAndeanabacus,or yupana (Figure 1),
illustratedby GuamanPoma 1980:360 [1615]) is
interesting,becauseit is againbasedon the princi-
ple of representingnumeric values in particular
248 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 14, No. 3, 2003

places with predefinedvalues. Guaman Poma's Inka administratorsor moder haciendaadminis-

drawingshows a simple arrayof cells, consisting trators,need never count the sheep, but they can
of 5 rows and 4 columns;the arrayof cells could record,store,pass on to theirbosses, andmanipu-
simplybe markedon the groundby drawingsome late the receivedinformationaboutthem.Thereis
lines in the dirt,drawnon a piece of cloth, or per- continuitybetweenthefunctioningof stewardsand
haps carved in wood or stone. Although there is bureaucrats,but large and complex organizations
some debate aboutexactly how the abacusfunc- cannotfunctionwith stewardsalone;theyalsomust
tioned,each cell had a numericalvalue andcalcu- have bureaucrats.
lations were performedby moving markers-a
The Archaeology of Bureaucracy
stone,bean,maize kernel,quinoaseed-from one
cell to another;early historicalaccounts indicate While we have considerable ethnohistoric and
that they could performcalculationsfrom one to archaeologicalevidenceforthefunctionof theInka
100,000 (Acosta 1940:291-292 [1590]; Guaman administration, administrative functionsin theMid-
Poma 1980:360-361 [1615];Pereyra1990;Wassen dle Horizon"empires"have been inferredlargely
1990). fromsite size hierarchies.6Inthe case of Huari,the
Modern Andean peasants still keep track of sites often have very similararchitecturalcharac-
herds and harvestsby using very simple counting teristics and orthogonal,planned,layouts (Isbell
and recordingtechniques.Potatoesand maize are and McEwan 1991; Isbell and Schreiber 1978),
countedin groupsof ten, with one potatoor earset while in the case of Tiwanakuthe sites areassoci-
aside for each group;thenthe "10s"arecountedin ated with public works (raised fields) and have
the samemanner,settingaside one potatoor earto blocks of worked stone (Bauer and Stanish
representa hundred,until a final figure is arrived 2001:38-42;Kolata1986, 1993).Inferringthepres-
at andrecordedon a quipu(Nufiezdel Prado1990). ence of a unified,state-level,imperialadministra-
Larco(1942:100-101, 1943:352)reportsthatbeans tion (i.e., bureaucracy)from site size hierarchies
of differenttypes and colors are used to represent andthe presenceof workedstonesis obviouslyan
animalsin a herd or the warpsin a textile; again, indirectapproach,which assumesthatall sites are
the physical objects (beans in this case) used by indeed part of the same system and functionally
individual herders and weavers can later be homogenous;it does not addressthe more direct
recordedon quipu.However,in the firstinstance, question of how information was recorded,
the recordingis easier to accomplish by using a processed,and transmitted.
physical object as a counter.Thus, for example,a My approachfocuses on informationflow. I
herdercounting sheep being herdedinto a corral show that the U-shaped structuresat ChanChan
might drop a stone (a marker)into one pile for were used to recordandprocessinformation,in a
every female and into another for every male manneranalogousto the quipu,and that the spa-
(places with predefinedvalues). The recordingis tial organizationof these architecturalelements
instantaneousand can be transferredlater to the reflectsthe processof transmissionof information
portablequipu. from one functionaryto another.
The organizationof these modem quipuvaries
Chan Chan
much more than that of the classic Inka quipu Description of
(Mackey 1970), so they cannotbe read by other ChanChan,capitalof the ChimuKingdom,was a
people. But the herderhimself can read it to a large city that was foundedon the northcoast of
higher-leveladministrator who transfersthe infor- Peru aboutA.D. 850 and flourishedfrom about
mation,in Spanish,into the hacienda'saccounts. A.D. 1200 to A.D. 1470, when it was conquered
TheseAndeanexampleshelpus understandthat by the expanding Inka empire (Figure 2). The
therearetwo differentkindsof administrators that Chimukingdomincorporateda numberof ethnic
I have distinguishedas stewardsandbureaucrats.5 groups,undertheirethniclords,in a stripof terri-
The stewardscountthesheeporothergoods as they tory along the coast almost 1,000 km long, from
comein andoutandtheycanrecordandreportthese nearwhatis now theEcuadorianborderin thenorth
observations. Bureaucrats,like the higher-level to nearLimain the south.Thecity consistedessen-
 / A _ ::::::::::::;.::::::;
liilJIillUUIIIIIIIjjIl .:::: :::::: l..

. .0 |......
/ ,

11~
aii^ ~ ~~~~~~?
~ p^l;
s.t . ??r?i,l

P . .. . .
.........!...
. . I .--.- 6.
. ..
a..

- o
S (C'? J
|g~~~~~~~~~~~~~~3
(tt
....E3. .. O

9o ri P0
o oT3. n .. ... C

)c;s'
250 LATINAMERICAN
ANTIQUITY [Vol.14, No. 3, 2003

U
n
0

h i

U
k I

d f M
e

0 5 10 15 20

ub U
_i '- [ m.

a
Figure 3. Development of standardized U-shaped structures of Chan Chan. Early period: (a) Tello south; (b) and (c) Uhle
north central; (d) and (e) Tello north; (f) and (g) Uhle southwest. Middle period: (h) Laberinto central; (i) and (j) Tello
northeast; (k) Uhle northwest; (1)Gran Chimu. Late period: (m) Velarde; (n) Bandelier; (o) Tschudi. Structures shown
in a, d, i, and j are redrawn from Moseley and Mackey (1974:Map 13); g, h, 1,and o from Andrews (1974:Figures 14, 14,
12, and 17, respectively); b, c, e, f, k, m, and n from Kolata (1978:Figures 14, 15, 20, 18, 18, 28, and 29, respectively).

tially of the courtof the Chimukings (e.g., Kolata intotheresidentialbarrios(Klymyshyn1982).The

1983).Thereare 10 namedcompounds,calledciu-
dadelas,whichareofteninterpreted as palacescon-
structed sequentially by the Chimu kings (Day
1982; Klymyshyn 1987:99, 105; Kolata 1990;
Moseley 1975a;Moseley andMackey 1974). Sur-
rounding the ciudadelas are other compounds
referredto as EliteArchitecture;these compounds
areless monumentalthanthe ciudadelasandhave
been interpretedas residencesof the lower nobil-
ity and extensionsof the administrativeapparatus
residential barrios, also referredto as SIAR or
small irregularlyagglutinatedrooms, were occu-
pied by families of artisansspecializingin metal
workingand textile production,but also working
stone, wood, and shell (J. Topic 1982, 1990).
U-shapedstructuresoccur throughoutthe city,
as well as at Chimururalsites andprovincialcen-
ters. They generallyhave only threewalls so that
a planof a structurelooks like the block letter"U"
(Figure3). Theyusuallyhavefloorsthatareslightly
Topic] ARCHITECTURE AND INFORMATIONFLOW AT CHAN CHAN
elevated above the surroundingcourt and thick
walls with niches or other cavities. Three basic
types of U-shaped structureshave been defined
(arcones have bins, trocaderoshave troughs,and
audiencias have niches), along with variantsof
eachtypebasedon thenumberandlocationof bins,
troughs,and niches, and the overall shape of the
structure.Trocaderoshave a very restrictedspatial
andtemporaldistribution,andthey will be treated
hereas a variantof theaudiencia.Thedistributions
of audienciasandarconesoverlaptemporally,but
are spatiallyratherdistinct:arcones occur in the
residentialbarrios,butnotin the ciudadelas;audi-
encias occurin the ciudadelas,but not in the resi-
dentialbarrios;both types of structuresoccur in
the IntermediateorEliteArchitecture(Klymyshyn
1982;Kolata1978;Topic 1977, 1990). In termsof
the heuristicdichotomy employed here, arcones
were probablyalways associated with stewards,
while the audiencias became associated with
bureaucrats.
The Function of the U-shapedStructures
Almost all archaeologistswho have discussedthe
functionof the U-shaped structureshave charac-
terized them as "administrative"in nature.This
characterization was originallybasedon theappar-
ent associationof U-shaped structureswith stor-
age areasin the ciudadelas,andthe structureswere
interpretedas controllingaccessto thestorageareas
(Day 1982; Kolata 1990:124). By graphingthe
access routeswithinone ciudadela,Moore(1992)
was able to show that the U-shapedstructuresin
CiudadelaRivero did not physically or visually
controlaccess to storage.While he noted (Moore
1992:108) that U-shaped structuresare closely
associated with storeroomsin some ciudadelas,
but not in others, he rejectedthe associationfor
ChanChanas a whole and questionedthe admin-
istrativefunctionof the U-shapedstructures.
While I completely agree with Moore thatthe
interpretationof U-shaped structuresas "control
structures"is imprecise,I still thinkthat they are
best interpretedas administrativein nature.This
paperis an attemptto morepreciselydescribethe
changing natureof administrationat Chan Chan
(andtheroleplayedby U-shapedstructures),from
a concernwith commodityflow to an emphasison
informationflow.In thisview,U-shapedstructures
251
representan evolving administrativetechnology
analogous to the quipu.While quipu predatethe
Chimu,as notedearlier,the MiddleHorizonquipu
areknownat presentonly fromthe SouthCoastof
Peru (Conklin 1982; Pereyra 1997), an area not
broughtunderthe controlof ChanChan.Thereis
no evidencethatthe quipuwas used by the Chimu
governmentat its capital at Chan Chan or in any
provincialor ruralcenters.I argue,however,that
theU-shapedstructuresfunctionedin ananalogous
manner.
In interpretingU-shapedstructuresas adminis-
trativestructures,the only assumptionwe have to
make is thatthe niches, bins, and troughshad the
same sortof predefinedplace value thatwe see in
otherAndeanrecord-keepingdevices, such as the
stringsof the quipuor the cells of the abacus;sim-
ilarly,then,beans,pebbles,or othermarkerscould
be placed in the niches or bins in orderto record
quantitativeinformation.If the niches represented
a category,puttingmarkersinto themrecordedthe
value of that category.The markersput into the
niches could have been the actual commodities
being counted(in the mannerin whichpotatoesare
countedtoday),buttheycouldalsohavebeenmark-
ers that representedcommodities.One niche, for
example, might representthe amountof maize in
a storagearea;anothermightrepresentthe number
of sets of clothing that a group of weavers was
requiredto deliver.Niches mighthavebeen subdi-
vided by putting the counters into pots or bags
within them: thus a niche could representmaize,
with one bag representingmaizeto be deliveredto
storage, another representing maize currently
stored,and a thirdrepresentingmaize requiredfor
consumptionin the immediatefuture.In my inter-
pretation,then, the U-shapedstructuresare not so
much control structuresas accountingstructures,
andthey mightkeep accountof itemsthatwere not
in storageas well as items thatwere in storage.
If the U-shapedstructuresfunctionedin a man-
ner analogousto the quipuand abacus,they could
eitherhavebeenusedby officialswho werein close
contactwith the commoditiesin storage(i.e., offi-
cials who were like stewards)or by officials who
wereremovedfrombutstillcontrolledinformation
aboutthe commodities(i.e., bureaucrats). The spa-
tial contextsin which we findthe U-shapedstruc-
turesallowsus to archaeologicallydistinguishthese
252 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY
two differentkinds of administrators.I show that
close examinationof the contextsin which the U-
shapedstructuresoccur documentsthe transition,
throughtime, from an administrativemodel con-
sistentwith stewardshipto a modelconsistentwith
bureaucracy. In otherwords,atChanChanwe have
thefirstdemonstrablecase of theevolutionof infor-
mation controlfrom a precedingsystem of com-
modity controlin the Andeanworld.
The Evidencefor the Developmentof
Bureaucracy
I presentfour independentlines of argumentthat
show how bureaucracydeveloped from steward-
ship. The context in which U-shaped structures
occurwill be shownto shiftfrompositionsin which
they could controlcommodityflow to positionsin
which they can only be interpretedas controlling
informationflow.Also, the form of the U-shaped
structuresreflects, throughtime, an increasingly
standardized record-keepingsystemandanincreas-
ingly relationshipamong the record
hierarchical
keepers. Thesechangesculminate,in thefinalphase
of occupationat ChanChan,in a rationalizedsys-
tem of informationflow thatis distinctlydifferent
from whatis recognizablein the earliestphase.
1. In theTransitionfromStewardshipto Bureau-
cracy We ShouldSee IncreasingStandardization of
theFormof the U-shapedStructuresthroughTime.
Individualshepherdscanrecordinformationabout
theirherdsin nonstandardizedways. However,in
orderfor recordsto be understoodby a numberof
officials, the markersand place values used in
Andeanaccountingsystemshadto be standardized.
If the niches, bins, and troughsin the U-shaped
structuresat Chan Chan were places with prede-
fined values, then the form of the building must
have been standardizedin orderfor differentpeo-
ple to understandthe value of each place.
Severalsequenceshave been proposedfor the
U-shaped structures at Chan Chan (including
Andrews 1974; Kolata 1982; Topic and Moseley
1985).Andrewsproposedthe firstsequence;it was
latermodifiedby Kolata,who drewon information
not availableto Andrews,especiallya seriationof
the adobe bricks used in the U-shaped structures
andciudadelas.TopicandMoseley (1985), in turn,
relied on Kolata,as well as ceramic information
from ciudadelas,areasadjacentto the ciudadelas,
[Vol. 14, No. 3, 2003
andruralU-shapedstructures.Thereare only two
majordifferencesbetweentheKolatasequenceand
the Topic andMoseley sequence.First,Topicand
Moseleyrecognizea U-shapedstructureprecursor,
the tablado (Figure3a), in their sequence that is
also presentat the MocheV site of Galindo(Baw-
den 1982);second,TopicandMoseleyconsiderthe
combinationof a standardaudienciaanda variant,
the auxilio, in a single court (Figure 3o) to be
chronologically distinct from the simple occur-
rence of a standardaudiencia. These differences
affectonly the very earliestandvery latestends of
the sequence.
The ciudadelas also have been seriated.One
attributeusedin theciudadelaseriationsis theform
of the U-shapedstructuresin each.Otherattributes
includethe shapeof the adobebricks,the form of
theburialplatform,overallconfigurationof theciu-
dadela, and, at times, ceramic associations. All
researcherswho have examinedthe monumental
architectureatChanChanin detailagreethatthere
were discrete constructional episodes. These
episodesconsistedof theconstructioneitherof sec-
tors of ciudadelas (early in the site's history) or
complete ciudadelas (late in the site's history).
After a periodof use, generallyviewed as a gen-
erationor the rule of a single king, the sector or
ciudadelawas abandonedandcurated.
The two most widely cited ciudadelaseriations
(Kolata1982; Topic and Moseley 1985) are com-
pared in Table 1. In a more recent publication,
Kolata(1990:122)recognizesup to fourphasesin
one ciudadela, Uhle, and at least two in another,
Tello. Joanne Pillsbury (1993:71), based on her
studyof the adobefriezes in the ciudadelas,finds
that the relief sculptures confirm the general
chronologicaloutline of the Topic and Moseley
sequence and, to a lesser extent,the generalout-
line of the Kolatasequence.
Using thesesequenceswe candemonstratethat
through time U-shaped structures do, in fact,
become morestandardized.Earlyciudadelas(dat-
ing fromapproximately A.D. 850 to 1100)arechar-
acterizedby variation:tabladosin courtslinedwith
storeroomsoccurin the southsectorof Tello (Fig-
ure 3a); there are elongatedU-shaped structures,
as well as C-shapedstructures;and the structures
have a mixtureof bins, troughs,and niches in the
walls. Thereis a reductionin variationin the mid-
Topic] ANDINFORMATION
ARCHITECTURE FLOWATCHANCHAN 253

Table 1. A Comparisonof Two Sequences for the MonumentalArchitectureat Chan Chan.

Period Kolata 1982 Topic and Moseley 1985 ApproximateDate A.D.

Squier?
Rivero Tschudi 1470
LATE Tschudi Rivero
Bandelier Bandelier
Velarde Velarde

Squier?
GranChimu GranChimu 1350
MIDDLE Laberinto Laberinto(North)
Uhle (Northwest)
Tello Tello (Northeast)
Laberinto(Central)

Enclosure#2 1100
Uhle (west) Uhle (Southwest)
EARLY Tello (North)
Uhle (east) Uhle (Northeast)
Chayhuac Tello (South)
Enclosure #1 850

die phase (approximately A.D. 1100 to 1350): the
structures take on a squarish shape, but there is still
a mixture of bins, troughs, and niches. In the final
ciudadela of this phase, Gran Chimu, there is only
a single style of U-shaped structure (Figure 31).
The late phase is characterized by a high degree of
standardization. In Velarde, a four-niched structure
occurs (Figure 3m), but in Bandelier, Rivero and
Tschudi we only find the standardsix-niched audi-
encia (Figure 3n). In Tschudi, however, the stan-
dard audiencia is sometimes accompanied by an
un-niched structure called the auxilio (Figure 3o).
The increasing standardization of the U-shaped
structures is also evident in Kolata's sequence and
was, in fact, noted by him (Kolata 1982:84) as an
indication of an "increasingly rigid and bureau-
cratic organization." Probably because he sub-
scribed to the "control structure"interpretation of
U-shaped structures (Kolata 1982:72, 85), how-
ever, no particularsignificance was ascribed to this
increasing standardization in terms of the devel-
opment of administrative technology. Topic and
Moseley (1985:164, 165), on the other hand, related
the standardization of U-shaped structure form
explicitly to standardization of accounting prac-
tices; they did not, however, develop the explicit
analogy to the quipu that is employed in this paper.
If the U-shaped structures were primarily
designed to control access routes, the increasing
standardization could be viewed simply as stylis-
tic change. It might suggest an increasingly rigid
set of rules and procedures within the bureaucracy,
but only in the same sense that a dress code or rules
about the color of filing cabinets reflect "bureau-
cratic" rigidity. This is "bureaucracy"in the popu-
lar, usually negative, connotation of "red-tape."
When they are viewed as accounting structures,
however, the standardization of the number and
placement of niches takes on quite a different sig-
nificance, a significance more analogous to having
all computers within a workplace use the same
operating system; this is the kind of rationalization
characteristic of bureaucratic administration in the
Weberian sense.
The long-term trend toward the reduction in
number of niches may indicate a specialization of
functions; perhaps, over time, each U-shaped struc-
ture became responsible for fewer commodities,
fewer storerooms, or a particular group of people.
The standardization in the arrangement of niches
suggests a codification of place value concepts, like
the codification of string colors, sequence, and knot
placement in the quipu.
2. In the Transitionfrom Stewardship to Bureau-
cracy We Should See Increasing Separation
between the U-shaped Structures and Storerooms
through Time. In the dichotomy between stewards
and bureaucrats used here, stewards control goods
254 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY
while bureaucratscontrol informationabout the
goods. Stewards,then,shouldbe closely associated
with the actualstoreroomswhile bureaucratscan
be more spatially independent.As noted earlier,
Moore (1992:106-108) has shown that the U-
shapedstructuresin Riverodo not physicallycon-
trolaccessto the storeroomsnordo theycommand,
visually,the routesleadingto storageareas.Since
Riverois one of the latestciudadelas,his analysis
in this instanceagreeswith my own. However,he
also uses a tabulationof the numberof U-shaped
structuresthatoccur with andwithoutstorerooms
andthe numberof storeroomsthatoccur with and
withoutU-shapedstructuresto extrapolate,thatfor
ChanChanas a whole, thereis no significantspa-
tial associationbetween U-shaped structuresand
storage.
We can use the seriationof monumentalarchi-
tectureto examinethechangingspatialrelationship
betweenU-shapedstructuresandstorageareasover
time in more detail. Only six of the monumental
enclosuresarewell enoughpreservedto be useful
here:Tello,Uhle, Laberinto,Bandelier,Rivero,and
Tschudi.The othershave large sections destroyed
by colonial and modem roads (GranChimu and
Velarde)or by agriculturalactivities (Chayhuac),
were buried or destroyed in antiquityby urban
renewalwithinthe site(Enclosures1 and2), orwere
never finished(Squier).As Table 1 indicates,the
six relatively well-preservedenclosures have as
manyas 11 chronologicalcomponentswithinthem
andspanmost of the historyof the site. The earlier
enclosurestypically have more than one chrono-
logical component,while theLateenclosureswere
probablybuiltin a single constructionphase.
While I will describeeach of the chronological
componentsin order,usingthe TopicandMoseley
(1985) sequence,the analysiswill be basedpartly
on groupingsof thesecomponentsintoEarly,Mid-
dle, and Late periods.This structureallows both
the examinationof detailedchangeandanalysisof
more generaltrends.Because there are slight dif-
ferencesin the Kolata(1982, 1990) andTopicand
Moseley (1985) sequences,as well as evidencefor
majorrenovationsin some of the ciudadelas(Pills-
bury1993:166ff),thedetailedchangesmaybe sub-
ject to debate but the general trends should be
trustworthy.
The architecturalpatterningat Chan Chan is
[Vol. 14, No. 3, 2003
complex and the discussion that follows is com-
plicated.The diagramsused to illustratethis sec-
tion are intendedto reducethe complexityof the
architecture, while stillpreservingcontextualinfor-
mation (Figures5-10). For example, the plan of
Tello(Figure4) showsthreeclearsectors:thenorth,
northeast,and south sectors.The threesectorsare
defined in the diagram (Figure 5) by shading.
Withineach sectorin Figure5 area numberof rec-
tangles that represent courts. Some rectangles/
courtsare entrycourts with ramps;the rampsare
designatedby V-shapedarrowspointingto the top
of theramp.Some courtshaveU-shapedstructures
withinthem, and the U-shapedstructuresaredes-
ignatedby a block letter U within the rectangle.
Sometimes the courts with U-shaped structures
also contain storerooms,and in these cases the
numberof storeroomsin a courtis indicated.Inthe
case of a storagecourt withouta U-shapedstruc-
ture,the numberof storeroomsstandsalone. Cir-
cles representwater wells. Particularlyelaborate
courtswhose walls areornamentedwithnichesare
indicated by lines drawn parallel to the rectan-
gle/courtwalls.
Access from one courtto anotheris indicated
by lines connecting the rectangles.The approxi-
matepoint at which an access routeentersa court
is indicatedby the pointatwhichthe line intersects
therectangle.Inthe case of poorlypreservedcourts
or unclearaccess routes,dashedlines areused.
EarlyPeriod.The southsectorof Tello is char-
acterizedby tablados (indicatedby a courtwith a
"T"inside), althoughthere is also one audiencia
variantin thenorthwestpartof thesouthsector(Fig-
ures 4 and 5). The tablados occur in courtyards
lined with bins, apparentlyfor storage,on the two
lateralwalls. The largestcourthas 34 bins and a
tablado, with three walls, set on a bench at the
southend of the court.The othertwo tabladosare
low rectangularplatforms set near the southern
ends of courtswith lateralbins andbenches.There
are also 14 storage areas that lack tablados or
audiencia variants.Access patternsare not very
clear,butaccordingto themapsmost of theseareas
would have been accessible without passing
directly by either the tablados or the audiencia
variant.Still,thetabladocourtsarephysicallyclose
to the storageareas and, significantly,have what
appearto be storagebins in theirlateralwalls.
Topic] ARCHITECTUREAND INFORMATIONFLOW AT CHAN CHAN 255

TELLO

Soutfi
I'k

cil .1

"IT rrs

Figure 4. Plan map of Ciudadela Tello (redrawn from Moseley and Mackey [1974]).

CiudadelaUhle (Figure6) is interpretedas rep-
resentingeitherthree(Topicand Mosely 1985) or
four (Kolata 1990:122) construction stages. In
eithercase, the earliestconstructionstages are in
the northeastpartof the enclosure,labeledin Fig-
ure 6 as north central and northeast. Kolata
(1978:110-113) includesanimportantupdateto the
ChanChanmaps (Moseley and Mackey1974) for
thisnortheastareaof Uhle. He illustratesfourelon-
gatedU-shapedstructuresin the northcentralsec-
256 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 14, No. 3, 2003

TELLO

Figure 5. Diagram of the relationship between storage and U-shaped structures in Tello. Compare to Figure 4. The shad-
ing indicates three chronologically distinct sectors. Ramps are indicated by the symbol "v"; U-shaped structures by the
symbol "U";tabladosby the symbol "T"; arabic numerals indicate the numbers of storerooms in each court; water wells
are indicated by circles; and niched walls are indicated by lines parallel to the walls of the court (as in the northeast sec-
tor in the court with 6 storerooms).

tor,each witheithertwo bins ortwo niches (Kolata
1978:113, Figures 14 and 15; see also Figure 3b
and 3c). Since he does not illustratethe precise
location within this sector, Figure 6 shows esti-
matesof theirlocationbasedon bothKolata(1978)
andMoseley andMackey(1974).
Both the northeastandthe northcentralsectors
of Uhle arecharacterizedby courtsin which walls
were decoratedwith niches. These niched courts
are somewhatreminiscentof the bin-linedcourts
in the southernsector of Tello (Figure5), but the
nichesandthebinsmayhaveserveddifferentfunc-
tionalpurposes.Two of the six nichedcourtshave
U-shaped structureswithin them and three other
niched courts can only be reached by passing
througha courtwith threeU-shapedstructures;if
the niches serveda storagefunction,therewould
be a very close spatialconnectionbetweenstorage
areasandU-shapedstructures.If the nichedcourts
were not storageareas,then therewas no storage
space in the northeastsector and only a minor
amountin thenorthcentralsector.Inthelattercase,
there is a close spatial association between U-
shapedstructuresandstorerooms,thoughit is pos-
sible to gain access to some storeroomswithout
passing by a U-shaped structure.As in Tello, the
accesspatternsin thenortheastareaof Uhle arenot
clearly definedon the Chan Chanmaps, and it is
Topic] ARCHITECTURE AND INFORMATIONFLOW AT CHAN CHAN 257

:=

UHLE

Figure 6. Diagram of the relationship between storage and U-shaped structures in Uhle. The shading indicates four sec-
tors; these may each be chronologically distinct or the north central and the northeast sectors may be contemporaneous.

not possible to argue for physical control of the
storeroomsby the U-shapedstructuresin all cases,
thoughthereis proximitybetweenU-shapedstruc-
turesand storerooms.
The northsectorof the Telloenclosurehas four
well-defined storage courts, but the access into
thesecourtsis not clear.Theyarelocatedjust south
of a largecourtyard,witha rampleadingto a raised
benchalongits southwall, anda C-shapedaudien-
cia variantis in the middleof the bench.The stor-
age areasarejust behindthis U-shapedstructure
andit mightwell havecontrolledaccess physically
and visually to the storageareas.
Thesouthwestsectorof Uhle (Figure6) hasper-
hapsthe closest associationof U-shapedstructures
and storeroomsat ChanChan.There is a central
courtwith storeroomsalongthe lateralwalls and a
groupof threeU-shapedstructures on a raisedbench
at its southernend. This is an arrangementsimilar
to a nichedcourtleadingto threeU-shapedstruc-
turesin the northeastsectorof Uhle. In the south-
west sectorof Uhle,thesethreeU-shapedstructures
control access into a storage area with 16 store-
rooms.Flankingthe centralcourt/storeroomcom-
plexarefourotherstoragecourts,eachwitha central
U-shaped structure.There are also five isolated
storeroomslocatednorthof the centralcourt.
In these early cases, U-shaped structures(and
tablados) are often located in large courts, with
storerooms,bins, or niches along the lateralwalls.
U-shapedstructuresareoftenplacednearthe south
end of the court,or on a raisedbench at the south
end of the court.In two cases, bothin Uhle, a com-
plex of three U-shaped structuresis located on a
benchatthesouthendof a court.Itcannotbe shown
in all cases thatU-shapedstructurescontrolvisual
or physical access to storerooms;however,this is
partlydue to poorpreservation.The positioningof
the U-shapedstructuresin largecourtsmeansthat
they are often located along majoraccess routes.
Moreover,U-shapedstructuresare close to many
storageareas;theytendto be dispersedthroughout
the sectorratherthanclosely concentratedin a par-
ticularareawithinit.
258 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 14, No. 3, 2003

LABERINTO

Figure 7. Diagram of the relationship between storage and U-shaped structures in Laberinto. The shading indicates three
sectors; the central sector was probably in use before the north and east sectors. The north and east sectors may have
been in use contemporaneously.

MiddlePeriod.The centralsectorof Laberinto AnotherU-shapedstructureoccursin a courtwith

continuessomeof thesetrends(Figure7). Themain
access routeleads througha largenichedcourt,up
a ramp,and onto a raisedbench thatis also deco-
rated with niches. U-shaped structuresoccur in
courtswith storeroomsand seem to controlaccess
to most of the largerstoragecourts:on the west, a
courtwithtwo U-shapedstructuresappearsto con-
trolaccess to a storageareawith a nichedwall and
25 storerooms;in the centralarea, an audiencia
courtcontrolsaccess to a storageareacontaining
13 storerooms;andon the east, an audienciacourt
is closely associated with the route leading to a
storage area with 36 storeroomsand possibly to
routesleadingto fourotherstoragecourtswith 28,
29, 31, and 34 storerooms.
The northeastsectorof Tello (Figures4 and 5)
is differentin some ways from the centralsector
of Laberinto.A niched court occurs, but it is not
central to the access system; it is approached
throughanothercourtthat has a U-shaped struc-
ture.Thenichedcourtalso containssix storerooms.
18 storerooms,buttwo U-shapedstructuresoccur
in anothercourt that seems not to be associated
with storageat all. The overwhelmingmajorityof
storeroomsdo not seem to be either visually or
physically controlled by U-shaped structures,
althoughaccess patternsare often not completely
clear.
The northwest sector of Uhle continues the
trendof de-emphasizingthe nichedcourtas a for-
mal entrance(Figure6). A small courtwith either
niches or bins is located in the extreme north-
western part of the sector. It also contains a U-
shapedstructure,but it and its U-shapedstructure
are located at the terminusof access route in an
isolated, or private,context. There are only five
storerooms,located in an audiencia court in the
centerof the sector,thatcan be directlyassociated
with a U-shaped structure.This same U-shaped
structureis associatedwith an access route lead-
ing to all the storagecourts, but they can also be
approachedby anotherroutethatbypassesthe U-
Topic] ANDINFORMATION
ARCHITECTURE FLOWATCHANCHAN 259

RANIlmnF
IU1,,, " " I!!DR
lf&,L,,m L'i

Figure 8. Diagram of the relationship between storage and U-shaped structures in Bandelier.The shading indicates two
sectors that were probably in use contemporaneously. Compare to Figure 12.

shapedstructure.In the easternpartof the sector, associatedstoreroomsat the terminusof an access

thereareagainthreestoreroomslocatedin a court
adjacentto a U-shaped structureand accessible
from its court, but these can also be reachedby
bypassingtheU-shapedstructure.Incontrast,there
are also four U-shaped structuresin the north-
easternpartof the sectorthataregroupedtogether
in a tightcluster,but are apparentlyisolatedfrom
access to storageareas;these U-shapedstructures
are small, elongated, two-niche affairs. Finally,
thereare two possible U-shapedstructuresin the
northwestareaof the sectorthatmay formanother
clusteredgroupingalongwiththe nichedcourtand
the centralU-shaped structure.
The north and east sectors of Laberintomay
forma singlechronologicalunit,sincetheeastsec-
tor is accessible from the northsector but appar-
ently isolatedfrom the centralsector(Figure7). A
nichedcourtoccursin the northsector,butit is not
the primaryentrancecourt.Instead,it servesas the
entrancecourt for a U-shapedstructurewith five
route.Tothe west of thenichedcourtthereis a com-
plex of threeclusteredU-shapedstructures.One of
these has 10 associatedstorerooms,butthe cluster
of U-shapedstructuresdoes notphysicallyor visu-
ally controlaccess to threenearbystoragecourts.
AnotherU-shapedstructureis locatedin the south-
east partof the northsectorandhas 12 storerooms
associated directly.The access to this U-shaped
structureis not clear; it might visually control
access to a 20-room storagecourt and to the east
sector,but it is not in a position to control direct
access to the five otherstoragecourtsin the north
sector. The east sector has four U-shaped struc-
tures,all clusteredwithina smallarea.Twoof these
U-shaped structures occupy a single court
approached through an entry court that is not
niched.Anotheris alsoapproachedthroughanentry
court without niches; this U-shapedstructurehas
eight storeroomsassociated.The fourthU-shaped
structurehastwo storeroomsassociated.Again,the
260
11
O
ca
o
;,: ::s .5
-
1'1'a.za
13,,a
--i~i
~~::i:~'?
Figure 9. Diagram of the relationship between storage and U-shaped structures in Rivero. The shading indicates three
sectors that were probably in use contemporaneously. Compare to Figure 13.
clusterof U-shapedstructureshere does not seem
to controlaccessto theextensivestoragecomplexes
eithervisually or physically.
During the Middle period, the niched court
changed from being the main entry court for a
whole sectorto being an entrycourtfor a singleU-
shapedstructure.The nichedcourtand associated
U-shapedstructurealsobecamemoreisolated.The
otherU-shapedstructures becameless closely asso-
ciated with storage:there were both fewer store-
rooms in the audiencia courts and the U-shaped
structureswere less capableof controllingaccess
to storageareaseitherphysicallyor visually.The
U-shaped structuresalso tended to become clus-
tered,ratherthandispersedas theywere duringthe
Earlyperiod.The latestphasein Laberintohas two
sectors,thenorthandeast sectors,thatmay be con-
temporaryand are linked such thatthe east sector
LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 14, No. 3, 2003
_RIVERO
Si
can only be enteredthroughthe northsector.
Late Period.The three late enclosuresthatare
well enoughpreservedto be consideredhere were
each builtandoccupiedas a singleunit.Bandelier,
Rivero,andTschudisharemanycharacteristics and
can be discussed together.For example, niched
courts are common and often associatedwith U-
shapedstructures(Figures8, 9, and 10). Thereare
still some storeroomslocatedwithinthe audiencia
courtsin BandelierandTschudi,butthese account
for a very small proportionof the storage space.
The bulkof the storageis in separatecourts,which
are not controlledeithervisually or physicallyby
theU-shapedstructures. IndeedtheU-shapedstruc-
turestend to be clusteredtogetherand interlinked
suchthataccessleadsfromone audienciacourtinto
another.This clusteringis especially prevalentin
the northern sectors of these three enclosures,
Topic] ARCHITECTURE AND INFORMATIONFLOW AT CHAN CHAN 261

TSCHUDI

Figure 10. Diagram of the relationship between storage and U-shaped structures in Tschudi. The shading indicates three
sectors that were probably in use contemporaneously. Compare to Figure 14.

implyingmuchmore interactionamongthe occu- shapedstructures.His tabulationof the data(1992:

pants of the U-shaped structuresduringthe Late
periodthanduringthe earlierperiods.
Moore's (1992:108) analysisagreeswith mine
on some points,butnot on others.His generalcon-
clusion is thatfor ChanChanas a whole, thereis
no associationbetweenstorageandU-shapedstruc-
tures; this conclusion is not necessarily in dis-
agreementwith my analysis,but it is necessaryto
comparethe two analyses in more detail in order
to see whereour perspectives,and our characteri-
zationsof thedata,diverge.He arguesforthreecat-
egories of relationshipsbetweenthe storageareas
andthe U-shapedstructures:(1) ciudadelaswhere
the majorityof U-shapedstructuresareassociated
with storage;(2) ciudadelaswherethereis no rela-
tionship between U-shaped structuresand store-
rooms;and (3) a single situationin which thereis
a definiterelationshipbetweenstoreroomsandU-
Table2) is aggregatedanddifficultto comparewith
the more contextualized analysis presented and
illustratedhere, but it is clear thathe consistently
recognizesfewer U-shapedstructuresthanI do.
In the first grouphe includedLaberinto,Gran
Chimu,and Bandelier.The inclusionof Laberinto
andGranChimuinthiscategoryis notentirelyincon-
sistentwithmy analysis,sincetheyareMiddleperiod
enclosures;we wouldexpectto still see some asso-
ciation between storage and administrativestruc-
turesintheMiddleperiod.Theinclusionof Bandelier
in this group,though,is inconsistentwith my inter-
pretation.While I recognize one more U-shaped
structurein Laberintothan Moore, this difference
does not affect the analysis. I also recognizetwo
moreU-shapedstructuresin BandelierthanMoore,
but againthis does not make a majordifferencein
the analysis.Whatis clearin Bandelier,however,is
262 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 14, No. 3, 2003

U
U

Gatekeeper Cubicle CEO

Figure 11. Three models of hierarchical relationships among U-shaped structures. In the gatekeeper model, one struc-
ture controls access to several other structures. In the CEO pattern, one structure is isolated, and access to it is filtered
by other U-shaped structures. The Cubicle pattern is characterized by groups of U-shaped structures with a high degree
of interconnectivity.

thatwhile most U-shapedstructurescan be associ- spatial relationshipbetween U-shaped structures

atedwith some storerooms,the inverseis not true,
and both Moore (1992:Table2) and I (Figure8)
agreethattheoverwhelmingmajorityof storerooms
arenot controlledby the U-shapedstructures.
His second group includesthe late enclosures
Tschudi, Velarde,and Rivero. However, he also
includesTelloin thegroup.Thedifferencebetween
our analyses seems to be thathe recognizes only
threeU-shapedstructuresin Tello;these areprob-
ably the three structuresin the northeastsector,
which are quite clear on the Chan Chan maps
(MoseleyandMackey1974:Map13,Figure4), but
they are also the structuresleast associated with
storage.I recognizeone C-shapedaudienciavari-
ant in the north sector and three tablados in the
south sectorthatare in close proximityto storage
areas.The otherdifferencesarevery minor;I have
includedthe threeU-shapedstructuresin the east
annex of Riveroin my analysisand have counted
both audienciasand auxilios in Tschudi.
The one case whereMoorefindsa definiterela-
tionshipbetween storeroomsand U-shapedstruc-
turesis in Uhle, andthis fits well with my analysis.
He recognizesonly 22 U-shapedstructures,while
I recognize 26. The differenceis probablydue to
the fact that the elongatedstructuresin the north
centralsector are not recordedon the ChanChan
maps (Moseley and Mackey 1974) but are dis-
cussed in Kolata's(1978) dissertation.
In summary,therewas a changeovertimein the
andstorage.Inthe earliestsectors,U-shapedstruc-
turesareoftenassociatedwithlargecourtyardsthat
had storerooms,bins, or nichesin the lateralwalls.
Althoughaccess is often unclear,the courtsseem
to be locatedalongthe majoraccess routes.TheU-
shapedstructuresaredispersedthrougha sectorand
interspersedwith storageareas.In the late enclo-
sures,the nichedcourtsareisolatedfromthemajor
access routes and often occur near the ends of
routes.U-shapedstructuresarestillassociatedwith
the nichedcourtsand occurin clustersratherthan
dispersedthrougha sector.The U-shaped struc-
tureswithina clusterintercommunicate morewith
each otherthanwith storageareas.
3. In theTransitionfrom Stewardshipto Bureau-
cracy There Should Be IncreasinglyHierarchical
Relationships among U-shaped Structures. As
bureaucracydevelops,some officialsbecome sub-
ordinatedto others.The hierarchicalrelationship
among U-shapedstructuresmight take a number
of differentspatialpatterns,threeof whichwill be
considered.One, which mightbe called the gate-
keeper pattern(Figure 11), is characterizedby a
dendriticaccess patternwhere one or a few U-
shapedstructuresactas gatekeepersthatdirectpeo-
ple andgoods into the deeperlevels of the system.
A moder analogywouldbe the locationof a mul-
tiplex theatreticket taker,who directs the ticket
holdersto the properviewing room;as they arrive
attheviewingroom,ushersmayfurtherdirectthem
Topic] ARCHITECTURE AND INFORMATIONFLOW AT CHAN CHAN
to specific seats. The gatekeeperpatternis related
to the conceptof stewardshipbecausein bothcases
thereis close contactwiththepeopleorgoodsbeing
controlledor directed.
A secondandcontrastingpatternplaces the top
of the hierarchyin an isolatedorprotectedposition
(Moseley 1975a:222) calledtheCEOpattern(Fig-
ure 11), because a useful analogyis the president
of an organizationwho is isolated and protected
fromthe day-to-dayoperatingdetailsby vice-pres-
idents, administrativeassistants, and secretaries
who filteraccess. The CEO patternis, of course,
relatedto the conceptof bureaucracy.
A thirdpatternthat reflects hierarchycan be
calledthecubiclepattern(Figure11).Althoughthe
"cubicles"themselves are not arrangedin a hier-
archicalmanner,the presenceof a mass of undif-
ferentiatedpositions is a correlateof either the
gatekeeper(think"ushers")or CEO(think"typing
pool")patternsof hierarchy.Thecubiclepatterncan
be presentin a situationof either stewardshipor
bureaucracy; in a situationof stewardshipthe"cubi-
cles" will be closely associatedwith goods, while
in a situationof bureaucracythe "cubicles"will not
be closely associatedwithgoods andstorageareas.
The early sectorsin Tello and Uhle show little
evidenceof a hierarchyof U-shapedstructures,due
in partto the small numberof U-shapedstructures
in these sectors.For example, in the south sector
of Tello there are four U-shaped structuresin a
more-or-lesslinearpattern,butnoneseem to act as
a gatekeeper,although the access patternis not
completelyclear(Figures4 and5). Thegenerallay-
out of the early sectors in these two enclosuresis
more suggestiveof a gatekeeperthana CEO pat-
tern,however.In each sectorthereis a largecourt
withniches,bins,or storeroomsin the lateralwalls
and a U-shaped structureor a group of three U-
shapedstructuresat the southend thatcould act as
a gatekeeper.The patternis perhapsclearestin the
southwestsectorof Uhle (Figure6). On the other
hand,thereis a U-shapedstructurein a nichedcourt
in the northeastsectorof Uhle thatcouldrepresent
theCEOpattern,butthereis only one "gatekeeper"
groupof U-shapedstructuresservingas a filterfor
thecourt.Thesouthsectorof Tellocouldbe viewed
as an incipientform of the cubicle pattern,but the
northcentraland southwestsectorsof Uhle would
be betterexamplesof an early cubicle pattern.In
263
all cases the "cubicles"areclosely associatedwith
storage.
In the centralsectorof Laberintothereis a pos-
sible gatekeeperU-shaped structurejust south of
thelargenichedentrycourt(Figure7). Inthenorth-
eastsectorof Tello,however,thereis littleevidence
for hierarchy(Figures4 and5). Both the northwest
sector of Uhle (Figure6) and the northsector of
Laberinto(Figure7) have U-shaped structuresin
an isolatedpositionassociatedwith a nichedcourt
at the terminusof an access route;there is also a
U-shaped structureassociated with an unniched
courtin the east sectorof Laberinto.These may be
evidence of a developingCEO pattern,but access
to these isolated U-shaped structuresis not actu-
ally filtered through other U-shaped structures
except, possibly, in the case of the east sector of
Laberinto.Because it is only possible to enterthe
easternsectorof Laberintoby passingthroughsev-
eral courts in the northsector and since the form
of the U-shaped structuresis similarin both sec-
tors, these two sectors probablyfunctionedcon-
temporaneously.The limitednumberof U-shaped
structures,and the lack of clarity as to whether
there is a gatekeeperpattern,the beginning of a
poorlydefinedcubiclepattern,oran incipientCEO
pattern,is probablybest interpretedas what might
be expected in a transitionalperiod.There seems
to be a greaterassociationof U-shapedstructures
with storage at the beginning of the period than
thereis at the end.
TheLateperiodenclosuresbecomeclearlyhier-
archical(Figures 12, 13, and 14). Thereis always
a U-shapedstructurein a niched courtin the cen-
tral sector located at the end of an access pattern
filteredpast other U-shapedstructures.These are
good examples of arrangementsattributableto
high-rankingofficials in a CEOpattern.Thereare
also other U-shaped structuresassociated with
niched courtsand at the terminusof access routes
in these enclosures that might representmiddle-
rankingofficials; there is one in Bandelier'seast
sector,threein Rivero'snorthsector,and two sets
of pairedU-shaped structuresin niched courts in
thecentralsectorof Tschudi.Cubicle-likearrange-
ments are common in the north sectors of these
enclosures and are especially well developed in
RiveroandTschudi.As notedpreviously,these are
not closely associatedwith storage.Interestingly,
264 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 14, No. 3, 2003

1-

Figure 12. Map of CiudadelaBandelier: CEO pattern U-shaped structures are indicated by circles; gatekeepers are indi-
cated by triangles; cubicles are enclosed in a rectangle. An area in the eastern part of the north sector that may have been
becoming differentiated from the rest of the north sector is labeled (see text). Compare to Figure 8.

there are also U-shaped structuresin Bandelier,
Rivero, and Tschudithat could function as gate-
keepers.In BandelierandRivero,thesegatekeeper
U-shapedstructurescontrolone of theaccessroutes
intothecentralsectorand,in Rivero,thegatekeeper
also controlsaccess into a complex of storerooms
and U-shaped structureson the east side of the
northsector.In Tschudi,two gatekeepersin com-
binationcontrol one of the access routesinto the
centralsector and two of the threeroutesinto the
"cubicles."Finally, in Tschudi, two types of U-
shapedstructuresare found within a single court
Topic] ARCHITECTUREAND INFORMATIONFLOW AT CHAN CHAN 265

WI
_A

RIVERO
1~ I
t-r~ I I i I r r II
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
meters

Figure 13. Map of Ciudadela Rivero: CEO pattern U-shaped structures are indicated by circles; gatekeepers are indi-
cated by triangles; cubicles are enclosed in a rectangle. Compare to Figure 9.
266 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY
(Figure3o). These arecalled audienciasand aux-
ilios. The auxilios, being smaller and lacking
niches, intuitivelyappearto be the kind of struc-
turewherean aideto the occupantof the U-shaped
structurewould work.
4. Withthe Developmentof BureaucracyWe
ShouldSee a Rationalizationof InformationFlow.
One characteristicof bureaucracyis that it func-
tions by following well-regulated procedures
employedby officialswith fixed areasof jurisdic-
tion. These procedureslead to the efficientgather-
ing, processing, and storage of information.As
previouslydiscussed,partof the rationalizationof
informationflow is the standardizationof the U-
shapedstructures,andanotherpartis the develop-
ment of a hierarchy of officials. However,
rationalization cango beyondtheseaspectsto affect
theorganizationof officialsin morecomplexways.
Partof the evidencefor this morecomplexorgani-
zationis the presencein the Lateperiodenclosures
of all three patternsof hierarchy:the gatekeeper,
CEO, and cubicle arrangements.
The earliest sectors have few U-shapedstruc-
tures,so it is not surprisingthatthey areorganized
in rathersimple ways. Even in the northwestsec-
tor of Uhle (Figure6) and the northand east sec-
torsof Laberinto(Figure7), thereis littleevidence
for an elaborate organization.As already men-
tioned, there is some evidence for a developing
CEOpatternof hierarchyin these areas.Moreover,
if thenorthandeastsectorsof Laberintofunctioned
contemporaneously, as seems likely given the
access pattern,a new level of organizationwas
introduced:thenorthsectoris moreaccessiblefrom
the outsidethanthe eastsector,has moreU-shaped
structures,andhas less storagespace.The needfor
a dual level of organizationin Laberintomay be
relatedto theincreasingnumberof U-shapedstruc-
tures, which in turn may relate to increasing
amountsof storage.Klymyshyn(1987:105, 107),
in fact,regardsLaberintoandTelloas storagecom-
plexes rather than palaces and notes the large
amountof storagespace in Laberinto.
TheLateperiodenclosurescontinuethepattern
of a northsectorwith a largenumberof U-shaped
structuresandproportionately less storage.Inaddi-
tion to the northandcentralsectors,a thirdsector
was addedon the east and was accessible without
having to pass througheitherthe northor central
[Vol. 14, No. 3, 2003
sectors.This easternareais not very well differen-
tiatedbutis recognizablein Bandelier;it is anannex
in Rivero;and is built into the L-shapedTschudi
(Figures12-14).
The number of U-shaped structuresin these
threesectors of Bandelier,Rivero,andTschudiis
indicatedin Table2. Theincreasingnumbersof U-
shapedstructuresin the northernsectorsis strik-
ing. I have relatedthis change to the Late period
growthin the urbanpopulation,whichlargelycon-
sisted of artisanssupportedby the statefrom the
state stores (Topic and Moseley 1985). The need
to provisionthe artisanpopulationwith rawmate-
rials,tools, andfood suppliesled to higherratesof
turnoverof goods in the Late period ciudadelas.
The increasedturnoverresultedin a restructuring
of the ciudadelas so that the north sector was
devotedto short-termstoragewhile thecentralsec-
tor was devoted to longer-termstorage.It is not
clearhow the easternareafunctioned.On the one
hand,it couldbe reacheddirectlyfromtheentrance
to the enclosureandmightbe expectedto havehad
high turnover.On the otherhand, therewas little
storagespace, except in Tschudi.
The higher rate of commodityturnoverin the
northsector produceda greaterinformationflow
requiringmore concentratedbureaucraticadmin-
istration.It is in the northsector,and especiallyin
RiveroandTshudi,wherethe greatestinterlinking
of the cubiclegroups,gatekeepers,andCEOstruc-
turescan be discerned(Figures13 and 14). Quite
commonly,some U-shapedstructurescould only
be reachedby passing througha courtcontaining
anotherU-shaped structure.It is notablethat this
was normallynot the case in the centralsectoror
eastern areas, althoughthere is one example of
interlinkagein the centralsector of Bandelierand
anotherin the east annexof Rivero.The interlink-
age of U-shaped structuresin these Late period
enclosures,and theirseparationfrom storerooms,
indicatesthat interactionsbetween the occupants
of the structureshad become more importantthan
the direct control of stored goods. The complex
hierarchicalrelationships among the U-shaped
structuresindicatesthatsome officialsweresuper-
vising otherofficialsandthattherewerehighrates
of interactionamong officials where they could
exchangeinformation.All this is compatiblewith
a bureaucraticform of administration.7
Topic] ARCHITECTURE AND INFORMATIONFLOW AT CHAN CHAN 267

:
---1

:
ir..L-'"'~ K .
r- LJ v I n IT
- , . it

4, North UL tJ

.1
UWL;:00 _ _
_M iTSCHUDI
J,i taI
.I I-. I I I
s |T1m ~ oL _
. . **.l_ .: ' l
'...........~ ....
?'""-" ........~.. metres

UErF". Centra-l _ .. --.v...1

L_ LL ki t Li ,

OH1
L'111 , 4 -s S t as '
/:_ - "t- if --, >
0

| ii Ltj8
r,4.....L..
Au r
iL
&LJo :l i.
_jC~
IraVli ...^..
._"" .
t-_- *_-.

:
* Q
43 s*l L...++? - \ ? 4- i

V I -&^ '' B ' - -- - I

=
f*>pl,,,#, '"irm _=

| vfQri-^-"j
torq !,, .xj j...

Figure 14. Map of Ciudadela Tschudi: CEO pattern U-shaped structures are indicated by circles; gatekeepers are indi-
cated by triangles; cubicles are enclosed in a rectangle. Compare to Figure 10.
268 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY
Table 2. Numbers of U-shaped Structuresin the Sectors of
Late Ciudadelas.
Sector
Ciudadela North Central East
Bandelier 6 2 2 tecture.Theseprinciplesincludethevalueof place,
Rivero 10 1 3
Tschudi 21 4 2
Discussion
Methodologically,I have shown how archaeolo-
gists can reconstructinformation flow and the
developmentof bureaucracyin a preliteratecivi-
lization. Deducing this kind of abstractstructure
frommaterialremainsis inherentlyinteresting,but
dependson theavailabilityof anexcellentdatabase,
approachedin a systematicandsophisticatedman-
ner.Ratherthanpoorlyspecifiedappealsto admin-
istrationor control, it is importantto be precise
aboutthe natureof the administration. Close atten-
tion to context,both chronologicaland spatial,is
also fundamental.
I have contrastedtwo types of administration,
stewardshipand bureaucracy,in orderto analyze
the changing nature of administrationat Chan
Chan. I startedwith a descriptionof historically
known methods of recordkeeping in the Andes.
While I admitthatthe essentialanalogyof the U-
shaped structureto the quipu and other Andean
methods of recordkeeping cannot be confirmed
directly,thefourlines of argumentpresentedabove
stronglysuggestthata transitionfromstewardship
to bureaucracydid in facttakeplace at ChanChan.
The four argumentsfor the development of
bureaucracyare independentof each other.Stan-
dardizationof formdoes not requirea hierarchical
organizationof U-shaped structures,nor does a
close associationof U-shapedstructureswith stor-
age areasrequiregreatervariationin the form of
U-shapedstructures.However,set in the contextof
a changein thenatureof administration fromstew-
to
ardship bureaucracy, the conclusionsfromeach
of the four argumentsare congruentand mutually
supportive.The coherenceof the overallinterpre-
tationis compelling(Collingwood1994:246).
Implications
The interpretationof U-shaped structuresas a
record-keeping technology extends our under-
[Vol. 14, No. 3, 2003
standingof Andeancognition.It exemplifieshow
the principles used in the fiber quipu and the
yupana, an abacuswhich could be drawnon the
ground,could be appliedto a thirdmedium,archi-
the use of attributesto record numbersand con-
textualinformation,andthe importanceof ranked
categories.
Althoughwe know thatquipudateto the Mid-
dle Horizon,the time of the Huariand Tiwanaku
cultures,there is no evidence that these cultures
used the quipuin a systematicway for administra-
tion, partlydue to poor preservationin the high-
lands,the core areaof these cultures.Ourevidence
for the Inka use of the quipu comes largely from
historicsources,as well fromthe drydesertcoast.
Moreover,as pointedout earlier,the MiddleHori-
zon quipuarenotas standardizedas theInkaexam-
ples and,like modemquipu,mighthavebeeneither
personalrecordsortherecordsof small-scaleinsti-
tutions.Large-scalestoragehas not been demon-
stratedfor Huari or Tiwanaku,but did form an
essentialelement of the Chimu and Inkapolitical
economies. The lack of evidence for storageand
recordkeepingin HuariandTiwanakumeansthat
we cannotanalyzeeitherthe flow of commodities
or the flow of informationin the same detail.One
purposeof this paperis to stimulatemorethought
abouthow differentculturesin the Andes handled
the administrationof political economy.Detailed
understandingof administrativetechniques and
record-keepingtechnologyhelps us to understand
other aspects of a political system. While
Andeanistscommonly,andusefully,employanalo-
gies of Inkapoliticalorganizationwith earliercul-
tures,we mustbe awareof the differencesbetween
the Inkaand earlierpolities.
I employ an analogy with the Inka quipu and
yupanafor U-shapedstructuresat ChanChan,but
thereis also an interestingdifferencein the porta-
bility of Inka and Chimurecord-keepingtechnol-
ogy: while the quipuand yupana could be easily
transported by chasquipostalcouriersorotheroffi-
cials, the U-shaped structureswere stationary.
Whilethe occupantsof theU-shapedstructuresdid
not necessarilycontrolphysicalaccess to goods or
the movementof people, they were tied spatially
to what they were administering,whether com-
moditiesstoredat ChanChanin a contextof stew-
Topic] AND INFORMATION
ARCHITECTURE FLOWATCHANCHAN
ardshipor the informationstoredwithinthe struc-
ture of the architecturein the context of bureau-
cracy. The portability of the record-keeping
technology employed by the early Andean civi-
lizations,andhencethemobilityof administrators,
may well have had an impacton both theirpoliti-
cal economies and theirstrategiesof expansion.
The lack of mobility of Chimu administrators
may be correlatedwith the concentrationof stor-
age at Chan Chan. Severalyears ago, I (J. Topic
1990:170-171) noted that there were very few
Chimustoreroomsoutsideof ChanChanand that
thiscontrastedwiththepatternof Inkastorage.The
Inka had immense storage complexes in the
provinces, for example at Jauja in Peru and
Cotopachiin Bolivia (e.g., LeVine 1992). More-
over,even a small Inkaprovincialcenter,such as
Huamachuco,had a storagecapacityequivalentto
or greaterthan one of the Late periodciudadelas
(i.e.,Bandelier,Tschudi,or Rivero)at ChanChan.
The Inkaspreadtheirstoragecapacitythroughout
theempireandwere ableto transmitaccountsback
to Cusco with ease.
One can question whetherthis is just a matter
of scale, the Inkaempirebeing so muchlargerthan
theareacontrolledby ChanChan,orwhetherit rep-
resents a significant difference in the political
economiesof the two states.I (J.Topic 1990) have
arguedthatthe focus of the ChanChaneconomy
was craftproductionand thatthe developmentof
its specific storageand administrativepatternwas
intended to support that economy. Indeed, the
developmentof bureaucracyat Chan Chan hap-
pens at the same time thatwe startto see the eco-
nomic focus shift from agriculturalexpansionto
craft production. While there were important
Chimuprovincialcenters such as Manchan,Far-
fan, and Tucume with high-rankinglords and,
often, some evidence for craft production, the
amountof storagespacewas small,as wasthenum-
berof U-shapedstructures(see especiallyMackey
and Klymyshyn1990; also Heyerdahlet al. 1996;
KeatingeandConrad1983;Mackey 1987). More-
over, the U-shaped structureswere not the stan-
dardizedkinds in the Late period at Chan Chan
(indeed,there are no known U-shaped structures
withnichesnorthof theJequetepequevalley [Hey-
erdahlet al. 1996:92])andthey were not arranged
in any of the hierarchicalpatternsdiscussed ear-
269
lier. The Chimu concentratedboth storage and
administrators at a single site, ChanChan.
TheInkaalso hadcraftspecialists.However,the
Inka used the mitmaqpolicy, which transplanted
colonies of people, usuallysegmentsof communi-
ties witha strongethnicidentity,intonew locations
for politicalandeconomic reasons.This led to the
dispersal of conquered artisans throughoutthe
empire (e.g., Spurling 1992:9). In contrast, the
Chimu concentratedconqueredartisansat Chan
Chan(J. Topic 1990). While it has been estimated
that only 5 to 6 percentof the total populationof
the north coast were skilled artisans (Ramirez
1982:125), the vast majorityof the adultpopula-
tion of Chan Chan were artisans:metalworkers,
weavers,woodworkers,etc.
Politicaleconomy,in turn,relatesto the nature
andspeedof imperialexpansion.As TheresaTopic
(1990) reconstructsChimuexpansion,it was a rel-
ativelyslow and steadyprocess.Therewere many
earlyfortificationsin the home valley and in adja-
cent valleys, but few documentedlate Chimufor-
tificationson thefarfrontiers.The Inka,in contrast,
seemto havegone througha veryrapidinitialphase
of expansion,followed by a "bogging down"on
the frontiers;while there were few fortifications
aroundCusco, they were commonon the northern
and southeasternfrontiers.As CatherineJulien
(1995) noted, the huge amountsof Inka storage,
especiallyalongthe northhighlandroad,mayhave
been relatedto the endemicmilitarycampaignsin
Ecuador.The Inkadevelopedthe infrastructure to
supporttroopsin the fieldfor extendedcampaigns,
resulting in a truly territorialempire (D'Altroy
1992; D'Altroy and Earle 1985). The Chimu, in
contrast,wouldhavebeen able to supportan army
close to home,butprobablyreliedmoreon gift giv-
ing (usingelite itemsmanufacturedat ChanChan)
andalliancebuildingwithprovincialnoblesto cre-
ate a morehegemonicempire.
To some extentthesedifferencesarea matterof
degree:the ChimuandInkabothemployeda com-
binationof sefiorialand bureaucraticadministra-
tions, alliance-building,gift-giving, and military
force. Still, understandingthe nuances of these
kinds of relationshipsis necessaryto advanceour
more generalunderstandingof the past. It is still
too earlyto say how muchthe differencesbetween
theChimuandInkapoliticaleconomiesandstrate-
270 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 14, No. 3, 2003

Andrews,AnthonyP.
gies of expansionwere due to the differencein the 1974 The U-ShapedStructuresat ChanChan,Peru.Jour-
portabilityof theirrespectiverecord-keepingtech- nal of FieldArchaeology1:241-264.
Ascher,Marcia
nologies and, hence, the ability of their adminis- 1990 El sistemalogico-numericode los quipus.In Quipu
trators to control information flow over large y yupana: coleccion de escritos, compilado por Carol
distances, or whetherthe differencein the porta- Mackey, Hugo Pereyra, Carlos Radicati, Humberto
bility was a result of differingpolitical philoso- Rodriguez and Oscar Valverde, pp.109-124. Consejo
Nacional de Cienciay Tecnologia,Ministeriode la Pres-
phies. idencia,Lima.
The technology of an information-recording Ascher,Marcia,andRobertAscher
1981 The Code of the Quipu:A Study in Media, Mathe-
systemimpactslargerissuesof economicandpolit- matics, and Culture.Universityof MichiganPress, Ann
ical organization. Understanding how Chimu Arbor.
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Islandsof theSunandtheMoon.Universityof TexasPress,
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structChimuadministrativepracticesfrom mater- 1982 Galindo:A Study in CulturalTransitionduringthe
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Bermann,Marc
Tiwanakucivilizations. 1997 Domestic Life and Vertical Integration in the
TiwanakuHeartland.LatinAmericanAntiquity8:93-112.
I thank Michael E. for the Boone, ElizabethH.
Acknowledgments. Moseley
1994 Introduction:Writingand RecordingKnowledge.In
opportunityto work at Chan Chan, an opportunitythat led
me to pursue archaeology as a career. Carol J. Mackey's Writing without Words: Alternative Literacies in
MesoamericaandtheAndes,editedby ElizabethH. Boone
work on Chimu administrationand on moder quipu were andWalterD. Mignolo, pp. 3-26. DukeUniversityPress,
two crucial points of departurefor this paper.JerryMoore's DurhamandLondon.
critiqueof the interpretationof U-shaped structuresas "con- Braidwood,RobertJ.
trol structures"stimulatedme to think more precisely about 1967 PrehistoricMen.Scott,Foresman,Glenview,Illinois.
this class of architecture.I thankTheresaTopic for her con- Brumfiel,ElizabethM., andJohnW. Fox (editors)
tinual advice and support.Michael E. Moseley, William H. 1994 FactionalCompetitionand PoliticalDevelopmentin
Isbell, and four otherreviewersprovidedthoughtfuland use- the New World.CambridgeUniversityPress,Cambridge
ful comments on this paper that I hope led to its improve- Calancha,Antoniode la
1974-1982 [1638] Coronicamoralizadadel ordende San
ment. Dennis Davies, a wonderful research assistant, has
Augustinen el Peru.Imprentade la UniversidadNacional
done most of the work of preparingthe figuresand diagrams.
Mayorde San Marcos,Lima.
My research at Chan Chan was supportedby the National Callapifia,Supnoy otrosQuipucamayos
Geographic Society, the Ford Foundation, the Latin 1974 [1542] Relacidnde la descendencia,gobiero, y con-
American Studies Committee of Harvard,and the National quista de los Incas. Ediciones de la BibliotecaUniversi-
Science Foundation.The preparationof this paper benefited taria,Lima.
from the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Cavallaro,Rafael,andIzumi Shimada
ResearchCouncil of Canada. 1988 Some Thoughtson Sican MarkedAdobes andLabor
Organization.AmericanAntiquity53:75-101.
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Notes
1. These structuresare also often referredto as audien-
cias. Andrews (1974) has elaborateda formaltypology of the
structures,in which the term audiencia is used for a particu-
lar type of U-shaped structure.
2. Althoughboth Schreiber(1992) and Kolata(1993) deal
with Middle Horizon cultures, they do not discuss the evi-
dence for Middle Horizon quipu. The sample of Middle
Horizonquipuis not adequateto addressthe questionof stan-
dardization,discussed in subsequentsections of this paper;
however, Pereyra S. (1997:196) notes that pre-Inkaquipus
with wrappedpendentcords lack the positional values corre-
spondingto units, IOs, 100s, etc., which is standardizedin the
Inca quipu.
3. The end date of 1653 is very arbitrary,but it corre-
sponds to the completionof Cobo's history.He indicatesthat
the quipu was still used by experts(quipucamayoc)and gives
an example of a quipucamayocbeing called upon by Spanish
authoritiesto aid in the investigationof a murder.
4. Cummins's discussion of the Spanish conception of
memory notes that the Spanish viewed the ideal memory aid
as architecturalin nature, a room (loci) with objects (ima-
genes) placed aroundit; the speakermentallygoes aroundthe
room, using the objects to remindhimself of the points to be
made. Cummins (1994:194) asserts that "learning in a
Europeansense is conditioned by mimetic (emphasis mine)
images in terms of both loci and imagines, and this is what
could be read into the Mexican pictorial manuscripts.The
same could not be inscribedinto the quipu,andthus, although
the quipu is acknowledgedas a device of artificialmemory,it
is not similar."Calancha's(1974-82):206-208 [1638]) clear
(thoughperhapshypothetical)discussionof how the colors of
the cords and the sequence of numbers recorded on quipu
were used to recite dynastic history belies this distinction.
Still, one can think of the ideal Spanish memory aid as, for
example, a church with the stations of the cross; the images
mimic key events in the storeyof the crucifixionof Christ,but
the order in which the images occur also containinformation
about the chronologyof events.
5. In thinkingabout stewards,I have in mind the herders
in charge of the Huamachucocommunity's animals in the
early seventeenthcentury.Florencia de Mora had left large
estates to the community so that they could pay their tribute
and the community kept huge herds of sheep, cattle, and
horses on these lands.Each of the herdswas underthe care of
a herder.We have accounts of these communityherds from
the 1620s (Archivo Regional de La Libertad,Corregimiento,
legajo 174, expediente 742, ff. 2-92. Cuentas de la comu-
nidad de Huamachucoafo 1625), and it is likely that the
herderkept these accountson a quipu and then readthem off
to the Spanishadministrators.There were a numberof repet-
itive categoriesof importancein terms of animalhusbandry:
father sheep, mother sheep, year-old horses, two-year-old
horses, cows that had given birth,etc.
274 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY
These herderswere administratorsof a sort, and the exer-
cise of theiroffice was intimatelytied to the animalsin their
care. Unlike bureaucrats,stewardscan function individually:
in this examplethey kept accountsof their own herdsand did
not need to know what was happeningwith the other herds.
The Spanish administratorswho wrote down the herders'
accounts,on the otherhand,acted as bureaucrats:they did not
need to count the sheep; all they needed to do was obtainthe
informationabout the numbersand categories of sheep from
the herders.
When the Spanish administratorsreceived that informa-
tion from the herders,they wrote it down in Spanish so that
other administratorscould access it too. The individual
herders,though, could easily do their accounts with idiosyn-
cratic quipu,each readableonly by its maker.
6. Administrationand recordkeeping have also been dis-
cussed for earliercivilizations.For example, Feldman(1983)
and Quilter(1991) suggest that stone-filled shicra (net bags
made from reeds) found frequentlyin Preceramicmonument
constructionmay have been a methodof trackinglaborinput.
Moseley and Hastings(Hastingsand Moseley 1975; Moseley
1975b) and Cavallaroand Shimada(1988) discuss the use of
maker's marks on adobe bricks for trackinglabor for Early
Intermediateperiod and Middle Horizon monuments.Sheila
[Vol. 14, No. 3, 2003]
andTom Pozorski(1991) discuss the possible use of cylinder
seals in a bureaucraticcontext at Pampade las Llamasin the
Initialperiod.ChristopherDonnan's(1971) discussionof the
modernuse of maker'smarkstangentiallyaddressesthe issue
of standardization.
7. The focus in this section has been on the development
of bureaucracywithin the ciudadelas; as noted in the brief
description of Chan Chan, U-shaped structuresalso occur
outside of the ciudadelas. Some examples of these U-shaped
structuresareillustratedanddiscussedin Topic (1990:Figures
7, 8, 9, and 11); these are all arcones, or structuresthat have
bins ratherthan niches. Two of these structuresarelocated in
a communalkitchen and had food storedin the bins; another
was in a metal working shop and a brokenhammerstonewas
found in one of the bins; still others had unspuncotton and
craft materialsin the bins. These examples all cross-dateto
the Late ciudadelas and illustrategraphicallythe difference
between stewards, at the lower level of the administration,
embedded in the shops and kitchens and dealing with real
commodities, and the bureaucratsat the higher levels of the
administration,dealing much more with informationflow.
ReceivedJuly 8, 2002; AcceptedApril 24, 2003; Revised
May 26, 2003.