Miniatures and Animism: The Communicative Role of Inka Carved Stone Conopa

摘要

Andean offerings use miniaturization and synecdoche to enact connections within a relational animism (where people, places, and things participate in an interactive network), allowing the person preparing the offering to make material links between them and more distant, nonhuman entities. Catholic priests working in the Andes during the Spanish colonial period tried to eradicate these practices in which small objects called conopa were used. Conopa included unmodified stones and carved stone figurines, which were understood to be active agents that helped those who were preparing offerings to communicate with animate locales in the landscape. An analysis of Inka and colonial period stone conopa carved in the form of camelids reveals that some of them were produced in an organized system of manufacture under the auspices of the Inka state. This contributes to a discussion of how Andean household rituals have adapted in response to distinct social, economic, and political contexts.