Biographical Memoirs Volume 90 (2009) / Chapter Skim
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EDWARD CRAIG MORRIS
EDWARD CRAIG MORRIS
Pages 256-273
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From page 257... ...
Morris's multiyear excavation projects supplied abundant empirical evidence to generate new models of how the Inka empire succeeded in integrating diverse ethnic groups occupying altitudinal zones from sea level to 4000 meters. Morris was a modest and unassuming scholar who nevertheless managed to transform Andean archaeology, altering our views of Inka institutions and mode of governance.
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From page 258... ...
In 2004, he stepped down from a decade of service as the dean of science at the American Museum, hoping, as he said, "to devote myself during the next several years to research, writing, publishing, and fieldwork; finally, I will be getting back to all the things I love."2 Unfortunately, he only had a couple of years to do the things he loved. Edward Craig Morris was born October 7, 1939, at Murray-Calloway County Hospital in Murray, Kentucky.
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From page 259... ...
Peru was where his research took him from then on. Morris began an investigation of the Inka storage system as part of Murra's project, "A Study of Inka Provincial Life." This project was designed to examine Inka storage at three levels: the local community, the provincial network, and the imperial level directed from the Inka capital of Cuzco.
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From page 260... ...
He noted that storage systems had attracted the theoretical interest of substantive economist Karl Polanyi but had yet to become a major focus for Andean archaeologists. Morris's best-known data on storage came from Huánuco Pampa, an Inka administrative center established at a previously unoccupied locale in north-central Peru, some 3800 meters above sea level.
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From page 261... ...
Craig not only investigated the environmental conditions and technology that had facilitated the preservation of perishable items but he also assessed the role storage had played in the political and economic operation of an empire. Along the way he discovered the building blocks of the largest native empire of the New World and the way the Inka coordinated the multiple subject ethnic groups who produced goods for them at different altitudinal zones.
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From page 262... ...
He noted that in Quechua, the language of the Inka, these beer feasts were regarded as generous acts by the local ruler, even though the actual relationship of rulers to workers was exploitive and asymmetrical. Craig explored this theme in subsequent publications, such as a 1979 book chapter titled "Maize Beer in the Economics, Politics, and Religion of the Inka Empire." He was ultimately able to show that the Inka state's involvement in the redistribution of food was limited mostly to specific feasting occasions, designed to ensure labor service on a massive scale.
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From page 263... ...
La Centinela was an administrative center predating the Inka, rather than an artificial creation of the Inka state. His excavations at La Centinela suggested that after the Inka had conquered the area, they did something unusual for them: They established a complex form of parallel rule in which the local Chincha lord was allowed to continue living in his palace while the Inka governor built his own palace next door.
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From page 264... ...
There the ethnically diverse peoples of the region, acting as "guests" working part-time for the Inka state, could participate in the rich ceremonial life of the empire; the hope evidently was that they could be controlled and incorporated into the Inka state. By throwing lavish beer feasts in symbol-laden settings, providing gifts of clothing, and arranging marriages between elite local women and Inka administrators, local groups were given a way to gain prestige and positions in a complex imperial system.
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From page 265... ...
Morris saw, before anyone else, the potential of these two case studies to increase our understanding of ancient empires. Three books that demonstrate his impressive ability to analyze Andean sociopolitical evolution include Andean Ecology and Civilization in 1985 (with Shozo Masuda and Izumi Shimada)
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From page 266... ...
It was typical of Morris that he was genuinely surprised when he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, but once inducted he became an active and enthusiastic member. Morris never missed the annual meeting, which he explained in terms of friendship and collegiality: "Being a member of the National Academy of Sciences is a wonderful honor," he said, "but the unexpected bonus is that I get to see all my best friends every April."4 At the Academy meetings Morris enjoyed going out to dinner with his colleagues, and on such occasions he frequently drew on his past experience as a cattle raiser to select choice steaks.
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From page 267... ...
His ultimate legacy was the creation of multivariate models of state bureaucracies that will guide future generations in the Andes and elsewhere. Some of the information in this memoir was drawn from materials provided by Craig Morris's sister, Emily Morris Luther of Murray, Kentucky, and by his colleagues at the American Museum of Natural History: Robert L
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From page 268... ...
in anthropology from the University of Chicago 1967 Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Chicago 1967-1968 Assistant Professor, Northern Illinois University 1968-1975 Assistant Professor, Brandeis University 1975-1980 Assistant Curator of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, New York 1976 Visiting Associate Professor of Anthropology, Cornell University 1977 Visiting Professor of Archaeology, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru 1977-1992 Adjunct Professor, Cornell University 1983-1990 Chair, Department of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History 1986 Visiting Professor of Anthropology, City University of New York Graduate Center 1989-1991 Guest Curator, "Art in the Age of Exploration (Inka Section)
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From page 269... ...
American Anthropological Association (fellow) Society for American Archaeology Council for Museum Anthropology American Society for Ethnohistory Society for American Archaeology
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From page 270... ...
Revista del Museo Nacional 37:135-144, Lima. 1976 Master design of the Inca.
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From page 271... ...
1980 Huánuco Pampa: Nuevas evidencias sobre urbanismo Inca. Revista del Museo Nacional 44:139-152, Lima.
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From page 272... ...
The technology of highland Inka food storage. In Inka Storage Systems, ed.
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From page 273... ...
edward craig morris 273 2004 Enclosures of power: The multiple spaces of Inka administrative palaces. In Ancient Palaces of the New World: Form, Function, and Meaning, eds.
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