The vertical archipelago of the Inca depended largely on a system of reciprocity, consisting largely of the usurpation and redistribution of textiles: both raw materials and finished products. The tradition of textile manufacture, however, preceded the Inca by several millennia
. Other cultures, such as the Huari, Moche, et cetera, also exhibited the ability to hand-weave intricate textiles (not to mention constructing looms to create even more elaborate fabrics). Some pre-Inca cloths feature a thread count of about 150 threads per inch, demonstrating an advanced level of technology. Thus, as with other artistic, social, and economic traditions, the earlier inhabitants of Peru influenced Inca practices.Specifically, the Inca exploited traditional conceptions of mutual obligation by taxing their subjects, demanding quantities of wool and labor (provided by skilled artisans of both sexes, with the males [kumbi kamayuqs] producing the finest textiles worn by the emperor). Textiles served as clothing, body armor for soldiers, and even weaponry (slingshots). The Inca bureaucracy then utilized a quantity of the fabrics received as tax as rewards for military and political service. Additionally, in order to keep accurate records as to what resources the Inca had distributed or received, quipucamayo would create string bundles, with knots (long and short) and colours denoting the types and quantities of items.
ña, and guanaco, served an important function for Andean cultures. Andeans utilized llama and alpaca as beasts of burden (to a degree, due to their weak spines), as food (charki), and as a source of fibers. Vicuña and guanaco, although wild, also provided raw materials for cloth manufacture. Iconography depicting these creatures reveals the importance of these wool-producing animals to Andean society.
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