Abstract

Several recording and communication pre-Hispanic Andean systems were target to control attempts by the colonial society that sought control indigenous voices. This paper shows some aspects of co-optation and repression policies implemented during the government of Viceroy Francisco de Toledo in the Viceroyalty of Peru (1569-1581). We hypothesize that these policies conform the project of colonial domination when they were applied over systems like the theatrics and over visual systems such as the keros (or ceremonial vessels) or over the rock art. We identify some of the changes occurred in visual texts carved and painted on the surfaces of keros as a result of the implementation of these toledan policies. They allow postulating that the decoration called "formal style" can be dated as pre toledan, while vessels with "free style" would have developed in part as a result of the control policies applied by the Viceroy Toledo.