Echoing colonial chronicles about the imperial Andean road system, most research on Inca roads has focused on monumental technology and planning as the main characteristics of this late prehispanic infrastructure. Through a regional case study of the Arica valleys (18 degrees S), we show that the Qhapaq Nan (Inca road system) research may also be understood by considering network dynamics, and not necessarily centered on an exclusive monumental road. We analyze a palimpsest composed of around 13,000 km of roads and paths (extending through deserts, valleys, and mountains) produced by the accumulation through time of road systems of distinct chronological periods. Here, we connect this palimpsest to the late prehispanic settlement pattern to model the flows of movement in the region during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Spatial analyses allow us to identify the most likely structure of local and imperial networks. Finally, we use measurements of centralities and flow accumulation to address the hypothesis that the control of movement was an imperial strategy. The results show that Inca hegemony may have been related to the spatial control of the interaction flows within the region, and also that the palimpsestbased network approach has great potential for the archaeological study of roads in desert and mountain regions.