The Inca Empire in South America, one of the most powerful pre-Columbian societies, was known for many innovations — such as the architecture of Machu Picchu, an extensive road network, and a system ...

The Inca city in Peru is one of the most recognizable historical sites in the world. Built in the mid-15th century, it served as a royal estate for the rulers of the Inca Empire before the arrival of ...

Sacsayhuamán’s massive zigzag walls are built from megalithic stones fitted with a precision that does not match known Inca ...

While the world-famous Inca Trail is undoutedly Peru’s headline hike, the Quarry Trail is a less-crowded alternative that’s ...

The snake on this Wari vessel (800-1000 AD) represented a sacred animal symbolically linked with water and fertility. Ernest Amoroso, NMAI/SI A belt (ca. 1450) made from the shell of a mollusk ...

"Land of the Four Quarters" or Tahuantinsuyu is the name the Inca gave to their empire. It stretched north to south some 2,500 miles along the high mountainous Andean range from Colombia to Chile and ...

The ancient Inca wonder of Machu Picchu, perched 8,000 feet above sea level on a ridge in the Peruvian Andes, was a royal estate for the legendary warrior Pachacuti, who was largely responsible for ...

Nearly 500 years after the collapse of the largest empire in the Americas, a single bridge remains from the Inca's extraordinary road system – and it's rewoven every year from grass. "I believe since ...

One look at recent images released by the European Space Agency may cause you to wonder if spiders are on the cusp of bursting forth onto the Martian surface. But arachnophobes have nothing to fear, ...

The possible living face of Peru's most famous mummy, a teenage Inca girl sacrificed in a ritual more than 500 years ago atop the Andes, was unveiled Tuesday. The silicone-made bust portrays a young ...

Do long-dead builders have the answer to more sustainable road development? A new exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC shows why the Incan kingdom built a lasting infrastructure.