A chronology expressed in calendar years, generally using the Gregorian calendar.
Accllahuasi
The houses in which the Inca "chosen women" lived. These women, who were removed from childbearing and other female domestic tasks, wove cloth and prepared beer for the state.
Achira (Canna edulis)
A species of canna lily grown for its bulb, which is boiled and eaten.
Acllyaconas
The Chosen Women, a special class of workers who made cloth, beer and other products for the Incan empire in special sections of the administrative centers.
Adobe
Bricks made of a mixture of mud and straw and sun dried. A cheap, sturdy building material, adobe buildings will last for centuries if they have a foundation (usually stone) which protects them from damp entering the wall from below and a roof which protects them from damp from above. Adobe continues to be a major material of domestic construction in much of South America. In prehispanic times adobe bricks were of different shapes and there is a rough correlation of shape with time (in Peru). Thus, conical adobes are typical of the Early Horizon, while later periods saw globular, lump-shaped, tooth-shaped, and rectangular adobes in use.
Adorno
Small modeled decoration on pottery. Adornos are usually made separately and then attached to the vessel with slip before firing.
Agglutinated houses
Settlements formed by houses (and other-purpose structures) which shared common walls. The pueblos of the North American Southwest are a contemporary example of a building style which was once widely found throughout the Americas.
Agouti
A small rodent native to lowland South and Central America. Both the agouti and the related paca were (and are) valued for their meat.
Alcarraza
Literally a water jar; in Colombian archaeology a bottle with two spouts joined by a bridge.
Alpaca
One of the domesticated South American members of the camel family, along with the llama. It is bred for its fine wool, which is used in clothing.
Altiplano
The high (4000-4500 m above sea level) basin which contains Lake Titicaca. This region, although it appears rather desolate and airless to outsiders, was always densely occupied and was one of the main centers of plant and animal domestication in South America. Several major civilizations, among them those of Pucara and Tiahuanaco, also originated in the altiplano.
Amautas
Teachers at the Inca school for young men in Cuzco. Also, a term for any wise man.
Amazonia
The vast, low-lying region that forms the basin of the Amazon River. It covers much of north central South America, from the Andes Mountains in the west to the Atlantic Ocean in the east.
Antisuyu
The eastern quarter of the Inca empire.
Apo
The person in charge of one of
the quarters of the Inca empire. He was usually a close relative of the king.
Apu (also wamani)
Spirits of the mountains who are very powerful and control fertility of plants and animals, weather, landslides, earthquakes, etc.
Archaeology
A set of techniques and procedures for reconstructing past cultures from their remains.
Artifact
Any object made or modified by humans.
Aryballos
A large storage vessel with pointed base and long flaring neck.
Avunculocal
When a newly married couple make their primary residence with either the mother's brother or the father's brother.
Axe-money
Small lightweight bronze artifacts which are found buried in tombs in lots of various, but regular, sizes. They appear to have been manufactured in northern Peru, beginning in the Late Intermediate Period, and were traded to Ecuador, perhaps as a special sort of ingot, for spondylus. Axe-monies are also found in northwestern Argentina and a related form was in use in late prehispanic Mexico.
Ayahuasca (yaagi, yaje)
A large tropical forest vine whose stems and leaves are boiled to make a highly hallucinogenic liquid. Ayahuasca use is widely spread in tropical forest regions, where the vine is cultivated as well as collected.
Ayllu
A group of related individuals and families who exchange labor and cooperate in subsistence and ritual activities.
Aymara
A term for both the lanuage and the indigenous people of the Lake Titicaca area.
Aymoray
The celebration of the corn harvest, held in the modern month of May.
A common type of loom in native America. One end bar is attached to a tree, beam, post, etc. while the other is held in place by a belt around the weaver's hips. The movement of the weaver back and forth provides the necessary changes in tension of the warp threads while weaving.
Balsa
A wood log raft, often made of the extremely lightweight wood of Ochroma piscatoria, a tree which is indigenous to the humid forests of coastal Ecuador and northern Peru. These rafts, apparently first developed for river transportation, by late prehistory were very large and were used for coastal trading.
Bast
Strong, woody fibers from a number of different plants, including members of the genus Fourcroya and the genus Agave. These were widely used for cordage, baskets, and textiles throughout South America and remain important sources of fibers for ropes, saddlebags, and similar utilitarian objects.
Bataan and chunga
See rocker mill.
Bering land bridge
The area of the present Bering Strait, which separates eastern Russia from Alaska. During the last ice age this area was a grassy plain because sea levels were lower, which allowed animals, plants, and humans to enter the New World without having to cross a body of water.
Bering land bridge
The area of the present Bering Strait, which separates eastern Russia from Alaska. During the last ice age this area was a grassy plain because sea levels were lower, which allowed animals, plants, and humans to enter the New World without having to cross a body of water.
Bolas
A weapon formed of two or three weights connected by cords or thongs. The weights are generally made of rounded stones and may be attached to the cord by simply tying the cord to the weight (in which case the weights often have a medial groove) or are contained in small bags attached to the cords. Bolas are very effective hunting weapons in open country: they are thrown at the legs of the fleeing prey and wind about the limbs, causing the prey to fall.
Brocade
A weaving technique in which supplemental wefts are introduced and "floated" over the plain weave base to form a pattern. More technically called "supplementary weft" fabric.
A long rectangular Inca building, often with multiple doors.
Camelids
The American members of the camel family are the llama (Lama glama), the alpaca (Lama pacos), the guanaco (Lama guanacoe), and the vicuna (Lama vicugna or Vicugna vicugna). A number of other species were present during the Pleistocene, but are now extinct. The llama and alpaca are domestic species, raised for wool and meat. The larger llama is also used as a draft animal. Vicuna wool was (and is) harvested from wild herds; guanacos, with their wide range over much of the western and southern continent of South America, were an important game animal.
Cancha
An Inca compound of three or more rectangular buildings surrounding an open patio, all surrounded by a wall.
Capac Raymi
A series of important rituals celebrated during the modern month of December, including the male puberty rites.
Cariape
A type of silicacious ash temper characteristic of many Amazon pottery traditions.
Cauxi
Fresh water sponge spicule temper, likewise found in many lowland South American ceramic traditions.
Ceja de la montana
The eastern foothills of the Andes in Ecuador and Peru, where the mountains drop into Amazonia. It is a hot, humid, and heavily forested environment.
Ceque system
A group of straight lines originating from the Coricancha in Cuzco along which were located important huacas used in the 328-day nighttime calendar.
Ceremonial center
A place where people from a wide region assembled on certain sacred days to worship, but which had only a small resident population of priests and their helpers.
Chan Chan
The capital of the Chimu society, located near modern Trujillo.
Charqui
Dried meat (in the Andes usually camelid). The word is the origin of the English term jerky.
Chasqui
Relay messengers in the Inca realm. These runners, who went a prescribed distance and were relieved by runners at the various tambos and smaller way stations, were responsible for carrying government messages and for a certain amount of extra-fast luxury transport, such as fresh fish from the sea for the Sapa Inca or glacier ice to cool his drink. This institution is almost certainly much earlier than the Incas, Runners are common in Moche art from nearly a thousand years earlier.
Chavin
The name of an art style and the religious cult that is identified by the art style. It dates to the Early Horizon.
Chicha
Beer, a fermented beverage commonly made of corn or of manioc. Today it is also made with barley, bananas, and other imported plants as well.
Chiefdom
A political unit in which leadership is hereditary and generally vested in the heir to the highest ranked of a series of linages. This person generally manages to control considerable amounts of the surplus production through gifts or tribute, using this surplus to support craft specialists, religious specialists and ceremonial, and often, ambitious building programs.
Chimu
A powerful culture that existed on the northern coast of Peru during the Late Intermediate Period. It was famous for its great walled compounds that were both administrative centers and the residence of kings, and for its black pottery.
Chinchaysuyu
The northern quarter of the Inca empire. It and Collasuyu were the largest quarters, in terms of both area and population.
Chonta
Any of a number of palms of the genera Guilielma and Astrocaryum which have very hard wood which was aboriginally used for weapons. The word comes from the Inca chunta "palm".
Chosen Woman (acllyaconas)
A special class of workers who made cloth, beer, and other products for the empire in special sections of the Inca administrative centers.
Chullpa
Stone or adobe towers or house-like structures used for burial by many highland peoples. The most famous are those of the altiplano, used by Aymara-speaking peoples up until the time of the Spanish invasions.
Chuno
Freeze-dried potatoes; freeze-drying was invented by early peoples of the puna. Chuno remains a staple foodstuff as it can be stored indefinitely.
Ciudadelas
The large walled compounds that housed the Chimu rulers at Chan Chan.
Coca
A domesticated plant grown for its leaves, which are chewed with lime to reduce feelings of fatigue, hunger, and thirst.
Collasuyu
The southern quarter of the Inca empire. It and Chinchaysuyu were the largest quarters, in terms of both area and population.
Compotera
In Ecuadorian and Colombian archaeology a bowl or plate with a high annular base.
Conquest Quechua Period
The period of time between A.D. 1532-1572 characterized as a time of transition after the Spanish Conquest resulting from the impostion of colonial policies and practices.
conquistadores
The Spanish word for "conquerors". Here it refers to the Spaniards under Francisco Pizarro who defeated the Incas.
context
The information associated with an object during excavations, including other objects, soil characteristics, and structural remains.
Cordillera
A mountain range.
Coricancha
The most important temple in Cuzco. It was called the Temple of the Sun, but it housed images of other deities as well.
Coricancha
The most important temple in Cuzco. It was called the Temple of the Sun, but it housed images of other deities as well.
corregidor
A person in charge of a corregimiento.
Corregimiento
A Spanish colonial policy of the sixteenth and seventeenth century that replaced the encomienda system. The policy placed native labor in the hands of Spanish Crown authorities, rather than private individuals.
Couvade
A ritual found among many lowland South American groups in which the father observes many taboos during his wife's pregnancy, the birth of the child, and its first days or weeks of life. In its most extreme form, the father not only observes dietary restrictions, but goes to bed and mocks birth pangs, remaining in bed for some weeks after the baby is born in order to draw supernatural danger to himself and away from the mother and infant.
coya
The wife of the Inca king. In the later years of the empire, she was required to be his full sister.
craft specialization
The making of crafts--pottery, jewelry, clothing, ornaments stone tools, and the like--by specialists, people who do nothing but make that craft.
Cross-dating
Dating events, artifacts, or sites of an unknown time period by reference to materials of known date found within them or by reference to features of artifacts which are thought to bear stylistic similarity to artifacts of known date.
Culture history
The synthesis of archaeological data within a historical framework without the use of an a priori interpretational scheme such as cultural evolution, Marxism, etc.
CumbiCuntisuyu
The western quarter of the Inca empire.
curaca
An administrative position with responsibility for the control of a certain number of households. There were curacas of groups of10,000; 5,000; 1,000; 500; and 100 households.
curaca class
The middle social echelon of the Inca empire, comprising the curacas and their families.
Curandero
An indigenous curer who through ritual acts and/or various medicines attempts to cure physical or mental illnesses.
curers
Individuals who claimed to have been contacted by spirits and told how to heal illnesses.
A method of gilding metal by forming an object of low gold content alloy and then treating the surface of the finished artifact with an acidic solution to eat away the base metal and leave a thin layer of pure gold on top giving the illusion of high-karat gold. Also called mise en couleur and "pickle gilding".
Diffusion
The spread of artifacts, styles, or technologies from one group to another; generally the exact mechanisms of this spread are unspecified. See also Stimulus diffusion.
divination
The attempt to foretell events in the future.
division of labor
The way in which a society divides the activities of its members: for example, farming, fishing, herding, craft manufacturing, and administering government activities.
domesticated
The term used for any animal or plant whose reproduction is controlled by humans.
Double spout and bridge bottle
A type of closed vessel, typical of south and central coastal Peru, in which two spouts on top of the vesel are connected by a horizontal handle. In Colombia called an alcarraza, the generic name for water bottle.
Down-the-line-trade
Movement of goods from one person/center to the next and then to the next and so on without middlemen or markets. Although every individual movement of objects tends to be small, vast distances can be covered over time. Down-th-line trade probably explains the presence of South American and Costa Rican gold objects in southern Mexico and similar rare appearances of exotic artifacts far from their place of manufacture.
The period between A.D. 1572-1650 when native Andean people had largely adjusted to Spanish rule.
Early Horizon
In the Peruvian Master Sequence this is defined as the beginning of influence from Chavin de Huantar in the Ica Valley of the south coast. Often (inaccurately) used to mean the time of Chavin influence over much of Peru, roughly 1000-200 BC.
Early Intermediate Period
In the Peruvian Master Sequence the period of time between the cessation of Chavin influence in Ica and the beginning of Huari influence in the same valley. A time of the rise of regional states such as those of the Moche and the Nazca. Roughly 200 BC-AD 600.
economy
The management of a society's resources, including the way people produce and distribute food, raw materials, and manufactured goods.
El Dorado
The "gilded man". A ritual in which a Muisca paramount chief made offerings of gold to the sacred lake of Guatavita.
elites
The highest-status individuals in a society.
El Nino
The reversal of the Humboldt (Peru) current off western South America. The change in the direction of the off-shore winds causes the upwelling of cold water from the depths to cease, with disastrous effects upon the food chain. Rain also occurs, contributing to the ecological and cultural disaster.
encomendero
An individual in charge of an encomienda grant.
encomienda
A Spanish colonial policy of the sixteenth century. It was a grant of native labor to a Spanish colonist.
estate
Lands and associated structures that were owned by a particular Inca person or institution.
extirpation of idolatry
A Spanish colonial policy of the seventeenth century whose purpose was the elimination of all native religious practices.
A type of point found widely over South America (and even further north) in the 6000-5000 BC time frame. It has a wide tang with a convex end which looks vaguely like a fish tail.
Formative Period
In Ecuadorian and Colombian archaeology the period from the end of the Pleistocene until approximately 200 BC; a span of time which witnessed the end of the Paleoindian raditions, the establishment of first foraging and then agricultural societies, the domestication of plants and animals, the invention of ceramic, textile, and metallurgical technologies, and the development of specialist manufacturing of luxury goods and elaborate trade networks throughout the northern Andes and into lower Central America. Among some Bolivian archaeologists the term Formative is used to refer to any cultural manifestation prior to the rise of Tiahuanaco.
Forest which borders waterways. Typical of much of lowland South America.
Geoglyph
Ground markings such as the Nazca desert lines and other patterns. Found widely throughout the Americas.
government
A group of people whose fulltime job is to direct what people do and where goods go in society.
Gran Chaco
A region of south-central South America, encompassing parts of Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina. Characterized by extremes of temperature and a largely scrub forest cover, the Gran Chaco was the home of foraging groups from the end of the Paleoindian period onwards; agriculture was quite late in appearance in this relatively inhospitable environment.
Guano
The dung of sea birds, which is deposited on rocky offshore islets. This was harvested from ancient times onwards to be used as fertilizer.
A device on a loom which makes it possible to change sheds, thus making it unnecessary to move the weft thread over and under the warps by hand.
Historical Period
The period from A.D. 1532 to the present, when Europeans arrived in the Andes and written records began.
Holocene
The modern climatic era which began c. 8000-6000 BC in the Americas.
Horizon style
A style which appears over a large area in a short period of time. Because such styles move speedily and are taken up by people to whom they are foreign, one can cross-date all levels, structures, or artifacts manifesting such a style and thus achieve a broad horizon of contemporaneity. The Chavin, Huari, and Inca styles are all Horizon styles as is the Chorrera style of Ecuador.
Huaca
From the Inca word for a sacred place. Used in much of the Andes as a term for an ancient building or site.
Huaco
An ancient artifact, usually a ceramic vessel or similar portable object.
Huaira
Clay smelters used by late prehispanic metallurgists. They were placed on windy hillsides to use the natural breezes as a draft for achieving the temperatures necessary to melt the ores.
Huaquero (guaquero)
A person who works in huacas, specifically a looter of ancient sites. Hence huaqueria (guaqueria): looting of ancient sites.
Huari
A powerful culture that spread its authority over much of the Peruvian Andes during the Middle Horizon.
A term generally referring to the ethnic group that lived in the vicinity of Cuzco and became the dominant political power of the Andes during the Late Horizon. It can also refer to the king (the Inca) or the empire that the ethnic group built.
Inca-by-blood
A term applied to the original Inca group who founded Cuzco.
Inca-by-privilege
A term applied to the ethnic groups of non-Incas who lived near Cuzco and who were given certain privileges of being Inca due to their loyal service to the empire.
Inca class
The highest social echelon of the Inca empire that consisted of the Incas and the Inca-by-privilege.
Initial Period
In the Peruvian Master Sequence the period from the initial introduction of ceramics making to the Ica Valley until the beginning of the Early Horizon, roughly 2300-1300 BC. Generally used to refer to the time of the first appearance of ceramics in any area of Peru.
institutionalized reciprocity
The Inca policy of expecting conquered people to work for them, but in return providing them with services and goods, food and clothing, beer, coca, and even entertainment.
Integration Period
In Ecuadorian archaeology the ultimate prehispanic epoch, c. AD 500-1500.
Inti
The Sun god of the Incas.
Inti Raymi
The festival of the Sun god, Inti, held in the modern month of June.
A fine, pure white clay used by the Recuay culture in making pottery during the Early Intermediate Period.
Kenning
A form of symbolic expression in which the object is verbally ("her snaky hair," "her nest of snakes", speaking of the Gorgon) or visually (as the representation of long narrow parts of a figure as snakes and thicker protrusions as tongues coming from mouths in Chavin supernatural depictions) compared.
Keros
"Wood", the wooden beaker used for drinking beer among the Inca. Generally, used as a term for beaker or tumbler of any material much as English speakers use "glass" for the same form, regardless of what it is made of.
Kompi (cumbi)
The fine tapestry of the Incas, woven by the chosen women, and used mainly for clothing for nobles and other government functionaries.
Kotosh Religious Tradition
A set of religious practices which involved burning offerings in sunken circular rooms or plazas, replastering the burning pit after each us. Found widely in highland and coastal Peru in the late Preceramic and Initial periods. Also called the Mito Religious tradition.
The lowest social echelon in the Inca empire, consisting of the conquered people who did the labor for the Incas.
Labret
A ceramic, stone, shell or metal ornament placed in a hole pierced below the lower lip, or rarely, in the cheeks.
Late Horizon
In the Peruvian Master Sequence the period from the appearance of Incan culture in the Ica Valley until the Spanish conquest. AD 1476-1534 (the dates are fixed through references in early colonial documents).
Late Intermediate Period
In the Peruvian Master Sequence the period between the demise of Huari and the Inca conquest of the Ica Valley, roughly AD 1000-1476.
llama
One of the domesticated South American members of the camel family, along with the alpaca. It is used as a beast of burden.
Llanos
Strictly speaking, plains; used especially to refer to flat, seasonally inundated regions such as the llanos of the Orinoco or the Llanos de Mojos.
Lipta
Lime which is folded with the coca leaf to make a quid for placing in the cheek and masticating.
locro
A stew made of meat, potatoes, chuno, vegetables, and chili peppers.
Lomas
Xerophytic forests watered by seasonal heavy fogs along the coast of Peru and nothern Chile.
Lost wax casting
A method of casting metal objects which involve making a wax model of the object, covering the model with clay to form a mold, firing the clay to remove the wax and to leave a hollow shaped like the desired metal artifact, then pouring molten metal into the mold. Once the metal has hardened, the mold is broken to reveal the artifact. This was the main casting method used in ancient America and survives today among fine jewelers around the world. Also called cire perdue casting.
A starchy root that is a staple low-altitude crop of many South American peoples.
Mano and metate
Grinding implements characteristic of many New World peoples. The metate is a relatively flat or dish-shaped piece of stone; the man a hand stone used to rub whatever is being ground or crushed upon the metate.
Master/Mistress of Animals/Fishes/Birds
A widespread concept concerning the organization of the animal kingdom. Animals are conceived of as having a ruler who must be placated in various ways to allow members of his/her kingdom to be utilized by humans.
Master Sequence
A means of relative dating used for Peruvian prehistory in which events are located chronologically with reference to the detailed relative chronology worked out on ancient pottery from the Ica Valley.
Mate
Ilex paraguayensis, a shrub whose leaves are used to make a tea-like infusion. Generally, any herb tea.
Megafauna
Literally "large animals". The general term used for the now extinct very large species of mammals which were characteristic of many terminal Ice Age ecosystems in the Americas. Examples are the glyptodon, a giant armadillo, and the mammoth and mastodon, large cool-weather elephants.
Middle Horizon
In the Peruvian Master Sequence the period of Huari influence in the Ica Valley; often used to refer to the period of Huari influence over much of Peru. Approximately
AD 550-1000.
Mindala
A corporate, mainly hereditary, group of professional traders of late prehispanic Ecuador. The mindalaes were apparently in charge of long-distance trade in desired raw materials such as gold, salt, cotton, and finished goods, especially luxury items.
M'ita
Among the Inca a tax in labor owed by all taxpayers. This tax was what built and repaired roads, cared for the government and religious fields, worked the mines, etc. In modern times mit'a labor is more informal and is organized within the community for those tasks for which more labor than the nuclear family can provide is necessary (such as harvesting) or, in some communities, for construction and repair of communal amenities such as roads, footbridges, etc.
Mitamakuna (mitamaes, mitima)
Settlers brought into an area newly conquered by the Inca. Generally these people took the place of the more recalcitrant villages, which were moved to the settlers' original home. The Inca shuffled populatioons on a very large scale and many of the mitamakuna villages are still known, although over time and with the vicissitudes of the colonial period they have blended in with the surrounding indigenous populations.
Moche
A powerful society located along the northern coast of Peru during the Early Intermediate Period, famous for their outstanding crafts and their religion based on the sacrifice and drinking of war captives' blood by Moche leaders.
moiety
A division of a society into two parts, Inca ayllus were divided into the upper and lower moieties.
Moon Animal
A hump-backed animal with a crest on its head and large fangs and claws originating in the Recuay culture but found in other northern Peruvian art styles until the eighteenth century AD. The name comes from some Moche representations of this creature, which slow it within the crescent moon.
motepatasca
A stew made of corn, herbs, and chili peppers.
Mordant
A substance used to fix the color when dyeing fibers or textiles.
Mummy bundle
A common method of preparing the dead in ancient Peru. The corpse was tied in a seated or flexed position. Layers of textiles, including clothing, household, and ritual cloths, were wrapped and draped around the body, often with offerings of botanical material and various personal belongings inserted between the cloths. The resultant bundle was then corded up in a net or sewn up in a coarse shroud. Some cultures placed a false head on the bundle at the end of this process. The bundle was placed in a tomb, grave, chullpa, or cave, depending upon local cultural practice. The bodies were preserved through natural dryness or cold, not through artificial embalming.
myths
Stories or legends concerning people and events in the past, especially those that attempt to explain why the world or a people came to be.
A society who lived on the south central coast during the Early Intermediate Period. They are known for their polychrome pottery and geoglyphs (the Nazca Lines).
Neutron activation analysis
A method of trace element analysis in which a sample is irradiated to transform certain isotopes of the elements in the sample to radioactive isotopes so that they may be identified as to type and absolute quantity in the sample. Since different clay and obsidian (the commonest materials analyzed) sources contain different trace elements in differing amounts, by comparison it is possible to identify the source of the clay or obsidian and thus find out about trade or the distribution of the various materials.
nomadic
The term for any group that frequently moves during the year.
Nudo
A knot, term used for the east-west ranges which connect the major cordilleras in Ecuador.
A domesticated tuber that grows in the puna zone. It is long and narrow, and it comes in several colors.
Oculate Being
A major deity of the Paracas and Ocucaje cultures of the south coast of Peru. This figure, which commonly appears as a feline, human, or anthropomorphic feline, has very large round eyes and a wide grin. It is associated with weapons and trophy heads.
Olla
Term commonly used for a clay cooking pot with a semi-closed body and a low neck.
oracle
A supernatural figure that could answer questions about the future.
Organic resist painting ("negative painting")
A method of achieving black on red decoration without double firing. Generally the slipped vessel is oxidation fired, then dipped in or painted with an organic solution (plant saps and gums were probably used). The parts of the vessel which the potter wishes to remain the base color are blocked out with slip and then the vessel is heated, charring the exposed organic material. When cooled the vessel is brushed or wiped to remove the now dry protective slip, revealing a black design on the fired base color. Organic resist painting seems to have been invented many times and was widely used throughout Mexico, Central America, and South America. It continues to be used, but only in the faking of ancient ceramics, mainly those of Colombia and coastal Ecuador.
Oxidation firing
Firing ceramics in such a manner that there is a free flow of oxygen around the vessels as they are being fixed. With clays that contain iron oxides this results in an orange to red vessel.
Oxidation smelting
A method of smelting sulfide ores involving a number of steps of which the most important is roasting the ores in an oxygen-containing atmosphere to remove the sulfides before proceeding with the reduction smelting.
A large rodent native to South and Central America.
Pacha-Mama
The Inca goddess of the earth.
Palcoindian
The late Pleistocene inhabitants of the Americas.
Palynology
The identification of fossil pollen from archaeological contexts in order to reconstruct the climate, economy, and diet.
pampa
An extensive, rolling grassland in southern Argentina to the east of the Andes Mountains.
panaca
A corporate group of Incas consisting of all the wives, siblings, and offspring of a former king.
Paramo
The wet high-altitude grasslands of Ecuador and Colombia: lower in altitude and better watered than the puna, they support cloud and scrub forest in their lower ranges.
Patrilineage
A corporate group formed by people who are related through male relatives.
Penis string
An item of male clothing found among a number of lowland groups. A string is wound tightly around the foreskin, covering the glans. This string is then usually tied around the waist or to a belt, holding the penis erect.
Phase
A term with two very different usages in South American studies. The most common meaning, shared with archaeology in general, is a unit of contemporaneity, that is a period of time (usually named or numbered for the convenience of the archaeologist) in which all artifacts, etc. are so similar that it is reasonable to treat all materials and events within this span of time as being contemporary. Phases vary immensely in length because of differences in the amounts and types of investigation done on any given area, site, or culture. In practice, even with the most sophisticated types of stylistic analysis, it has not proven possible to delineate phases of less than about twenty-five years in length. If absolute dating methods alone are relied upon to establish limits the shortest length of time a phase can possibly be is about 150 years, owing to the nature of the methodologies available. The term phase is also used by many archaeologists working in the tropical lowlands of South America (and following them, a few elsewhere) to mean what is more commonly called a culture tradition. Within these "phases" ceramic traditions may be distinguished, but differences between the different traditions are considered less important than shared features.
Phytolith or Opal Phytolith
A method of climatic and economic reconstruction based on a peculiar property of plants. Ground waters contain dissolved silica. Some plants, when they take up water, deposit this silica around the cells of their leaves, stems,bark,etc. When the plant decays the silica skeletons are often preserved so that analysis of the archaeological soils in which the lay can reveal which genera of plants were present.
Pirca
Fieldstone and mud mortar construction.
Planalto
The highlands of east-central Brazil, roughly located between the Paranapanema River on the south and the Araguaia River on the west and bordered by the North Atlantic Ocean on the east. Varying between 200 and 1200 m in altitude, it is characterized by irregular rainfal, and by savannas and open parkland in the drier areas and by scrub forest and deciduous forests in the damper ones. The planalto was an early focus of human occupation.
Poncho
A rectangular, usually two web, outer garment worn by many native American peoples. The poncho has a central slit for the head and open side seams. It is not a precolumbian garment, but rather is an adaptation of the native South American shirt or tunic (whose side seams were sewn up and which often had set-on sleeves) by the Pampas Indians in the sixteenth century. The native outer garment, a mantle which was tied in front or over one shoulder, was not suitable for riding hourses in cold weather and so the traditional shirt was reworked into a heavy outer garment. This garment proved so useful that it was adapted by both native peoples and mestizos as far north as Mexico.
Poporo
The container used to hold lime for coca chewing, often a gourd or an imitation gourd in ceramic or metal.
Preceramic
In peruvian archaeology the long span of time between the last Paleoindians and the invention and diffusion of ceramics making between c. 2300-1900 BC.
province
An administrative unit of the Inca empire that usually corresponded to the area occupied by a conquered ethnic group.
Prill
A smelting technigue characteristic of the Late Intermediate Period in northern Peru. The arsenic-bearing sulfide ore was reduction smelted in furnaces, the end result being a thick slag with small droplets of the arsenic-copper alloy trapped within it, as the local technology could not sustain a high enough heat to turn the slag liquid enough to allow the metal to flow together and form an ingot at the bottom of the furnace. These droplets of metal, the prills, were extracted by crushing the slag with a rocker mill and picking them out. In family-organized work units probably it was the elderly and the children who actually picked out the prills.
Pristine Civilization
A civilization which develped sui generis. The conditions which led to the development of these few earliest complex societies are thought to have been different from those which led to the spread of civilizations from their points of pristine development.
Pukio
A type of sunken garden found mainly along the north and central coasts of Peru where the water table is very close to the surface. Here fields are dug down to the water table, providing a constantly damp area for the cultivation of crops. Pukios (also called mahamaes) are very productive as they are well watered and protected from the wind.
Puna
The high-altitude figid and semi-desertic grasslands of Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and western Argentina. Well above the tree line, agriculture is possible only in sheltered border zones and the puna is mainly given over to herd animals (llamas, alpacas, and now sheep).
The environmental zone lying between 1,500 and 3,500 m (5,000 and 11,500 ft.) in altitude. It is a temperate zone where many major food crops are grown.
(2)Quechua
The term used for the language of the Incas. The term also applies to an ethnic group who lived north of the Incas prior to the development of their empire.
quinoa
A mid-altitude grain with a high protein content.
Quipu
An elaborate knotted string device used by the Incas and some other, earlier, peoples in Peru for record keeping. Inca quipus used a decimal system with the farthest out knot on the string representing the ones, the next one the tens and so on. Numbers were indicated by overhand knots, a single knot being one, two turns for a two, etc. Sets of strings recoding the same thing were attached to a long string, often with a totals string hanging on the other side. There was also a coding by color texture, but this has been lost, as the quipus were an aid to remembering, not a system of writing.
Dating organic objects by measuring the amount of radioactive breakdown that is occurring within them. The ratio of radiocarbon (whose half-life is known) to non-radioactive carbon gives the date of death of the organism (grass from a basket, wood from a beam, bone or hair of a human or an animal, etc.). A new method, using an accelerator and a tandem mass spectrometer, can measure the actual amount of radioactive carbon present and so requires much smaller samples. Only the remains of something once living can be dated by this method; it does not work on stone, metal, or pottery.
raised field
A technique for increasing agricultural productivity in areas of swampy soil. Dirt is dug out of a trench and piled onto the adjacent surface, forming a higher area (the field) with a lower area (a canal) next to it.
reduccion
A Spanish colonial policy of the sixteenth century under which native people were removed from their traditional villages scattered among the fields and were placed in Spanish-designed settlements.
Reduction firing
Firing ceramics in such a manner that there is no free flow of oxygen arond the vessels during the firing process. This results, if the clays contain iron oxides, in a gray paste. If smoky fuel is added to the fire, the vessels will turn black.
Reduction smelting
Smelting ores in an atmosphere in which there is no free flow of oxygen. This is the commonest method of smelting the simple ores.
Regional Developmental Period
In Ecuadorian and Colombian archaeology the period of time between c 200 BC and AD 500.
Relative dating
Dating objects and events relative to one another, e.g. B is older than A but younger than C.
Retainer burial
The sacrifice and burial of servants or other people with a person. This practice is found among most of the early civilizations of the world, including the Egyptians, the Chinese, and a number of ancient South American groups.
Rocker mill
The Andean rocker mill is a crushing and grinding device which was (and is) used for grinding foodstuffs, mashing vegetable foods, and crushing clays and ores for further processing. It consists of a large flat bottom stone, the bataan, and a heavy, somewhat rounded (on the bottom) upper stone, the chunga. Materials are placed on the bataan and the chunga is rocked across them until the desired degree of pulverization is reached.
Rocker stamping
A means of decorating ceramics by rocking a shell or some small thin implement across the damp surface of the clay, leaving a characteristic zigzag pattern. Dentate rocker stamping involves using a shell with a serrated edge to make dotted lines.
Formerly called the "Presentation Scene" this major theme in painted and modeled Moche pottery shows the sacrifice of prisoners by various supernaturals and the presentation of goblets of their blood to a rayed deity. Recent excavations at Sipan and at San Jose de Moro indicate that the individuals in this scene existed and that it was played out.
Sacsahuaman
The huge architectural complex located on an imposing hill to the north of Cuzco.
Salar
Salt lakes or pans, specifically the high, dry, salt lakes and pans of the southern Andes.
Sambaqui
The immense shell mounds of the southern Brazilian coast. Some of these are natural, but many show signs of human occupations dating from perhaps 4000-5000 years ago to relatively recent preconquest eras.
saya
An administrative unit of the Inca empire, consisting of 10,000 households.
Secondary burial
Reburial of the bones of an individual after the flesh has been removed through natural or other means.
Series
In Venezuelan and Caribbean archaeology a cultural tradition characterized by specific types of ceramics and ceramic decoration. Phases (smaller units of time) are then distinguished within a series.
Shaft and chamber tomb
A type of tomb common in the northern Andes, but found throughout much of precolumbian America. It consists of a circular, oval, or rectangular shaft which descends 0.5-60 m (the known range of depths) in a vertical, sloping, or stepped manner to one or more chambers of varying sizes, shapes, etc. The number and kinds of burials and offerings within these chambers likewise vary immensely with the time, place, and cultural affiliation of the people so disposing of their dead.
Shaman
A non-institutionalized religious practitioner who personally contacts the supernatural through trance for divination, curing or other purposes. This term is often used in a slovenly manner to refer to all non-institutionalized religious or medical personnel in non-western societies.
Signifer
An element in a representation which helps the viewer to identify who or what is being represented. Common signifers in South American iconographic systems are large fangs to indicate that a figure is a supernatural (not that it is a feline or related to a feline), or the use of specific colors to delineate specific supernatural figures. Common signifers in western art are the halo, used to indicate that a human figure is a supernatural, or a blue cape or dress to show that a woman is the Virgin Mary, not some other female saint.
Slip casting
A means of forming very thin ceramic vessels or objects by making a heavy fixed clay mold and then pouring in slip, leaving it until a layer of clay of the desired thickness is deposited on the interior surface of the mold, then pouring out the unneeded slip and leaving the mold until the clay is dry enough that the mold can be safely removed. Slip casting is found along the south coast of Peru at the end of the Early Horizon where it was used to form panpipes and bottle spouts.
Snuff tray
A small flat tray used to hold one of the hallucinogenic snuffs for inhaling (by means of a bone or ceramic tube or snuffer). These trays are usually made of wood, although some metal ones are known.
social organization
A term referring to the patterns of behavior governing the interactions between individuals, including who one can marry, where newlyweds will live, how the family is defined, what behavior toward one's in-laws is appropriate, and so on.
sorcerors
Individuals who claimed to be able to speak with spirits, and so were consulted when a person needed supernatural assistance.
Spindle whorl
A small counter weight used on a hand spindle. Most are circular and made of ceramic, stone, or wood.
Spondylus
The "thorny oyster". A bivalve which has long spines on the exterior and, often, a bright orange shell or shell rim. The most commonly used species were Sponylus princeps and S. calcifer, both of which occur in deep coastal waters from the Gulf of Guayaquil north to the Sea of Cortez. Spondylus was a key element in exchange between coastal Ecuador and Peru. It was used through the central Andes in the manufacture of ornaments and as religious offerings.
Staff God and Goddess
The most important deities of the later Chavin culture, they get their names from their mode of representation, standing in a full frontal position with a staff in each hand. They may be t he earliest representatives of the later solar/sky/weather and lunar/earth/agriculture deities.
Stimulus diffusion
Diffusion of the idea of an artifact, practice, or technology as opposed to the thing itself.
Stirrup bottle
A ceramic form consisting of a closed body and a tubular handle in the form (more or less) of an up-ended U and with a spout in the middle. This form is found all over the Americas at various times, but is especially typical of the cultures of the north coast of Peru, who often formed the body of the vessel into a small sculpture.
Strombus
A univalve mollusk which inhabits shallow tropical waters from lower California to southern Ecuador as well as the Caribbean coast. The largest and most commonly used species was Strombus galeatus Swain. Strombus is called conch in English and the meat is edible. More important to the ancient South Americans, the shell can be made into a trumpet or into shell ornaments and inlays. The Moche also had a supernatural being who was a monster with a Strombus shell body. Today strombus trumpets are still used in native Andean rituals.
The central Andean tunic (uncu) was not worn in Ecuador until the Inca introduced it. In its place, apparently for formal or ritual occasions, men wore an open-sided garment, usually narrrow and heavily decorated with tassels, shell, or beads. The tabard may have been the ancestor of today's kushma, which is similarly open-sided. Tabards and kushmas are made of a single web, unlike the tunic, which may be made of two or more webs.
Tahuantinsuyu
The Inca term for their empire, the "Land of the Four Quarters."
Tambo
Among the Inca, groups of storehouses and shelters located at intervals along the roads. Generally smaller tambos were strung at a convenient day's journey, whereas larger tambos, called royal tambos by the early historians, were located in towns through which the roads passed.
Tapestry
A plain-weave technique for creating patterned textiles. The wefts completely cover the warps (weft face) and the colors of the wefts are changed every time a color change is desired in the pattern. In interlocking tapestry the wefts dovetail around a single warp whereas in kilim or slit tapestry the wefts turn back at adjacent warps, leaving slits in the fabric where the colors meet.
Tapia
A construction technique in which clay and gravel are molded into large blocks, often using cane or wooden molds. Similar to the Eurasian terre pise or rammed earth technique.
tarwi
A kind of grain grown in the quechua zone.
Tecomate
A term adopted from the Aztec for a neckless olla, a ceramic version of the round gourd used to hold seeds or tortillas. Now used for any globular vessel with no neck and a relatively small top opening.
Temper (aplastic)
Material such as sand, ground up potsherds, vegetable matter, etc. added to ceramic clays to give them the necessary body to be formed into artifacts.
Terra preta
Literally "black earth". Dark, fertile soils of anthropic origin found along the Amazon and its tributaries.
terrace
An artificially leveled field used to increase agricultural land in steeply sloping areas. The terrace is built by constructing a retaining wall across the slope of the hill, then filling the upslope area with soil until the top surface is level with the top of the wall.
textile
Woven fabric.
Thermoluminescence dating
A dating method used on fired clays, especially ceramic vessels. Most clays contain some radioactive trace elements. As these break down they emit electrons which, in unfired clays, simply escape. When the clay is fired, howevr, microscopic hollows in the fabric are formed and these trap the electrons. When a piece of the fixed clay is ground up and heated, the electrons escape from their traps and a photon of light is emitted. Roughly, the more light emitted, the longer it has been since the ceramic was fired, hence the ceramic can be dated. This method is often used to date looted artifacts, since most other methods of dating depend upon the archaeological contact of the artifacts. Thermoluminescence (often abbreviated TL) can also be falsified, either by irradiating the (new) vessel or by inserting a genuinely ancient sherd in a place from which the dating sample is certain to be taken during "restoration" procedures.
Tiahuanaco
A culture of the Early Intermediate Period and Middle Horizon located in Bolivia, south of Lake Titicaca. It is famous for its capital, also called Tiahuanaco, where many stone monuments and gateways have been found. It developed on the basis of raised field agriculture and trade with surrounding regions.
Tola
The term used in Ecuador for earthen mounds used as platforms for houses or temples.
topo
An Inca unit of area corresponding to approximately .8 acre. It was also used as a linear measurement corresponding to a distance of 4.5 miles.
Totora
Any of a number of species of reeds or cattails which grow in still or brackish water. By extension the floats or reed boats made from these reeds.
Tournette
A base which can be slowly revolved while forming the ceramic vessel which is placed upon (or within) it.
trepanation
The Inca and pre-Inca practice of cutting open the skull to expose the brain. It is likely the purpose was to release evil spirits thought to be present inside the skull.
tuber
A thickening or swelling of an underground part of the root of a plant, for example, potatoes and sweet potatoes.
Tumbaga
An alloy of gold and copper or gold, copper, and silver (often with trace amounts of other metals). This alloy melts at a lower temperature than either gold or copper and is considerably harder, being a kind of gold bronze. Tumbaga was widely used by northern Andean and Central American metal smiths and often depletion gilded.
Tumi
The crescent-shaped knife used by many Andean peoples.
Tunjo
Small cast metal figurines made by the Muisca and used as offering. They represent males, females, animals, and artifacts.
Tupu
The pins used by many Andean women to hold their dresses together at the shoulder or their shoulder cloth closed at the front. Usually tupus are a long straight pin with a flattened circular or a fancy figurative head.
Twining
A textile and basketry technigue utilizing a pair of wefts which are twisted about that warps.
The earliest pottery-using culture of South America, dating to approximately 3000 B.C. It was located on the Pacific Coast and inland regions of the Santa Elena Peninsula of Ecuador.
Viracocha
The creator god of the Incas, created by Inca Pachacuti as the nexus of his new state religion.
A method of construction in which the walls of a building are formed by daubing
mud onto a base of branches, grass, and twigs loosely woven onto a wooden frame. A common construction technique to the present, wattle and daub is also common in Eurasian vernacular architecture.
A means of trace element analysis, generally of obsidian, in which the sample is irradiated with energetic X-rays which can be passed through a crystal and sorted elctronically. The relative intensities of each element are recorded graphically as peaks of different heights. This method is not as precise or detailed as neutron activation analysis and the two are often used together with the more expensive neutron activation analysis being used to pinpoint the important elements that distinguish between different sources so that the faster, cheaper X-ray fluorescence can then be used.
