There is evidence it was consumed in cultures located in modern-day Ecuador from as early as the ninth millennium B.C. It was during the Inca Empire ... that depict everyday coca-chewing; and ...

Built in the 15th century under the reign of the Inca emperor Pachacuti, this city was a testament to the empire's power and ...

was the center of Inca life, the home of its leaders. "The riches that were gathered in the city of Cuzco alone, as capital and court of the Empire, were incredible," says an early account of Inca ...

Though the 16th-century Spanish conquistador invasion ended the Inca Empire, the legacy of the Incas ... an affirmation of the connectedness of all life. NMAI archaeologist Ramiro Matos has ...

All gold belonged to the ruler of the empire, the Inca himself, who claimed to be descended from the sun god. Llamas were the Incas' most important domestic animal, providing food, clothing and ...

But among the holiest places in the empire were mountain peaks, which the Inca and other peoples in the Andes often regarded as representing the origin points of societies, and the resting places ...

was the center of Inca life, the home of its leaders. "The riches that were gathered in the city of Cuzco alone, as capital and court of the Empire, were incredible," says an early account of Inca ...