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 ...

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 ...

Built in the 15th century under the reign of the Inca emperor Pachacuti, this city was a testament to the empire's power and ... a thriving center of Inca life. The Temple of the Sun is perhaps ...