The use of seabird poop as a fertilizer for corn and other food crops supported the expansion of pre-Inca civilizations ...

In 1532, in the city of Cajamarca, Peru, Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro and a group of Europeans took the Inca ruler Atahualpa hostage, setting the stage for the fall of the Inca Empire.

For nearly five centuries, something ancient has waited beneath Cusco, Peru’s cobblestone streets. While tourists photograph ...

In new research, biochemical analyses align with imagery and historical sources to show how the pre-Inca Chincha society ...

New archaeological evidence reveals that seabird guano—nutrient-rich bird droppings—was not only essential to boosting corn ...

Guano dramatically boosted the production of maize, and the surplus helped fuel the Chincha Kingdom’s economy.

In 1532, Francisco Pizarro led fewer than 200 men against the mighty Inca Empire—and won. This is the shocking story of how ...

Nestled on a mountain ridge in the Urubamba Valley, Machu Picchu was built as a palace that was part of a larger royal estate belonging to the Inca emperor Pachacuti (reigned ca. 1420–1472). A team of ...

An ancient and deeply spiritualized wooden idol of the Andean ‘Earth Maker’, Pachacamac (Quechua: Pachakamaq), was once worshiped at the Temple of the Sun; a 30,000-square-meter step pyramid at the ...

Parker VanValkenburgh, an assistant professor of anthropology, curated a journal issue that explores the opportunities and challenges big data could bring to the field of archaeology. PROVIDENCE, R.I.

A hillside in Peru covered by more than 5000 aligned holes may have been a giant Inca accounting device – a spreadsheet, but on a monumental scale. Tracing across the slopes of Monte Sierpe (Serpent ...