| quipu | The Inca word for an elaborate knotted string device used by the Inca and other peoples in Peru for record keeping.
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| binary-coded | A system of information storage or processing in two states (such as 0 and 1). Computers process immense amounts of information through the manipulation of such sequences.
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| lomas | (Spanish) Vegetation that is supported by fog in otherwise arid environments.
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| guano | Bird excrement.
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| coprolite | Fossilized feces.
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| El Niño | (Spanish) A warm-water countercurrent that periodically appears off the Peruvian coast, usually soon after Christmas, and alters the normal patterns of water temperature, flow, and salinity.
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| shicra | The Inca word for meshed bags containing rocks, used as fill in the construction of ancient Andean structures.
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| cayman | A tropical South American alligator.
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| shaman | An anthropological term for a spiritualist, curer, or seer.
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| repoussé | (French) The process of forming a raised design on a thin sheet of metal by placing it over a mold and hammering it in place.
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| huaca | (Quechua) An Andean word for pyramid.
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| mit’a system | A means of tribute in prehispanic Andean South America that involved the use of conscripted laborers to complete discrete organizational tasks.
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| stirrup spout | A distinctive curving spout on pottery vessels that is shaped like the stirrup of a saddle, characteristic of Moche pottery.
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| lost wax casting | A technique for casting metal in which a sand or clay casing is formed around a wax sculpture; molten metal is poured into the casing, melting the wax. The cooling metal takes on the shape of the "lost" wax sculpture preserved on the casing.
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| polychrome | Multicolored; describing pottery that has been decorated with three or more colors.
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| geoglyph | Ground markings, such as the lines and life-form representations found in the Nazca desert.
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| scepter | A staff or baton borne by a ruler as an emblem of his/her position and authority.
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| altiplano | (Spanish) The high-altitude plain between the eastern and western ridges of the Andes in Peru.
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| quinoa | A pigweed (Chenopodium quinoa) of the high Andes. Seeds of the plant were ground and used as food in the past and still are today.
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| coca | A native Andean shrub whose dried leaves are chewed as stimulants.
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| split inheritance | An Andean practice by which the successor to the throne inherited only the office of the dead ruler; his junior kinsmen received the lands, palace, and personal wealth of the dead ruler.
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| frieze | A decorative band or feature, commonly ornamented with sculpture, usually near the top of a wall.
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| archaeoastronomy | The study of ancient alignments and other aspects of the archaeological record and their relationship to ancient astronomical knowledge and events.
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| tampu | A roadside lodging and storage place (principally for food, fodder, firewood, and other commodities) along the Inca road system. Tampus were placed roughly one day’s walk apart.
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| waranqa | A subdivision of the Inca empire that was used for administrative purposes, consisting of 1000 taxpayers.
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| mitmaq | A system of colonization used by the Inca to minimize provincial rebellion by moving people around to break up dissident groups.
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| chicha | A South American beer made from maize.
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