The Inka Empire and Its Andean Origins

Centered in Peru but stretching from Ecuador to Chile, the Inka (or Inca) empire, destroyed by Spaniards in 1533, was the culmination of many indigenous civilizations. This enjoyable, stunningly illustrated survey investigates those cultures, beginning with the earliest peoples believed to have crossed the land bridge over the Bering Strait 11,000 years ago. The Chinchorro people of Chile mummified their dead using techniques contemporary with ancient Egypt's similar burials. The coastal Moche built large adobe pyramids, road networks and complex irrigation systems. The Nazca invented underground aqueducts and made vast drawings of animals and geometric shapes criss-crossing the desert. Featuring 200 illustrations of extraordinary objects from Manhattan's Museum of Natural History, this chronicle explains how the Inka absorbed a set of symbols from many earlier Andean cultures and incorporated them in ceramics, architecture, textiles, metalwork and dance. Morris is a curator at the Museum, von Hagan a freelance journalist. (Nov.)