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The Inca agriculture system not only included a vast acreage of crops, but also numerous herds, some numbering in the tens of thousands, of animals, some taken by force from conquered enemies. [9] These animals were llamas and alpacas , the dung of which was used to fertilize the crop fields. [ 9 ]
Pachamama is a goddess revered by the indigenous peoples of the Andes.In Inca mythology she is an "Earth Mother" type goddess, [1] and a fertility goddess who presides over planting and harvesting, embodies the mountains, and causes earthquakes.
The wide temperature differences in the terraces have created microclimates, similar to what is achieved in greenhouses in modern times. The landmark also looks similar to an open pit mine. After the mining was done, the Incas could have reinforced the walls to prevent landslides and started to grow crops on the terraces. [4] [5]
Inca cuisine originated in pre-Columbian times within the Inca civilization from the 13th to the 16th century. The Inca civilization stretched across many regions on the western coast of South America (specifically Peru ), and so there was a great diversity of unique plants and animals used for food.
Inca animal husbandry refers to how in the pre-Hispanic andes, camelids played a truly important role in the economy. In particular, the llama and alpaca —the only camelids domesticated by Andean people— [ 1 ] which were raised in large-scale houses and used for different purposes within the production system of the Incas .
The basis of the Andean socio-political organisation was the ayllu, a group of families united by real or mythical kin ties, and separated into a male and a female line.. The ruler of an ayllu was the kuraka, or chief, called kamachikuq, and was part of the class of common people ("Hatunruna
Inca leaders kept records of what each ayllu in the empire produced but did not tax them on their production. They instead used the mita for the support of the empire. The Inca diet consisted primarily of fish and vegetables, supplemented less frequently with the meat of cuyes (guinea pigs) and camelids. In addition, they hunted various animals ...
Reconstruction of one of the pyramids of Aspero. After the first humans — who were then arranged into hunter-gatherer tribal groups — arrived in South America via the Isthmus of Panama, they spread out across the continent, with the earliest evidence for settlement in the Andean region dating to circa 15,000 BCE, in what archaeologists call the Lithic Period.