Word: inca
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Fifty miles to the southeast stood Cuzco, the administrative capital of the 15th century Inca Empire and, to the Incas, "the navel of the world." Just over the granite slopes to the northwest lay Machu Picchu, a templed citadel so shrouded by mountains and mystery that no white man found it until 1911. Patallacta was between the two on a stone-paved Inca highway, part of the Royal Road that climbed and twisted more than 5,000 miles through the Andes. The town, with its 115 dwellings guarded by a hilltop fortress, probably served as "a pit stop for Incas...
Five centuries later, Ann Kendall is trying to revive them. Her objective, beyond the usual archaeological digging and dusting, is to convert information about the past "to practical use in order to improve the economy." With a modest investment of labor, Kendall insists, Inca irrigation could pay rich dividends to this overwhelmingly poor country, where food and potable water are in chronic short supply. "I don't say that this scheme is going to empty out the slums of Lima, get people back on the land, recreate an Inca civilization," she says, "but it's possible to make...
...until 1906), cocaine might be the biggest advertiser on television. You can hear the commercials: Endorsed by the great Dr. Sigmund Freud. The inspiration of poets, artists, inventors! You too can be inspired, thanks to a stimulant revered as sacred eight centuries ago by the great Inca civilization. Start each day right with Snowghurt or Flake Flakes. A little Leaf instead of lettuce for lunch. Toot Sweet, come the Happy Hour. [Band music swells in crescendo.] Mayke it bet-tah with Coke...
...with Mao dead and the Gang of Four arrested, Schell returned repeatedly to find many of those streets transformed. There were more spontaneous introductions, ogling of Western clothing and transactions for profit. At the Peace Café, Benefit-the-People Wang had quick eyes for American cigarettes, Inca-bloc watches and hard currencies. He and his friends drank orange soda mixed with beer and discussed which foreign visitor might like to get it on with Golden Thunder Chen...
There are some interesting precious objects: a massive torque of twisted gold, brooches and harness mounts ornamented with serpentine, imbricated motifs; some large and striking ornamental pins. Clearly, the best Viking goldsmiths could stand comparison with their Byzantine or Inca counterparts. But such works are in the minority, and despite the extreme rarity of Viking artifacts and their obvious significance as historical fragments, one is left wondering why the Met devoted so much space to this show. -By Robert Hughes