Scientists used the quipu’s data to build working spreadsheets, file systems, and encryption tools, rivaling conventional ...

Before smartphones, spreadsheets, or even written alphabets as we know them, the Inca appear to have managed information in a ...

There's rarely time to write about every cool science-y story that comes our way. So this year, we're once again running a special Twelve Days of Christmas series of posts, highlighting one science ...

The Inca Empire in South America, one of the most powerful pre-Columbian societies, was known for many innovations — such as the architecture of Machu Picchu, an extensive road network, and a system ...

DNA analysis of 34 individuals buried at Machu Picchu revealed that many traveled alone from throughout the Inca Empire. Who lived at Machu Picchu at its height? A new study, published today in ...

Centuries before the rise of the Inca Empire, a much smaller kingdom on the central coast of Peru already had a sophisticated trade network—one it used to import live parrots across the Andes from the ...