Those terms and definitions marked * are after Salomon, 1986
| audiencia* | Governing body (of the colonial Kingdom of Quito) |
| cacique | Quechua terms for local lord or chief in control of a specified territory and its population |
| camellón (pl. camellones) | A system of raised cultivation beds produced by excavating ditches either side and mounding the material along the centre. Can look rather similar to medieval period ridge and furrow fields in Northern Western Europe, but produced by using hand digging instruments and not an ox-pulled plough. See section 2.2 and gallery image 9 |
| cangagua | Lahar (mud) of volcanic origin, hardened into a stone like material which can be cut and used for building blocks. |
| chacra(s) | Quichua name given to cultivation plots, or fields |
| corregimiento | District (as defined by Spanish administrators) larger than the parish and smaller than the audiencia |
| encomienda(s)* | Spanish colonial title of trusteeship over native populations, conferring privilege of collecting tribute |
| llajta (pl. llajtakuna)* | Quechua name given to a community of llajtakuna. Salomon (1986, 239) describes this as "politically defined native group sharing rights and duties in regard to a given set of resources, lands, and infrastructures, and having a member of its own number as a ruler" |
| manos | Hand tool for grinding. See gallery image 57 |
| metates | Grinding slab. See gallery image 57 |
| mitmakuna* | Quechua term for transplanted persons/population |
| páramo* | High-altitude humid grasslands characteristic of the Equatorial Andes above 3,500m in altitude. See gallery image 1 |
| parcialidades* | Sector of village/localised native group recognizing a member of its own number as ruler and integrated as a sector in a larger polity |
| pucara (pl. pucaraes)* | Pre-Hispanic fortress or hillfort. See gallery image 5 |
| pueblos de los indios | Literally "Indian towns", Spanish term for local communities of indigenous peoples |
| Quechua* | The official language of the Inca state |
| Quichua* | Quechuan language now spoken in Ecuador |
| reducciones | New towns deliberately created by the Spanish overlords to concentrate scattered indigenous populations into a smaller area, more easily controlled for taxation purposes |
| repartimientos* | Sets of politically defined collectives and populations alloted to a Spaniard in encomienda |
| tierra fria | Literally "cold land", equates to the páramo |
| tola | Artificially constructed mound usually of pre-Hispanic origin, often used for occupation purposes, also for burial. Can be hemispherical or quadrilateral. See gallery images 20-27 |
| veranillo | Literally "little summer", a short period of more clement weather in January or February, between two periods of colder wetter weather |
| visita* | Census/inspection of native communities for the purpose of fixing tribute quotas |
© Internet Archaeology
URL: http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue10/currie/glossary.html
Last updated: Thu Apr 5 2001
