Inca road system: Did you mean...?

A section of a Roman road with a typical polygonal stone surface. The stones also show the ruts made by Roman wheeled vehicles. This section is beneath the Arco dei Gavi, a 1st century CE arch in Verona, Italy.

An Inca circular terracing used to increase agricultural yield. Moray, Peru, 15-16th century CE.

A colonial-era illustration depicting Inca farmers using traditional tools such as the foot plough. By the native chronicler Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, c. 1613 CE.

An Inca ceramic dish with a handle in the form of a bird. Peru, 1476-1534 CE. (St. Louis Art Museum, Missouri)

Inca qollqa (storehouses) used for storing grain and other foodstuffs. 15-16th century CE, Ollantaytambo.

A photograph of a macadamised road taken in the 1850s. The macadamised road, that is, a hard and relatively smooth road surface made using two layers of stones (one aggregate layer and a top layer of very small stones), was first made on...

The entrance to the water system at Tel Gezer in central Israel. This photo was taken during the 2011 excavations of the water system by the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. The water system is believed to have been built during...

The Shushtar Hydraulic System is a Sasanian era (3rd century CE) water irrigation system in Shushtar in Iran that included watermills, dams, tunnels and canals. The mills, one of which is still functioning, were used to grind wheat and barley...

An 1846 painting by John Everett Millais titled "Pizarro Seizing the Inca of Peru". The scene shows the conquistador Francisco Pizarro (c. 1478-1541) capturing the Inca ruler Atahualpa at the battle of Cajamarca in 1533. (Victoria and Albert...

The Achaemenid Persian Empire functioned as well as it did because of the efficient bureaucracy established by its founder Cyrus the Great (r. c. 550-530 BCE) which was administered through the satrapy system. A Persian governor of a province...