Don't Know Much About Mythology - Kenneth C. Davis [272]
*The name of this Spanish explorer and conquistador is spelled in a variety of ways. This is the version in the American Heritage Dictionary.
*Reflecting the “omphalos” concept in which a place is viewed as the center of Creation, Cuzco means “navel” in the Incan language called Quechua.
*The story of Pizarro’s ruthless subjugation of the Incas is the subject of “The Collision at Cajamarca,” a fascinating recounting found in Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel.
*A complex Incan recording system called quipu, or khipu, involved knotted, dyed strings that could only be interpreted by priests. The system is still not fully understood today, and some experts, such as Harvard anthropologist Gary Urton, believe khipu was a form of Incan writing.
*Pipestone is a soft red stone that is sacred to many native groups. It is used in making the sacred pipes central to belief, ritual, and ceremony across Native North America.
*This decision would seem to contradict the 1993 ruling about Santeria practices cited earlier. The difference is that this case involved compliance with an otherwise valid law governing conduct that the state can regulate—the use of illegal drugs. In other words, using illegal drugs is different from killing chickens for ritual purposes.
*“Aborigines” was the word first used by the British for the native Australians they found. The word comes from the Latin phrase “ab origine,” meaning “from the beginning.” When spelled with a small “a,” the word “aborigine” now refers to any people whose ancestors were the first to live in a country. In Australia, the official term for descendants of the native Australians is now “indigenous.” Many of these Australians prefer to be referred to by their specific tribal names.