Catequilla
Monte Catequilla (also Kati-Killa) is an archaeological site in the Pomasqui Valley of Ecuador. Located in the Parish of San Antonio of Quito Canton in Pichincha Province, it has an elevation of and is located on a mountaintop about above valleys on either side. Attributed to the Pre-Columbian era Quitu- Cara culture, it was presumably used as an astronomical observatory even before the arrival of the Incas, and is the only prehispanic site in the Americas that is located precisely at the Earth's Equator. History Catequilla is translated from Quechua to mean "follower of the moon". Its construction, circa 800 AD, is attributed to the Quitu-Cara culture. The site consists of a semicircular wall, in length with a diameter of , although no clear architectural features accurately show the exact positions of its ends. It leans toward the east end south sides with at an azimuth of 113 degrees, and declines on the western end to the north side, with an azimuth of 293 degrees. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pomasqui Valley
Pomasqui Valley is a valley on the northern outskirts of Quito, Ecuador. It is located on the equator, the so-called "Mitad del Mundo" ("Middle of the World"), at an altitude of around above sea level. Hot and semi-arid, it is formed by a river tributary. The valley contains the Cerro de Catequilla, which contains the pre-Columbian astronomical observatory, Catequilla. The village of Pomasqui itself lies roughly from the equator. The Monjas River flows nearby and the valley is an important centre for viniculture in Ecuador, with vineyards. The economy features vegetable and fruit production. To the northwest is the Pululahua Geobotanical Reserve. History The valley played an important role in military conflict as the Spanish army under Benalcazar invaded in 1534. Atahualpa leaders such as Rumiñahui (Inca warrior), Rumiñahui and Quizquiz led organized attacks against the invading Spanish, and some 4000 locals were slaughtered by them here for giving in to the invaders. Referenc ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ciudad Mitad Del Mundo
The Ciudad Mitad del Mundo (, ''Middle of the World City'') is a tract of land owned by the prefecture of the province of Pichincha, Ecuador. It is located at San Antonio parish of the canton of Quito, north of the center of Quito. The grounds contain the Monument to the Equator, which highlights the exact location of the Equator (from which the country takes its name) and commemorates the eighteenth century Franco-Spanish Geodesic Mission which fixed its approximate location; they also contain the Museo Etnográfico Mitad del Mundo, Ethnographic Museum Middle of the Earth, a museum about the indigenous people ethnography of Ecuador. The monument was constructed between 1979 and 1982 by Architect and Contractor Alfredo Fabián Páez with Carlos Mancheno President of Pichincha's Province Council to replace an older, smaller monument built by the Government of Ecuador under the direction of the geographer Luis Tufiño in 1936. It is made of iron and concrete and covered with c ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Equator
The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can also be used for any other celestial body that is roughly spherical. In spatial (3D) geometry, as applied in astronomy, the equator of a rotating spheroid (such as a planet) is the parallel (circle of latitude) at which latitude is defined to be 0°. It is an imaginary line on the spheroid, equidistant from its poles, dividing it into northern and southern hemispheres. In other words, it is the intersection of the spheroid with the plane perpendicular to its axis of rotation and midway between its geographical poles. On and near the equator (on Earth), noontime sunlight appears almost directly overhead (no more than about 23° from the zenith) every day, year-round. Consequently, the equator has a rather stable daytime temperature throug ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Stone Tool
A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. Although stone tool-dependent societies and cultures still exist today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric (particularly Stone Age) cultures that have become extinct. Archaeologists often study such prehistoric societies, and refer to the study of stone tools as lithic analysis. Ethnoarchaeology has been a valuable research field in order to further the understanding and cultural implications of stone tool use and manufacture. Stone has been used to make a wide variety of different tools throughout history, including arrowheads, spearheads, hand axes, and querns. Stone tools may be made of either ground stone or knapped stone, the latter fashioned by a flintknapper. Knapped stone tools are made from cryptocrystalline materials such as chert or flint, radiolarite, chalcedony, obsidian, basalt, and quartzite via a process known as lithic reduction. One simple form ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ancient Astronomical Observatories
Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history covers all continents inhabited by humans in the period 3000 BCAD 500. The three-age system periodizes ancient history into the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age, with recorded history generally considered to begin with the Bronze Age. The start and end of the three ages varies between world regions. In many regions the Bronze Age is generally considered to begin a few centuries prior to 3000 BC, while the end of the Iron Age varies from the early first millennium BC in some regions to the late first millennium AD in others. During the time period of ancient history, the world population was already exponentially increasing due to the Neolithic Revolution, which was in full progress. While in 10,000 BC, the world population stood ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Archaeological Sites In Ecuador
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, archaeological site, sites, and cultural landscapes. Archaeology can be considered both a social science and a branch of the humanities. It is usually considered an independent academic discipline, but may also be classified as part of anthropology (in North America – the four-field approach), history or geography. Archaeologists study human prehistory and history, from the development of the first stone tools at Lomekwi in East Africa 3.3 million years ago up until recent decades. Archaeology is distinct from palaeontology, which is the study of fossil remains. Archaeology is particularly important for learning about prehistoric societies, for which, by definition, there are no written records. Prehistory includes ove ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pucara
Pukara (Aymara and Quechuan "fortress", Hispanicized spellings ''pucara, pucará'') is a defensive hilltop site or fortification built by the prehispanic and historic inhabitants of the central Andean area (from Ecuador to central Chile and northwestern Argentina). In some cases, these sites acted as temporary fortified refuges during periods of increased conflict, while other sites show evidence for permanent occupation. Emerging as a major site type during the Late Intermediate Period (c. 1000-1430AD), the pukara form was adopted in some areas by the Inca military in contested borderlands of the Inca Empire. The Spanish also referred to the Mapuche earthen forts built during the Arauco War in the 16th and 17th centuries by this term. Today, the term is commonly found in toponyms of the Andes region, e.g. Andalicán, Pucará de Angol, Camiña, Cañete, Nama, Quiapo, Tilcara, Turi, Pucara del Cerro La Muralla, Pukara of La Compañía, Pukara de Lasana, Pucará de Belén, Puk ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Oswaldo Tovar
Oswaldo ( Spanish for " Oswald") is a Spanish masculine given name. It may refer to: *Oswaldo Castillo, Nicaraguan-American gardener/construction worker-turned-actor * Oswaldo Cruz (1872–1917), Brazilian physician, bacteriologist, epidemiologist and public health officer *Oswaldo Cruz Filho, Brazilian chess master *Oswaldo de la Cruz, Peruvian politician and a Congressman * Oswaldo de Oliveira (born 1950), Brazilian football manager *Oswaldo de Rivero (born 1936), Peruvian career diplomat *Rubén Oswaldo Díaz (born 1946), former Argentine footballer *Carlos Fernández (footballer, born 1984) (born 1984), Peruvian footballer *Oswaldo Frota-Pessoa (1917–2010), Brazilian physician, biologist and geneticist * Oswaldo Goeldi (1895–1961), Brazilian artist and engraver *Oswaldo Guayasamín (1919–1999), Quechua Indian and Ecuadorian painter and sculptor *Oswaldo Handro (1908–1986), Brazilian botanist, specialist in pteridophytes and spermatophytes * Oswaldo Henríquez (born 1989) ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Geodetic Datum
A geodetic datum or geodetic system (also: geodetic reference datum, geodetic reference system, or geodetic reference frame) is a global datum reference or reference frame for precisely representing the position of locations on Earth or other planetary bodies by means of ''geodetic coordinates''. DatumsThe plural is not "data" in this case are crucial to any technology or technique based on spatial location, including geodesy, navigation, surveying, geographic information systems, remote sensing, and cartography. A horizontal datum is used to measure a location across the Earth's surface, in latitude and longitude or another coordinate system; a ''vertical datum'' is used to measure the elevation or depth relative to a standard origin, such as mean sea level (MSL). Since the rise of the global positioning system (GPS), the ellipsoid and datum WGS 84 it uses has supplanted most others in many applications. The WGS 84 is intended for global use, unlike most earlier datums. Before ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Indigenous Peoples In Ecuador
Indigenous peoples in Ecuador, or Native Ecuadorians, are the groups of people who were present in what became Ecuador before the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The term also includes their descendants from the time of the Spanish conquest to the present. Their history, which encompasses the last 11,000 years, reaches into the present; 25 percent of Ecuador's population is of indigenous heritage, while another 55-65 percent are Mestizos of mixed indigenous and European heritage. Genetic analysis indicates that Ecuadorian Mestizos are of predominantly indigenous ancestry. Archaeological periods While archaeologists have proposed different temporal models at different times, the schematic currently in use divides prehistoric Ecuador into five major time periods: Lithic, Archaic, Formative, Regional Development, and Integration. These time periods are determined by the cultural development of groups being studied, and are not directly linked to specific dates, e.g. th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Solstice
A solstice is an event that occurs when the Sun appears to reach its most northerly or southerly excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. Two solstices occur annually, around June 21 and December 21. In many countries, the seasons of the year are determined by the solstices and the equinoxes. The term ''solstice'' can also be used in a broader sense, as the day when this occurs. The day of a solstice in either hemisphere has either the most sunlight of the year ( summer solstice) or the least sunlight of the year (winter solstice) for any place other than the Equator. Alternative terms, with no ambiguity as to which hemisphere is the context, are " June solstice" and " December solstice", referring to the months in which they take place every year. The word ''solstice'' is derived from the Latin ''sol'' ("sun") and ''sistere'' ("to stand still"), because at the solstices, the Sun's declination appears to "stand still"; that is, the seasonal move ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |