Huanca
Huanca refers to sacred elongated stone monoliths in Andean tradition, considered living beings with spiritual agency and ancestral power. The term comes from Quechua wanka, meaning 'stone' or 'rock,' and these standing stones served as the physical embodiment of founding ancestors for Andean communities (ayllus). In the animistic worldview of the Andes, huancas were not inert objects but sentient beings that could communicate, protect, and intervene in human affairs. Colonial priests systematically destroyed hundreds of huancas during the extirpation of idolatry campaigns, recognizing them as