What were sacred objects or places in Inca religion called? They were called huacas. In Quechua, huaca (also written wak'a) referred to something revered, including natural features, monuments, shrines, temples, springs, caves, stones, hills, mountains, roads, and trees.
Huacas were not limited to built temples. The Inca and other Andean peoples could regard a striking landscape feature as spiritually powerful, and some huacas were associated with ancestral origins, local communities, rituals, or supernatural forces. Priests and worshippers made offerings at these places, while certain huacas were incorporated into the Inca state religion.
Many huacas in the Cusco region were arranged along ceque lines, ceremonial routes radiating from the capital. The ceques were not themselves the sacred objects; they connected huacas into a religious and calendrical landscape. That distinction explains why “ceques” is a tempting but incorrect alternative. Usnus were ceremonial platforms or seats, while an Intihuatana was a particular ritual stone, not the general term for every sacred place or object.
Huaca worship also predates the imperial Inca state and continued among many Andean communities after the Spanish conquest, although colonial authorities often tried to suppress it.