Chakana
The chakana or Andean cross is a stepped cross motif used by the Inca and pre-Incan Andean societies. The most commonly used variation of this symbol today is made up of an equal-armed cross indicating the cardinal points of the compass and a superimposed square. Chakana means 'bridge' or 'to cross over' in Quechua. The symbol has a cultural tradition spanning 4,000 years up to the Inca Empire. The motif appears in pre-contact artifacts such as textiles and ceramics from such cultures as the Chavín, Wari, Chancay, Cañari, and Tiwanaku, but with no particular emphasis and no key or guide to a means of interpretation. The anthropologist Alan Kolata calls the Andean cross "one of the most ubiquitous, if least understood elements in Tiwanaku iconography".