Mysteries of Machu Picchu: Lost City Of The Incas

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu, Home of the Ancients, located in the Urubamba province. Nested on the eastern slopes of the Vilcanota mountain range, a chain of mountains stopped by the Apurimac and Urubamba Rivers, it stands at an altitude of 2,350 meters above sea level.

Machu Picchu (literally means "old peak"; sometimes called the "Lost City of the Incas") is a well-preserved pre-Columbian Inca ruin located on a high mountain ridge, at an elevation of about 7,710 feet (2,350 m). Machu Picchu is located above the Urubamba Valley in modern-day Peru. Geographic coordinates: 13° 9' 23? S 72° 32' 34? W. The site is probably the most familiar symbol of the Inca Empire, due to its unique location, its geological features, and its late discovery in 1911. In recent times the site has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has been the subject of concerns about the damage of tourism.

It is thought the city was built by the Sapa Inca Pachacuti starting in about 1440 and was inhabited until the Spanish conquest of Peru in 1532. Archeological evidence (together with recent work on early colonial documents) shows that Machu Picchu was not a conventional city, but a country retreat town for Incan nobility (similar to the Roman villas). The site has a large palace and temples to Incan deities around a courtyard, with other buildings for support staff. It is estimated that a maximum of only about 750 people resided in Machu Picchu at any one time, and probably only a small fraction of that number lived in the town during the rainy season and when no noblity were visiting.

It is thought that the site was chosen for its unique location and geological features. It is said that the silhouette of the mountain range behind Machu Picchu represents the face of the Inca looking upward towards the sky, with the largest peak, Waynapicchu, representing his nose. The Inca believed that the solid rock of the Earth should not be cut and so built this city from rock quarried from loose boulders found in the area. Some of the stone architecture uses no mortar, but rather relied on extremely precise cutting of blocks that results in walls with cracks between stones through which a credit card will not pass.

The city was not rediscovered until July 24, 1911, when Yale University history professor Hiram Bingham III first visited it while exploring old Inca roads in the area. He was led to Machu Picchu by Quechuans who were living in Machu Picchu in the original Incan infrastructure. Bingham made several more trips and conducted excavations on the site through 1915. He wrote a number of books and articles about Machu Picchu; his popular account, Lost City of the Incas, became a bestseller.

In 1913, the site received a significant amount of publicity after the National Geographic Society devoted their entire April 1913 issue to Machu Picchu.

In 2003, some 400,000 people visited Machu Picchu, and UNESCO has expressed concern about the damage this volume of tourism is causing to the site. Peruvian authorities insist that there is no problem, and that the remoteness of the site will impose natural limits on tourism. Periodically, proposals are made to install a cable car to the site, but such proposals have so far always been rejected.

Machu Picchu External Links

Machu Picchu Lost City of the Incas
"Machu Picchu is a late Inca town dramatically sited on the saddle between two mountains, Machu Picchu (Old Mountain) and Huayna Picchu (Young Mountain), overlooking the Urubamba River, which winds 3000 ft below it. Its buildings, all constructed of local stone, use various types of walling, from coursed ashlar to roughly dressed rubble, and incorporate characteristic trapezoidal doorways.

Machu Picchu, the City of Magic
This was the last hiding place of the Incas. On July the 23rd of 1911 he and his team were again deep in the Andes looking for Vilcabamba...

Machu Picchu, Peru
The ruins of Machu Picchu, rediscovered in 1911 by Yale archaeologist Hiram Bingham, are one of the most beautiful and enigmatic ancient sites in the world.

The legendary 'Lost City of Machu Picchu'
The most important tourist attraction in Peru and one of the world's most impressive archaeological sites.

Machu Pichu in History
Machu Picchu is a city located high in the Andes Mountains in modern Peru. It lies 43 miles northwest of Cuzco at the top of a ridge, hiding it from the Urabamba gorge below.

Machu Picchu: A Home in the Clouds
Three thousand feet above Urubamba Valley, Peru, stretch two mountains, Machu Picchu (Old Mountain) and Huayna Picchu (Young Mountain). On a cloud-draped ridge between the two peaks lies the site of Machu Picchu, part of the estate of the Inca king Pachacuti [AD 1438-1471].

Machu Pitchu Resource and References Page
Machu Picchu, sacred city of the Incas, is accessible by train from Cuzco, or via a trek along the Inca Trail, in Peru. The "city" was never discovered by the Spanish conquistadores and remained lost for centuries.

Machu Picchu Exhibition
The exhibition, created by the Yale Peabody Museum, allows visitors to explore Machu Picchu through the lens of the 1911 "rediscovery" of the site by Yale archeologist Hiram Bingham III.

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