Page 5 - Machu Picchu

in 1934 by the Peruvian archaeologist Luis E. Valcarcel, and in 1940–41 by Paul Fejos. Additional
discoveries throughout the Cordillera de Vilcabamba have shown that Machu Picchu was one of a
series of pucaras (fortified sites), tambos (travelers’ barracks, or inns), and signal towers along the
extensive Inca foot highway.

The dwellings at Machu Picchu were probably built and occupied from the mid-15th to the early or mid-16th
century. Machu Picchu’s construction style and other evidence suggest that it was a palace complex of the ruler
Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui (reigned c. 1438–71). Several dozen skeletons were excavated there in 1912, and, be-
cause most of those were initially identified as female, Bingham suggested that Machu Picchu was a sanctuary
for the Virgins of the Sun (the Chosen Women), an elite Inca group. Technology at the turn of the 21st-century,
however, identified a significant proportion of males and a great diversity in physical types. Both skeletal and
material remains now suggest to scholars that Machu Picchu served as a royal retreat. The reason for the site’s
abandonment is also unknown, but lack of water may have been a factor.

The high level of preservation and the general layout of the ruin are remarkable. Its southern, eastern, and
western portions are surrounded by dozens of stepped agricultural terraces formerly watered by an aqueduct
system. Some of those terraces were still being used by local Indians when Bingham arrived in 1911. Walkways
and thousands of steps, consisting of stone blocks as well as footholds carved into underlying rock, connect the
plazas, the residential areas, the terraces, the cemetery, and the major buildings. The Main Plaza, partly divid-
ed by wide terraces, is at the north-central end of the site. At the southeastern end is the only formal entrance,
which leads to the Inca Trail.

Few of Machu Picchu’s white granite structures have stonework as highly refined as that found in Cuzco, but
several are worthy of note. In the southern part of the ruin is the Sacred Rock, also known as the Temple of the
Sun (it was called the Mausoleum by Bingham). It centres on an inclined rock mass with a small grotto; walls of
cut stone fill in some of its irregular features. Rising above the rock is the horseshoe-shaped enclosure known
as the Military Tower. In the western part of Machu Picchu is the temple district, also known as the
Acropolis. The Temple of the Three Windows is a hall 35 feet (10.6 metres) long and 14 feet (4.2 me-
tres) wide with three trapezoidal windows (the largest known in Inca architecture) on one wall, which
is built of polygonal stones. It stands near the southwestern corner of the Main Plaza. Also near the
Main Plaza is the Intihuatana (Hitching Post of the Sun), a uniquely preserved ceremonial sundial
consisting of a wide pillar and pedestal that were carved as a single unit and stand 6 feet (1.8 me-
tres) tall. In 2000 this feature was damaged during the filming of a beer commercial. The Princess’s
Palace is a bi-level structure of highly crafted stonework that probably housed a member of the Inca
nobility. The Palace of the Inca is a complex of rooms with niched walls and a courtyard. At the other
end of Machu Picchu, another path leads to the famous Inca Bridge, a rope structure that crosses the
Urubamba River. Many other ruined cities—like that atop the dark peak of Huayna Picchu, which is
accessible by a lengthy, precipitous stairway and trail—were built in the region; Machu Picchu is only
the most extensively excavated of these.

Machu Picchu is the most economically important tourist attraction in Peru, bringing in visitors from
around the world. For this reason the Peruvian government wishes to repatriate the materials tak-
en by Bingham to Yale. The ruins are commonly reached in a day trip from Cuzco by first taking a
narrow-gauge railway and then ascending nearly 1,640 feet (500 metres) from the Urubamba River
valley on a serpentine road. Smaller numbers of visitors arrive by hiking the Inca Trail. The portion
of the trail from the “km 88” train stop to Machu Picchu is normally hiked in three to six days. It is
composed of several thousand stone-cut steps, numerous high retaining walls, tunnels, and other
feats of classical engineering; the route traverses a wide range of elevations between about 8,530
and 13,780 feet (2,600 and 4,200 metres), and it is lined with Inca ruins of various types and sizes.
At Machu Picchu there is a hotel with a restaurant, and thermal baths are at the nearby village of
Aguas Calientes. The Inca Bridge and other parts of Machu Picchu were damaged by a forest fire in
August 1997, but restoration was begun immediately afterward. Concern for the damage caused by
tourism was heightened by discussion of the building of a cable-car link to the site.

Source: https://www.britannica.com/place/Machu-Picchu MACHU PICCHU | 5