Photos of Top 10 Inca Ruins to See -- National Geographic 1. Sacsahuaman Photograph by Gonzalez, Laif/Redux Not long ago, Machu Picchu was voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, a result that will surprise none of the millions of people who’ve visited the spectacular stone citadel in the sky. What most visitors to Peru don’t know, however, is that the country is thick with ancient Inca wonders. Here are ten others worth checking out. Many are within a day’s journey of Cusco and can be combined with a visit to Machu Picchu. The first is Sacsahuaman (pictured above). Arguably the greatest Inca ruin outside of Machu Picchu, this gargantuan complex overlooks the city of Cusco. (You can take a taxi or hike up in less than an hour.) Sacsahuaman is believed to have once been a royal retreat, a fortress, or both. Its zigzag walls are built with some of the largest stones to be found in Inca masonry; some are estimated to weigh as much as 300 tons, yet are fit together as tightly as the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

— Mark Adams , author of Turn Right at Machu Picchu 2. Vitcos/Yurak Rumi Photograph by Mark Adams When Hiram Bingham came to Peru in 1911 to search for the Lost City of the Inca, one of his top priorities was finding this former Inca settlement. The main palace here is enormous—its front wall measures more than 200 feet across—and its doorways feature some of the finest Inca stonework in existence. The real draw, though, is Yurak Rumi (pictured above)—“White Rock” in Quechua—an intricately carved granite boulder the size of a city bus, which was once one of the holiest shrines in the Inca Empire. 3. Pisac Photograph by Raach, laif/Redux These ruins, overlooking the Urubamba River less than an hour northeast of Cusco, are notable for their Inca waterworks and beautiful, curving agricultural terraces, which offer excellent vistas of the Sacred Valley.

The religious buildings in particular are as finely made as those at Machu Picchu, and the site features one of Peru’s only remaining intihuatanas, enigmatic carved rocks that were used for astronomical observation. The town of Pisac, located beneath the ruins, also hosts a popular local crafts market. 4. Ollantaytambo Photograph by Paul Spierenburg, Laif/Redux In 1536, this settlement was the site of the Inca's greatest military victory over the invading Spaniards. Today, it is one of the only towns in Peru that retains its original Inca walls and street grid, dominated by long, ancient stone walls that once divided groups of homes around communal courtyards. An imposing set of stone terraces (from which the Inca assaulted their Spanish invaders with slingshots and arrows), capped by six enigmatic slabs of pink granite, looms above the town. Most trains to and from Machu Picchu stop at Ollantaytambo, making it an ideal overnight stop. 5.

Cusco and the Koricancha Photograph by Vassil Donev, EPA/Corbis The name Cusco can be translated as “navel of the world,” and this holy city was once the nexus of the Inca Empire; four roads led out from its central plaza in the cardinal directions, toward the empire’s four quarters. Cusco was also home to the palaces of its rulers. Most of the original Inca buildings were destroyed by the conquistadors, but some walls—famous for masonry so precise that a knife blade cannot be wedged between stones—were incorporated into new structures. The walls were so well made that they’ve withstood major earthquakes and can still be seen in Cusco’s tight alleyways. The holiest site of all was the Koricancha, or sun temple, which at the time of the Spanish invasion was covered in sheets of gold. The precious metals have long since departed, but much of the original temple still stands beneath the veneer of a Spanish monastery. 6. Moray Photograph by Ian Wood, Alamy This unique archaeological site is one of the best examples—along with Machu Picchu—of what might be called extreme Inca landscaping.

Three enormous pits, each with beautifully curved sides that staircase down like the interiors of titanic flowerpots, have been carved out of the earth to depths of up to 100 feet and more. Air temperatures between the top and bottom layers can differ by more than 20 degrees, which has led some researchers to theorize that Moray was an Inca agricultural site where experiments on crops were conducted. 7. Choquequirao Photograph by Jason Rothe, Alamy Often referred to as Machu Picchu’s sister city because of its striking similarity to the more famous site, Choquequirao may in fact be the larger of the two. (Only 30 percent of the original complex is believed to have been uncovered; in 2005, several sets of ancient agricultural terraces decorated with stone llamas were found.) In addition to its fascinating ruins around a central plaza (as at Machu Picchu), Choquequirao offers the most breathtaking views of any Inca site.

The arduous two-day walk to what was probably the estate of an Inca emperor is slowly gaining in popularity as an alternative to the Inca Trail, but to reach the ruins one must walk up and down the steep sides of a valley almost a mile deep. 8. Isla del Sol Photograph by Karl-Heinz Raach, Laif/Redux According to the creation myth of the Inca, this island in the middle of Lake Titicaca is where the waters that once covered the Earth receded and the all-powerful sun god, Inti, first emerged. Today the island—which is located on the Bolivian side of the lake—is still home to dozens of Inca and pre-Inca ruins connected by hiking trails (no cars are allowed on the island). Among the most impressive sights are the labyrinth-like structure called the Chincana (above) and the sacred Titi Khar’ka—Rock of the Puma—which gave the lake its name. 9. Tipon Photograph by Linda Whitwam, Getty Images The Inca were brilliant engineers who strove to integrate their architecture with its natural surroundings.

Tipon, a 500-acre site built around a spring near Cusco, has been called their masterpiece of water management. Because the waterworks were constructed as part of a country estate for Inca nobility, Tipon has beautiful stone structures akin to those at Machu Picchu, built in the imperial Inca style, with trapezoidal doors, and serviced by finely cut stone fountains. The intricate baths and irrigation channels still function five centuries after the Spanish conquest, which provides Tipon with an endless, soothing soundtrack of running water. 10. Huchuy Cusco Photograph by Rebecca J. Spurling This Inca town, whose name means “Little Cusco” in Quechua, is believed to have been constructed by an early Inca emperor to mark the conquest of a nearby rival tribe. Today, it’s best known for its impressive number of stone buildings and commanding view of the Sacred Valley. What makes the ruins especially appealing, though, is that they are accessible only on foot, and can be reached from (Big) Cusco in less than a day, making them a popular overnight trip. Much of the scenic uphill journey is made through winding gorges and on original stone Inca roads.

Machu Picchu - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com Google Machu Picchu’s Inca Past Historians believe Machu Picchu was built at the height of the Inca Empire, which dominated western South America in the 15th and 16th centuries. It was abandoned an estimated 100 years after its construction, probably around the time the Spanish began their conquest of the mighty pre-Columbian civilization in the 1530s. There is no evidence that the conquistadors ever attacked or even reached the mountaintop citadel, however; for this reason, some have suggested that the residents’ desertion occurred because of a smallpox epidemic. Did You Know? Machu Picchu is made up of more than 150 buildings ranging from baths and houses to temples and sanctuaries. Many modern-day archaeologists now believe that Machu Picchu served as a royal estate for Inca emperors and nobles. Others have theorized that it was a religious site, pointing to its proximity to mountains and other geographical features that the Incas held sacred.

Dozens of alternate hypotheses have cropped up in the years since Machu Picchu was first unveiled to the world, with scholars variously interpreting it as a prison, a trade hub, a station for testing new crops, a women’s retreat or a city devoted to the coronation of kings, among many examples. Machu Picchu’s “Discovery” by Hiram Bingham In the summer of 1911 the American archaeologist Hiram Bingham arrived in Peru with a small team of explorers hoping to find Vilcabamba, the last Inca stronghold to fall to the Spanish. Traveling on foot and by mule, Bingham and his team made their way from Cuzco into the Urubamba Valley, where a local farmer told them of some ruins located at the top of a nearby mountain. The farmer called the mountain Machu Picchu, which translates to “old peak” in the native Quechua language. On July 24, after a tough climb to the mountain’s ridge in cold and drizzly weather, Bingham met a small group of peasants who showed him the rest of the way.

Led by an 11-year-old boy, Bingham got his first glimpse of the intricate network of stone terraces marking the entrance to Machu Picchu. The excited Bingham spread the word about his discovery in a best-selling book, “The Lost City of the Incas,” sending hordes of eager tourists flocking to Peru to follow in his footsteps up the formerly obscure Inca Trail. He also excavated artifacts from Machu Picchu and took them to Yale University for further inspection, igniting a custody dispute that lasted nearly 100 years. It was not until the Peruvian government filed a lawsuit and lobbied President Barack Obama for the return of the items that Yale agreed to complete their repatriation. Although he is credited with making Machu Picchu known to the world—indeed, the highway tour buses use to reach it bears his name—it is not certain that Bingham was the first outsider to visit it. There is evidence that missionaries and other explorers reached the site during the 19th and early 20th centuries but were simply less vocal about what they uncovered there.

The Site of Machu Picchu In the midst of a tropical mountain forest on the eastern slopes of the Peruvian Andes, Machu Picchu’s walls, terraces, stairways and ramps blend seamlessly into its natural setting. The site’s finely crafted stonework, terraced fields and sophisticated irrigation system bear witness to the Inca civilization’s architectural, agricultural and engineering prowess. Its central buildings are prime examples of a masonry technique mastered by the Incas in which stones were cut to fit together without mortar. Archaeologists have identified several distinct sectors that together comprise the city, including a farming zone, a residential neighborhood, a royal district and a sacred area. Machu Picchu’s most distinct and famous structures include the Temple of the Sun and the Intihuatana stone, a sculpted granite rock that is believed to have functioned as a solar clock or calendar. Machu Picchu Today A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983 and designated one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007, Machu Picchu is Peru’s most visited attraction and South America’s most famous ruins, welcoming hundreds of thousands of people a year.

Increased tourism, the development of nearby towns and environmental degradation continue to take their toll on the site, which is also home to several endangered species. As a result, the Peruvian government has taken steps to protect the ruins and prevent erosion of the mountainside in recent years. Tags Where is Machu Picchu & how can you get there? Where is Machu Picchu & how can you get there? Where is Machu Picchu & how can you get there? Machu Picchu Ruins: map, geographical location, altitude & time zone The ruins of Machu Picchu are located on the continent of South America in the country of Peru. The ancient Inca city is positioned in the Andes Mountains on a saddle between the mountains of Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu at 2450 m/8040 ft above sea level. The ruins are located about 13 degrees south of the equator and surrounded on three sides by a loop of the Urubamba River. Click here to see Machu Picchu packing guide Machu Picchu is in the GMT-5 time zone and located in a natural cul-de-sac about 113 Km northeast of the city of Cusco.

(the same time zone as Washington DC in the US but no Daylight Savings Time) STEP 1: How to get to Machu Picchu: International gateway - Lima International flights arrive in Lima, Peru, located on the Pacific coast. Many flights arrive late evening and because there are no flights to Cusco in the evening, travelers will spend 1 night in Lima. The area around the Lima airport is not pedestrian friendly and tourists who don't stay at the Wyndham Hotel located in the airport, should arrange transfers in advance, to hotels in Miraflores, about 45 min drive from the airport. STEP 2: How to get to Machu Picchu: Secondary gateway - Cusco From Lima, several airlines offer direct 1 hour/10 min flights to Cusco, which is 11,000 ft/3400 m above sea level. Most flights are scheduled in the morning & taper off by afternoon. It is not possible to fly to Cusco in the evening, and the return flights from Cusco to Lima end by early evening.

It is not recommended to schedule the last flight of the day if you are trying to connect with an international flight on the same day, because weather in the mountains can cause flight delays or cancellations. Bus service is available, but takes more than 20 hours one way over curvy mountain roads. Need entrance tickets to Machu Picchu or Huayna Picchu? Should you buy online or wait until you get there? Follow this link to get news about changes to Perurail tickets, Inca Trail tickets & Machu Picchu entry tickets What can you see & do in Cusco and Sacred Valley of the Incas? Many travelers spend a day or two checking out the historical Inca sites in Cusco while adjusting to the altitude, before heading to the Sacred Valley of the Incas. It is recommended to spend at least another day in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, exploring Pisac ruins or Chinchero, Moray & Maras on the way to Ollantaytambo, 9160 ft/2790 m, the oldest occupied town in Peru.

(or explore the sites on the way back to Cusco from Machu Picchu) STEP 3: How to get from Cusco to Machu Picchu There is no public transportation through the Sacred Valley, however Peru rail offers full transportation services from Poroy station, about 20 minutes from Cusco, to Aguas Calientes (the third & final gateway city to the ruins). Peru rail no longer provided transportation from Cusco to the train station in Ollantaytambo (about 1.5 hours) where they board trains for a 1.5 (sometimes 2) hour ride to the town of Aguas Calientes. Option 1: Hike to Machu Picchu on the Classic Inca Trail The other way to get to Machu Picchu is by foot on the Inca Trail. The 45 km hike takes 4-days and is only possible by hiring a licensed tour operator to buy the hiking permits for you. (also consider the easy 1-day Inca Trail hike ) The operator provides guide, porters, equipment, meals and a tour of Machu Picchu. The price should include the return transportation to your hotel in Cusco.

It is not possible to hike the official Inca Trail independently. Nor can you hike the Inca Trail backwards. Outfitter prices vary widely and there is the possibility that if the price is extremely low it is because the porters are being underpaid. This is a big problem on the Inca Trail and other trails and is reinforced by consumers who shop for hikes based on price alone. “You get what you pay for,” and so do the porters in this case. Option 2: Take train to Machu Picchu from Ollantaytambo train station - about 2 hours drive from Cusco The first trains from Ollantaytambo depart approximately 5 am, 6 am & 7 am and arrive in Aguas Calientes 1.5 - 2 hours later. There is no airport & there are no roads to Aguas Calientes. There are no cars, taxis or motorized transportation in the village, except for the 20 tour buses that shuttle people back and forth between 5:30 am – 3 pm, in 10 minutes intervals (or when buses are full), between the town and the main entry to the Machu Picchu National Park.

Option 3: Take train to Machu Picchu from Poroy Train Station - about 30 min drive from Cusco The Poroy station is located on the outskirts of Cusco and can be reached by taxi. While the majority of trains depart from Ollantaytambo, 1 train each Expedition & Vistadome depart early from Poroy, followed by 1 luxury train Hiram Bingham departing around 9 am. All the trains offer some level of service but HB serves a complete meal en route to Aguas Calientes, arrives around 12:30 pm and then departs Aguas Calientes for Cusco about 6:30 pm. A full 4-course dinner (with wine!) is served before arriving in Poroy at 10 pm. Taxis will be waiting to take travelers to their hotels in Cusco. If you are not taking the luxury train, your tour operator will arrange private transportation for you between Cusco & the train station in Ollantaytambo. If you are traveling on your own, ask your hotel to assist you with arrangements for the train. What about my luggage?

Besides there not being baggage cars on the train, there is no way to transport luggage between the train and the hotels in Aguas Calientes other than by hand-carry. (some hotels will send staff to meet your train & carry your bags) A good reason to pack lightly when you visit the ruins, even if you plan to stay overnight. Hotels in Cusco & Ollantaytambo will store your luggage in locked rooms until you return. Click here to see our comprehensive Machu Picchu packing guide. Where do I get Machu Picchu entry tickets? If you booked your tour through an operator, they will arrange all your transportation and train tickets as well as the shuttle to/from the entry to the ruins. While it is possible to go from Cusco to Machu Picchu in one day, it is better to break up the journey with at least one overnight in Aguas Calientes or Ollantaytambo, either on the way to the ruins or on the way back to Cusco. Machu Picchu entry tickets can no longer be purchased at the main entry.

Visitors are limited to 2500 people per day and all tickets must be pre-purchased in Cusco or Aguas Calientes. Due to credit card fraud, It is sometimes difficult for travelers to pay for Machu Picchu tickets online. We can purchase your tickets in advance. You can check on availability at the Machu Picchu website or we will do it for you. Inca Ruins Inca Empire Inca Ruins The archaeological ruins of the ancient Inca or Inka civilization are primarily located in the country now known as Peru, South America. Sign Up for Our Free Newsletters Thanks, You're in! Top 10 Machu Picchu Secrets -- National Geographic Top 10 Machu Picchu Secrets This ancient Inca site has centuries-old secrets trapped in its walls— and more recent ones that we spill here. View Images The summit of Huayna Picchu, also known as Wayna Picchu, gives trekkers a bird's-eye view of Machu Picchu. Photograph by Mike Theiss, National Geographic By Mark Adams , author of Turn Right at Machu Picchu 1. It’s not actually the Lost City of the Inca.

When the explorer Hiram Bingham III encountered Machu Picchu in 1911, he was looking for a different city, known as Vilcabamba. This was a hidden capital to which the Inca had escaped after the Spanish conquistadors arrived in 1532. Over time it became famous as the legendary Lost City of the Inca. Bingham spent most of his life arguing that Machu Picchu and Vilcabamba were one and the same, a theory that wasn’t proved wrong until after his death in 1956. (The real Vilcabamba is now believed to have been built in the jungle about 50 miles west of Machu Picchu.) Recent research has cast doubt on whether Machu Picchu had ever been forgotten at all. When Bingham arrived, three families of farmers were living at the site. 2. It’s no stranger to earthquakes. The stones in the most handsome buildings throughout the Inca Empire used no mortar. These stones were cut so precisely, and wedged so closely together, that a credit card cannot be inserted between them. Aside from the obvious aesthetic benefits of this building style, there are engineering advantages.

Peru is a seismically unstable country—both Lima and Cusco have been leveled by earthquakes—and Machu Picchu itself was constructed atop two fault lines. When an earthquake occurs, the stones in an Inca building are said to “dance;” that is, they bounce through the tremors and then fall back into place. Without this building method, many of the best known buildings at Machu Picchu would have collapsed long ago. 3. Much of the most impressive stuff is invisible. While the Inca are best remembered for their beautiful walls, their civil engineering projects were incredibly advanced as well. (Especially, as is often noted, for a culture that used no draft animals, iron tools, or wheels.) The site we see today had to be sculpted out of a notch between two small peaks by moving stone and earth to create a relatively flat space. The engineer Kenneth Wright has estimated that 60 percent of the construction done at Machu Picchu was underground. Much of that consists of deep building foundations and crushed rock used as drainage. (As anyone who’s visited in the wet season can tell you, Machu Picchu receives a lot of rain.) 4. You can walk up to the ruins.

A trip to Machu Picchu is many things, but cheap is not one of them. Train tickets from Cusco can run more than a hundred dollars each, and the entry fees are an additional $43. In between, a round-trip bus trip up and down the 2,000-feet-high slope atop which the Inca ruins are located costs another $14. If you don’t mind a workout, however, you can walk up and down for free. The steep path roughly follows Hiram Bingham’s 1911 route and offers extraordinary views of the Machu Picchu Historical Sanctuary, which looks almost as it did in Bingham’s time. The climb is strenuous and takes about 90 minutes. 5. There’s a great, hidden museum that no one goes to. For visitors conditioned to the explanatory signs at national parks, one of the strangest things about Machu Picchu is that the site provides virtually no information about the ruins.

(This lack does have one advantage—the ruins remain uncluttered.) The excellent Museo de Sitio Manuel Chávez Ballón ($8 entry) fills in many of the blanks about how and why Machu Picchu was built (displays are in English and Spanish), and why the Inca chose such an extraordinary natural location for the citadel. First you have to find the museum, though. It’s inconveniently tucked at the end of a long dirt road near the base of Machu Picchu, about a 30-minute walk from the town of Aguas Calientes. 6. There’s more than one peak to climb. Long before dawn, visitors eagerly queue up outside the bus depot in Aguas Calientes, hoping to be one of the first persons to enter the site. Why? Because only the first 400 people who sign in are eligible to climb Huayna Picchu (the small green peak, shaped like a rhino horn, that appears in the background of many photos of Machu Picchu.) Almost no one bothers to ascend the pinnacle that anchors the opposite end of the site, which is usually called Machu Picchu Mountain.

At 1,640 feet it is twice as tall, and the views it offers of the area surrounding the ruins—especially the white Urubamba River winding around Machu Picchu like a coiled snake—are spectacular. 7. There’s a secret temple. Should you be one of the lucky early birds who snags a spot on the guest list to Huayna Picchu, don’t just climb the mountain, snap a few photos, and leave. Take the time to follow the hair-raising trail to the Temple of the Moon, located on the far side of Huayna Picchu. Here, a ceremonial shrine of sorts has been built into a cave lined with exquisite stonework and niches that were once probably used to hold mummies. 8. There are still things to be found. Should you wander away from the central ruins at Machu Picchu, you’ll notice that occasionally side paths branch off into the thick foliage. Where do they go? Who knows. Because the cloud forest grows over quickly in the area surrounding Machu Picchu, there may be unknown trails and ruins yet to be found nearby. Several newly refurbished sets of terraces are being made available to the public for the first time this summer. 9.

It has a great sense of direction. From the moment Hiram Bingham staggered up to Machu Picchu in 1911, visitors have understood that the ruins’ natural setting is as important to the site as the buildings themselves. Recent research has shown that the site’s location, and the orientation of its most important structures, was strongly influenced by the location of nearby holy mountains, or apus. An arrow-shaped stone atop the peak of Huayna Picchu appears to point due south, directly through the famous Intihuatana Stone, to Mount Salcantay, one of the most revered apus in Inca cosmology. On important days of the Inca calendar, the sun can be seen to rise or set behind other significant peaks. 10. It may have been the end of a pilgrimage. A new theory proposed by the Italian archaeoastronomer Giulio Magli suggests that the journey to Machu Picchu from Cusco could have served a ceremonial purpose: echoing the celestial journey that, according to legend, the first Inca took when they departed the Island of the Sun in Lake Titicaca.

Rather than simply following a more sensible path along the banks of the Urubamba River, the Inca built the impractical but visually stunning Inca Trail, which according to Magli, prepared pilgrims for entry into Machu Picchu. The final leg of the pilgrimage would have concluded with climbing the steps to the Intihuatana Stone, the highest spot in the main ruins. Comment on This Story © 1996-Thu Jan 12 22:23:26 EST 2017 National Geographic Society. Nat Geo Events Ruins: All Ruins of Machu Picchu Machu Picchu Ruins All Ruins of Machu Picchu Sacred places for pilgrimage, ancient silent stones that last forever, enormous constructions to worshiped their main gods and deities, the Machu Picchu Ruins are one of the main attractions of Cusco and of course Machu Picchu, with over 20 constructions that remain almost intact by the pass of the time, is a great experience. Huayna Picchu This particular mountain is one of the several rock formations which is one of the destinations when the tourist arrives to the Machu Picchu Sanctuary...

More Information >>> Choquequirao This place is considered the Twin of Machu Picchu, because of the resemblance that they have of each other, similar architecture and structural, is another of the destinations of the Machu Picchu road... More information >>> Paucarcancha The archaeological complex of Paucarcancha is one of the touristic attractions that belong to the Ollantaytambo district, the community of Qhesqa, in the province of Urubamba, Cusco... More Information >>> Sun gate Inti Punku Is one of the most important archeological constructions that connect with Machu Picchu, it isalso dedicatedto worship the INTI, the Sun God, and that’s because the Sun on determined times of the years... More Information >>> The temple of the Sun This is a semi-circular construction built over a strong rock, adapted to the natural environment, on the temple of the Sun there’s a tower with a trapezoidal window, built over a rock of pure granite...

More Information >>> Temple of The Three Windows It is marvelous how these structures are made to perfection and to last forever, it is one of the most beautiful places to visit, and it is also a very important place because of the proximity to the main square... More Information >>> Wiñaywayna Ruins It´s an archeologic place, located at the southwest of Machu Picchu Sancturay, between Putyutamarca and Intipunku, at 2700 meter above the sea level, perfect for your tour adventures... More Information >>> Intihuatana It was a religious construction, conformed by 4 angles, considering the 4 cardinals points (north, south, east and west) located at the top of the sacred mountain, after climbing around 70 steps... More information >>> The Temple of the Moon This temple is a compound of caves beautifully carved, and one of these caves is called the moon (Quilla In the native language). This structure was to fulfill the care of the mummies that have an important and transcendental religious value...

More information >>> Kenko Kenko or Kenqo, located at 3800 meters above the sea level is a huge rocky complex, that resembles a big maze, for its zigzagging structures, it is composed of 2 places... More Information >>> Pisac Peru The community of Pisac is located at 33km from the city of Cusco, is one of the most important places in the Sacred Valley of the Incas. For more information, check your route during your trip all along the Valley... More Information >>> Moray This complex is located 7km from the Maras’s community, in the Inca sacred valley, to 38km approximately to the northeast of Cusco, its altitude reaches 3200-3500 meters above the sea level.. More Information >>> Raqchi It´s located inthe District of San Pedro de Cancha, in Cusco at an altitude of 3460 meter above the sea level. This archaeological place is very important, since it had many functions during the Inca times...

More Information >>> Sacsayhuaman It´s inevitable to not remain fascinated by the astonishing structures of Sacsayhuaman, it´s truly a mystery to know, who, how and when these constructions were made, because Archaeologists and Historianswere not able to determine the time when these were made... More Information >>> Tambomachay This place is located at 8km from the city of Cusco , at 3700 meters above the sea level, it´s also known as the TamboCavern ( storage). This name comes from the Quechua words Tampu... More Information >>> Muyucmarca This is one of the most important towers inSacsayhuaman´s fortress, since that was a water deposit with canals on its side so the water can flow with no problems. The tours are many, so you must be... More Information >>> Ollantaytambo Was a place with many archaeological structures as: astronomic observatories, administrative, agricultural and urban. It`s a city with the remains of its Inca legacy, since this still keeps some of the constructions that were built by the Incas...

More Information >>> Intipata Ruins This place is one of the less known of the whole Inca Trail, because you can’t see it at first sight, but if you are curious, you can see these beautiful platforms, and the way the sun sets over these structures, it is amazing... More Information >>> Pikillaqta Ruins Located on the Quispicanchis Province, with an altitude of 3350 meters above the sea level, it´s an archaeological place with many structures that were used for almost 2000 years... More Information >>> Phuyupatamarca Located at an altitude of 3670 meters above the sea level, it`s a place that will take your breath away because of the amazing view that you’re watching. Like many Inca places, this is not the exception that combines balance between nature... More Information >>> Tipon It´s a National Park, located on the 18th km of the Cusco-Puno highway, at an altitude of 3500 meters above the sea level, it´s a huge place where experimentation and engineering are combined...

More Information >>> Contact us for a Personalized and Comfortable itinerary to Peru You also can write us at: travel@machupicchu.info Packages start at USD$1,399 for our 6-Day Cusco/Machu Picchu package with domestic flights included Name: Machu Picchu | ancient city, Peru | Britannica.com Machu Picchu Alternative Titles: Macchu Picchu, Machupicchu, Machupijchu Related Topics World Heritage site Machu Picchu, also spelled Machupijchu, site of ancient Inca ruins located about 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Cuzco , Peru , in the Cordillera de Vilcabamba of the Andes Mountains . It is perched above the Urubamba River valley in a narrow saddle between two sharp peaks—Machu Picchu (“Old Peak”) and Huayna Picchu (“New Peak”)—at an elevation of 7,710 feet (2,350 metres). One of the few major pre-Columbian ruins found nearly intact, Machu Picchu was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1983. Panoramic view of Machu Picchu, Peru.

Jeremy Woodhouse—Digital Vision/Getty Images Machu Picchu, Peru, designated a World Heritage site in 1983. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Partial zoom-in view of Machu Picchu, Peru Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Detail of location of Machu Picchu in south-central Peru. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Although the site escaped detection by the Spaniards, it may have been visited by the German adventurer Augusto Berns in 1867. However, Machu Picchu’s existence was not widely known in the West until it was “discovered” in 1911 by the Yale University professor Hiram Bingham , who was led to the site by Melchor Arteaga, a local Quechua-speaking resident. Bingham had been seeking Vilcabamba (Vilcapampa), the “lost city of the Incas,” from which the last Inca rulers led a rebellion against Spanish rule until 1572.

He cited evidence from his 1912 excavations at Machu Picchu, which were sponsored by Yale University and the National Geographic Society , in his labeling of the site as Vilcabamba; however, that interpretation is no longer widely accepted. (Nevertheless, many sources still follow Bingham’s precedent and erroneously label Machu Picchu as the “lost city of the Incas.”) Evidence later associated Vilcabamba with another ruin, Espíritu Pampa , which was also discovered by Bingham. In 1964 Espíritu Pampa was extensively excavated under the direction of the American explorer Gene Savoy . The site was much deteriorated and overgrown with forest, but Savoy uncovered remains there of some 300 Inca houses and 50 or more other buildings, as well as extensive terraces, proving that Espíritu Pampa was a much larger settlement. Hiram Bingham at Machu Picchu, Peru, 1912.

Yale University Peabody Museum of Natural History Similar Topics El Paraíso Machu Picchu was further excavated in 1915 by Bingham, 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, because 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. Inca dwellings at Machu Picchu, Peru. © Ron Gatepain (A Britannica Publishing Partner) 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 divided 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. Machu Picchu.

Stepped agricultural terraces and dwellings at Machu Picchu, Peru. © Ron Gatepain (A Britannica Publishing Partner) Industrial area at Machu Picchu, Peru. © Ron Gatepain (A Britannica Publishing Partner) Britannica Stories Ringling Bros. Folds Its Tent 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 metres) 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 metres) 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.

Finely crafted stonework of the Temple of the Sun is juxtaposed with less-skilled construction … © kcullen/Fotolia Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest 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 taken 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. View of the Urubamba River valley from the ruins at Machu Picchu, Peru. © sphraner/Fotolia Machu Picchu - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up) The Andes Mountains of Peru feature the ruins of many cities built by the Inca people. The most famous of these is Machu Picchu, located in south-central Peru about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of the city of Cuzco, the capital of the Inca empire. Perched in a narrow saddle between two sharp peaks, Machu Picchu- which means "old peak"-stands at an elevation of 7,710 feet (2,350 meters). It is one of the few major pre-Columbian ruins found nearly intact.

It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1983. Article History Machu Picchu Facts Machu Picchu Facts 2,430 metres (7,970 ft) above the sea level GPS Coordinates: 72.5456° W Surface Area The ruins are located within Machu Picchu Historic Sanctuary and under the protection of the National System of Protected Natural Areas by the State (SERNAP). The Sanctuary spreads over an area of 32,592 hectares in the basin of the river Vilcanota-Urubamba. Weather Generally warm and humid during the day and cool during the night. Temperatures range between 11 and 27 degrees Celsius (52 and 81 degrees Fahrenheit). This zone is normally rainy (1955 mm), especially between November and March. The district of Machu Picchu has 5.286 inhabitants according to the 2007 population and housing census. Languages Routes: There are two ways to get to Machu Picchu: 1. Travel by train. Duration: 4 hours from Cusco (Poroy station). 2 hours from the Sacred Valley (Ollantaytambo station).

2. Adventure trekking. The “Caminos Del Inca” (classic Inca Trail) is a 4-day trek to Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu Facts One of the Seven Wonders of the World. No wheels were used to transport heavy rocks for the construction of the city. Structures were built with a technique called “ashlar.” Stones are cut to fit together without mortar. Remarkably, not even a needle can fit in between two stones. The citadel is divided in two parts: Hanan and Urin according with the Inca tradition. In the Quechua native language, “Machu Picchu” means “Old Peak” or “Old Mountain.” Many of the stones that were used to build the city weighed more than 50 tons. How did these stones get up the mountain? Some were chiseled from the granite bedrock of the mountain ridge. For others, hundreds of men pushed the heavy rocks up the steep mountain side. On the Inca Trail, many porters sleep with a shiny metal object or mirror beneath them. They believe it sends away spirits coming up through the earth and whisks them away.

Ask any guide or porter, and most will tell you that sometimes they have experienced the feeling of being pulled out of their tents by spirits of the past. The exact age of Machu Picchu, the most representative and ancient city of Peru, has been clarified by scientific studies on the geology and archaeology of the site. Learn more about the origins of Machu Picchu >>> Can you imagine the size and scale of Machu Picchu? The sanctuary is located in the district of Machu Picchu, in the province of Urubamba in the department of Cusco. The site is South America’s most impressive archaeological ruin. See how Machu Picchu was constructed >>> Many people ask: why is Machu Picchu so important? The Citadel of Machu Picchu is considered the main tourist attraction in Peru and one of the most visited worldwide. Explore Inca ingenuity at Machu Picchu >>> Machu Picchu is also known as the Lost City of the Incas. It is a mysterious wonder. A city of stone built without the aid of wheels or iron tools. This is the best example of Inca engineering. More than 600 terraces prevent the city from sliding down the mountain.

A water supply system extends over a length of about 1 km. Discover the unsolved mysteries of Machu Picchu >>> Hiram Bingham History Archaeological evidence shows that people practiced agriculture in the Urubamba and adjacent valleys since 760 B.C. Between 1300 and 1500 AD, the Cusco kingdom developed as a city-state, beginning with the government of Manco Capac. The Vilcabamba region can under Inca control in 1440 during a campaign conducted by Pachucutec, the 9th inca king. This was one of the first phases of territorial expansion for what would become the Tahuantinsuyo Empire. According to scholars, Machu Picchu was a royal estate built for the Inca king Pachacutec around 1450. Others speculate the Inca city was a sacred center where the great political, religious and economic minds of the Inca Empire gathered. The population of Machu Picchu ranged between 300-1000 inhabitants and consisted mostly of members of Pachacutec’s lineage, religious elite, and highly specialized artisans recruited from across the empire, called yanaconas.

The valleys in these areas produced a big agricultural surplus. But after the death of Pachacutec, this place lost its importance. His successors built new constructions such as Ollaytantambo that made the route to Machu Picchu less used. During the civil war between Atahualpa and Huascar, the rural population was annexed by Mitmas (laborers from other parts of the empire). When the war ended they left this place and returned to their homelands. In colonial times, Manco Inca was exiled in Vilcabamba and Machu Picchu was abandoned. Over the years, Machu Picchu was lost to official memory. In the late 1800s, explorers like Antonio Raimondi crossed the grounds of the ruins without knowing where he was. Augusto Berns in 1867 formed a mining company to exploit the treasures of this place. In 1911, Hiram Bingham was a history professor intent on finding the last place where the Incas of Vilcabamba were. Guided by a young boy from Mandorpampa, Bingham arrived at the ruins and thought this is the place where the Incas were established after losing their territory.

It wasn’t until after his death in the 1950s that the real Vilcabamba was discovered further west of Machu Picchu citadel. In 1983, Machu Picchu was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 2012, one year after the 100th anniversary of Machu Picchu’s scientific discovery, all the artifacts excavated by Bingham team's and shipped to Yale University’s Peabody Museum, were finally returned to Peru. These artifacts are currently on display at Casa Concha (Machu Picchu Museum) in Cusco. Machu Picchu's Mysteries -- National Geographic Space Although the archaeological discovery of Machu Picchu came nearly a hundred years ago, historians are still unsure of the function of this ancient Inca citadel. The Inca had no system of writing and left no written records, and archaeologists have been left to piece together bits of evidence as to why Machu Picchu was built, what purpose it served, and why it was so quickly vacated.

Photograph by David Evans By Kelly Hearn and Jason Golomb On the morning of July 24, 1911, a tall lecturer-cum-explorer from Yale University set off in a cold drizzle to investigate rumors of ancient Inca ruins in Peru. The explorer chopped his way through thick jungle, crawled across a "bridge" of slender logs bound together with vines, and crept through underbrush hiding venomous fer-de-lance pit vipers. Two hours into the hike, the explorer and his two escorts came across a grass-covered hut. A pair of Indian farmers walked them a short way before handing them over to a small Indian boy. With the boy leading the way, Hiram Bingham stumbled upon one of the greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century—and what was named in 2007 as one of the new seven wonders of the world: Machu Picchu . What Bingham saw was a dramatic and towering citadel of stone cut from escarpments. Fashioned by men without mortar, the stones fit so tightly together that not even a knife's blade could fit between them. He wondered: Why? By whom? For what? Certainly, what he saw was awe-invoking.

Contemporary Peruvian expert Luis Lumbreras, the former director of Peru's National Institute of Culture, describes "a citadel made up of palaces and temples, dwellings and storehouses," a site fulfilling ceremonial religious functions. Machu Picchu is formed of buildings, plazas, and platforms connected by narrow lanes or paths. One sector is cordoned off to itself by walls, ditches, and, perhaps, a moat—built, writes Lumbreras, "not as part of a military fortification [but] rather as a form of restricted ceremonial isolation." The Wrong "Lost City" Bingham's discovery was published in the April 1913 issue of National Geographic magazine, bringing the mountaintop citadel to the world's attention. (The National Geographic Society helped fund Bingham on excursions to Machu Picchu in 1912 and 1915 .) Bingham believed he had found Vilcabamba, the so-called Lost City of the Inca where the last of the independent Inca rulers waged a years-long battle against Spanish conquistadors. Bingham argued for and justified his conclusions for almost 50 years after his discovery, and his explanations were widely accepted.

What Bingham had found, however, was not the lost city, but a lost city. In 1964, adventurer Gene Savoy identified ruins and proved that Espiritu Pampa (in the Vilcabamba region of Peru, west of Machu Picchu) was the lost city that Bingham had originally sought. Ironically, Bingham had actually discovered these ruins at Espiritu Pampa during his 1911 trek. He uncovered a few Inca-carved stone walls and bridges but dismissed the ruins and ultimately focused on Machu Picchu. Savoy uncovered much of the rest. So what then was this city that Bingham had revealed? There were no accounts of Machu Picchu in any of the much-studied chronicles of the Spanish invasion and occupation. There was nothing to document that it even existed at all, let alone its purpose. Bingham theorized that Machu Picchu had served as a convent of sorts where chosen women from the Inca realm were trained to serve the Inca leader and his coterie.

He found more than a hundred skeletons at the site and believed that roughly 75 percent of the skeletons were female, but modern studies have shown a more reasonable fifty-fifty split between male and female bones. Bingham also believed that Machu Picchu was the mythical Tampu-tocco, the birthplace of the Inca forefathers. Modern Theories Modern research has continued to modify, correct, and mold the legend of Machu Picchu. Research conducted by John Rowe, Richard Burger, and Lucy Salazar-Burger indicates that rather than being a defensive stronghold, Machu Picchu was a retreat built by and for the Inca ruler Pachacuti. Burger has suggested it was built for elites wanting to escape the noise and congestion of the city. Brian Bauer, an expert in Andean civilization at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a National Geographic grantee, says Machu Picchu—which was built around A.D. 1450—was, in fact, relatively small by Inca standards and maintained only about 500 to 750 people. One thing is certain, says Bauer, archaeological evidence makes it clear that the Inca weren't the only people to live at Machu Picchu.

The evidence shows, for instance, varying kinds of head modeling, a practice associated with peoples from coastal regions as well as in some areas of the highlands. Additionally, ceramics crafted by a variety of peoples, even some from as far as Lake Titicaca, have been found at the site. "All this suggests that many of the people who lived and died at Machu Picchu may have been from different areas of the empire," Bauer says. As for farming, Machu Picchu's residents likely made use of the grand terraces surrounding it. But experts say these terraces alone couldn't have sustained the estimated population of the day and that farming most likely also took place in the surrounding hills. Dr. Johan Reinhard , a National Geographic explorer-in-residence, has spent years studying ceremonial Inca sites at extreme altitudes. He's gathered information from historical, archaeological, and ethnographical sources to demonstrate that Machu Picchu was built in the center of a sacred landscape. Machu Picchu is nearly surrounded by the Urubamba River, which is revered by people in the region still today. The mountains that cradle the site also are important sacred landforms.

"Taken together, these features have meant that Machu Picchu formed a cosmological, hydrological, and sacred geographical center for a vast region," Reinhard says. Machu Picchu Today In September 2007, Yale University agreed to return to Peru some of the thousands of artifacts that Bingham removed to Yale to study during his years of exploration and research. These items will go into a new museum that the Peruvian government has agreed to build in Cusco. Being named a modern world wonder is a mixed blessing for the people of Cusco, the former center of the Inca world and the closest city to Machu Picchu. The site is a source of national pride for Peru, as well as a valuable tourist attraction. However, with an increase in international interest comes an increase in pollution, a need for hotels and other facilities, and the need to protect the lost city that the Western world didn't know existed. It's highly unlikely that researchers will find an archaeological smoking gun that will definitively identify the purpose and uses of Machu Picchu. Scientists, however, continue to excavate and rebuild the site.

Modern scientific advances, such as those that re-identified the gender of the skeletons that Bingham found, could help uncover clues to reveal the reasons for its construction, the activities that took place there, and its subsequent abandonment. Machu Picchu Machu Picchu Ruins of Machu Picchu ( Enlarge ) 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. While the Inca people certainly used the Andean mountain top (7972 feet elevation), erecting many hundreds of stone structures from the early 1400's, legends and myths indicate that Machu Picchu (meaning 'Old Peak' in the Quechua language) was revered as a sacred place from a far earlier time. Whatever its origins, the Inca turned the site into a small (5 square miles) but extraordinary city. Invisible from below and completely self-contained, surrounded by agricultural terraces sufficient to feed the population, and watered by natural springs, Machu Picchu seems to have been utilized by the Inca as a secret ceremonial city.

Two thousand feet above the rumbling Urubamba river, the cloud shrouded ruins have palaces, baths, temples, storage rooms and some 150 houses, all in a remarkable state of preservation. These structures, carved from the gray granite of the mountain top are wonders of both architectural and aesthetic genius. Many of the building blocks weigh 50 tons or more yet are so precisely sculpted and fitted together with such exactitude that the mortarless joints will not permit the insertion of even a thin knife blade. Little is known of the social or religious use of the site during Inca times. The skeletal remains of ten females to one male had led to the casual assumption that the site may have been a sanctuary for the training of priestesses and /or brides for the Inca nobility. However, subsequent osteological examination of the bones revealed an equal number of male bones, thereby indicating that Machu Picchu was not exclusively a temple or dwelling place of women. One of Machu Picchu's primary functions was that of astronomical observatory. The Intihuatana stone (meaning 'Hitching Post of the Sun') has been shown to be a precise indicator of the date of the two equinoxes and other significant celestial periods.

The Intihuatana (also called the Saywa or Sukhanka stone) is designed to hitch the sun at the two equinoxes, not at the solstice (as is stated in some tourist literature and new-age books). At midday on March 21st and September 21st, the sun stands almost directly above the pillar, creating no shadow at all. At this precise moment the sun "sits with all his might upon the pillar" and is for a moment "tied" to the rock. At these periods, the Incas held ceremonies at the stone in which they "tied the sun" to halt its northward movement in the sky. There is also an Intihuatana alignment with the December solstice (the summer solstice of the southern hemisphere), when at sunset the sun sinks behind Pumasillo (the Puma's claw), the most sacred mountain of the western Vilcabamba range, but the shrine itself is primarily equinoctial. The Intihuatana stone, Machu Picchu Shamanic legends tell that when a sensitive person touches their forehead to the Intihuatana stone it opens their vision to the spirit world.

Intihuatana stones were the supremely sacred objects of the Inca people and were systematically searched for and destroyed by the Spaniards. When the Intihuatana stone was broken at an Inca shrine, the Inca believed that the deities of the place died or departed. The Spaniards never found Machu Picchu, even though they suspected its existence, thus the Intihuatana stone and its resident spirits remain in their original position. The mountain top sanctuary fell into disuse and was abandoned some forty years after the Spanish took Cuzco in 1533. Supply lines linking the many Inca social centers were disrupted and the great empire came to an end. The photograph shows the ruins of Machu Picchu in the foreground with the sacred peak of Wayna Picchu towering behind. Partway down the northern side of Wayna Picchu is the so-called "Temple of the Moon" inside a cavern. As with the ruins of Machu Picchu, there is no archaeological or iconographical evidence to substantiate the "new-age" assumption that this cave was a goddess site.

Although Hiram Bingham was the first person to bring word of the ruins to the outside world in 1911, other outsiders were said to have seen Machu Picchu before him. The site may have been discovered in 1867 by a German businessman, Augusto Berns, and there is some evidence that another German, J. M. von Hassel, arrived even earlier. Maps found by historians show references to Machu Picchu as early as 1874. In 1904, an engineer named Franklin supposedly spotted the ruins from a distant mountain. Ruins of Machu Picchu, Peru Ruins of Machu Picchu, Peru Road from Aguas Calientes up to Machu Picchu, Peru Detail of stone work at Machu Picchu The INCA and their History At the time of Columbus’ landfall on the New World, the greatest empire on earth was that of the Inca. Called Tawantinsuyu or ‘Land of the Four Quarters,’ it spanned more than 4300 miles along the mountains and coastal deserts of central South America.

The vast empire stretched from central Chile to present Ecuador-Colombia border and included most of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, northern Chile and northwestern Argentina (this is a land area equal to the entire portion of the United States from Maine to Florida east of the Appalachians). It exceeded in size any medieval or contemporary European nation and equaled the longitudinal expanse of the Roman Empire. Yet for all its greatness, Tawantinsuyu existed for barely a century. The origins of the Inca are shrouded in mystery and mythology. According to their own mythology, the Inca began when Manco Capac and his sister, Mama Occlo, rose out of Lake Titicaca, having been created by the Sun and the Moon as divine founders of a chosen people. Manco Capac and his sister then went off with a golden rod to find a suitable location to found a great city. Through a series of adventures, geomantic resonances, and astronomical correspondences, the site of Cuzco was chosen. Archaeological research, on the other hand, indicates that the pre-imperial Inca were simply one of a number of petty tribes in the south central region of Peru.

From roughly 1200 AD to the early 1400’s, the Inca engaged in numerous battles with local rivals, but never achieved supremacy over any of them. Around 1438, however, the Inca emperor Viracocha and his son, Pachakuti, defeated a powerful rival, the Chankas. From this time the empire building era of the Inca began. Other rival tribes around the Cuzco area were soon united and campaigns were launched into the Titicaca basin and beyond. During the ensuing reigns of the emperors Pachakuti, and Topa Inca the Inca armies expanded the frontiers of Tawantinsuyu from southern Columbia to central Chile. In the few short years before their overthrow by the Spanish in 1532, the Inca developed one of the largest and most sophisticated empires in the entire pre-industrial world.

(In discussing Inca achievements, however, it is important to state that they were not the singular invention of a few inspired emperors but rather the ultimate elaboration of numerous pan-Andean institutions.) The Inca accomplished their phenomenal growth through a mixture of diplomacy and warfare, and a sociopolitical management system based on highly effective taxation and the dependable provision of goods and services to the peoples of their realm. As the Inca began to expand their territories, the first step was to seek alliances with tribes upon the frontiers. Copious gifts of textiles, exotic products from distant regions, and wives to add blood ties to the alliances were offered to the chiefs of these tribes. Quite frequently these gifts were readily accepted (certainly the intimidating specter of the powerful Inca armies assisted in this process), but if certain tribes proved recalcitrant, the Inca simply overwhelmed them with superior military power. In either case, the tribes were then incorporated into larger administrative units and political provinces. This strategy left Tawantinsuyu with more than 80 political provinces, each with different ethnic and linguistic characteristics.

To address these regional differences the Inca imposed there own tongue, Quechua, as the language of the realm and the medium of governmental communication. Additionally, the Inca frequently moved entire populations around their realm, putting loyal groups into troublesome areas, and transferring recalcitrant tribes to loyal areas. These wholesale transfers of people were also used to introduce weavers and farmers, stone workers and artisans into areas where these skills were needed. Inca statecraft, a system of truly extraordinary efficiency, was founded upon the ancient, pan-Andean concept of reciprocity. Goods and services moved from the local area to regional and state warehouses and were then redistributed back to the populace in several important ways. The state economy was based, not on currency systems, but on extracting taxes in the form of labor. There were three primary forms to this taxation: agricultural levies on local community-managed lands; a labor service required of able-bodied males that provided for monumental construction projects and military campaigns; and the textile production required of women, children and older men. The goods and services gathered in these ways were then divided into three shares. The first third went to support Inti (the Sun god), other gods in the state pantheon, and a wide variety of ceremonial activities.

The second portion went to support the Inca emperor and the construction and military projects he initiated. The third portion was redistributed to the common people in the form of food, textiles, lavish festivals, and military protection. The most visible, and remaining, examples of Inca genius are to be found in their monumental construction projects: in the form of roads, agricultural terraces, and administrative and ceremonial structures. The vast empire was united by an extensive and superbly efficient highway system. Two parallel highways, one along the coast and the other in the high mountains, ran north-south from one end of the empire to the other. Between these two major highways ran dozens of east-west roads linking the coasts, mountains, and jungles. Altogether there were more than 30,000 kilometers of these roads, the majority of which were beautifully paved, well drained, and equipped with storage houses, travelers’ lodges, and military posts. The produce of the empire moved efficiently along these roads, transported by hardy llamas strung together in caravans of a thousand or more animals.

Furthermore, along the roads sped the most rapid communication system ever developed in the pre-industrial world; in the form of a constant movement of fleet-footed runners. To feed the people in their swiftly growing empire, the Inca terraced great areas of mountain land, transported rich soils to the terraces, employed highly sophisticated irrigation systems, and experimented with a variety of crops. These monumental landscaping projects, called andenes in the Quechua language, so impressed the colonial Spanish that they named the Andes mountains after them (recent satellite photography has shown that these Inca terraces covered more land than is currently cultivated in the central Andean nations). In their administrative and even more so, their ceremonial centers, the Inca most clearly displayed their brilliance with design and construction. Great surviving centers such as Pisac, Ollantaytambo, Machu Picchu, and Cuzco, the Inca capital, are well known examples. In these places the Inca fashioned monumental architecture equal in beauty to any culture of the old world.

Massive, multi-sided blocks were precisely fitted together in interlocking patterns in order to withstand the disastrous effects of earth quakes (in an earthquake, the stones on Inca terrace walls lock together, allowing the entire wall to simultaneously flex and cohere). Both secular and sacred architecture had spacious windows, niches for idols, and other purely artistic sculptural elaborations. Splashing fountains abounded and masterpieces of hydraulic engineering brought fresh water into buildings, while other channels removed wastes. The Incas never used the wheel in any practical manner. Its use in toys demonstrates that the principle was well-known to them, although it was not applied in their engineering. The lack of strong draft animals, as well as steep terrain and dense vegetation issues, may have rendered the wheel impractical. How they moved and placed the enormous blocks of stones remains a mystery, although the general belief is that they used hundreds of men to push the stones up inclined planes. A few of the stones still have knobs on them that could have been used to lever them into position.

It must be noted, however, that the places mentioned above, Pisac, Ollantaytambo and Machu Picchu in particular, are known to have been ceremonial sites many centuries and even millennia before the Inca developed and, furthermore, already had existing structures that were used for astronomical observations and ceremonial functions. Many contemporary people writing and speaking about the Inca are not well enough educated to know this matter yet, none the less, it is archaeological fact. The name of the archaeological site Machu Picchu is sometimes misspelled as machu pichu, macchu picchu, machu piccu, machupicchu, macu picchu, macho picchu, machu piccho, machu picch, macha picchu, machu piccuh, mach picchu. The correct spelling is Machu Picchu.

Question: In which country would you find the ruins of the ancient Inca city known as Machu Picchu?
Answer: PERU