Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu



Huayna Picchu towers above the ruins of Machu PicchuState Party
PeruType Mixed
Criteria
i, iii, vii, ix
Reference 274Region** Latin America and The CaribbeanInscription history
Inscription 1983 (Seventh Session)* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List.
** Region as classified by UNESCO.Machu Picchu (Quechua: Machu Pikchu, "Old Peak", pronounced ['m?t?u

'pikt?u]) is a pre-Columbian Inca site located 2,430 metres (8,000 ft) above sea level.[1] It is situated on a

mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is 80 kilometres (50 mi) northwest of Cuzco and

through which the Urubamba River flows. Often referred to as "The Lost City of the Incas", Machu Picchu is one of

the most familiar symbols of the Inca Empire.
The Incas started building it around AD 1430 but it was abandoned as an official site for the Inca rulers a hundred

years later at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. Although known locally, it was largely unknown

to the outside world before being brought to international attention in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, an American historian.

Since then, Machu Picchu has become an important tourist attraction.
Machu Picchu was declared a Peruvian Historical Sanctuary in 1981 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.

Since it was not plundered by the Spanish when they conquered the Incas, it is especially important as a cultural

site and is considered a sacred place.
Machu Picchu was built in the classical Inca style, with polished dry-stone walls. Its primary buildings are the

Intihuatana, the Temple of the Sun, and the Room of the Three Windows. These are located in what is known by

archaeologists as the Sacred District of Machu Picchu. In September 2007, Peru and Yale University reached an

agreement regarding the return of artifacts which Hiram Bingham had removed from Machu Picchu in the early

twentieth century.
Contents

• 1 History
o 1.1 Early encounters
• 2 Location
• 3 Architecture
• 4 Intihuatana stone
• 5 Concerns over tourism
• 6 Controversy with Yale University
• 7 In media

[edit] History
Machu Picchu was constructed around 1462, at the height of the Inca Empire.[citation needed] It was abandoned

less than 100 years later. It is likely that most of its inhabitants were wiped out by smallpox before the Spanish

conquistadores arrived in the area, and there is no record of the Spanish having known of the remote city. One

theory about the purpose of the citadel, by Hiram Bingham, is that it was the traditional birthplace of the Inca of

the "Virgins of the Suns".[2]
Another theory maintains that Machu Picchu was an Inca "llaqta", a settlement built to control the economy of these

conquered regions. Yet another asserts that it may have been built as a prison for a select few who had committed

heinous crimes against Inca society. Research conducted by scholars, such as John Rowe and Richard Burger, has

convinced most archaeologists that Machu Picchu was an estate of the Inca emperor, Pachacuti. In addition, Johan

Reinhard presented evidence that the site was selected because of its position relative to sacred landscape features

such as its mountains, which are purported to be in alignment with key astronomical events that would have been

important to the Incas.
And still another theory is that it is an agricultural testing station, the purpose of which is to test different types of

crops in the many different micro-climates afforded by the location and the terraces, which were not enough to

grow food on a large scale, as much to determine what could grow where.[3]



View of the city of Machu Picchu in 1911
Although the citadel is located only about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Cusco, the Inca capital, it was never

found by the Spanish and consequently not plundered and destroyed, as was the case with many other Inca sites.

Over the centuries, the surrounding jungle grew over much of the site, and few knew of its existence. On July 24,

1911, Machu Picchu was brought to the attention of scholars by Hiram Bingham, an American historian employed as

a lecturer at Yale University. Bingham was led up to Machu Picchu by a local 11 year old Quechua boy named

Pablito Alvarez.[4] Bingham undertook archaeological studies and completed a survey of the area. Bingham coined

the name "The Lost City of the Incas", which was the title of his first book.
Bingham had been searching for the city of Vilcapampa, the last Inca refuge and spot of resistance during the

Spanish conquest of Peru. In 1911, after years of previous trips and explorations around the zone, he was led to

the citadel by Quechuans. These people were living in Machu Picchu, in the original Inca infrastructure. Bingham

made several more trips and conducted excavations on the site through 1915, carrying off artifacts. He wrote a

number of books and articles about the discovery of Machu Picchu in his lifetime.
A complete overview of the site as seen from Huayna Picchu
The site received significant publicity after the National Geographic Society devoted their entire April 1913 issue to

Machu Picchu.
An area of 325.92 square kilometers surrounding Machu Picchu was declared a "Historical Sanctuary" of Peru in

1971. In addition to the ruins, this sanctuary area includes a large portion of adjoining region, rich with flora and

fauna.
Machu Picchu was designated as a World Heritage Site in 1983 when it was described as "an absolute masterpiece

of architecture and a unique testimony to the Inca civilization".[5]
On July 7, 2007, Machu Picchu was voted as one of New Open World Corporation's New Seven Wonders of the

World. The World Monuments Fund placed Machu Picchu on its 2008 Watch List of the 100 Most Endangered Sites

in the world because of environmental degradation resulting from the impact of tourism, uncontrolled development in

the nearby town of Aguas Calientes that included a poorly sited tram to ease visitor access, and the construction of

a bridge across the Vilcanota River that is likely to bring even more tourists to the site in defiance of a court order

and government protests against it.
Early encounters
Although Bingham was the first person to bring word of the ruins to the outside world, other outsiders allegedly

came across Machu Picchu before him.
Simone Waisbard, a long-time researcher of Cusco, claims that Enrique Palma, Gabino Sánchez, and Agustín

Lizárraga left their names engraved on one of the rocks at Machu Picchu on July 14, 1901. In 1904, an engineer

named Franklin supposedly spotted the ruins from a distant mountain. He told Thomas Payne, an English Christian

missionary living in the region, about the site, Payne's family members claim. They also report that in 1906, Payne

and another fellow missionary named Stuart E McNairn (1867–1956) climbed up to the ruins.
The site may have been discovered and plundered in 1867 by a German businessman, Augusto Berns.[6] There is

some evidence that a German engineer, J. M. von Hassel, arrived earlier. Maps found by historians show

references to Machu Picchu as early as 1874.[7]
[edit] Location
This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and

removed. (August 2009)

Location of Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu is 80 kilometers northwest of Cusco, on the crest of the mountain Machu Picchu, located about

2,450 meters (7,710 feet) above sea level, that is around 1,000 m lower than Cusco. As such, it had a milder

climate than the Inca capital. It is one of the most important archaeological sites in South America and the most

visited tourist attraction in Peru.
It is above Urubamba Valley. From atop the cliff of Machu Picchu, there is a vertical rock face of 600 meters

rising from the Urubamba River at the foot of the cliff. The location of the city was a military secret, and its deep

precipices and mountains provide excellent natural defenses. The Inca Bridge, an Inca rope bridge, across the

Urubamba River in the Pongo de Mainique, provided a secret entrance for the Inca army. Another Inca bridge to

the west of Machu Picchu, the tree-trunk bridge, at a location where a gap occurs in the cliff that measures 6

metres (20 ft), could be bridged by two tree trunks. If the trees were removed, it would leave a 570 metres

(1,900 ft) fall to the base of the cliffs, also discouraging invaders.
The city sits in a saddle between two mountains, with a commanding view down two valleys and a nearly

impassable mountain at its back. It has a water supply from springs that cannot be blocked easily, and enough land

to grow food for about four times as many people as ever lived there. The hillsides leading to it have been

terraced, not only to provide more farmland to grow crops, but to steepen the slopes which invaders would have to

ascend. There are two high-altitude routes from Machu Picchu across the mountains back to Cusco, one through

the sun gate, and the other across the Inca bridge. Both easily could be blocked if invaders should approach along

them. Regardless of its original purpose, it is strategically located and readily defended.
Architecture
Main article: Incan architecture
This article appears to be missing a treatment of detailed descriptions of named buildings such as the

Temple of the Sun. Further information might be found on the talk page.

Reconstructed Inca building
The central buildings of Machu Picchu use the classical Inca architectural style of polished dry-stone walls of regular

shape. The Incas were masters of this technique, called ashlar, in which blocks of stone are cut to fit together

tightly without mortar. The Incas were among the best stone masons the world has seen, and many junctions in the

central city are so perfect that it is said not even a blade of grass fits between the stones.


Terraced Fields of Machu Picchu


View of the residential section of Machu Picchu
Some Inca buildings were constructed using mortar, but by Inca standards this was quick, shoddy construction, and

was not used in the building of important structures. Peru is a highly seismic land, and mortar-free construction was

more earthquake-resistant than using mortar. The stones of the dry-stone walls built by the Incas can move slightly

and resettle without the walls collapsing.
Inca walls show numerous design details that also help protect them from collapsing in an earthquake. Doors and

windows are trapezoidal and tilt inward from bottom to top; corners usually are rounded; inside corners often incline

slightly into the rooms; and "L"-shaped blocks often were used to tie outside corners of the structure together.

These walls do not rise straight from bottom to top but are offset slightly from row to row.
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

terrain and dense vegetation issues may have rendered it impractical. How they moved and placed 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 is believed that after the stones were placed, the Incas would have sanded the knobs away, but a few

were overlooked.
The space is composed of 140 structures or features, including temples, sanctuaries, parks, and residences that

include houses with thatched roofs. There are more than one hundred flights of stone steps–often completely carved

from a single block of granite–and a great number of water fountains that are interconnected by channels and

water-drains perforated in the rock that were designed for the original irrigation system. Evidence has been found to

suggest that the irrigation system was used to carry water from a holy spring to each of the houses in turn.
According to archaeologists, the urban sector of Machu Picchu was divided into three great districts: the Sacred

District, the Popular District to the south, and the District of the Priests and the Nobility.


Temple of the Sun at Machu Picchu
Located in the first zone are the primary archaeological treasures: the Intihuatana, the Temple of the Sun and the

Room of the Three Windows. These were dedicated to Inti, their sun god and greatest deity. The Popular District,

or Residential District, is the place where the lower class people lived. It includes storage buildings and simple

houses. In the royalty area, a sector that existed for the nobility, includes a group of houses located in rows over

a slope, the residence of the Amautas (wise persons) was characterized by its reddish walls, and the zone of the

Ñustas (princesses) had trapezoid-shaped rooms. The Monumental Mausoleum is a carved statue with a vaulted

interior and carved drawings. It was used for rites or sacrifices.
As part of their road system, the Inca built a road to the Machu Picchu region. Today, tens of thousands of

tourists walk the Inca Trail to visit Machu Picchu each year, acclimatising at Cusco before starting on a two- to

four-day journey on foot from the Urubamba valley up through the Andes mountain range to the isolated city.
Intihuatana stone


The Intihuatana ("sun-tier") is believed to have been designed as an astronomic clock or calendar by the Incas
The Intihuatana stone is one of many ritual stones in South America. The Spanish did not find Machu Picchu so the

Intihuatana Stone was not destroyed as many other ritual stones in Peru were. These stones are arranged to point

directly at the sun during the winter solstice. The name of the stone (coined perhaps by Hiram Bingham III) is

Quechua: inti means 'sun', and wata- is the verb root 'to tie, hitch (up)' ('huata-' is simply a Spanish spelling).

The Quechua -na suffix derives nouns for tools or places. Hence inti watana is literally an instrument or place to

'tie up the sun', often expressed in English as the "The Hitching Post of the Sun" because the stone was believed

to hold the sun in its place along its annual path in the sky. At midday on March 21 and September 21, the

equinoxes, the sun stands almost above the pillar—casting no shadow at all.[8] Researchers believe that it was built

as an astronomic clock or calendar.
The Intihuatana stone was damaged in September 2000 when a 450 kg (1,000-pound) crane fell onto it,

breaking off a piece of stone the size of a ballpoint pen. The crane was being used by a crew hired by J. Walter

Thompson advertising agency to film an advertisement for a beer brand. "Machu Picchu is the heart of our

archaeological heritage and the Intihuatana is the heart of Machu Picchu. They've struck at our most sacred

inheritance," said Federico Kaufmann Doig, a Peruvian archaeologist.[9]
Concerns over tourism
Machu Picchu is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. As Peru's most visited tourist attraction and major revenue

generator, it is continually threatened by economic and commercial forces. In the late 1990s, the Peruvian

government granted concessions to allow the construction of a cable car and development of a luxury hotel,

including a tourist complex with boutiques and restaurants. These plans were met with protests from scientists,

academics, and the Peruvian public—all worried that the greater numbers of visitors would pose tremendous physical

burdens on the ruins.[10]
A growing number of people visit Machu Picchu (400,000 in 2003[11]). For this reason, there were protests

against a plan to build a bridge to the site as well.[12] A no-fly zone exists above the area.[13] UNESCO is

considering putting Machu Picchu on its List of World Heritage Sites in Danger.[12]
During the 1980s a large rock from Machu Picchu's central plaza was moved out of its alignment to a different

location in order to create a helicopter landing zone. Helicopter landings were forbidden in the 1990s. In 2006 a

Cusco-based company, Helicusco, sought to have tourist flights over Machu Picchu, but the decision was quickly

overturned.[14]

View of Machu Picchu from Huayna Picchu, showing the Hiram Bingham Highway used by tour buses to and from

the town of Aguas Calientes
[edit] Controversy with Yale University
This section needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.

(November 2009) The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page.

Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (April 2009)In 1912 and 1914-15, Bingham

excavated the treasures from Machu Picchu—ceramic vessels, silver statues, jewelry and human bones—and took

them from Peru to Yale University in the United States for further study. Yale has retained the artifacts until now.

The National Geographic Society, which co-sponsored Bingham’s explorations, has acknowledged that the artifacts

were taken on loan and is committed to seeing them returned to Peru.[citation needed]
Eliane Karp, an anthropologist who is the wife of the former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, accused Yale of

profiting from Peru's cultural heritage by claiming title to thousands of pieces removed from Machu Picchu by

Bingham in 1912, some of which have been on display at Yale's Peabody Museum ever since. Some of the artifacts

Bingham removed were returned to Peru, but Yale kept the rest saying its position was supported by federal case

law involving Peruvian antiquities.[15]
On September 19, 2007, the Courant reported that Peru and Yale had reached an agreement regarding the

requested return of the artifacts. The agreement includes sponsorship of a joint traveling exhibition and construction

of a new museum and research center in Cusco about which Yale will advise Peruvian officials. Yale acknowledges

Peru's title to all the excavated objects from Machu Picchu, but Yale will share rights with Peru in the research

collection, part of which will remain at Yale as an object of continuing study.[16]
On June 19, 2008, National Geographic Society’s vice-president Terry Garcia was quoted by daily La República.

“We were part of this agreement. National Geographic was there, we know what was said, the objects were loaned

and should be returned.”


Panoramic photograph of Machu Picchu


Panoramic photograph of the residential section
[edit] In media
Secret of the Incas was filmed by Paramount Pictures on location at Cusco and Machu Picchu, the first time that a

major Hollywood studio filmed on site. Five hundred natives were used as extras in the film.[17] The film also

featured the Peruvian singer Yma Sumac as Kori-Tica. The film caused a surge in tourism to Peru in 1954.