Machu Picchu
November 10, 2006
Machu Picchu means “old peak” in the Inca language of Quechua, as Huayna Picchu the thin point mountain at the other side of the ruins means “young peak”. These are not Inca names, we don’t know what they called the mountain, nor their city, rather the name was given by a geographer and cartographer working to document the region.
The ruins of the Inca city, at 2,400m above sea level and in the Urubamba valley which descends into the Amazon, was build around 1450 in the time of Emperor Pachacutec. It was abandoned in the time of the Spanish conquest, not because the Spanish found it, but because the Inca empire ceased to exist. It was forgotten and swallowed by the jungle.
Hiram Bingham is credited with “discovering” Machu Picchu in 1911, but he can only fairly be credited for bringing it to the wider worlds attention. When Bingham arrived, local peasants were using the Inca structures – the terraces – to farm on. Bingham didn’t even find the ruins alone, he was entirely led there by locals who he failed to credit in his book, The Lost City of the Incas.
It is now considered to have built this city as a retreat for Pachacutec and the Inca elite, not a fort as the popular media refer to it or a religious sanctuary for the Virgins of the Sun as the “discoverer” of Machu Picchu, Hiram Bingham III, thought.
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[...] off and was nowhere to be found. Perhaps Bingham, who this wouldn’t be his first time to have damaged Inca ruins, covered up his accident, or perhaps stole the ring along with the hundreds of over artefacts taken [...]
[...] found this really great video of a walk around the ruined Inca citadel of Machu Picchu. [...]
[...] patrimonial Machu Picchu is, without a doubt, a wonder. But part of its current problem is that each day it suffers more and [...]
[...] Spanish conquest, the spectacular mountain-top ruins of Choquequirao, often called the sister of Machu Picchu, is a site that is becoming increasingly popular with tourists. Find out more by watching the [...]
[...] Heston had already visited Machu Picchu in Secret of the Incas, so not to be outdone, another of Hollywood’s greats, one Mr Donald [...]
[...] Archaeologists from the National Institute of Culture (INC) have found a pre-Inca tomb at the Salapunku archaeological site located in the protected area of Machu Picchu. [...]
[...] She fell in love with the country, and the Inca capital. She also took an interest in Peru’s ancient cultures, as everyone who spends time in their country does, and enjoyed visiting the sites around Cusco such as the famed Machu Picchu. [...]
[...] management and distribution of water in Machu Picchu is one example of the notable hydraulic engineering of the Incas and from those more ancient [...]
[...] some of the finest Inca ruins in existence. They might not be in a location quite as beautiful as Machu Picchu, or on a scale quite as monumental as Sacsayhuamán, but the stonework here is some of the best you [...]
[...] were only two ways to get to Machu Picchu – hiking the tracks from Santa Teresa (cheap) or catching an overpriced train from Cusco or [...]
[...] Astete, director of the Archaeological and Wildlife Reserve of Machu Picchu, states that four fountains have been found, and that each demonstrates the high level of knowledge [...]
[...] Secret of the Incas was filmed by Paramount Pictures on location in Peru at Cuzco and Machu Picchu, the first time that a major Hollywood studio filmed at this archaeological site. Five hundred [...]
[...] Hollywood has another lesson to teach those poor confused Peruvians. Machu Picchu is an Aztec ruin located in the Amazon jungles of Mexico!! Silly [...]
[...] Astete, in charge of the Machu Picchu park denied that structures that form part of the famous citadel were ask risk, but did announce [...]
[...] than 2000 tourists are trapped at Machu Picchu, and many more in the Sacred Valley towns of Ollantaytambo, Urubamba, Calca and [...]
[...] It’s sad that a country with such a large variety of attractions, many hundreds from archaeological to natural, is only associated with one: the citadel of Machu Picchu. [...]
[...] working at the Salapunku site near Machu Picchu in Cusco have discovered a new ceremonial platform or [...]
[...] Unfortunately, from what I understand, what was the main attraction in my opinion – the huge Chavin monolith – has been taken back to Ancash to a newly constructed Chavin museum. Whether it will come back, I don’t know. Fortunately there are plenty of other pre-Columbian artefacts to hold a visitor’s attention as well as a large, fairly impressive, scale model of Machu Picchu. [...]
[...] it goes on to follow the day to day live of rural Cusqueños. In the images you will also see Machu Picchu before its restoration, as well as Sacsayhuaman, Ollantaytambo and a Cusco without [...]