25 Places to visit before you die: No. 9 Machu Picchu

In 1911, Yale University archaeologist Hiram Bingham, lead by an 11 year old local boy, rediscovered one of the most beautiful and enigmatic ancient sites in the world, the ruins of Machu Picchu, Peru. 'The Lost City of the Incas', was abandoned almost five hundred years ago, and its location on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley, 2,430 metres (8,000 ft) above sea level, and 80 kilometres (50 miles) northwest of the Inca capital city of Cuzco, was for centuries unknown but to a few local inhabitants. The encroaching jungle protected the deserted estate, it was not found by the Spanish conquistadores, and consequently not plundered and destroyed, as was the case with many other Inca sites. Machu Picchu is an iconic world symbol of a lost civilisation as is on afterabc's list of, 25 Places to visit before you die.

The Inca Empire, founded by the leader Pachacuti in 1442, grew from the Inca civilisation that had began around 1200 in the Cuzco area, of what is today Peru, and was the largest empire in the pre-Columbian America, (a term for the period before significant European influences on the American continents). Machu Picchu, built at the zenith of the Inca Empire's power around 1450; it is widely believed that depopulation occurred in 1572, resulting from smallpox, introduced by travelling Europeans. 

Much research and study has not resulted in a definitive answer as to why the Citadel was constructed, and it is possible that there is more than one answer: Many archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was an estate of the Inca emperor, Pachacuti, (see above). The site was selected by the Inca's 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.

What is not questioned it that, the Inca turned the site into a small but extraordinary city. Invisible from below and completely self-contained, surrounded by agricultural terraces sufficient to feed the population, and watered by natural springs. The cloud-shrouded ruins have palaces, baths, temples, storage rooms and some 150 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.

The buildings are in a remarkable state of preservation, due in part to the mode of construction; the classical Inca style, with polished dry-stone walls of regular shape. The Incas were masters of this technique, 'ashlar', in which blocks of stone are cut to fit together tightly without mortar. Peru is a 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 used to tie outside corners of the structure together. These walls do not rise straight from bottom to top but from row to row are slightly offset.
It is not known how the Inca moved and placed enormous blocks of stones remains, however, it is thought 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 ruins of Machu Picchu are divided by a wall into two main sections; the Urban and Agricultural, and 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.

Located in the Sacred District 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 Monumental Mausoleum is a carved statue, with vaulted interior and carved drawings, was used for rites or sacrifices.

The Intihuatana stone ('Hitching Post of the Sun') is 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; 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.

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. The trail affords an awesome journey to the scenic splendour of the valley and the breadbasket and favoured vacation spot for the nobles of Cuzco. The 35 mil Inca trail crosses 2 passes the higher just over 13.500 feet and requires that travellers be tolerant of thin air in order to be able to appreciate fully the drama of the scenery. Machu Picchu lacks decent hotels, a backpackers dream perhaps, but the renovated Machu Picchu sanctuary Lodge is adequate accommodation with a fabulous location a few metres from the entrance of the ruins. 

Machu Picchu is a sacred spot, and it leaves most with a sense of wonderment and awe.

January 30, 2010  |  Article Posted By: afterabc admin , London
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