The discovery of Machu Picchu
In 1911, Hiram Bingham uncovered the ruins of Machu Picchu, a magnificent Inca city nestled among the imposing Andean mountains. This discovery revealed areas designated for the virgins of the sun, a residence of Inca Pachacuti, and a sacred center. Bingham described Machu Picchu as unparalleled in charm and allure, a citadel built by the Incas in the eastern Andes. Machu Picchu’s history is rich and significant, attracting historians and archaeologists worldwide.
The initial discovery
On July 24, 1911, Bingham, a young American explorer, the son of missionaries, and a Yale University graduate, camped by the Urubamba River at the base of massive granite cliffs covered in dense vegetation. The Andean mountains, with their lush cloud forest, reminded him of the cliffs of his native Hawaii. That morning, observing the rock walls rising more than a thousand meters above the river level, the rumors about enigmatic ruins in such inaccessible heights seemed implausible. However, driven by curiosity and accompanied only by Melchor Arteaga, a local Quechua guide, Bingham embarked on a perilous journey, crossing the Urubamba River and ascending the steep, rainy slopes of the mountain. Finally, he beheld a breathtaking view.
The expedition and its context
In his book «The Lost City of the Incas,» Bingham details an expedition funded by Yale University and the National Geographic Society, where he arrived in Peru searching for Vilcabamba, the refuge of the last Incas. These Inca kings, Manco Capac, Sayri Tupac, Titu Cusi, and Tupac Amaru, resisted the European conquerors from a sacred plain until 1572 when Tupac Amaru was captured and executed in Cusco. However, the rugged terrain of Machu Picchu does not resemble a plain, which should have alerted Bingham to his actual discovery. Today, scholars identify Vilcabamba with the ruins of Espíritu Pampa, located about a hundred kilometers northwest of Machu Picchu.
Second expedition and first excavations
In the winter of 1912, Bingham led a second expedition to Machu Picchu, taking around five hundred photographs and conducting the first scientific archaeological excavations, published according to the standards of the time. The resulting architectural plans still amaze archaeologists with their quality and precision. However, observations like those of George Eaton, the osteologist accompanying Bingham, proved incorrect.
The slender appearance of the excavated skeletons led to the mistaken conclusion that Machu Picchu was a refuge inhabited almost exclusively by women devoted to religion, known as acllas and mamacunas, referred to as «virgins of the sun» by European conquerors. In reality, the female population was nearly equal to the male, with a total population of about a thousand inhabitants, distributed among two hundred structures dedicated to the cultivation of maize and coca leaves for ceremonial use.
Between adventure and science
Despite the errors, Bingham and his team’s documentary work was monumental. Clearing the structures of dense vegetation involved working in conditions of heat, humidity, and physical dangers in the Andean peaks. Kenneth Heald, the group’s topographer and skilled climber, left a dramatic account of the first ascent of Huayna Picchu, where thorns and physical strain nearly led to fatal falls. The North American explorers eventually found skillfully carved Inca stairs in the mountain’s rock.
Machu Picchu’s History and Architecture
Machu Picchu began construction in the mid-15th century during Pachacuti’s reign, the first Inca with historical references and responsible for establishing the Tahuantinsuyu, the Empire of the Four Regions of the Sun. The city was built, inhabited, and abandoned in less than a hundred years. Its architectural style is clearly «late imperial,» with no evidence of pre-Inca or post-European conquest occupations.
The near absence of ceremonial metal elements suggests a planned abandonment. The city includes a ceremonial sector, a residential area, and agricultural terraces. The monumental and scenographic nature of Machu Picchu, with its steep terraces, likely aimed to inspire awe among neighboring peoples, especially the Chancas, traditional enemies of the Incas. In the eastern foothills of the Andes, other ruins combine ceremonial and defensive features, although Machu Picchu’s defensive role was secondary, given the quality of its religious architecture.
Interpretations and sacred significance
In 1993, archaeologists Richard L. Burger and Lucy Salazar proposed that Machu Picchu was a temporary royal residence for Pachacuti’s extended family, the panaca. This spectacular enclave, a week’s journey from Cusco, allowed the emperor and his family to enjoy the landscape and the jungle’s benign climate. Today’s tourists following the «Inca Trail» can walk over forty kilometers of ancient paved paths, admiring the beauty of Runku Rakay, Sayacmarca, and Phuyupatamarca, all explored by Bingham between 1912 and 1915.
Machu Picchu’s location is better understood in relation to the surrounding mountains, venerated by the Incas. Johan Reinhard, an American anthropologist and National Geographic explorer, defines the ruins as a «sacred center.» The citadel was on a ridge between Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu, part of the last foothills of Salcanta, a mountain over 6,000 meters high, revered since ancient times.
The ridge of Machu Picchu is almost entirely surrounded by the Urubamba River, whose waters descend from the distant Ausangate, the most prominent and sacred mountain in Inca territory. The snow-capped peaks of Pumasillo and Veronica, visible from the ceremonial sector, were also ritually revered. During equinoxes and solstices, Inca priests gathered at the intihuatana, a carved rock used as a sundial for astronomical observations.
Legacy and modern tourism
Over a century after Bingham’s discovery, Machu Picchu continues to be studied by Peruvian and foreign archaeologists. Each year, more travelers visit the site, including lovers of mystical tourism and the New Age, who see Machu Picchu as a center of pilgrimage and religious initiation. Thus, in the 21st century, the city that remained secret in the heart of the Andes continues to fulfill its role as a sacred center, as it did five hundred years ago.
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