Machu Picchu

Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu *
UNESCO World Heritage Site
The mountain Huayna Picchu behind the ruins of Machu Picchu
Country	Peru
Type	Mixed
Criteria	i, iii, vii, ix
Reference	274
Region **	Latin America and The Caribbean
Inscription history
Inscription	1983 (Seventh Session)
Map showing location of Machu Picchu in Peru
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List ** Region as classified by UNESCO

Machu Picchu (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈmatʃu ˈpitʃu], Quechua: Machu Pikchu [ˈmɑtʃu ˈpixtʃu], "Old Peak") is a pre-Columbian 15th-century Inca site located 2,430 metres (7,970 ft) above sea level.^[1][2] It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is 80 kilometres (50 mi) northwest of Cusco and through which the Urubamba River flows. Most archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti (1438–1472). Often referred to as the "Lost City of the Incas", it is perhaps the most familiar icon of the Inca World.

The Incas started building the "estate" around AD 1400, but abandoned it as an official site for the Inca rulers a century later at the time of the Spanish Conquest. Although known locally, it was unknown to the outside world before being brought to international attention in 1911 by the American historian Hiram Bingham. Since then, Machu Picchu has become an important tourist attraction. Most of the outlying buildings have been reconstructed in order to give tourists a better idea of what the structures originally looked like.^[3] By 1976, thirty percent of Machu Picchu had been restored.^[4] The restoration work continues to this day.^[5]

Since the site was never known to the Spanish during their conquest, it is highly significant as a relatively intact cultural site. Machu Picchu was declared a Peruvian Historical Sanctuary in 1981 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.^[2] In 2007, Machu Picchu was voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in a worldwide Internet poll.

Machu Picchu was built in the classical Inca style, with polished dry-stone walls. Its three 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 almost reached an agreement regarding the return of artifacts which Yale has held since Hiram Bingham removed them from Machu Picchu in the early 20th century. In November 2010, a Yale University representative agreed to return the artifacts to a Peruvian university.^[6]

History

Machu Picchu was built around 1450, at the height of the Inca Empire.^[7] It was abandoned just over 100 years later, in 1572, as a belated result of the Spanish Conquest.^[7][8] It is possible that most of its inhabitants died from smallpox introduced by travelers before the Spanish conquistadors arrived in the area.^[9] The latter had notes of a place called Piccho, although there is no record of the Spanish having visited the remote city. The types of sacred rocks defaced by the conquistadors in other locations are untouched at Machu Picchu.^[8]

Hiram Bingham theorized that the complex was the traditional birthplace of the Incan "Virgins of the Suns".^[10] More recent research by scholars such as John Howland Rowe and Richard Burger, has convinced most archaeologists that Machu Picchu was an estate of the Inca emperor Pachacuti.^[8] 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 important to the Incas.

Johan Reinhard believes Machu Picchu to be a sacred religious site. This theory stands mainly because of where Machu Picchu is located. Reinhard calls it "sacred geography" because the site is built on and around mountains that hold high religious importance in the Inca culture and in the previous culture that occupied the land. At the highest point of the mountain in which Machu Picchu was named after, there are “artificial platforms [and] these had a religious function, as is clear from the Inca ritual offerings found buried under them” (Reinhard 2007). These platforms also are found in other Incan religious sites. The site’s other stone structures have finely worked stones with niches and, from what the “Spaniards wrote about Inca sites, we know that these [types of] building[s] were of ritual significance” (Reinhard 2007). This would be the most convincing evidence that Reinhard points out because this type of stylistic stonework is only found at the religious sites so it would be natural that they would exist at this religious site. ^[11] Another theory maintains that Machu Picchu was an Inca llaqta, a settlement built to control the economy of 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. An alternative theory is that it is an agricultural testing station. Different types of crops could be tested in the many different micro-climates afforded by the location and the terraces; these were not large enough to grow food on a large scale, but may have been used to determine what could grow where. Another theory suggests that the city was built as an abode for the deities, or for the coronation of kings.^[12]

View of the city of Machu Picchu in 1911 showing the original ruins before modern reconstruction work began.^[13]

Although the citadel is located only about 80 kilometers (50 mi) from Cusco, the Inca capital, the Spanish never found it and consequently did not plunder or destroy it, as they did many other sites.^[8] Over the centuries, the surrounding jungle grew over much of the site, and few outsiders knew of its existence.

On 24 July 1911, Hiram Bingham announced the discovery of Machu Picchu to scholars. An American historian employed as a lecturer at Yale University, Bingham had been searching for the city of Vilcabamba, the last Inca refuge during the Spanish conquest. He had worked for years in previous trips and explorations around the zone. Pablito Alvarez, a local 11 year-old Quechua boy, led Bingham up to Machu Picchu.^[8][14] Some Quechuas lived in the original structures at Machu Picchu.

Bingham started archaeological studies and completed a survey of the area. He called the complex "The Lost City of the Incas", which was the title of his first book. Bingham made several more trips and conducted excavations on the site through 1915, collecting various artifacts which he took back to Yale. He wrote a number of books and articles about the discovery of Machu Picchu.

A complete overview of the site

The site received significant publicity after the National Geographic Society devoted their entire April 1913 issue to Machu Picchu.

In 1981 Peru declared an area of 325.92 square kilometers surrounding Machu Picchu as a "Historical Sanctuary". In addition to the ruins, the sanctuary includes a large portion of the adjoining region, rich with the flora and fauna of the Peruvian Yungas and Central Andean wet puna ecoregions.^[15]

In 1983 UNESCO designated Machu Picchu a World Heritage Site, describing it as "an absolute masterpiece of architecture and a unique testimony to the Inca civilization".^[1]

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. This has resulted from the impact of tourism, uncontrolled development in the nearby town of Aguas Calientes, which included a poorly sited tram to ease visitor access, and the construction of a bridge across the Vilcanota River, which is likely to bring even more tourists to the site, in defiance of a court order and government protests against it.

Early encounters

Man sitting on ruins, hand-colored glass slide by Harry Ward Foote, who accompanied Hiram Bingham to Machu Picchu, 1911

Although Bingham was the first person to bring word of the ruins to the outside world, other outsiders were said to have seen 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 14 July 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 fellow missionary 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.^[16] 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.^[17]

Geography

Map of Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu lies in the southern hemisphere, 13.164 degrees south of the equator.^[18] It is 80 kilometers northwest of Cusco, on the crest of the mountain Machu Picchu, located about 2,450 metres (8,040 ft) above mean sea level, over 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) lower than Cusco, which has an altitude of 3,600 metres (11,800 ft).^[18] As such, it had a milder climate than the Inca capital. It is one of the most important archaeological sites in South America, one of the most visited tourist attractions in all of Latin America ^[19] and the most visited tourist attraction in Peru.

The year at Machu Picchu is divided between wet and dry seasons, with the majority of annual rain falling from October through to April. It can rain at any time of the year.^[18]

Machu Picchu is situated above a loop of the Urubamba River, which surrounds the site on three sides, with cliffs dropping vertically for 450 metres (1,480 ft) to the river at their base. The area is subject to morning mists rising from the river.^[8] The location of the city was a military secret, and its deep precipices and steep mountains provided 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 was built 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). It could be bridged by two tree trunks, but with the trees removed, there was a 570 metres (1,870 ft) fall to the base of the cliffs.

The city sits in a saddle between the two mountains Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu,^[8] 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. The terraces reduced soil erosion and protected against landslides.^[20] Two high-altitude routes from Machu Picchu go across the mountains back to Cusco, one through the sun gate, and the other across the Inca bridge. Both could be blocked easily, should invaders approach along them. Regardless of its original purpose, it is strategically located and readily defended.

The site

Main article: Incan architecture

Terraced Fields in the upper Agricultural Sector

The ruins of Machu Picchu are divided into two main sections known as the Urban and Agricultural Sectors, divided by a wall. The Agricultural Sector is further subdivided into Upper and Lower sectors, while the Urban Sector is split into East and West sectors, separated by wide plazas.^[8]

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

View of the residential section of Machu Picchu

Interior of an Inca building, featuring trapezoidal windows

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 had numerous design details that helped protect them against 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 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 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 numerous water fountains. These were interconnected by channels and water-drains perforated in the rock that were designed for the original irrigation system. Evidence suggests 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

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.

The royalty area, a sector for the nobility, is 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 Incas built a road to the Machu Picchu region. Today, tens of thousands of tourists walk the Inca Trail to visit Machu Picchu each year. They acclimate at Cusco before starting on the two- to four-day journey on foot from the Urubamba valley, walking up through the Andes mountain range to the isolated city.

The people of Machu Picchu were connected to long-distance trade, as shown by non-local artifacts found at the site. As an example, Bingham found unmodified obsidian nodules at the entrance gateway. In the 1970s, Burger and Asaro determined that these obsidian samples were from the Titicaca or Chivay obsidian source, and that the samples from Machu Picchu showed long-distance transport of this obsidian type in pre-Hispanic Peru.^[21]

The Guardhouse is a three-sided building, with one of its long sides opening onto the Terrace of the Ceremonial Rock. The three-sided style of Inca architecture is known as the wayrona style.^[22]

3D laser scanning of site

In 2005 and 2009, the University of Arkansas made detailed laser scans of the entire Machu Picchu site and of the ruins at the top of the adjacent Huayna Picchu mountain. The university has made the scan data available online for research purposes.^[23]

January 2010 evacuation

See also: El Niño-Southern Oscillation

In January 2010, heavy rain caused flooding which buried or washed away roads and railways leading to Machu Picchu, trapping more than 2,000 local people and more than 2,000 tourists, who were taken out by airlift. Machu Picchu was closed temporarily,^[24] but it reopened on 1 April 2010.^[25]

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. These stones are arranged to point directly at the sun during the winter solstice. The name of the stone (coined perhaps by Bingham) is derived from the Quechua language: 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 Hitching Post of the Sun". The Inca believed the stone held the sun in its place along its annual path in the sky. The stone is situated at 13°9'48" S. At midday on November 11th and January 30th the sun stands almost above the pillar, casting no shadow at all. On June 21st the stone is casting the longest shadow on his southern side and on December 21st a much shorter one on his northern side. Researchers believe that it was built as an astronomic clock or calendar.^{[citation needed]}

Concerns over tourism

Machu Picchu is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Since its discovery in 1911, a growing number of tourists visit Machu Picchu, reaching 400,000 in 2003.^[26] 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. Many people protested against the plans, including members of the Peruvian public, international scientists, and academics, as they were worried that the greater numbers of visitors would pose a tremendous physical burden on the ruins.^[27] Many protested a plan to build a bridge to the site as well.^[28] A no-fly zone exists above the area.^[29] UNESCO is considering putting Machu Picchu on its List of World Heritage in Danger.^[28]

During the 1980s a large rock from Machu Picchu's central plaza was moved out of its alignment to a different location to create a helicopter landing zone. Since the 1990s, the government has forbidden helicopter landings there. In 2006 a Cusco-based company, Helicusco, sought to have tourist flights over Machu Picchu and initially received a license to do so, but the government quickly overturned the decision.^[30]

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

Controversy with Yale University

In 1912 and 1914–15, Bingham excavated 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, supposedly for a period of 18 months. Yale has retained the artifacts until now, under the argument that Peru did not have the infrastructure or proper conditions to take care of the pieces.

Eliane Karp, an anthropologist who is married to the former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, accused Yale of profiting from Peru's cultural heritage by claiming title to thousands of pieces removed by Bingham. Many have been on display at Yale's Peabody Museum since their removal. Yale returned some of the artifacts to Peru, but the university kept the remainder, claiming its position was supported by federal case law involving Peruvian antiquities.^[31]

On 19 September 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.^[32]

On 19 June 2008, National Geographic Society's vice-president Terry Garcia was quoted by the daily publication, La República. "We were part of this agreement. National Geographic was there, we know what was said, the objects were lent and should be returned."

On 21 November 2010, Yale University agreed in principle to the return of the controversial artifacts to their original home in Peru.

Panoramic photograph of Machu Picchu, looking towards Huayna Picchu

Panoramic photograph of the residential section

In media

The 1954 film 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 indigenous people were hired as extras in the film.^[33]

Machu Picchu also is featured prominently in the 2004 film, The Motorcycle Diaries, a biopic based on the 1952 youthful travel memoir of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara.^[34] A review noted, "The scenes at Machu Picchu are worth watching several times over."^[35]

The song "Kilimanjaro" from the 2010 South Indian Tamil film Enthiran was filmed in Machu Picchu.^[36] The sanction for filming was granted only after direct intervention from the Indian government.^[37][38]

See also

• Choquequirao
• Inca Trail to Machu Picchu
• Iperu, tourist information and assistance
• Kuelap
• Lares trek, an alternate route to that of the Inca Trail
• List of archaeoastronomical sites by country
• List of largest monoliths in the world
• Putucusi, neighboring mountain
• Tourism in Peru

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "UNESCO advisory body evaluation" (PDF). http://whc.unesco.org/archive/advisory_body_evaluation/274.pdf. 
2. ^ ^{a b} UNESCO World Heritage Centre.
3. ^ Pedro Sueldo Nava A walking tour of MachupicchuEditorial de Cultura Andina, 1976, Pages 9-10
4. ^ Pedro Sueldo Nava A walking tour of MachupicchuEditorial de Cultura Andina, 1976, Page 9
5. ^ Peter Davey "Outrage - rebuilding Machu Picchu, Peru - Brief Article". Architectural Review, The. 08 Jul, 2011. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3575/is_1256_210/ai_79759800/
6. ^ "CNN: "Peru's president: Yale agrees to return Incan artifacts"". 20 November 2010. http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/11/20/peru.yale.artifacts/index.html?hpt=T2. 
7. ^ ^{a b} Wright et al 2000b, p.1.
8. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Wright & Valencia Zegarra 2001, 2003, p.1.
9. ^ McNeill, W. H.. Plagues & Peoples. pp. 183. 
10. ^ Bingham 1922, p.334.
11. ^ Reinhard, Johan 2007 Machu Picchu: Exploring an Ancient Sacred Center. Regents of the University of California, Los Angeles.
12. ^ Weatherford 1988, pp. 60–62.
13. ^ Pedro Sueldo Nava A walking tour of MachupicchuEditorial de Cultura Andina, 1976, Pages 9-10; Peter Davey "Outrage - rebuilding Machu Picchu, Peru - Brief Article". Architectural Review, The. 08 Jul, 2011. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3575/is_1256_210/ai_79759800/
14. ^ "Machu Picchu History". ourworldwonders.com. http://www.ourworldwonders.com/MachuPicchu/History.htm. Retrieved 2011-10-27. 
15. ^ Olson, D. M, E. Dinerstein, et al (2001). "Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World: A New Map of Life on Earth". BioScience 51 (11): 933–938. doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2001)051[0933:TEOTWA]2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0006-3568. http://gis.wwfus.org/wildfinder/. 
16. ^ Dan Collyns (6 June 2008). "Machu Picchu ruin 'found earlier'". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7439397.stm. ;Michael Marshall (7 June 2008). "'Incan lost city looted by German businessman'". NewScientist. http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/dn14050-incan-lost-city-looted-by-german-businessman.html?feedId=online-news_rss20. 
17. ^ NYtimes.com
18. ^ ^{a b c} Wright & Valencia Zegarra 2001, 2004, p.ix.
19. ^ Davies 1997, p.163.
20. ^ Wright et al 2000b, p.2.
21. ^ Burger and Salazar 2004
22. ^ Wright & Valencia Zegarra 2001, 2004, p.8.
23. ^ "Computer Modeling of Heritage Resources". http://cast.uark.edu/home/education/field-programs/geomatics-for-archaeology-field-school.html. 
24. ^ BBC, jhayzee27 (29 January 2010). "Machu Picchu Airlift Rescues 1,400 Tourists". Disaster Alert Network LLC. UBAlert. http://www.ubalert.com/a/14452. Retrieved 7 February 2010. 
25. ^ travel staff, Seattle Times (5 February 2010). "Machu Picchu to reopen earlier than expected after storms". The Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/travel/2010992388_webperu05.html?syndication=rss. Retrieved 7 February 2010. 
26. ^ "Row erupts over Peru's tourist treasure", BBC News Online. 27 December 2003
27. ^ Sacredland.org^{[dead link]}, Sacred Land Film Project.
28. ^ ^{a b} "Bridge stirs the waters in Machu Picchu", BBC News Online, 1 February 2007
29. ^ "Peru bans flights over Inca ruins", BBC News Online, 8 September 2006
30. ^ Collyns, Dan (8 September 2006). "Peru bans flights over Inca ruins". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5326042.stm. Retrieved 24 August 2010. 
31. ^ "Hartford Courant. "Peru Presses Yale On Relics." 14 March 2006.". http://peacecorpsonline.org/messages/messages/467/2045289.html. 
32. ^ Hartford Courant. "Yale To Return Incan Artifacts" by Edmund H. Mahoney. 19 September 2007
33. ^ Production Notes – Secret Of The Incas @ TCM Database
34. ^ Excerpted Clip of Machu Picchu from the film The Motorcycle Diaries directed by Walter Salles, distributed by Focus Features, 2004
35. ^ Nick Cowen and Hari Patience, "Wheels On Film: The Motorcycle Diaries", The Daily Telegraph, 27 April 2009
36. ^ "Endhiran The Robot : First Indian movie to shoot at Machu Pichu". One India. http://entertainment.oneindia.in/tamil/exclusive/2010/endhiran-machu-pichu-111010.html. Retrieved 11 October 2010. 
37. ^ "Enthiran beats James Bond". Behindwoods. http://www.behindwoods.com/tamil-movie-news-1/aug-10-04/endhiran-shankar-rajini-24-08-10.html. Retrieved 24 August 2010. 
38. ^ WSJ blog: "Machu Picchu Welcomes Rajnikanth and India"

Bibliography

Bingham, Hiram (1922). Inca Land: explorations in the highlands of Peru. Boston, Massachusetts, USA: Houghton Mifflin. OCLC 248230298. 

Bingham, Hiram (1930, 1979). Machu Picchu, a citadel of the Incas. New York, USA: Hacker Art Books. ISBN 9780878172528. OCLC 6579761. 

Burger, Richard; and Lucy Salazar (eds.) (2004). Machu Picchu: Unveiling the Mystery of the Incas. New Haven, Connecticut, USA: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300097634. OCLC 52806202. 

Davies, Nigel (1997). The Ancient Kingdoms of Peru. London, UK and New York, USA: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-023381-4. OCLC 37552622. 

Frost, Peter; Daniel Blanco; Abel Rodríguez and Barry Walker (1995). Machu Picchu Historical Sanctuary. Lima, Peru: Nueves Imágines. OCLC 253680819. 

MacQuarrie, Kim (2007). The Last Days of the Incas. New York, USA: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0743260497. OCLC 77767591. 

Magli, Giulio (2009). "At the other end of the sun's path: A new interpretation of Machu Picchu". arXiv:0904.4882 [physics.hist-ph]. 

Reinhard, Johan (2007). Machu Picchu: Exploring an Ancient Sacred Center. Los Angeles, California, USA: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLA. ISBN 9781931745444. OCLC 141852845. 

Richardson, Don (1981). Eternity in their Hearts. Ventura, California, USA: Regal Books. pp. 34–35. ISBN 0-8307-0925-8. OCLC 491826338. 

UNESCO World Heritage Centre. "Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=31&id_site=274. Retrieved 10 Jan. 2010. 

Weatherford, J. McIver (1988). Indian givers: how the Indians of the Americas transformed the world. New York, USA: Fawcett Columbine. ISBN 0-449-90496-2. OCLC 474116190. 

Wright, Kenneth; Alfredo Valencia Zegarra (2000). Machu Picchu: A Civil Engineering Marvel. Reston, Virginia, USA: ASCE Press (American Society of Civil Engineers). ISBN 9780784404447. OCLC 43526790. 

Wright, Kenneth R.; Alfredo Valencia Zegarra and Christopher M. Crowley (May 2000a). "Completion Report to Instituto Nacional de Cultura on Archaeological Exploration of the Inca Trail on the East Flank of Machu Picchu and on Palynology of Terraces Part 1" (PDF). http://www.wrightpaleo.com/pdf/MP%20East%20Flank%20Report%20Pt%201%20Cover.pdf. Retrieved 14 Jan. 2010. 

Wright, Kenneth R.; Alfredo Valencia Zegarra and Christopher M. Crowley (May 2000b). "Completion Report to Instituto Nacional de Cultura on Archaeological Exploration of the Inca Trail on the East Flank of Machu Picchu and on Palynology of Terraces Part 2" (PDF). http://www.wrightpaleo.com/pdf/MP%20East%20Flank%20Report%20Pt%202%20Text.pdf. Retrieved 14 Jan. 2010. 

Wright, Kenneth R.; Alfredo Valencia Zegarra and Christopher M. Crowley (May 2000c). "Completion Report to Instituto Nacional de Cultura on Archaeological Exploration of the Inca Trail on the East Flank of Machu Picchu and on Palynology of Terraces Part 3" (PDF). http://www.wrightpaleo.com/pdf/MP%20East%20Flank%20Report%20Pt%203%20Drawings.pdf. Retrieved 14 Jan. 2010. 

Wright, Ruth M.; Dr. Alfredo Valencia Zegarra (2001, 2004). The Machu Picchu Guidebook: A self-guided tour (Revised ed.). Boulder, Colorado, USA: Johnson Books. ISBN 1-55566-327-3. OCLC 53330849. http://books.google.com/?id=xef8JWgrDlsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Machu+Picchu+Guidebook:+A+self-guided+tour&cd=1#v=onepage&q=. 

Further reading

Kops, Deborah (2009). Machu Picchu. Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA: Twenty-First Century Books. ISBN 9780822575849. OCLC 189667204. http://books.google.com/?id=57mqdKhFIF8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22Machu+Picchu%22&cd=6#v=onepage&q=. 

External links

• UNESCO – Machu Picchu (World Heritage)
• Machu Picchu: Earliest Maps and 19th Century (pre-Hiram Bingham) Visitors
• Wright Paleohydrological Institute with reports on water management at Machu Picchu
• Machu Picchu at the Open Directory Project
• Machu Picchu travel guide from Wikitravel
• 3D Replica of Machu Picchu in Second Life (Hosted by Universidad de San Martín de Porres from Perú)

Images

• Mysteries of Machu Picchu – slideshow by Life magazine
• 360° fullscreen view of Machu Picchu
• 3D model of Machu Picchu
• GigaPan image of Machu Picchu

Related Information

Coordinates: 13°09′47″S 72°32′44″W / 13.16306°S 72.54556°W / -13.16306; -72.54556