Machu Picchu, 1911
On July 24, 1911, Harvard-educated American scholar Hiram Bingham re-discovered the lost city of Machu Picchu. While the city had not been excavated, locals had, of course, been aware of its existence, and some European explorers had likely reached the city, but not begun any scientific excavation. Bingham shared the city with the world, with, at least in the beginning, the support of the Peruvian government.
Bingham had a strong interest in exploration, and funded by his wife’s money, set out to explore Peru in search of old ruins, specifically the city of Vilcabamba. Vilcabamba was, according to Spanish records, the last refuge of the Inca, and is sometimes called the “lost city of the Inca”.
His Peruvian guide told him of Machu Picchu, meaning “old mountain”. Bingham, his guide, and an interpreter set out on the climb to Machu Picchu, recruiting a young boy from a local village to show them the way. The boy led them first to the terraces, and then to the city of Machu Picchu. Bingham believed, both then and until the end of his life, that he had found Vilcabamba. He had not.
The city of Machu Picchu, located about 70 miles from modern-day Cuzco, was built in the middle of the 15th century, at the height of Inca power and prestige. The city can be divided into an upper and lower city; the upper was urban, and the lower, agricultural. Both the upper and lower city show evidence of typical Inca dry-stone construction techniques, in which carved stone pieces are expertly fitted together without any sort of mortar.
The upper city includes three key buildings, all ceremonial in purpose. These are the Temple of the Sun, the Room with Three Windows, and the Inti Watana. All three were dedicated to the primary Inca deity, the sun god, Inti.
The city of Machu Picchu is one of the best-preserved monuments to the Inca civilization, not only because of its fine construction, but because it was never pillaged by the Spanish. The city was deserted after the arrival of the Spanish, most likely as the result of a smallpox epidemic.