|
Results for Machu Picchu
|
On this page:
|
An ancient Inca fortress city in the Andes northwest of Cuzco, Peru. Its extensive ruins, including elaborate terraces, were discovered in 1911.
For more information on Machu Picchu, visit Britannica.com.
Small Inca centre perched high on a rocky ridge between two peaks at an elevation of 2340m above sea level overlooking a loop of the River Urubamba. The so-called lost city of the Incas (Vilcabamba), Machu Picchu was rediscovered in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, Professor of Archaeology at Yale University.
Defended by a stone wall, Machu Picchu has only one entrance. A stair leads up the hill to the site, and roadways connect it to Cuzco. The construction of the temples and other buildings involved creating level platforms on the hilltop. A sequence of small plazas lies along the ridge, the steep flanking slopes being terraced for houses and cultivation. One of the most extraordinary buildings is a circular astronomical observatory. Houses were rectangular in plan, high gabled, with thatch roofs and trapezoidal doors.
A programme of radiocarbon dating carried out in the late 1980s suggests two main phases to the site: the first, non-Inca, in the 7th century ad, and the second spanning the period ad 1200–1450. Some earlier dates of around 1000 bc suggest, however, that the Incas were not the first people to build on the ridge.
[Sum.: H. Bingham, 1930, Machu Picchu—a citadel of the Incas. New Haven: Yale University Press; R. Berger et al., 1988, Radiocarbon dating Machu Picchu, Peru. Antiquity, 62, 707–10]
Bibliography
See H. Bingham, Lost City of the Incas (1948, repr. 1969).
| Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu* | |
|---|---|
| UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
|
View of Huayna Picchu towering above the ruins of Machu Picchu |
|
| State Party | |
| Type | Mixed |
| Criteria | i, iii, vii, ix |
| Reference | 274 |
| Region† | Latin America and the Caribbean |
| Inscription History | |
| Inscription | 1983 (7th Session) |
|
* Name as
inscribed on World Heritage List. † Region as classified by UNESCO. |
|
Machu Picchu (Quechua: Machu Pikchu "Old Peak") is a pre-Columbian Inca city located at 2,430 m (7,970 ft) altitude[1] on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, about 70 km (44 mi) northwest of Cusco. Machu Picchu is probably the most familiar symbol of the Inca Empire. It is often referred to as "The Lost City of the Incas". The site was designated as a World Heritage Site in 1983 when it was described as "an absolute masterpiece of architecture and a unique testimony to the Inca civilization".[2]
Forgotten for centuries by the outside world, although not by locals, it was brought back to international attention by archaeologist Hiram Bingham in 1911, who made the first scientific confirmation of the site and wrote a best-selling work about it.
Machu Picchu was constructed around 1450, at the height of the Inca Empire, and was abandoned less than 100 years later, as the empire collapsed under Spanish conquest. Although the citadel is located only about 50 miles from [Cusco], the Inca capital, it was never found and destroyed by the Spanish, as were many other Inca sites. Over the centuries, the surrounding jungle grew to enshroud the site, and few knew of its existence. In 1911, Yale historian and explorer Hiram Bingham brought the "lost" city to the world’s attention. Bingham and others hypothesized that the citadel was the traditional birthplace of the Inca people or the spiritual center of the "virgins of the suns," while curators of a recent exhibit have speculated that Machu Picchu was a royal retreat.
It is thought that the site was chosen for its unique location and geological features. It is said that the silhouette of the mountain range behind Machu Picchu represents the face of the Inca looking upward towards the sky, with the largest peak, Huayna Picchu (meaning Young Peak), representing his pierced nose.
In 1913, the site received significant publicity after the National Geographic Society devoted their entire April issue to Machu Picchu.
On July 7, 2007, Machu Picchu was voted as one of New Open World Corporation's New Seven Wonders of the World.
Chan Chan Archaeological Zone · Chavín (Archaeological Site) · City of Cuzco · Historic Centre of Lima · Historical Centre of the City of Arequipa · Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu · Huascarán National Park · Manú National Park · Lines and Geoglyphs of Nasca and Pampas de Jumana ·
Rio Abiseo National Park|
Acaray | Buena Vista | Cahuachi | Caral | Chan Chan | Chankillo | Chavín de Huantar | Choquequirao | Cumbe Mayo | Huaca de la Luna | Huaca del Sol | Jiskairumoko | Kuelap | Machu Picchu | Ollantaytambo | Pachacamac | Pikillacta | Pikimachay | Písac | Raqchi | Sacsayhuamán | Sillustani | Tambo Colorado | Túcume | Vilcabamba |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Join the WikiAnswers Q&A community. Post a question or answer questions about "Machu Picchu" at WikiAnswers.
Copyrights:
![]() | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Archaeology Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology. Copyright © 2002, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Read more | |
![]() | Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Machu Picchu". Read more |
Mentioned In: