M
MACHU PICCHU
The most iconic of all Inca settlements, Machu Picchu perches on a granite ridge
amid lush cloud forest high above the roaring Urubamba River, northwest of
Cuzco. In this spectacular setting, with distant views of the sacred, snow-clad
peaks of the Urubamba and Vilcabamba ranges, Machu Picchu’s builders
combined a remarkable landscape with brilliant site planning, creating one of the
world’s most renowned examples of harmony between architecture and sacred
geography.
Although the earliest map to include Machu Picchu dates to 1874, the
settlement came to public attention only after 1911, when the American explorer
Hiram Bingham stumbled upon it after a local guide led him on a tough slog up
a steeply forested mountain. Bingham was searching for Vilcabamba, the “lost
city of the Incas,” which in fact he found at a place called Espíritu Pampa (Plain
of the Spirits) only a month after exploring Machu Picchu. By 1930, and despite
overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Bingham proclaimed Machu Picchu to
be Vilcabamba. Since Bingham’s landmark discovery, however, exploration and
mapping have shown that the Incas did indeed found their last capital of
Vilcabamba at Espíritu Pampa, which left open the questions: Who built Machu
Picchu? And what was its significance?
We shall never be entirely certain of Machu Picchu’s function. Was it, along
with other settlements strung along the narrow, stone-paved “Inca Trail,” located
high above the Urubamba River valley as it descends toward the tropical forest,
built to commemorate conquests and dominion over the region? The overall
quality of Machu Picchu’s stonework and several double-jambed entryways (a
feature reserved for only the most elite buildings; see Architecture) indicate that
it was more than an Inca outpost. Did its seemingly inaccessible location high
above the river, with surrounding walls, a drawbridge, easily blocked approach
roads, single inner gateway, and dry moat restrict access to a site populated by a
highly religious elite, thereby demarcating the sacred from the profane?
Alternatively, was it designed to deter incursions by hostile groups of jungle
dwellers, known as Antis?