Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu, meaning "old peak" is an ancient Incan city located high in the Andes Mountains in Peru, on top of a ridge. It consists of over 200 separate buildings, mostly residences but also temples, storage structures and other public buildings, all built in the characteristic Incan architectural style of polygonal masonry, where stones blocks were cut and fit together almost flawlessly without the use of mortar. The blocks fit together so perfectly that even the blade of a knife is unable to be fit between them. Also unique, is the integration of the landscape into the architecture; existing stone formations were used in the construction of structures, sculptures were carved into the rock, water flows through cisterns and stone channels, and temples hang on steep precipices. Much of this amazing city still exists today, more than 500 years after it's completion, and as such has been added to the new compilation of the Seven Wonders of the World.

It is believed that around 1200 people, mostly women and children, lived in Machu Picchu. Around 1527, the Spanish conquistadors arrived in the area, destroying many other Incan cities but were never to find Machu Picchu. However, they bought with them Small Pox, which spread to the city and killed at least 50% of the population. As a result, the Incas fell into Civil War and by 1532, Machu Picchu was already all but forgotten.

In 1911, a professor from Yale, Hiram Bingham, rediscovered Machu Picchu with the help of some local guides and bought the ancient city to the attention of the world. It must also be noted, that he also removed from the site hundreds of valuable artifacts, many of which still reside in England despite pleadings from the governments of Peru to have them returned.

Just why Machu Picchu was constructed in the first place is subject to many theories. Some hypothesize that it was and "Ilacta", a settlement built to control the economy of other conquered Incan regions. Others assert that it may have been built as a prison for those who had committed heinous crimes against Incan society. Still others believe, it was built purely for the purpose of a defensive retreat against invaders.

Most widely believed, however, is that Machu Picchu was an estate built for the Inca emperor, Pachacuti, it's position selected for its relation to sacred landscape features, such as its mountains, which are in alignment with key astronomical events important to the Incas. Most important is the Intihuatana Stone, known as the "The Hitching Point of the Sun" because it was believed to hold the sun in its place at the time of the equinoxes, when the sun stands above the pillar, casting no shadow at all. As worshippers of the sun god, this would have been of particular importance to the Incas. (Incredibly, despite surviving for centuries in tact, the stone was damaged in September 2000 when a crane used by an advertising company, filming an ad for beer, fell on the stone, breaking off a slice of the ancient stone.)

The site of Machu Picchu may well have been used for ritual sacrifices, common to the Incas. Mummies found at the site have been only of women and children, who were the usual victims of these sacrifices. The Incas believed that offerings to their gods would placate them and ensure better crops and greater prosperity. Usually, those chosen for the sacrifices were the physically perfect children of important leaders or the clergy; the Incas believing that these made for a better sacrifice. The children would be chosen a year before the sacrifice was to be made, then would be fed a richer diet than they were accustomed, essentially "fattening them up" for the Gods. Following this, they would be taken on a pilgrimage to high peaks, (making Machu Picchu the ideal location). The sacrifices would be given maize beer and coca leaves to dull their senses and make them more susceptible to their fate. Some were left to succumb to the elements, others were strangled or suffocated. The mummified bodies of some were shown to have had their clothing wrapped so tightly around them than ribs were crushed and pelvises dislocated.

One final theory, for the erection of Machu Picchu, attempting to explain the seemingly impossible task of building such an elaborate city in such an inaccessible region, without the use of modern tools, is that put forward by Erich von Daniken, in his 1968 book, The Chariots of the Gods. In it, he suggests that the gods worshipped by the Incas were in fact visitors from other planets. These extra-terrestrial beings demanded the building of a city which aligned with key astronomical events, providing them maps and helping to deposit building materials with their "fiery chariots", then promising to return to check the progress of the works. According to Daniken, sacrifices may have been made to hasten the return of these "gods".