Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu is a physical symbol of the culture that created it. It is located in the Andes Mountains in Peru, South America, high above the Urubamba River Canyon Cloud Forest. The Incan capital, Cuzco, the closest major city, is forty three miles northwest of this landmark. Machu Picchu is five square miles and eighteen square kilometers in size. This ancient civilization has an altitude of eight thousand feet and is surrounded by towering green mountains. Although covered in dense bush, it had many agricultural terraces that were sufficient enough to feed the population. Due to water from the natural springs as well as the agricultural terraces, it had the ability to be self-contained. Machu Picchu was created by the Inca culture for the purpose of religious observance.

In order to build this city, the Incans used stone tools, bronze tools, and chisels. The materials they used were mud, clay, adobe, and granite blocks. Each block weighed fifty tons! They would thatch the roofs with tree trunks and straw. After the buildings were constructed, the Incan people would smooth the stones with sand, mud, and clay to make the structures look polished.

The people who inhabited this ancient site considered it to be magical because of the Andes Mountains and the Amazon River. The Temple of the Condor was a place of worship where the head of the condor was used as an altar for sacrifices. The Intihuatana is a column of stone that is rising from a block of stone. As winter approached, a priest held a ceremony to prevent the sun from disappearing. Intihuatana means ‘for tying the sun’ and ‘hitching post of the sun.’ Intihuatanas in other Incan civilizations were destroyed by the Spanish. However, the Spanish never found Machu Picchu, th...

... middle of paper ...

... was discovered by Hiram Bingham, an American, who lived from 1875-1956. He went to Princeton, Yale, and got a PhD from Harvard. Bingham was a military officer, governor of Connecticut and a US senator. He mistook it for the long lost Inca capital of Vilcabamba. Machu Picchu was discovered on July 24th, 1911. When discovered Hiram Bingham said, “I was left speechless.”

Scientists can surmise about who built it, who lived there, and why it was abandoned and forgotten, but they still are not one hundred percent sure. Machu Picchu was used for religious observance, astronomical observation, a royal retreat, and a secret ceremonial city. Therefore, I have partially proved my thesis. I said that Machu Picchu was created by the Inca culture for religious observance. Machu Picchu was used for that and many other things and that is why it is such an amazing civilization.