Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Machu Picchu site was initially overgrown with thick vegetation, forcing Bingham's team
to be content with roughly mapping the site. Bingham returned in 1912 and 1915 to carry
out the difficult task of clearing the thick forest, when he also discovered some of the ru-
ins on the so-called Inca Trail. (Over the course of his various journeys, Bingham took
thousands of artifacts back to the USA with him;
Click here
t
o learn about the fight for
their return to Peru.) Peruvian archaeologist Luis E Valcárcel undertook further studies in
1934, as did a Peruvian-American expedition under Paul Fejos in 1940 and 1941.
Despite scores of more recent studies, knowledge of Machu Picchu remains sketchy.
Even today archaeologists are forced to rely heavily on speculation and educated guess-
work as to its function. Some believe the citadel was founded in the waning years of the
last Incas as an attempt to preserve Inca culture or rekindle their predominance, while oth-
ers think that it may have already become an uninhabited, forgotten city at the time of the
conquest. A more recent theory suggests that the site was a royal retreat or the country
palace of Pachacutec, abandoned at the time of the Spanish invasion. The site's director
believes that it was a city, a political, religious and administrative center. Its location, and
the fact that at least eight access routes have been discovered, suggests that it was a trade
nexus between Amazonia and the highlands.
It seems clear from the exceptionally high quality of the stonework and the abundance
of ornamental work that Machu Picchu was once vitally important as a ceremonial center.
Indeed, to some extent, it still is: Alejandro Toledo, the country's first indigenous Andean
president, impressively staged his inauguration here in 2001.
READ UP ON THE RUINS
If you are wondering what it's like to hike the Inca Trail, or its lesser-known alternatives, pick up Mark Adams'
Turn Right at Machu Picchu
(2010). Not a hero's tale, the humorous travelogue is a first-person account of one
adventure editor bumbling out into the wild. On the way, it provides an entertaining layman's look at Inca history
and the striving explorations of Hiram Bingham.
Sights & Activities
Don't miss the Museo de Sitio Manuel Chávez Ballón (
Click here
) by Puente Ruinas at
the base of the climb to Machu Picchu. Buses headed back from the ruins to Aguas Cali-
entes will stop upon request at the bridge. From here it's under a half-hour walk back to
town.
