For most people, this view is most associated with Machu Picchu, a wide mountainous ledge dotted with ancient structures, over which rise sharp peaks.
Photo: Flickr / DBMerino
It is not surprising that for many this place is the most recognizable symbol of the Inca civilization. However, a closer look gives a deeper insight into what it was like to live in a place where thick stone walls echoed with the sounds of everyday life. Take a look at Machu Picchu from other angles!
Photo: Flickr / Santiago Sarmiento
The walls are perhaps the most remarkable thing in this place. They are known as “dry masonry”, so they were not fastened with any mortar. Their structural integrity is completely determined by the forces of compression and the way the stones close with each other. In Machu Picchu, this bonding is an art in itself.
Photo: Flickr / Matthew Knott
Photo: Flickr / Matthew Knott
Our modern sensibility, so accustomed to the uniformity of the shape and size of brickwork, was caught off guard (maybe even shocked) by this randomness, but it was not randomness at all. Each stone was cut and selected for each specific location — this process must have taken a long time, but these walls were built for centuries.
photo: Flickr / Eugene Kaspersky
photo: Flickr / Eugene Kaspersky
Yet they look so new — their condition definitely belies their almost 600-year-old age. From a close distance, the walls of houses and temples look as if they were built quite recently, and not around 1450. Why are they so almost untouched? Although archaeologists have restored many of them, the stone buildings of Machu Picchu have been inhabited for almost a century. Why were they abandoned so (relatively) quickly after their construction?
Photo: Flickr / Templar137
Photo: Flickr / Matthew Knott
Photo: Flickr / Matthew Knott
Raise your hands if you thought it was because of the Spanish conquest? There is still no written evidence even that the invaders visited this city. There are also no sure signs of the presence of the conquistadors — they destroyed most of the sacred rocks with cave paintings of the XVI century that they came across. However, by 1572 Machu Picchu was abandoned.
Photo: Flickr / Benjamin Dumas
Photo: Flickr / Benjamin Dumas
Photo: Flickr / Benjamin Dumas
It is believed that smallpox, introduced by the conquistadors, reached Machu Picchu before them, destroying the population. By the time the Spaniards arrived in the area, this place had already been abandoned by its creators. The Spaniards never found it — the jungle quickly regained this place, hiding the city in vegetation. Still, perhaps he was “forgotten” for another reason. This place was never a real city—it was an estate.
Photo: Flickr / Iuk
Photo: Flickr / Dachalan
Photo: Flickr / Iandoh
Photo: Flickr / Shubhika Bharathwaj
