4. Macchu Picchu in Peru

Machu Picchu is not mentioned in any of the chronicles of the Spanish conquistadors. Apart from a few indigenous Quechuas, nobody knew of Machu Picchu’s existence until American historian Hiram Bingham stumbled upon it in 1911 while being guided around by locals.

Bingham’s search was for the lost city of Vilcabamba, the last stronghold of the Incas, and he thought he had found it at Machu Picchu. We now know that the remote ruins at Espíritu Pampa, much deeper in the jungle, are actually the remains of Vilcabamba. The 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 ruins on the so-called Inca Trail. Peruvian archaeologist Luis E Valcárcel undertook further studies in 1934, as did a Peruvian-American expedition under Paul Fejos in 1940–41.

Despite scores of more recent studies, knowledge of Machu Picchu remains sketchy. Even today archaeologists are forced to rely heavily on speculation and educated guesswork as to its function. Over 50 burial sites and 100 skeletal remains have been discovered over the course of excavations. Initially the remains were thought to be 80% female, leading to an early theory that it was a city of ‘chosen women,’ but this lost support when it emerged that the male/female ratio was actually 50/50. 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 others think 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 country palace abandoned at the time of the Spanish invasion.

What is obvious from the exceptionally high quality of the stonework and the abundance of ornamental work is that Machu Picchu must once have been 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.