The longer Machu Picchu is around, the more we find out we don’t know that much about it. The amazing facts keep piling up. Here are a few more.
1. The ancient city “disappeared” for centuries.
It’s debatable just how well known the site was to the outside world even when it was brand new. Apparently, construction of the city was completed midway through the mid-1400s, but popular knowledge of the city was nonexistent up until 1911. It’s safe to say that the city was a secret from its conception onward.
2. The Spanish Never Found Machu Picchu
The Spanish may have conquered the Incan empire in the 1500s, but they never found Machu Picchu. Partly due to how inaccessible it was due to the wilderness, and also in part to ingenious barriers, such as the Incan drawbridge. Reaching Machu Picchu is a trial for the body even when you know where it is. Tromping around the countryside looking for a city that may or may not be there was probably too much for the Spanish.
3. It takes strenuous effort to reach Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu is in a high elevation location found in the small province of Urubamba in Cusco. The city is essentially built against a cliff with a 400 m drop, overlooking the Urubamba River.
4. Machu Picchu has a few ghost stories
Machu Picchu has been described as haunting. Others have described it as haunted. Every day until about midday, a blanket of mist covers Machu Picchu. This creates the illusion that the citadel is floating amongst the clouds. Legend has it that at night, spirits rise from the ground and try to take people away. To protect against this, most porters will sleep with a mirror or shiny piece of metal beneath them. So take care.
5. You won’t learn the language in your Spanish textbook
Machu Picchu means “old mountain” or “old peak” when translated from Quechua into English. Quechua was the language of the ancient Incas, and many people still speak it to this day.
6. The Building Technology used to make Machu Picchu was incredible, but we don’t know how it was done
Some of the granite rocks used to construct Machu Picchu were over 55 tons. That’s some serious weight. The stones are either pushed up the mountain by the bare hands of hundreds of workers or they were chiseled from the side of the mountain itself. A technique was used to construct Machu Picchu called ashlar which involves stones being perfectly shaped so that mortar is not needed to hold them together. The stones are fit so well that not even the blade of a knife would fit between them.
7. Machu Picchu sustained a number of people
Evidence found by archaeologists suggests that the area where Machu Picchu was built had been used for agriculture dating back as far as 760 BC. It’s estimated that Machu Picchu had a population of between 300 and 1,000 people during the 1400s. None of these people were commoners, but rather people of a very high social class.
8. Nobody knows why it was abandoned
Everything that there was to know about Machu Picchu was recorded in the memories of the people that lived there. The Inca people did not keep any written records. The citadel was only populated for about 100 years after which it was abandoned. Some people believe that it had to be abandoned because of an outbreak of smallpox, but that’s just a guess.
9. Machu Picchu is actually a very big place
More than 150 buildings comprise Machu Picchu. Some of them are temples and sanctuaries, others are baths and houses. Over 100 flights of stairs can be found in Machu Picchu. Most of them are carved from one single slab of stone. Popular aerial photographs of the place are deceptive as to its real size.
