Machu Pichu
Location
70 miles north of Cuzco, Peru. Altitude - 2,300m.
(13° 09' S, 72° 33' 20" W)
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('Old
Peak')
Description -
The citadel was officially re-discovered in 1911 by Hiram Bingham. Very little is known about the site, except that it has buildings that show strong suggestions of solar observation (12). The structures are built from white granite, with blocks reaching up to 3.7 metres in length. Skeletal remains show a 10:1 ratio of females to males. (2)
Chronology - In the 1930’s, Prof Rolf Muller, concluded from the alignments of the buildings, and using the procession of the equinox as a slide-rule, that the site could have only been built during ‘the era of 4,000 BC to 2,000 BC. (21)
The Intihuatana - A sacred Inca stone to the sun god Inli; A small flattened pyramid topped by a huge stone sundial carved from the natural rock. The name means ‘the hitching post of the sun’. The stone was also able to indicate solstices, equinoxes and lunar movements. (12).
The Tower of the Sun – Roughly shaped like a horse shoe (left), it has a trapezoidal window in it, which appears to have been placed to permit observation of the mid-winter solstice. (12).
The Temple of the Three Windows – So called because of its three trapezoidal windows. A short distance away from the windows, in the middle of the Temple, stands a rectangular stone which could have been used as a back-sight for solar observations. (12).
The Royal Tomb
– Carved from solid granite, the tomb lies directly below the Tower of the Sun. A throne of solid rock walls with carefully worked stone slabs. (12).
Archaeo-astronomy -
The site appears to demonstrate numerous astronomical elements, including solstice, equinoxes and lunar movements (see above,
Other Interesting Facts.
At Torontoy, one of the smaller sites clustered around Machu Pichu, there is a stone with 40 angles between the sides. (12).
The Inca were able to create citadels such as Mach Pichu, Cutting through granite, with intricate block-work, yet no tools have been found that explain how.
These construction techniques are similar to those found at other sites from around the ancient world.
References:
2). D. Zink. The Ancient Stones Speak. 1979. Musson Book Co. 12). The atlas of mysterious places. Guild publishing. 1987. 21). G. Hancock. Fingerprints of the gods. Mandarin. 1996.