GENERAL INFORMATION

The Inka city of Machupicchu is located in the mountain range called Vilcabamba in the left upper part of the Vilcanota riverside at about 2,400 meters (7,824 feet) above sea level, district of Machupicchu, Province of Urubamba, Cusco Region in the Republic of Peru.

It is surrounded by impressive mountains: to the north is the Waynapicchu Mountain at about 2,750 meters above sea level. To the south is Machupicchu Mountain at 3.050 meters. To the east is Yanantin Mountain at 3,150 meters and Putucusi Mountain at 2,650 meters.

Ecological level and climate

Machupicchu lies in a subtropical zone. This cloud forest is called in Quechua, yunga. The rainy season is from November to April and the dry season is from May to October. But rain falls at all times of the year.

The maximum temperature is 26ºC and the minimum is 6ºC with an average of 13ºc. Relative humidity ranges from 77% in the dry season to 91% in the rainy season.

Flora of Machupicchu

The vegetation in this area is exuberant and diverse. More than 2,828 species have been registered until the year 2003, including plants, flowers, bushes and trees; although it is estimated that more than five thousand species exist. The most representative of these are orchids (30genus and more than 200 species). There are also highland palm trees (geonoma) and arboreal ferns, paqa or bamboos, ferns, bromélias (favorite food of the spectacled bear), begonias, dandelions, floripondio, tobacco. Mani forms of lichen, algae and mushroom are found. According to biologist Percy Nuñez, more than 400 hundred species of trees coexists, the most common are the pisonay, basul, cedars, the cascarilla or tree of the kina, walnut trees or nogal, kiswar, qewiña, inkati, warango, intimpa and alder or aliso. Trunks of some of these trees were used to make the framework for roofs, beans, and lintels in the buildings of Machupicchu.

Fauna of Machupicchu

Numerous species of insects such as ants, wasps, and butterflies exist. In addition are mollusks, amphibians, spiders, reptiles, birds and mammals. The most representative of these are the spectacled bears (Tremarctus ornatus) which coexist with deers, foxes, pumas, wild cats, and viskachas. Prevailing among the snakes are the vipers called “jergona” or “feder-lance”. Of the more than 400 bird species, predominate the Andean cock of the rocks (Rupicola peruviana, called in Quechua, “tunki”), the Andean condor, the relojero bird and andean sparrows; commonly found are species of hummingbirds, swallows and falcons, among others.

Lizards and centipedes are very common as well. In the river there can be found trout, torrent ducks, and otters.

Geology

Machupicchu`s geological structure is that of a great intrusive mass, named Vilcabamba Batholith by Isaias Bowman. Its outcrop is about 400 square kilometers and dates back to the Paleozoic era approximately 250 million years ago. The Vilcabamba Batholith lies on rugged terrain with abrupt and irregular steep slopes and cliffs. Due to geological faults, tock fractures, pluvial erosions, landslides and other faults cross its geologic structure.

The predominant rock type is the white-to-gray-colored granite which is intrusive igneous rock (magma cooled down in the earth´s interior) characterized by its abundant feldspar, quartz, mica and muscovite along with other minerals in lesser quantities.

What does Machupicchu mean?

Because there exist no historical record, the original name of the Inka city now called Machupicchu is unknown. “Machupicchu” has gained widespread acceptance since Hiram Bingham gave the city this name in 1911. Bingham so named the city because that was the name of the mountain that towered above it. He may also have been influenced by the mane of the old town of Picchu located in the mountain bordering Cusco.

It is accepted today that the word Machupicchu translates as “Old Mountain” though this definition cannot be ascertained. Quechua speakers translate machu as “old” or “ancestral”. The exact translation of the word picchu cannot be verified.

Reasons behind Machupicchu´s location

The Inka´s choice of Machupicchu as the site for their sacred city was based not only on geographical factors, but also spiritual ones. This location offered these advantages:

  • A source of spring water necessary for survival.
  • The abundance of quarries of granite to use as building material.
  • The mountain´s high cliff which offered natural protection against unwelcome visitors; a temperate, tropical climate conduciveto the growth of products such as the coca leaf abundant in the nearby valley.
  • A geographical location whose elevation and isolation provided a peaceful atmosphere creating a relevant place for the ascension of the spirit. The Inka Pachakuteq, a man of great sensitivity, saw Waynapicchu as representing the form of a puma, and Huchuypicchu the condor. Pachakuteq understood that this sacred geography was the ideal location for this sanctuary which lodged masters of wisdom, priests and astronomers who supported imperial power.
  • A gate away to jungle regions from where the conquest of the Chanka nation could be consolidated and territory expanded.

Date and organization of construction

 According to archeological avidence Machupicchu was built in the middle of the fifteenth century during the reign of Inka Pchakuteq. The work was carried aout through the mit´a; that is, a system through which citizens worked as a means to pay taxes. The mit´a was highly organized and disciplined, supervised by respective leaders of various regions.

Architects were in charge of design and construction. They first drew architectural maps from which the Pachakuteq himself, in the company of his advisers, planned the design. Scale models were constructed. Base campas of operations were set up in the zone of Mandorpampa.

Work begins by first performing a ritual of permission and offerings to Pachamama. Workers then began on cleaning the zone’s building site, removing trees and stones. They erected platforms (andenes or terraces), then built enclosures, constructing the walls with the beauty and quality admired today. Roofs were constructed with tree trunks of various thicknesses which were abundant in the region. The roofs were then covered with ichu (straw). The rudimentary walls were plastered with clay and painted red and yellow.

The construction of Machupicchu continued about thirty years. When its basic structure was finished, the thousands of workers were free to leave. The city was inhabited by chosen people coming from Cusco and other regions of the empire who came to carry out, political and religious duties.

Machupicchu’s population

According to archaeological deduction evidence of the quantity of water consumption (an average of one hundred liters per minute) and the number of buildings (a total of 184 enclosures, most of them lodges, storages, temples and houses), Machupicchu would have been inhabited by about five hundred inhabitants and would have received an average of one thousand visitors during special religious celebrations among leaders and servants.

Inhabitants

Machupicchu’s population comprised chosen people of the imperial elite: amautas (wise masters), mamakunas (female masters), Virgins of the Sun, astronomers, , priests, priestesses and young men who were aspirants to the priesthood and to political power of the Tawantinsuyo. Servants and security staff were formed by young aspirants.

Purposes served by Machupicchu

Machupicchu was a sacred place where an institution related to the Tambo-t’oqo (temple of knowledge) functioned.  Taking place here was the education of the future generations of leaders who supported successively the growing dominion of the empire; that is it was a school where future leaders and wise priests were trained. It also housed and increased the secrets of power and transcendental knowledge for spiritual development. In its enclosures it lodged the most selected wise people who supported ideologically the power of the Inkas. Also taught were the values which formed an Inka(man) and Qoya(woman).

Machupicchu’s Abandonment

Let us remember that when Manko Inka waged the war of liberation in 1536, after the first struggles, he had marched to Ollantaytambo. Later, taking with him the Imperial emblems, he went to the province of Vilcabamba to reorganize his army and start a full scale battle in order to restore the empire.

Traveling Vilcabamba he took the route through Ollantaytambo, Pantikalla (Malaga Pass) and the Amaybamba valley where he fought unsuccessfully against the Spanish army. He then crossed the Chukichaka bridge and arrived in Vitkos where he established his political capital.

As a precaution on that 1536 journey to Vilcabamba, Manko Inka did not travel through Machupicchu (which was the fastest route) to avoid involving this city in the war. Later he orders that all trails to Machupicchu be blocked. In this way he temporarily thwarted the Spaniard’s ever discovering the city.

Once the Inka was in Vilcabamba the political situation worsened, leaving Machupicchu exposed to potential risk: Therefore at that time, Manko Inka ordered citizens to abandon Machupicchu and travel to Vilcabamba territory on the west side of the mountain (about a five –day journey).

The depopulation of Machupicchu began in 1537.

The city was abandoned systematically. The people took all their belongings, mummies of their leaders, statues and liturgical objects of precious metals, leaving only tombs of lesser hierarchy, broken ceramics and some utensils.

Once in Vilcabamba territory, they settled in the monastery at Hatun Willkapampa. Here they continued supporting the power of the last Inkas until the Spaniards attacked them and captured Tupac Amaru I in the jungle of Vilcabamba in 1572. It has been suggested that this was when the inhabitants of Hatun Willkapampa penetrated the jungle and established the mysterious city of EL PAITITI.

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