Machu Picchu is an ancient city of the Inca civilization, located in the territory of modern Peru, 170 miles from Cuscu, the center of the former Inca Empire.
The Inca Empire in the Middle Ages covered the territory of South America, which today includes Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, as well as parts of Argentina and Colombia.
Lost among lush vegetation high in the Andes Mountains, Machu Picchu was not discovered until 1911. Residents left the city 400 years before the Europeans arrived. Despite the absence of people, the buildings are perfectly preserved. It is interesting that in the city of the Incas, a civilization that owned huge reserves of precious metals and products from them, not a single gold or silver thing was found. The protection of the city by sheer cliffs suggests that the city could have stored the treasures of an ancient civilization, but their searches have not led to anything.
Surprisingly, when constructing buildings, the builders did not use limestone mortar, which is usually used to fasten stones in masonry. The Incas did not use carts (they did not know the wheel) and draft animals to move heavy stone blocks. Nevertheless, the polygonal stones of the buildings are fitted with such care that there is not a single gap between them, into which the blade of a knife would pass. This technology has become a real godsend for an area where earthquakes are constantly occurring. But the question of how the stones were delivered to the construction site remains open today.
The city is harmoniously "built" into the surrounding terrain. The buildings rest on rocks, sculptures are carved from numerous boulders, channels for water drainage are carved again in the stone. Most of the buildings are built of granite. It was probably hewn with stone or bronze tools and then polished with sand. It is clear that this required a colossal investment of time and effort. It is possible that for this work, as well as for moving the building blocks, the labor of the captured was used.
Another mystery of Machu Picchu is the purpose of the city. According to the calculations of researchers, no more than 1,000 people could be in the city and its environs at a time. Taking into account the fact that the complex of buildings is located in an inaccessible place at a distance from the main settlements, it can be assumed that the city was not something ordinary. According to existing hypotheses, it could have played the role of a religious center, the residence of the royal family, or the residence of priests and priestesses. In favor of these assumptions is the fact that Machu Picchu has many temples, palaces, observatories. The Temple of the Sun, which is located in the center of the city, apparently was a place for observing a heavenly body.
The mysterious thing about Machu Picchu is where its inhabitants have gone. According to modern research, the town was not inhabited for long, about 130 years. The magnificently preserved buildings refute the possibility of a natural disaster. The conquistadors did not get to the city, so there was no need for the population to flee from the Spaniards. Some researchers suggest that people died from some kind of disease, possibly from smallpox, brought to the mainland by Europeans. It is difficult to imagine any other reason why the population could leave the citadel with such difficulty built in the mountains.