Machu Picchu and Iconic Inca Sites

Machu Picchu and the other iconic Inca sites constitute the most recognizable built legacy of the imperial state that ruled the Andes from the early fifteenth century until the Spanish conquest of 1532. The term is conventionally used to refer to the principal royal estates and citadels of the Sapa Inca, including Machu Picchu, Ollantaytambo, Choquequirao, and the smaller but historically significant sites of Vilcabamba, Vitcos, and Sayhuite. These sites share a common architectural language, including the use of polygonal ashlar masonry, the integration of buildings with agricultural terraces, the alignment of principal axes to astronomical phenomena, and the dedication of central precincts to the cult of the sun and the cult of the ancestors. The sites are typically located in commanding topographical positions, on ridges, saddles, or mountain flanks, and are approached by the roads and bridges of the Qhapaq Ñan, the imperial road system.

The iconic sites are conventionally dated to the reigns of Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui (c. 1438–1471/72), Túpac Inca Yupanqui (1471/72–1493), and Huayna Capac (1493–1527), with the principal royal estates built in the late fifteenth century. The sites are interpreted as a combination of royal residence, religious center, and administrative node, and they are tied to the panaca, the royal lineage cult, and to the imperial administration of newly incorporated territories. The sites were largely abandoned in the early colonial period, with the last Inca resistance at Vilcabamba holding out until 1572, and they were rediscovered and brought to international attention in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, principally through the work of Hiram Bingham.

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu is the most famous Inca site and the best-known example of imperial architecture. It is located on a saddle between the peaks of Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu, in the cloud forest of the eastern Andes, at an elevation of approximately 2,430 meters. Most scholars now read the chronology as a Pachacuti foundation (c. 1450), with substantial completion under Huayna Cápac in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries; the site served as a royal estate dedicated to the cult of the emperor, the cult of the sun, and the cult of the Apus, the mountain spirits. It is estimated to have housed up to 750 permanent residents, including priests, aqllakuna (chosen women), craftsmen, and servants, and supported a much larger population in its agricultural hinterland.

Machu Picchu was unknown to the Spanish during the conquest and was not rediscovered by the outside world until Hiram Bingham, a North American historian, brought it to international attention in 1911. Bingham’s account of the site, published in 1913 and 1916, sparked a long-running debate about the identification of the site with the Vilcabamba, the last capital of the Neo-Inca state, and with the Tampu Tocco, the mythical origin place of the Inca. The consensus among modern scholars is that Machu Picchu was a royal estate, similar in function to Ollantaytambo and Choquequirao, and that the site was occupied only during the reign of Pachacuti and his immediate successors. The site was abandoned in the early colonial period, perhaps because of the disruption of the imperial cult, and was not occupied by the Spanish.

The site is laid out on a sequence of terraces cut into the mountain flank, with a clear separation between the urban (Hanan) and residential (Hurin) sectors. The site includes approximately 172 buildings, including temples, royal residences, storehouses, workshops, and a series of fountains that channel water from a spring above the city. The principal religious buildings of the site include the Intihuatana stone, the Temple of the Sun, the Room of the Three Windows, the Principal Temple, and the Unfinished Temple. The Intihuatana is a carved granite outcrop that is believed to have served as an astronomic observation point, marking the solstices and the equinoxes.

The engineering of Machu Picchu is striking for its integration of natural and built form. The site sits on a fault zone, and Inca builders made use of a deep fracture in the bedrock to channel drainage and to provide a foundation for the Sun Temple. The site is crossed by a sequence of stepped agricultural terraces that helped stabilize the slopes against erosion and landslides, and these terraces were also used to grow maize on the lower levels and potatoes on the upper levels. A complex system of stone-lined drainage channels and agricultural terraces prevented the site from being damaged by heavy rainfall. Peru has protected Machu Picchu as a national archaeological park since 1961, and the site was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.

The principal religious buildings of the site, described in detail in the article on the Temples and the Intihuatana at Machu Picchu, embody the cosmology of the imperial cult. The Temple of the Sun, built atop a large natural boulder, is a semi-circular structure built with the same polygonal ashlar technique used at the Coricancha. The Room of the Three Windows is a long hall with three trapezoidal openings aligned to provide views of the surrounding mountains, and the Principal Temple is a rectangular structure with a large carved stone in its interior. The Unfinished Temple, in the lower sector of the site, is conventionally interpreted as evidence of a sudden halt to construction, perhaps during the civil war of 1529–1532 or after the Spanish conquest of 1532.

Ollantaytambo

Ollantaytambo is a town and archaeological site in the Sacred Valley of the Urubamba, located approximately 60 kilometers northwest of Cusco. The site is a complex of ceremonial and defensive buildings built on a steep ridge and a series of agricultural terraces on the valley floor. The town is one of the few Inca settlements that have been continuously inhabited since the imperial period; the lower town retains its original Inca street plan and is recognized as a National Historic Landmark of Peru.

The site has a complex building history. The lower terraces and the town of Ollantaytambo are attributed to the ninth Sapa Inca, Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, who used the site as a royal estate. The principal buildings on the upper terrace include the Temple of the Sun, a series of structures built with large polygonal blocks, and the unfinished ceremonial buildings on the ñusta hill. The six monoliths of the Sun Temple, each weighing approximately 50 tons, were quarried from the mountainside above the site and hauled several kilometers to their current position. The transport of these stones, and the construction of the upper terraces, was abandoned before the complex was completed, possibly because of the civil war of 1529–1532 or the Spanish conquest of 1532.

Ollantaytambo is famous as the site of a battle fought by the Inca general Manco Inca in 1537. Manco Inca, who had been crowned at Cusco by the Spanish in 1533 but had rebelled in 1535, occupied the fortress and routed a Spanish force under Juan Pizarro in 1537. The victory was not decisive, and Manco Inca ultimately withdrew to Vilcabamba, but the engagement demonstrated the continued military effectiveness of the Inca army and the strength of the Ollantaytambo fortifications. The site was never taken by Spanish assault, and it was abandoned by Inca forces only after Manco Inca’s withdrawal.

The engineering of Ollantaytambo is notable for its sophisticated use of the steep topography. The site includes a series of stone-lined canals and channels that direct water from the Patakancha River to the lower terraces and to a series of fountains in the town. The terraces are built of polygonal andesite blocks that have weathered more than 500 years of agricultural use. The town plan, which is preserved in the lower town, includes long, narrow residential blocks organized around internal courtyards. The orientation of the buildings follows astronomical alignments, including the rising of the Pleiades, and the site includes an ushnu, a ceremonial platform, on the upper terrace.

Choquequirao

Choquequirao is a large Inca site in the Vilcabamba region, located on a ridge above the Apurímac River at an elevation of approximately 3,050 meters. The site was the third-largest Inca complex in the Cusco region, after Cusco and Machu Picchu, and is built on a much larger footprint than the more famous site, although it is much less well known. It is reached by a difficult two-day trek from the town of Cachora, although access is improving with a planned cable car and a road.

The site is conventionally dated to the mid-fifteenth century and is attributed to the reign of Túpac Inca Yupanqui, the tenth Sapa Inca. It is interpreted as a royal estate, similar in function to Machu Picchu, and as a religious center dedicated to the cult of the Apus and of the Pachamama, the earth mother. The complex includes more than 180 buildings, including temples, royal residences, agricultural terraces, fountains, and a series of geometric groups of structures that are believed to represent llamas in the form of the chaquip.

Choquequirao is divided into two main sectors. The upper sector, on the western ridge, includes the principal religious and ceremonial buildings, while the lower sector, on the eastern ridge, includes agricultural terraces and buildings of the llacta. The site is also notable for its sophisticated water management: a sequence of stone-lined canals and channels carries water from a natural spring to a series of fountains, including a long channel known as the Amaicha that runs nearly the full length of the site. The site is currently being studied and partially excavated by the Peruvian Ministry of Culture and by international projects.

Vilcabamba and the Neo-Inca state

Vilcabamba was the capital of the Neo-Inca state between 1539 and 1572, after the fall of the imperial capital at Cusco. The site is located in the cloud forest of the eastern Andes, in the upper reaches of the Vilcabamba River, and was the seat of the Inca rulers Manco Inca, Sayri Túpac, Titu Cusi, and Túpac Amaru, who resisted Spanish authority for more than three decades. The principal remains at Vilcabamba include the ceremonial complex of Vitcos, the fortress of Rosaspata, the ñusta spa of Pucará, and a series of smaller sites associated with the Neo-Inca administration.

The Neo-Inca state at Vilcabamba was a continuation of the imperial Inca state, with the panaca cult, the mit’a labor system, and the imperial building program. The state maintained diplomatic relations with the Spanish administration in Cusco and Lima, and it engaged in a complex diplomacy with the Spanish, including the exchange of hostages and the negotiation of Christian marriages. The state was finally extinguished in 1572, when the Spanish captured and executed Túpac Amaru, the last Inca ruler of Vilcabamba.

The site of Vilcabamba was lost to the historical record for nearly four centuries and was rediscovered in the 1960s by the American explorer Gene Savoy. The identification of Vilcabamba with the Espiritu Pampa site, the principal complex in the upper Vilcabamba, was confirmed by the British historian John Hemming and his team in the 1960s. The site has been the subject of intensive archaeological work since the 1980s, and it remains one of the most important sites of the late Inca period.

Other imperial sites

A large number of additional imperial sites, more modest in scale than the great royal estates, dot the Andes from Quito in the north to Mendoza in the south. The sites of Huánuco Pampa, Jauja, Tarmatambo, Vilcashuamán, and Huamanga were important administrative centers of the empire, while sites such as Sayhuite, Tambomachay, Puca Pucara, Quenqo, and Moray were ceremonial centers, royal estates, or specialized sites such as the agricultural laboratory of Moray. The sites of Pisac, Chinchero, and Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley are the most-visited imperial sites after Machu Picchu and reflect the importance of the Sacred Valley as the agricultural and ceremonial heartland of the empire.