Lonely Planet: Lost City

Lonely Planet: Lost City
Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu is both the best and least known of the Inca ruins. It is not mentioned in any of the chronicles of the Spanish conquistadors, and archaeologists today can only speculate on its function. The site was known to a handful of Quechua peasants who farmed the area, but the outside world was unaware of its existence until the American historian Hiram Bingham stumbled on it almost by accident in 1911. Bingham was searching for the lost city of Vilcabamba, which lay much deeper in the jungle at Espiritu Pampa. Centuries of vegetation hid the city, and Bingham returned in 1912 and 1915 to carry out the difficult tasks of clearing the thick forest and mapping the site. Despite further working bees, the ruins continue to retain their secrets. The discovery of over 50 burial sites, 80% of which contained female remains, led some to speculate that the city housed the Inca's chosen women. It may have been the Inca's last stronghold against the Spanish, or it may have been abandoned long before Conquest. These unanswered questions add to the site's overwhelming sense of mystery.