Ep. 178: Machu Picchu – Top 6 Facts

February 23, 2025 Peter Jans

Intro

Hello and Welcome to this episode of the podcast, "The Mnemonic Tree", where we add a single mnemonic leaf to our Tree of Knowledge.

I’m Jans your Mnemonic Man and today's episode will be on the ancient fortress city, tucked away high in the Andes Mountains, Machu Picchu.

Located in Peru, South America Machu Picchu is 2,430 metres above sea level. It is shaped like a saddle with a peak on either side. It was built by the Incas during the reign of the Inca emperor Pachacuti around 1450 A.D.

The engineering is astonishing with polished dry-stone walls with no mortar used. To add to this, Peru has a high seismic activity being located close to two fault lines. The Incas were aware of this and used various techniques to combat, such as, trapezoidal-shaped doors and windows, inward inclining walls, bracing blocks, and the ashlar technique which was previously mentioned, which is the cutting and shaping of stones for seamless joints.

Some of the structures of Mach Picchu include the Temple of the Sun, the Temple of the Three Windows, and the Intihuatana, which is an iconic sundial. The artificial agricultural terraces are built on the side of the mountain in two levels. The upper level comprising of forty terraces and the lower level of eighty.

Remarkably, the site was abandoned in the 16th century, thought to be when the Spanish invaded. Though the Spanish decimated much of the Inca Empire and set up a system of rule, they never found Machu Picchu.

The next person to rediscover was Hiram Bingham in 1911 who revealed its majesty to the world. Since then it has become a Peruvian Historical Sanctuary, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

Today’s mnemonic will be on Machu Picchu’s Top 6 Facts.

So, with that being said, we will begin with a summary from Wikipedia.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peru_Machu_Picchu_Sunrise.jpg

Wikipedia Summary

Machu Picchu is a pre-Columbian 15th-century Inca site in Peru, in South America.

The Incas built the city on an Andes mountain ridge, 2430m above sea level. They lived there between 1200 and 1450 AD. Other people lived there before about 650 AD.

The Incas built houses, fields and temples by cutting the rock on the mountain so it was flat. They built some observatories to look at the stars.

When the Spanish invaded Peru, the Incas left Machu Picchu. Nobody knows for sure why they did that, but some think it was because of diseases from Europe (such as smallpox). The city was left unfinished, most likely due to the Spanish invasion and/or a civil war between the ruling rival Inca brothers named Huascar and Atahualpa. The Spanish never found Machu Picchu or the lost city during their occupation.

Machu Picchu is very difficult to get to because it is so high in the mountains. It has only one way in and a stone wall to protect it. Most people on Earth did not know it was there until a Yale graduate named Hiram Bingham rediscovered it in 1911.

He heard rumors of a hidden city which was already known to the native Peruvians, who guided him there. He led a restoration project that was partly funded by the National Geographic Society. Bingham made a deal with the government to take artifacts to the Peabody Museum for study. Peru is still trying to have those artifacts returned to them.

Machu Picchu was declared a Peruvian Historical Sanctuary in 1981 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. In 2007, Machu Picchu was voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in a worldwide Internet poll.

Today, there is a new road so that tourists can visit. People can also walk along the Inca Trail, or take a train from Cusco.

Extracted from: [https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machu_Picchu]

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:99_-_Machu_Picchu_-_Juin_2009.edit3.jpg

Mnemonic

Machu Picchu – Top 6 Facts Mnemonic – Hiram Located Inca Site Up On top

(Picture Hiram Bingham locating the Inca site as he did with the help of native Peruvians)

1. Hiram Bingham rediscovered Machu Picchu in 1911

2. Located in Peru, South America on a ridge on the Andes Mountain Range

3. Incas lived there between c. 1420 and 1532 A.D.

4. When the Spanish invaded Peru, the Incas left Machu Picchu

5. UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983

6. One of the New Seven Wonders of the World

Five Fun Facts

1. Hiram Bingham III was an American academic, explorer and politician. For years he had been searching for the “Lost City of the Incas” called Vilcabamba. He thought he found it, but misidentified Machu Picchu as the “Lost City of the Incas,” which was later rectified by the Andean explorer Vince Lee.

2. Despite the Incas leaving Machu Picchu when the Spanish conquistadores invaded there is no evidence that they ever reached the site. The majority of the other Incan sites had been decimated, but Machu Picchu untouched. There was also no evidence in letters, travel diaries or any other documents, most likely because of its isolated location.

3. It remains a mystery as to why Machu Picchu was built. A royal estate or a secret ceremonial centre are possibilities. What is known is that it consists of over 150 separate buildings which include temples, sanctuaries, homes, baths, and more than 100 sets of stairs. The Incan people were master stone masons, and their engineering prowess and agriculture techniques led to a thriving empire that expanded from modern-day southern Columbia to southern Chile, the largest empire to ever exist in the Americas.

4. Machu Picchu also contained an astronomical observatory. In the centre of this observatory there is a sacred stone called the “Intihuatana” which marks important events such as the solstices and equinoxes, where the stone will cast no shadow on an equinox, exactly at noon. The observatory also contains the “Water Mirrors” which are circular in shape, carved out of stone into the ground. When filled with water, they project the reflection of the sky.

Now, on my trip to Machu Picchu I remember getting up very early one morning so I could bathe in the soupy fog at the top of the observatory. But unfortunately for me, I peaked too soon, and mist it!

5. Now, the last fact is a good one if you like to play practical jokes. Apparently, if you visit Machu Picchu wearing your country’s folkloric costumes for example such as a Japanese Kimono, German lederhosen, a Scottish Kilt, or maybe just shorts and thongs for an Aussie, you will be denied entry. Conservative clothing is preferred out of respect, and also prudent because of the number of biting insects.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:80_-_Machu_Picchu_-_Juin_2009_-_edit.jpg

Three Question Quiz

Q.1. What is the capital of Peru?

Q.2. In the Quechua Indian language, “Machu Picchu” means what? Options are “Old Mountain,” or “High ledge”

Q.3. Yale Professor Hiram Bingham wrote a book about his findings when he rediscovered Machu Picchu in 1911. What was the name of his book? Options are “The Lost City of the Incas,” or “The Hidden City.”

Bonus Q. What was the capital city of the Inca Empire? Hint: It starts with a C

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