Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu, which means "old peak" is an ancient Inca city located high in the Andes in Peru, on top of a ridge. It consists of over 200 separate buildings, mostly residences, but also the temples, storage facilities and other public buildings, all built in the typical architectural style of Inca polygonal masonry, where blocks of stone were cut and fit almost perfection without the use of mortar. The blocks fit together so that the blade of a knife is not able to be fit together. Also unique is the integration of landscape architecture; existing rock formations have been used for the construction of structures, sculptures were carved in the rock, water flows through cisterns and stone channels, and temples hang on steep precipices. Much of this wonderful city still exists today, more than 500 years after its completion, and as such we have added the new compilation of the Seven Wonders of the World.It is estimated that about 1200 people, mostly women and children, lived in Machu Picchu. Around 1527, the Spanish conquistadors arrived in the area, destroying many cities of the Incas, but were never found Machu Picchu. However, bought with their small pox, which spread around the city and killed at least 50% of the population. As a result, the Incas fell into civil war and the 1532, Machu Picchu was already forgotten. In 1911, a Yale professor, Hiram Bingham, rediscovered Machu Picchu with the help of some local guides and bought the old city to the attention of the world. It should be noted, which also removed from the site of hundreds of articles of value, many of whom still reside in England, despite statements by the governments of Peru to have them because returned.Just Machu Picchu was built in the first place , is subject to many theories. Some speculate that it was and "Ilacta", a settlement built to control the economy of other regions conquered the Incas. Others argue that it may have been built as a prison for those who had committed heinous crimes against Inca society. Still others believe, was constructed for the sole purpose of defense against a retreat invaders.Most widely believed, however, is that Machu Picchu was built heritage for the Inca emperor, Pachacuti, the location selected for its relationship with the characteristic features the sacred landscape as its mountains, which are in line with the major astronomical events of importance to the Incas. The most important is the Stone Intihuatana, known as "The Hitching Point of the Sun" because it was supposed to keep the sun in its place at the time of the equinoxes, when the sun is above the column, casting a shadow over it all. As worshipers of the sun god, this would be of particular importance to the Incas. (Incredibly, despite surviving for centuries in touch, the stone was damaged in September 2000 when a crane being used by an advertising company, filming an ad for beer, fell on the stone, breaking a piece of the ancient stone .) The site of Machu Picchu may have been used for ritual sacrifices, common to the Incas. Mummies found at the site were only women and children, who were frequent victims of these sacrifices. The Incas believed that the offerings to their gods to appease them and ensure better crops and greater prosperity. Usually, those chosen for the sacrifices they were physically perfect children of important leaders or clergy, the Incas, holding that these facts for a better sacrifice. The children would have chosen a year before the sacrifice had to be done, then it would be fed a diet richer than they were accustomed to, in essence, "they fattening up" for the gods. Following this, they would be taken on pilgrimage to high peaks, (making it the ideal location Machu Picchu). The sacrifices would be given maize beer and coca leaves to alleviate their senses and make them more susceptible to their fate. Some were left to succumb to the elements, others were strangled or suffocated. The mummified bodies of some have been shown to have had their clothing wrapped around them so closely that his ribs were crushed and pelvis dislocated.One final theory for the construction of Machu Picchu, the attempt to explain the seemingly impossible task of building as elaborate as a city in a region inaccessible without the use of modern instruments, is made by Erich von Daniken in his 1968 book, The Chariots of the Gods. In it, he suggests that the gods worshiped by the Incas were actually visitors from other planets. These extra-terrestrial beings called for the construction of a city in line with key astronomical events, providing them with the help of maps and building materials store with their "chariots of fire" and promised to return to check the progress of work. According to Daniken, sacrifices may have been made to hasten the return of these "gods".
http://rovitalt.com