This article was originally published on AbsoluteHistory
Adventurers have squandered many lives and fortunes tracking down lost civilizations, and despite every fake and failure, the rare successes make all the risks worthwhile. That was certainly the case for these stunning South American ruins. Since their modern rediscovery, thousands of visitors have taken in the stone monoliths and awe-inspiring vistas. But now that the community's macabre origins are becoming impossible to ignore, what does the future hold for this mountaintop oasis?
Andes vista
Every year, thousands of tourists from around the world flock to the Andes Mountains in Peru. They spend days traversing the rugged terrain — not exactly an ideal vacation for most.
But the trek is all worth it in the end.
Machu Picchu skyline
Atop the mountain range, the travelers reach the iconic skyline of Machu Picchu. This breathtaking settlement may take the cake as the most beautiful sight in the world.
Oddly enough, however, history entirely forgot its existence for centuries.
Origins
The famed Inca Empire constructed Machu Picchu in the 15th century. 50 miles north of their capital city of Cuzco, the site displayed their immense wealth and technology.
Of course, that prosperity attracted more foes than the Incas could handle.
Pizarro's destruction
Seeking gold and Catholic converts, Spaniard Francisco Pizarro swept through South America in 1532. While the native peoples vastly outnumbered the conquistadors, Pizarro had guns and horses on his side..
In ashes
The Pizarro and his men ruthlessly sacked Cuzco and executed Emperor Atahualpa. Nearly all of Inca civilization lay in ruins, and yet the soldiers never got anywhere near Machu Picchu.
The city was already abandoned and forgotten.
Hiram Bingham
In fact, the remote settlement may have remained a mystery forever if not for the efforts of Hiram Bingham III. An esteemed Yale historian, Bingham left the classroom behind to chase down a myth he couldn't get out of his mind..
Risking it all
Maps and records saved from the destruction of the Incas indicated the presence of a city high up in the mountains. Many claimed the site was lost or simply fictional, but Bingham trudged through jungle and mountains to find out..
A stunning feat
The explorer shocked the world by reaching Machu Picchu in 1911. While it was clear that no humans had lived there for many generations, the lofty community was in remarkably good shape.
It was nothing short of a marvel.
Old mountain
"Machu Picchu" roughly translated to "old mountain," and Bingham saw exactly why. Its former denizens carved terraces right into the mountainside, where they could farm crops without having to return to the valley..
Strange layout
Curiously, the couple hundred buildings in the settlement didn't resemble any other urban layout designed by the Incas. Clear divisions separated groups of stone structures, many of which didn't appear to be residential..
Historical treasure
Following Bingham's discovery, Machu Picchu quickly established itself as one of the marvels of the known world. Archaeologists continued to flock there to figure out why the Incas built a city in the mountains..
Strange artifacts
One of the bigger surprises was the abundance of sacred artifacts scattered throughout the settlement. Though the number of houses indicated that about 750 people lived there, Machu Picchu had entire sections devoted solely to religion..
Pieces of the puzzle
More luxurious residences were set aside for Inca nobles, who used them as a retreat while smaller houses likely served as temporary lodging for pious Incas making a pilgrimage. Historians found many references to a chief deity..
Inti
That would be Inti, the Inca god of the sun. The elevation and labyrinthine layout of Machu Picchu reflected his astronomical prominence, though some of Inti's followers paid tribute to him in the most horrific way possible..
Grisly sacrifices
Various relics and skeletal remains around the city suggested that residents of Machu Picchu regularly practiced human sacrifice — often with children. Grisly as these killings were, they were only the second darkest mystery buried within the city's walls..
Where did they go?
Of course, the biggest question asked where all the people of Machu Picchu went. Although it was far from a metropolis, 750 people didn't just disappear overnight.
And the city didn't show any signs of an attack or natural disaster.
Diseased downfall
With those options off the table, many theorize that disease is to blame. European contact with the New World unleashed a legion of diseases.
The demise of Machu Picchu likely came from a smallpox outbreak, as the Incas had no resistance or medicine for it.
Tourist upswell
However, the greatest threat to this wonder may just be arriving. Each year, 1.5 million well-intentioned tourists visit Machu Picchu, but their crowded presence tears up the ground and leaves behind litter..
Airport proposal
Recognizing the city as a cash cow, the Peruvian government has also considered building an airport right by the secluded site. Machu Picchu's excessive popularity could wipe out the last vestige of Inca life.
Some are frantically working to unlock its secrets before it's too late.
Rualdo Menegat
One such specialist is geologist Rualdo Menegat, who has been studying Machu Picchu for years in a bid to unravel the mystery of its construction. At times, then, he conducted field work at dizzyingly high altitudes, taking measurements from the ancient city itself.
On other occasions, however, he pored over data in a laboratory thousands of miles away from the Andean peaks.
A new perspective
Finally, in 2019, Menegat was ready to reveal the fruits of his labor to his peers. So, at an annual gathering of geologists, he outlined his theories about how Machu Picchu had been built – and why.
And now these remarkable findings are inspiring others to look at the Inca Empire in a whole new light.
Strange techniques
Today, it’s believed that the Incas used a dry-stone technique to build the city’s remarkable stone walls. Essentially, this means that the rocks were cut and fitted together without utilizing mortar.
But how did these ancient people carry out such a detailed and challenging feat? And why did they choose to do it in such an isolated spot?
Seeking isolation
Well, Menegat – a researcher at Brazil’s Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul – sought to answer those questions. He noted, too, that the Incas appeared to have made a habit of constructing their cities in isolated and inaccessible locations.
And as a geologist, he believed that the reason for this choice may lie somewhere below the ground.
Knowing the land
“It seemed to me that no civilization could be established in the Andes without knowing the rocks and mountains of the region,” Menegat explained to Newsweek in September 2019. “It could not be built on a whim.
It is part of a practice of building settlements in high rocky places. But what guides this practice? What knowledge of the rocks and mountains did builders need to know to succeed in building cities under these conditions?”
Mapping the area
According to Menegat, this area had also not been explored by any previous research, leading him to set out to conduct his own study of the geology surrounding Machu Picchu. Using a combination of satellite photos and measurements taken at the site, he began to map the tectonic faults that crisscross the region..
Living on fault lines
Long before the Incas and Machu Picchu emerged, though, the Andes Mountains had been created by a great geological upheaval. Millions of years ago, the two sections of Earth’s crust known as the Nazca Plate and the South American Plate collided.
And as the Nazca Plate was pushed beneath the South American Plate, a high ridge of rock formed.
Going deep
In an attempt to understand the landscape surrounding Machu Picchu, then, Menegat conducted four separate field trips to the region. When he wasn’t up in the mountains, meanwhile, he pored over data in his university laboratory.
And along with satellite imagery, Menegat used previous geological studies of the area to inform his research.
Checking the work
What’s more, Menegat was impressively thorough with his work. “At each stage of the research, I presented the results to Peruvian researchers from various fields of knowledge – geology, archeology, anthropology, architecture, urbanism, landscape ecology, and epistemology – and regions of Peru, so as to assure me of the correctness of data...
I also evaluate the scope and importance of my findings for Andean culture researchers,” he explained to Newsweek.
An insurance nightmare
Eventually, though, Menegat’s research led him to a singular startling conclusion. It seemed that Machu Picchu had been constructed in a spot that most modern builders would steadfastly avoid: right on top of a series of tectonic faults.
In fact, an entire network of cracks in the Earth’s crust seemingly ran beneath the city.
100 mile fissure
And according to Menegat, these faults vary in size. Indeed, while some of these breaks are little more than fissures, others stretch considerable distances beneath the mountains, with one particularly impressive example clocking in at more than 100 miles in length.
A number of the faults also travel from northwest to southeast, while others run from northeast to southwest.
X marks the spot
In fact, there’s so much geological activity here that five separate faults converge beneath Machu Picchu – creating an ominous X to mark the spot. And Menegat believes that this is unlikely to be a coincidence.
Instead, he has argued that the tumultuous terrain is integral to the structure of the city itself.
Building on the fault lines
While studying Machu Picchu, you see, Menegat observed that all of its main structures were built in alignment with the faults beneath the city. “The layout clearly reflects the fracture matrix underlying the site,” he explained in a press release from the Geological Society of America.
And, shockingly, the mountain stronghold of the Incas is not the only settlement to have been built in such a manner.
Consistent style
Yes, Menegat discovered that a number of additional Inca cities also appear to be aligned along geological features. The ruins of Ollantaytambo – which lie less than 20 miles from Machu Picchu – are also believed to be located at the intersection of several tectonic faults.
And 50 miles to the east at Pisac, a similar underlying structure can be found.
Old superstition
Menegat even claims that the Inca capital of Cusco was once constructed in alignment with the geological faults beneath the city. But why would these ancient people have chosen to build their settlements in such a way? Could it be the result of an age-old superstition, or perhaps even a choice with ritualistic connotations?.
Using the lines
Well, Menegat believes that Inca culture actually had nothing to do with it. On September 23, 2019, the researcher presented his findings at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Phoenix, Arizona.
And during his talk, the researcher put forward a novel explanation: the Incas actually used the faults to lighten the physical load of building cities.
Perfect materials
Yes, according to Menegat, the Incas specifically sought out areas of geological turmoil as locations for their cities. Since the stoneworkers who built the famously perfect walls were experts at their craft, the specialist claims, they knew that the fractured rocks found above tectonic faults would provide the perfect building material..
Working with the land
“Where faults intersect, the rocks are even more fractured,” Menegat told Newsweek. “Therefore, they are places that have more loose blocks on the surface, and [these are] also places where [the rocks] can be easily removed to build terraces and buildings.” That wasn’t the only advantage to constructing cities on these sites, however..
Naturally geometric
Menegat has gone on to explain that the fractured rock was also naturally set into geometric shapes such as hexagons and triangles – meaning the materials should have slotted together more smoothly. And if the pieces of stone were not the correct shape, then their fragile nature would have made it easier to cut them down..
Easy to carve
“The intense fracturing there predisposed the rocks to break along these same planes of weakness, which greatly reduced the energy needed to carve them,” Menegat explained in the press release. In fact, in the geologist’s opinion, the construction of Machu Picchu would have been “impossible” without these conditions..
Sophisticated water system
However, Machu Picchu’s position on top of several tectonic faults didn’t just make the workload easier. According to Menegat, this specific geology also funneled melted ice and precipitation towards the city, which in turn provided a ready source of clean water to the community in spite of the inaccessible mountain location..
Making the inhospitable hospitable
“The Andean world is inhospitable,” Menegat told Newsweek. “Here, human life is possible only in a few places where water drips through fractures.
The Incas knew to follow this criterion, which allowed them to establish networks of settlements in this kind of oasis of habitability provided by the faults and fractures.”
Supporting 10 million
Owing to the water that came from the mountains, then, the Incas didn’t need to build in the low valleys – thus reducing the risk of danger from rockfall and flooding. And these unlikely but surprisingly sustainable cities were so successful that in total they were able to support a population of some ten million people..
Natural drainage
But Menegat believes that the fractured rock beneath Machu Picchu had yet another purpose. While heavy rain was sometimes a problem even this high up in the Andes, the geology of the region could have provided natural drainage and so helped to protect the site from flooding.
In fact, this feature may well have prevented the city from falling further into ruin after it was abandoned.
Genius subsurface
“About two-thirds of the effort to build the sanctuary involved constructing subsurface drainage,” Menegat explained in the press release. “The pre-existing fractures aided this process and help account for its remarkable preservation.
Machu Picchu clearly shows us that the Inca civilization was an empire of fractured rocks.”
Quijlo
Fascinatingly, Menegat also revealed that the Incas had their own way of describing the tectonic activity on which their cities were built. “There is a Quechua word for large fractures,” he told Newsweek.
“As the great Peruvian writer José Maria Arguedas said, the Incas called the fractures that crossed the mountains ‘quijlo.’ Geologists call them faults.”
Reading the rocks
But does this mean that the people who built Machu Picchu had an incredibly advanced comprehension of geology for the time? Well, while they may not have known the cause of tectonic faults, Menegat believes that they could definitely spot them. “The Incas knew how to recognize intensely fractured zones and knew that they extended over long stretches,” he continued..
Lasting architecture
Amazingly, then, the Incas’ knowledge of faults enabled them to build structures that were to last for more than 550 years. But just as researchers such as Menegat are beginning to understand the secrets of Machu Picchu, the ruins are more at risk than ever.
If plans to construct an airport just a few miles away are carried out, the hub would bring dangerous numbers of visitors to the already crowded site. And although archaeologists are petitioning against the development, the future of the ancient city continues to hang in the balance – for now.