Unique Facts About Machu Picchu

Vikas Mishra, a San Ramon, California, IT professional working for Adobe as a senior DevOps infrastructure engineer and AWS architect, has been in the industry for more than two decades. Outside of work, Vikas Mishra of San Ramon enjoys traveling and has visited noteworthy sites such as Machu Picchu in Peru.

Part of the Inca Empire, Machu Picchu is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. Below are several interesting facts about Machu Picchu that you may not know:

1) No mortar was used to keep walls together. Despite having not having iron tools, wheels, or animal power, the Inca built Machu Picchu with no mortar. Instead, each stone used to build the city was cut to fit perfectly with the stone next to it. The fit of each stone was so precise that stones are capable of withstanding seismic activity while maintaining such a small gap that a credit card cannot be easily inserted between them.

2) Machu Picchu was never lost. Hiram Bingham III discovered Machu Picchu in 1911 during his search for Vilcabamba. Vilcabamba was a hidden capital the Inca fled to during the Spanish conquests. Upon discovering Machu Picchu, Bingham incorrectly assumed it was the Lost City of the Inca. His theory was proved wrong after his death in 1956. More research argues Machu Picchu was never lost. In fact, three families of farmers lived at the site when Bingham found it.

3) It rests 7,972 feet above sea level. The extreme altitude of Machu Picchu makes exploration of the city difficult for many visitors, and often requires extra medication or medical preparation. However, it also helped the city avoid the destruction of the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, as it cannot be seen from below.