'Lost city of the Incas' was not a true city

Discovery ^ | Jun 8, 2009 | Rossella Lorenzi

[decimon]

Machu Picchu, the "lost city of the Incas," was not a true city but rather a pilgrimage center symbolically connected to the Andean vision of the cosmos, an Italian study has concluded.

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The Inca, who ruled the largest empire on Earth by the time their last emperor, Atahualpa, was garroted by Spanish conquistadors in 1533, believed that the sun god was their ancestor.

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"Any interpretation is doomed to remain speculative. Machu Picchu remains a mystery. We do not know for sure what the Inca called it, we do not know when and why it was constructed, or why it was abandoned," Magli said.

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[decimon]

Throttling expectations ping.

[rabscuttle385]

.

[decimon]

[Star Traveler]

I just like saying — “Machu Picchu” ... LOL...

[BGHater]

‘Atahualpa, was garroted by Spanish conquistadors in 1533’

At least he didn’t suffer. The conquistadors were not the nicest of pillagers.

[decimon]

I just like saying — “Machu Picchu” ...

Nah, you don't pronounce it right.

[Star Traveler]

LOL... I’ve been caught...

[Little Pig]

I’ve always thought that this site was abandoned at least in part because it’s *at the top of a freaking mountain*.

I’m reminded of the scene in the Return of the King movie, where the beacons of Gondor are lit, and they show the beacons as being at the top of nearly inaccessible peaks and ridgelines far above the cloud tops, instead of low hills along the front of the mountain range. I always think to myself: who are the poor bastards who have to man these almost-never-used beacons their whole lives far from civilization, just in case someone declares war.

[decimon]

I’ve always thought that this site was abandoned at least in part because it’s *at the top of a freaking mountain*.

The true reason they converted to Christianity. ;-)

[fieldmarshaldj]

How ‘bout Mauch Chunk ?

[Star Traveler]

Hmmm..., doesn’t have the “ring” to it... :-)

[LonePalm]

My grandfather was the anthropologist and Medical doctor for the expedition that first excavated Machu Picchu.

He was a classmate of Hiram Bingham in collage.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[tet68]

Didn’t they get revenge on Pizzaro by pouring molten
gold or silver down his throat?

They could play hard ball too.

[decimon]

My grandfather was the anthropologist and Medical doctor for the expedition that first excavated Machu Picchu.

How did he pronounce it?

[LonePalm]

Something like Meh-chew PITCH-oo as I remember.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[decimon]

Thanks. I wasn’t actually expecting an answer.

[LonePalm]

Well, who else are you going to ask?

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[decimon]

Well, who else are you going to ask?

I'm not picchy. ;-)

[SunkenCiv]

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