The lower courses, of particularly large ashlars, gave it a look of solidity. The exterior surface was perfectly simple and unadorned. ‘The interior surface of the wall was broken by niches and square stone-pegs. ‘Clearly, it was the work of a master artist,’ he later wrote. Bingham followed the boy up a set of stairs and saw that the structure flowed into an even more stunning wall, made of regular, finely grained ashlars of pure white granite. Rounded walls were rare in Inca architecture and were often features of sun temples. The boy pointed above the cave, where the stone thrust up into a curved, tower-like structure.
PICHI RICHARD AND SON SKIN
Had this been a royal tomb, where emperors sat forever in state, their leathery skin still clad in the brightly coloured tunics of Inca royalty, their ears still hanging with massive gold earplugs, their brows covered with the royal red fringe? The Incas had once placed their golden icons and, more importantly, the mallquis, or mummies of their dead emperors, in niches like these. Beneath them were ‘very large niches, the best and tallest that I have ever seen’, wrote Bingham. Mysterious pegs protruded from the walls. The inside of the cave was lined with yet more carefully worked stones. An hourglass of blocks linked the cave’s outer lip to an adjacent boulder. A stone carved with four graceful steps edged its triangular entrance. In one thicket, the boy showed him the day’s first architectural wonder: a cave shaped, carved, and lined with beautiful, interlocking stones. Surprise followed surprise until there came the realization that we were in the midst of as wonderful ruins as any ever found in Peru.’Ĭovered by a foam of ‘trees and moss and the growth of centuries’, the temples, fountains, and palace buildings seemed to rise and fall along the ridge until they crashed upon the base of Huayna Picchu like a wave. But his gaze drifted down and then he saw it: ‘a jungle-covered maze of small and large walls, the ruins of buildings made of blocks of white granite, most carefully cut and beautifully fitted together without cement. His eyes caught the peak of Huayna Picchu, large and impressive.
PICHI RICHARD AND SON SERIES
The trail led onto a series of old terraces that the boy’s family had reclaimed then, finally rounding a promontory, the boy gestured, and Bingham looked up.
Richarte’s barefoot son, no older than eight, led the way down the path toward Huayna Picchu. Beneath a beaten and misshapen grey hat and a head of hair that was lightening in the sunshine, the gringo flashed his tight-lipped smile.Īrteaga explained in Quechua that this foreigner wanted to see the ruins. A strange, rifle-like device was strapped to his back. He was panting from the climb, and his hunting jacket and gray cardigan were likely tucked under his arm. They knew Arteaga, but Bingham must have been a strange sight: probably the tallest person they had ever seen, his long alien legs tucked into tall leather boots, wrapped with cloth and ballooning into khaki jodhpurs. These were the Richartes: 24-year-old Torvis and his family. Staring out of it, shocked at the intrusion, was a family of Indian farmers. And there, Bingham got a surprise: a single hut. After an hour and a half of exertion, they collapsed into a peaceful clearing. ‘A good part of the distance we went on all fours, sometimes holding on by our fingernails,’ Bingham wrote. Arteaga, Bingham, and Carrasco began to climb: the river’s noise dropped to a dull roar, orchids and hummingbirds broke the green darkness of liana-choked trees, and the path grew steep and muddy. The next day, 24 July 1911, dawned cold and rainy, and low clouds hid the ridge from view.
Historian and author Christopher Heaney recounts the events of Hiram Bingham’s expedition that reclaimed Machu Picchu from the jungle. But he was the first to bring it to the attention of the world. He was not the first to see it since the Incas left centuries before: local farmers were living on the land, and the site appeared on several maps – including that published in 1910 by Inca expert Sir Clements Markham. Exactly 100 years ago, the explorer Hiram Bingham found Machu Picchu on the eastern slopes of Peru’s soaring Andes mountains.
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