High in the Andes Mountains, once lost for centuries, lies Machu Picchu or “manly peak”, built between 1460 and 1470 near Cuzco in Peru by Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, an Inca ruler. The Urubamba river flows below the city that rises 8,000 ft above a canyon and a forest, and has a group of 200 buildings, mostly residences, temples, godowns and public buildings with typical Inca polygonal masonry. About 1,200 people lived and worked there and most of the structures are built of granite blocks cut with bronze or stone tools, fitted so closely together without mortar that even blades can’t be inserted into the joints! By 1527, half the people were killed by pestilence and the Inca empire also waned. When Pizarro arrived in Cuzco in 1532, Machu Picchu was already forgotten.
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