MACHUPICCHU

Another hypothetical reason indicates that once the Antis (name of the "Andes" mountains comes from "Antis" = jungle tribes living in the Amazonian Forest), the worst enemies of the Inkas, arrived to this spot where they carried out a huge slaughter; the city was abandoned afterwards. What is evident is that the Inkan City was closed, abandoned and forgotten even until the first years of the XXth century.

Today, in a simple way Machupicchu is divided in two main sectors: farming and urban. The Farming Sector is located just after entering from the tourist hotel; over here there are very broad artificial farming terraces; they are only some of all the ones existing in the region, as most of them are covered by thick vegetation. By the eastern end of the terraces there are five buildings that maybe served to house the farmers who cultivated this sector; those buildings are known as the " Farmers' Group" though Bingham called them "Outer Barracks". On the upper end of those terraces there is a small room having just 3 walls known as the " Watchman Post" constructed in a strategic place; from this point there is a broad view of the Urubamba canyon in two different directions. It is here, from where the Machupicchu classical pictures are taken. In the vicinity is the named "Funerary Rock" ; it is a loose boulder placed knowingly in that spot, carved as an altar with some steps and a ring. It is supposed to have served in order to carry out all the embalming process as well as for drying the mummies up. Nevertheless, it seems that this rock had also a certain relationship with solar observations.

In the winter solstice, the sunlight is projected exactly towards this rock from "Intipunku" (Sun Gate) which is compounded by the buildings towards the east, on the pass, by the end of the Inka trail that is seen surrounding the Machupicchu Mountain. Further south from the "Funerary Rock" is the largest building in Machupicchu; it is a "Kallanka" that has 8 access openings on its front wall and 2 on the side ones. Because of its location near the trails, its dimensions and morphology, that building must have been a sort of " Tambo" and served as lodge for a large number of persons. Some authors name this building as "Headquarters" and some others as "Workshops".
Passing from the farming sector to the urban one there is a great " Dry Moat" that served to protect it. Machupicchu was a very exclusive city and its population selected among the nobility, therefore, it had a very effective security and protective system.

Crossing the Dry Moat is the Urban Sector; even farther is the "Fountains Street" containing 16 Liturgical Fountains. In the Inkan Society the water was always considered as a special deity, therefore, there were normally fountains and reservoirs for its cult. The main fountain is located in front of a building having just three walls that in the Inkan Architecture is named "Wayrana" that is supposed to be a ceremonial center from where the "Willaq Uma" (High Priest) had to carry out diverse ceremonies in order to worship the water. Today, water does not flow through the channels any more simply because the tourist hotel is using it; originally the water was harnessed from a spring located behind the Machupicchu mountain; the channel came aside and along the Inka trail going towards Intipunku.
Nearby, is the "Sun Temple" that was a complex originally very well protected. In Inkan times only the priests and the Inka could use those temples; thus, they remained closed and protected. Common people had popular ceremonies in open areas or plazas like the one in Machupicchu or Qosqo. The entrance into the Sun Temple is through a magnificent double jamb doorway, that on its interior surface shows its security system with a stone ring over the lintel where the wooden door must have been hung, and the two stakes inside small carved boxes in the interior jambs where the door's crossing bar was tied. The temple itself was built over a huge "in-situ" boulder. It has a semicircular floor plan; its rear wall is straight and the whole temple is built with the "Imperial Inkan" architectonic type, that is, with rectangular faced stones with perfect joints. The semicircular wall has two windows; one of them faces towards the east and the other towards the north. According to modern scientists those two windows constitute the most important solar observatory in Machupicchu; in the window facing east it is possible to fix accurately the winter solstice measuring the shade projections on the central rock. Both windows have projecting carved fake beams surrounding their outside face; they surely served in order to support elements that made solar observations easier. In the center of the temple there is an "in-situ" carved rock altar that served to carry out diverse ceremonies honoring the Sun; it is over here where animal sacrifices were executed, so that analyzing their hearts, lungs and viscera, the priests could foretell the future. It is also here where the Inka had to symbolically drink "chicha" (maize beer) along with his father the Sun. The straight rear wall has a window with small carved holes on its threshold that tradition knows as the "Snake Window" (name given by Bingham). The holes are very similar to those found in the Temple of the Stars in Qosqo's Qorikancha that according to Garcilaso kept ornaments of precious metals and stones; possibly also over here those holes had the same duty. The straight walls of the temple have trapezoidal niches in their interior faces; they were used to keep different idols and offerings. Some authors indicate that originally this temple had a thatched conical roof, and they name it as "Suntur Wasi", "Military Tower", etc.