MACHUPICCHU

Under the "Sun Temple" there is an interesting small cave known as the " Royal Tomb"; it was named that by Bingham believing that it could shelter the mummy of a Cusquenian nobleman or possibly that of an Inka; but he wrote that nothing was found inside it. The relationship would be logical: the Inka buried under his father's temple. Without any doubt that small cave must have been related to the Ukju Pacha (underground world) and the cult of dead people. Inside the small cave, on the right side wall there are two large trapezoidal niches with projecting fake stone beams by the height of their lintels, and two smaller niches on the deeper wall. On the floor, there is a carving with a "stepping symbol" representing the three levels of the Andean Religious World. In the Inkan Society all the corpses were mummified in a fetal position with the only difference being that mummies of noblemen were kept in temples while those of common people were buried or placed in cemeteries. Inside the Sun Temple complex, there is also a two story construction known by some authors as the " Ñusta's Inclosure" (ñusta = princess) and as the Priest's by some others. Because of its location in the complex it must had a close relationship with the Temple and possibly it was the dwelling for the Willaq Uma (High Priest).
Crossing the street, in front of the Sun Temple is the " Royal Group". It is a classical "kancha" (an apartment for an extended family); it is the only one that is found in the area and the only one that is very solid and built with carved stones. There is no doubt that it was the Inka's dwelling. The group has two big rooms and two small "wayranas" around a central patio. The eastern room is known as the bedroom and inside it, its southern portion is divided with carved stones forming the "bed", the Inka might have slept on that corner over some blankets woven in vicuna wool. On the northern end of the room there is a very small compartment that people have baptized as the "bathroom", which is unusual because bathrooms are not normally found inside the apartments. The room that stands in front is known as the ruler's "studio"; and the two small "wayranas" on two opposing sides were probably used as kitchen and workshop. Almost by the middle of the central patio there is a carved stone that served as a mortar in order to grind grains or some other goods. Leaving the group through its only entrance (today there is another way out behind the "studio" that was opened to help tourists walk around), in the small and narrow passage, towards the right side and about two meters high is a protruding carved stone as a fake beam that has a hole in the middle.
It must have served to hold ceremonial elements and perhaps an "aryballus" (classic Inkan jar having a sharp-pointed base) of "chicha" (maize beer).
Going up the stone stairs is the "Quarry" or " Granitic Chaos" sector, where there are amorphous granite boulders; it is suggested that they were being exploited slowly.

All the mountains around the Inkan City have the same quality of rocks; that is, white-gray granite of the Vilcabamba Batholith. Therefore, the rocks were in the place and were not transported from the valley's bottom as some authors pretended to state. In this sector there is a partially broken rock frequently pointed out by local guides; that is not a genuine Inkan work but simply a sample of the technique used by that age in order to split stones, it was made in 1953.

When magma was cooled off in order to form granites, there was also a crystallizing process by which those rocks show always natural nerves (faults or lines) on their surfaces; they were located by the Quechua stonemasons who made holes along them. Those holes were filled up with wooden wedges that were then soaked; thus, using expansion or swelling of soaked wood they could split the rocks. By the start of this book there is a chapter about the techniques and tools used in Inkan stonemasonry.
From the quarry, it is possible to go up by the stone stairway towards the southeast in order to get the sector named as " Superior Group" (some historians name this sector as that of the "Main City Gate", or of the "Yachaywasi" -school-). In this sector there are many constructions with "pirka" type walls that apparently served as public buildings, among which there are some "Qollqas" (storehouses). In this sector is the Machupicchu's Main City Gate that was the only entrance by the southeastern part of the city. The main gate of Machupicchu was very well protected in order to allow the entrance of just its exclusive population; in the interior face of that doorway it is also possible to see its locking system with the stone ring over the lintel and the two stakes inside the small carved boxes in the jambs.

Towards the quarry's west is the "Sacred Plaza" (Holy Group), where in its western end is the " Main Temple" (Chief Temple); it is a "Wayrana" type Temple, that is, it has just three walls made with stones that have rectangular faces and perfect snug joints, with the "Imperial Inkan" wall type. The Main Temple shows seven trapezoidal niches on its central wall and five on each of the lateral ones.