Some archaeologists suggest prehistoric Andean hunters may have first located Machu Picchu by tracking game along the Urubamba River and following a freshwater spring to the mountaintop, where rock art has been found nearby. Some guides date this initial discovery to around 2,000 BC, long before Inca construction began in the late 1200s.
Early discovery of Machu Picchu traced to hunters following a mountain spring
PeruGeneral
Key facts
- Prehistoric Andean Amazonian hunters may have discovered Machu Picchu by tracking game along the Urubamba River and following a freshwater spring at the top of the mountain.
- Rock art and cave art have been found near the spring at the top of the mountain.
- Some archaeologists and site guides date the initial discovery of the spring to 2,000 BC or roughly 2,000 years ago, attributed to unnamed pre-Inca hunters.
- Major construction at Machu Picchu began in the late 1200s-1300s and intensified during the 1400s.
Site mentioned
Sources
The Masterful Water Engineers of Machu Picchu - MDPImdpi.com
The Inca, using a clever groundwater interception structure (Figure 4), carefully developed this spring, which then fed a long domestic water ...
Machu Picchu Water Management - Ancient Engineering Technologiesancientengrtech.wisc.edu
Bingham, a history professor at Yale, discovered the ruins of Machu Picchu in 1911. The ancient city of Machu Picchu uses a water source of natural springs
Machu Picchu's Remarkable Water Supply and Drainage Systemsomrania.com
The Incans built a collection system to increase the yield of the spring, then created a canal that brought water down to the site of the city.
The Sacred Role of Water in Machu Picchu & Incan Civilizationalpacaexpeditions.com
At Machu Picchu, they built advanced aqueducts, canals, and fountains that brought fresh water to the people living there.
Water Fountains and Inca Channels of Machu Picchu - Peru Sitesperusites.com
The spring: the origin of the water. The water that supplied Machu Picchu came and still comes from a spring located on the northern slope of the mountain ...
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