Machu Picchu
- Date
- 1911 · confidence high
- Place
- Machu Picchu, Cusco, Peru
- Credited to
- Hiram Bingham; guides Melchor Arteaga and Pablo Richarte; precedent of Agustín Lizárraga (1902)
- People
- 👤 Agustín Lizárraga1865–1912👤 Hiram Bingham III1875–1956
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
Guided by local peasants, Bingham brought the 15th-century Inca city on the ridge above the Urubamba to world attention, intact because it had never been found by the conquistadors. National Geographic made it an icon in 1913.
Coordinates of the site. It was not a 'discovery': peasant families lived and farmed on the terraces, Lizárraga had left his name inscribed there in 1902, and the site appeared in colonial documents. Bingham documented it scientifically.
What it led to
- Andean archaeology and worldwide interest in the Incas
- Mass tourism and World Heritage status (1983)
- Dispute over the return of the artefacts taken to Yale (returned 2011-12)
Built on
- Search for Vilcabamba
- Yale expedition to Peru
Made possible
- Popular archaeological photography