From our vantage point our guide pointed out to us that the Machu Picchu site can be roughly divided into four zones. An agricultural zone: for producing crops and animal husbandry. An urban zone: where artisans, metal smiths, maintenance workers and the common citizens lived. An upper town zone: containing temples, housing for the elite and priests. And a lower town zone: where warehouse buildings were erected for storing grain and other produce. It was easy to understand that this hierarchical society was well planned and organised from its empire leaders down to the lower classes of people. With this knowledge we headed down from our iconic viewing place and spent the rest of the day exploring the different building ruins of Machu Picchu. In this section of the blog we've include samples of some of these.
The agricultural zone is a sweeping series of at least700 ancient terraces built to perfectly drain the heavy mountain rains that often blanket the area at Machu Picchu and to preserve soil, promote agriculture, and limit the erosion of the steep slopes. Machu Picchu receives more 1.8 metres of rain each year and the drainage system which was engineered by the Incas hundreds of years ago still functions well after a heavy storm so that the agricultural areas are never flooded. By terracing the landscape the Incas not only prevented soil erosion but were able to plant crops on each levelled step area and produce increased yields.
We walked across some of these now grassy areas which looked like picture perfect lawns that had just been manicured. Wild llamas and alpacas are the natural "mowers" at Machu Picchu today. They are the ancestors of strays left behind when the Inca people deserted this town. Our guide told us that, three generations of Incas occupied Machu Picchu before suddenly and mysteriously abandoning it. He added that we may never know the actual reason for their departure but theories range from deaths from introduced diseases after the Spanish invasion which would have been spread to the mountain citadel through traders from the capital Lima and other cities conquered by the Spanish. The Inca Empire in Peru, suffered losses of race from a succession wars and lost almost 2/3 of its population to a tragic smallpox epidemic so this explanation of Machu Picchu's abandonment seems plausible. But it is also argued that the Incas may have deliberately abandoned their site so that the Spanish would not destroy their sacred abode and over time the city was overgrown by the jungle, and "forgotten".
Pondering these thoughts we wandered across the grassed plaza areas amongst the "wild" llamas that were not at all perturbed by our presence and seemed content to allow visitors to pat them. With tourism to Machu Picchu booming and with an influx of more than 3.3 million tourists last year the llamas and alpacas have become accustomed to mingling with humans. We enjoyed seeing their newly born offspring frolicking and prancing about, nibbling at grass tips and suckling from their mothers' teats. These animals thrive on living at high altitudes zones because it is their natural and ideal environment with plenty of fodder and few if any predators because of Machu Picchu's isolated elevated location.
Leaving these gentle animals and the peaceful open grasslands, we walked over to the Sacred Plaza where we came across a huge 3 metre high triangular slab of natural rock. The single boulder looked impressive so we had a group photo taken in front of it. You can also see clouds gathering in the sky on the mountains behind the rock. This boulder edifice is referred to as the Sacred Rock by locals but historians are unclear whether or not this rock was used for religious rituals. However, Incas considered that rocks held spiritual powers and this rock strategically faces Wayna Picchu, a mountain the Incas revered because they believed it contained one of the higher spirits that they worshipped.
Next we visited The Intihuauana Stone which is considered the most significant sacred ritual structure inside Machu Picchu. This carved stone structure is both an altar and an astronomical devise. On solstice day the stone casts no shadow and the varying angles and different levels which have been carved in the rock structure, were used to predict equinox and other important astronomical events in the Inca calendar. Amazingly, the 4 corners of the stone are pointing in all 4 cardinal directions, suggesting that the Incas had an impressive knowledge of the relationship between earth and the sky. Stones like this one were once found all over the Inca Empire but most were destroyed by the Spanish. Rituals were held around and on the rock throughout the year with the people believing that the stone structure helped to hold the sun in its position and kept the sun on its path through the sky. 