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Archaeology





MACHU PICCHU: INCA SITE ‘HAS GONE BY WRONG NAME FOR OVER 100 YEARS’

Peruvian historian and US archaeologist say the pre-Columbian town was called
Huayna Picchu by the Inca people

Macchu Picchu – or as it was apparently called by the Inca – Huayna Picchu.
Photograph: Mike_Sheridan/Getty Images/iStockphoto
Macchu Picchu – or as it was apparently called by the Inca – Huayna Picchu.
Photograph: Mike_Sheridan/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Dan Collyns in Lima
@yachay_dc
Wed 23 Mar 2022 14.56 GMTLast modified on Mon 28 Mar 2022 10.31 BST
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Machu Picchu is one of the world’s best-known archaeological sites, a wonder of
pre-Columbian architecture that has been closely studied for decades and a
tourist attraction that draws hundreds of thousands of visitors every year.

But a new academic paper argues that since its rediscovery more than a century
ago, the site has been known by the wrong name.


Peru’s last Inca city reveals its secrets: ‘It’s genuinely a marvel’
Read more

A Peruvian historian and a leading US archaeologist argue that the Unesco world
heritage site was known by its Inca inhabitants as Huayna Picchu – the name of a
peak overlooking the ruins – or simply Picchu.

In their paper, published by Ñawpa Pacha: Journal of Andean Archaeology, Donato
Amado Gonzales of Peru’s ministry of culture and Brian S Bauer from the
University of Illinois Chicago say they scoured placenames on 19th-century maps,
information in 17th-century documents and the original field notes of the US
explorer Hiram Bingham – the modern-day discoverer of the Inca citadel – and
found that not one of the sources refers to the site as Machu Picchu.



Believed to have been once the summer retreat of the Inca emperor Pachacutec,
Machu Picchu was memorably “discovered” by Bingham in 1911, although there is
widespread academic consensus that the lost city was never really lost.

But Gonzales and Bauer say their findings suggest that at the time of their
rediscovery, the ruins were little known, even among those who lived in Peru’s
Cusco region.

“We began with the uncertainty of the name of the ruins when Bingham first
visited them and then reviewed several maps and atlases printed before Bingham’s
visit to the ruins,” said Bauer. “There is significant data which suggest that
the Inca city actually was called Picchu or more likely, Huayna Picchu.”

The researchers found that the ruins of an Inca town called Huayna Picchu are
mentioned in a 1904 atlas that was published seven years before Bingham arrived
in Peru.



Moreover, the investigators say that Bingham was told in 1911 of ruins called
Huayna Picchu along the Urubamba River before he left Cusco to search for the
site. A landowner’s son later told Bingham in 1912 that the ruins were called
Huayna Picchu, they add.

The most definitive connections to the original name of the Inca city are
preserved within accounts written by Spanish conquerors soon after they seized
Cusco in the late 16th century, according to Bauer.

“We end with a stunning, late 16th-century account when the Indigenous people of
the region were considering returning to reoccupy the site, which they called
Huayna Picchu,” he said.

Scientists discover Machu Picchu could be at least two decades older than
thought
Read more


The peak now known as Huayna Picchu remains part of the archaeological site and
visitors can hike to the summit to get the most breathtaking view of the
mountaintop ruin.

While study is likely to prompt fresh debate, few historians seem to believe a
name change is on the cards for the site.

“All names are invented and changeable and it doesn’t make much difference,”
said Natalia Sobrevilla, professor of Latin American history at the University
of Kent. “Except now Machu Picchu is an established brand very linked to
Peruvian identity, so what would be the point of changing it?”

The Peruvian historian added: “As Shakespeare said: ‘A rose by any other name
would smell as sweet.’”


Topics
 * Archaeology

 * Machu Picchu, Peru
 * Americas
 * Peru
 * news

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