The most famous of all the Inca ruins, Machu Picchu appears to be suspended between two mountains and is often enshrouded in mist. It can't be seen from the Urubamba Valley below and is an enchanting place, especially considering that the Incas didn't even have the use of the wheel when they built it.
Machu Picchu was built in the mid 15th century, but since its existence was not recorded by the Spanish Conquistadors who ramsacked the region in the 1530s, we don't really know what its purpose was. Many of the ruins incorporate ceremonial features, so it could possibly have been a religious sanctuary. It's likely that the place was already deserted by the time of the Spanish invasion, as otherwise it would have been mentioned in their reports of the Inca civilization.
The Inca had no system of writing and left no written records, so archaeologists have been left to piece together bits of evidence as to why Machu Picchu was built, what purpose it served, and why it was so quickly vacated.
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