Ten Discoveries That Rewrote History

by Patrick Hunt

  Because the Carter excavations did significant damage to Tut’s remains, separating the deceased young king’s body into sections and probing it for other details, it is very difficult to distinguish modern disarticulation of bones from the ancient embalming process, let alone determining exact cause of death. The 3,400 intervening years have also somewhat muted the evidence.

  Many questions surround Tut’s reign. He is not named in the incomplete Turin King List (primarily because it stops at the Seventeenth Dynasty, around 1700 BC, and Tut was a late Eighteenth Dynasty king), nor is he or his likely father Akhenaten recorded in the great Abydos King List recorded by Seti, who founded the next great dynasty (Ramessides) after Tut, around 1300 BC. The other king list, from the Ptolemaic Greek period, was compiled by Manetho in 271 BC and also omits Tut, along with others such as Tut’s enigmatic relative Akhenaten. Lack of documentation about Tut’s life still leaves us unsatisfied as to whether he was really a son of Akhenaten by Kiya, a minor wife. Speculation continues over whether Tut was married to a daughter of Akhenaten whose name was originally Ankhesenaten but was changed to Ankhesenamun, for reasons explained below. This would make Tut’s young adolescent wife also a half sister, not unheard of in Egyptian royal families of the New Kingdom.

  Akhenaten had a lot of enemies, especially the powerful Theban priesthood of Amun. Tut was most likely born at Amarna, Akhenaten’s new capital, around 1340 BC but had a different name at birth: Tutankhaten, not Tutankhamun. Like his wife’s name, his was changed possibly in fear and definitely to dissociate him from Akhenaten. When the Theban priesthood reasserted itself in the unstable period around the time of Tut’s death, it destroyed Akhenaten’s city of Amarna and everything associated with it. Tut’s successors, first his military relative Ay, who was associated with the Theban priests, and then General Horemheb, suggest to many that foul play was involved in his death at the highest level of the Egyptian hierarchy. But if the new CAT scans of Tut’s mummy are more definitive, his young death may not be so suspicious. We may never know because this transitional period is not well documented due to Egyptian instability. Since speculation abounds where evidence is lacking, Tut’s life and death will probably always remain somewhat elusive, and this mystery will likely make him even more attractive in the future.

  Conclusion

  The greatest irony about Tutankhamun is that his tomb, paradoxically loaded with lavish treasures but crudely unfinished, has elevated him to superstar status in the modern world, when he hardly made a blip in ancient Egypt. This treasure and its discovery ranks as one of the greatest stories in the world, and by it a minor pharaoh has been transformed into a figure whose name is far more familiar than any of his predecessors and successors whose power and impact on their own worlds were exponentially greater. This is one of the caprices of history but cannot undermine why Tut has done so much more for history and archaeology in his once-forgotten death than in his short forgotten life. For Tut, like all Egyptian pharaoh god-kings who lived for eternity more than the present, this may be the most fitting justice.

  Chapter 5

  Machu Picchu

  The Key to Inca Architecture

  Peruvian High Jungle, 1916

  The humid landscape seemed to climb ever upward as Hiram Bingham’s eyes tried to gauge how high the mountain jungle’s vertical peaks pierced the mists and clouds around him. He hardly dared to look down where the precipice dropped to frothy rapids raging thousands of feet below. He and his guide had been ascending for hours, wet branches dripping over them because there was no real trail through the steep twisting terrain; instead, they’d turn first this direction, then that, on endless switchbacks hacked open by the guide’s machete. Bingham’s guide hardly ever spoke, but they shared a grudging respect for each other. The short Quechua farmer never seemed out of breath, perfectly at ease in climbing practically straight up and sometimes hand over fist, as each man had to pull himself upward. Bingham, on the other hand, was tall and lanky, but hard and fit after a few seasons exploring South America on foot and by mule.

  The Quechua man pointed up ahead, only nodding with a wordless toothy smile in his earthy brown face that was the color of clay. Bingham now saw the steepest climb up ahead, almost touching the clouds, and before turning away, his guide squeezed Bingham’s arm, then pinched his thumb to his index finger to indicate the universal sign of only a little way yet to go. Bingham sighed and pushed his heavy, aching legs the last bit until the ridge suddenly leveled and fell away under them, revealing an amazing sight at the top of the narrow mountain. Hiram Bingham let out a low whistle, as intricately wrought terrace after stone terrace filled his whole vista. Who could have guessed that there was a whole lost city hidden away on the top of this mountain, one where the jungle had long overtaken these breathtaking walls that reached the sky? The Quechua guide nodded at Bingham’s amazement, and merely uttered what Bingham thought were magic words: “Machu Picchu.”

  Why Machu Picchu?

  If any archaeological site in the world evokes awe and mystery, Machu Picchu is it, as it sits literally on top of the world. Machu Picchu is a magnet to thousands of first-time visitors each year. Some people even travel to Peru and the towering Andes just to glimpse Machu Picchu, and tourists usually outnumber archaeologists by at least a thousand to one. Peruvians had even declared that Machu Picchu should be counted as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. In fact, by popular world vote in 2007, Machu Picchu is now listed as one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. So it is no surprise that global travelers most often list it first among their dream destinations. What is the mysterious source of attraction about Machu Picchu? Machu Picchu is one of the most spectacular places in the world, by design, as it is also one of the most perfect examples of dramatic Inca landscape architecture and incredible stoneworking genius. Its deliberate isolation, in steeply remote mountains—and its location kept secret from Spanish conquistadores—combined with political and cultural differences between highland and lowland Peru, helped preserve Machu Picchu’s secrets for hundreds of years. While still only a legend, Machu Picchu became the focus of Hiram Bingham’s search as an intrepid explorer. And it’s full of surprises—researches have recently discovered that Machu Picchu’s artisan/builders used acoustic engineering in ways previously unthinkable.

  Ask anyone who is adventurous and has a list of must-see places in the world this question: If you haven’t already been to South America, what place there do you most dream of visiting? Of anyone who has even a glimmer of interest in history, seven out of ten immediately respond, “Machu Picchu.” This figure comes from IATA (International Association of Travel Agents) surveys of travel operators and tour groups as well as adventure surveys. Why is Machu Picchu so important and why does it dominate this collective “must-see” list? Part of the answer is fairly straightforward and part is not so obvious to nonarchaeologists and nonhistorians, but the fact that it is so magnetic and mysterious a place to both scholars and intrepid adventurers is exactly the point, and possibly why the Inca created Machu Picchu in the first place.

  Machu Picchu is one of the most spectacular places in the world

  All experienced travelers who see Machu Picchu agree it is one of the most spectacular places in the world, perched high on the cliffs above the whitewater rapids of the Urubamba River gorge yet still framed by the jagged peaks of the Andes above it. One of the first observations anyone makes on looking around is how dramatic the vistas are on all sides. It is the dizzying verticality of the site that immediately strikes you. A small terraced plateau is dwarfed by sheer peaks rising thousands of feet above and the Urubamba gorge plummeting far below. Most scholars now agree that this drama was an intentional feature of the most likely builder, the Inca emperor Pachacuti around 1450. There is little doubt that part of its impact derives from its deliberate placement on a vertical axis. It was meant to impress all.

  Machu Picchu was “lost” for almost five hundred years because the Spanish conquista
dores were either ignorant or deliberately kept unaware of its existence. Being mostly “forgotten” by the Peruvians was also guaranteed because it was far from accessible routes and surrounded by sheer peaks and densely jungled canyons with only whitewater rapids tumbling through its unnavigable valley. Thus, the city is also unique because it was not discovered or altered by the Spanish conquest.

  Today there is debate on whether the people of Peru really ever “forgot” about it or if they just kept it secret. The truth probably lies somewhere in between. Its remoteness was probably intended either for secrecy or more likely as a defensive strategy: invaders seeking to attack Machu Picchu would hardly know it was there unless they came from above, itself a daunting prospect. The one access road dating from the period, now called the Inca Trail, winds around the back side of the ridge over a vertical granite cliff where the only passageway, which is single file, can be blocked by moving a portable “bridge” from the path. This bridge is now only timber planks that cross a deep abyss, a man-made cliff-hugging stone causeway built by the Inca in a place where a thousand-foot wall of stone looms overhead and another jungled precipice falls away below. Remove that temporary thirty-foot wooden plank link and the site of Machu Picchu is protected by its isolation. The upper gate to the city is in a formidable wall where, again deliberately, one views Huayna Picchu’s sheer peak framed in the doorway above the site. This all adds to its magnetic appeal and enhances the mystique surrounding its status as a “lost” city. What seems more and more likely is that Machu Picchu was probably designed to be remote and difficult to find.

  Machu Picchu is an example of the greatest Inca stoneworking genius

  Historians know that when the Spanish conquered Peru under Francisco Pizarro between 1532-41, they immediately set about transforming the Inca cities under Spanish rule into Europeanized structures, so much was lost in Cuzco. Inca palaces not completely torn down became foundations for colonial residences. Inca sacred sites like the Coricancha temple or the Temple of the Sun in Cuzco became the mostly invisible heart of the Church of Santo Domingo. The sacred “Puma” shape of Cuzco and the four roads from the four corners of the world arriving at the “Navel of the World” are now mostly obscured by later colonial construction. But Machu Picchu did not suffer the same fate, no doubt partly due to its deliberate isolation on a vertical ridge above whitewater torrents.

  Machu Picchu’s dramatic grandeur, far more clear than at Cuzco or nearly all other Inca sites, demonstrates a natural philosophy whereby the Inca were clearly intending to showcase their integration of man-made adaptation with natural beauty as well as a power over nature by building a stone city where one would least expect it.

  This city also provides the most complete example of Inca social and civic planning. At Machu Picchu, whole intact precincts of an Inca urban plan were untouched, quarters for clans (ayllus) and hierarchical structures and habitations interconnected by stone staircases carved from solid rock. Some of the stones in the Great Stairway have polygonal faces numbering up to twelve sides. Many of us have admired the breathtaking plunge of its hundreds of ordered agricultural terraces stepping down the nearly vertical slopes. Most of all, we have been speechless at Machu Picchu’s staggering use of natural landscape as an architectural form. Peruvian archaeologists like Santiago Agurto Calvo have documented over thirty-seven types of different “looks” on an Inca stone surface. Here one sees masonry with a remarkable variety of carved edges, each face unique and immensely difficult to carve without metal tools (unusable regardless because the stone—basalt, andesite, diorite and granite—is as hard as steel or harder, and they didn’t have steel!). Nearly all the stones of Machu Picchu touch perfectly, without any visible gaps (the proverbial knife blade cannot penetrate between these stones), and the Inca would not simply place a six-sided block on top of another; they were more likely to carve a stone ashlar (a squarish “block”) with unusual angles, flanges and crenellated edges. Plus, Machu Picchu itself was entirely quarried or carved out of the granite bedrock of this high site for economizing the immense labor of stone transport. The stone used at Machu Picchu had to travel hardly more than a half mile. With its perfectly designed location carved out of a mountain summit, midway between towering peaks above and vertiginous precipices below, Machu Picchu best represents the Inca philosophy of landscape use in a culture where nature itself was the most important part of the landscape and where human alteration was harmoniously integrated into nature. All of this taken together was a prodigious feat, most likely intended to impress then, just as it still does now.

  The “mystery” of Machu Picchu still acts as a magnet, although mystery is often a byword for ignorance. Many archaeologists and historians now think Machu Picchu appears not to have been well known even to the remnant indigenous people of Peru during the suppressions and massacres of the Spanish conquest, led by Pizarro and his successors following 1541. If the Spanish had found out about Machu Picchu’s existence, they would surely have uncovered its location—possibly through the well-known torture practiced by the Office of the Inquisition, intent on subjugating the Inca empire and taking away as much of its gold and silver as possible for “God, King and Country.” Odd rumors still surface today about the quiet disappearances of adventurers searching for lost or hidden Inca treasure. The dangers of the terrain can be intimidating, where one misstep leads to certain death, plunging hundreds of feet from narrow paths clinging to cliffs, combined with venomous snakes and a hundred other dangers. Those who wander into uncharted territory looking for secret treasure are not so likely to return from this vertical terrain. But the persistence of stories of such disappearances suggests to some that zealous descendants of the proud Inca still fiercely guard their secrets.

  Regional differences between highland and lowland Peru helped preserve Machu Picchu

  On the other hand, regional politics in Peru play a role that is highlighted by the mountainous terrain. I and other archaeologists have also discovered the sometimes frustrating differences between the postcolonial lowlands and the mostly indigenous highlands. Opposition in the indigenously peopled highlands around Cuzco and Arequipa toward policy legislated in the “colonial” capital of Lima can also stymie archaeological research when politics intervene. Having a permit to conduct archaeological research written and stamped in Lima may not sit well in Cuzco, long presided over by a Marxist-leaning regime sometimes violently at odds with the national government.

  I well remember a ferocious gun battle in 1988 at the bridge over the Urubamba River at Pisac where we’d seen the local police, the Guardia Civil, preparing for an impending attack by the Sendero Luminoso. We drove over the protected bridge guarded by rifle-bearing police behind sandbag barriers but we were high above the city on the ridge examining the Inca ruins when we later heard the gunfire reverberating below as the expected attack came. It was our reminder of a continuing struggle. Modern communication and emergency health services are sadly lacking. There is almost a complete absence of any hospitals or trained doctors over thousands of square miles. It is often still quite difficult to travel over such remote highland areas. Furthermore, intermittent lawlessness or political instability (such as was stirred up and utilized by the Sendero Luminoso, or “Shining Path” Maoists) against postcolonial landowners also fuels the rumors of disappearing treasure seekers. A natural suspicion of strangers, especially “gringos,” is a local xenophobic response that can exacerbate the exploration problems those known to be foolishly seeking Inca gold may face. To some degree, it is likely that the indigenous people of the highlands and mountains have kept at bay the postcolonial world still dominated by old Spanish landowners, and this may have also helped to preserve Machu Picchu.

  The modern Quechua descendants of the Inca are a highland people who will not easily forget the slavery and oppression brought by the colonial conquest. Incomplete documentation records that thousands of Quechua died in the seventeenth century, many enslaved deep in the silver mines of Oro
pesa. Meanwhile, various Vatican pontiffs debated the humanity of New World peoples and whether they had souls. Similar brutalities have been reported through the last few centuries over land dominance and slaughter of the Quechua when they protested or rebelled against such treatment. But in the case of Machu Picchu, its beauty and architectural wonders have only enhanced the modern world’s admiration for the Inca and their enduring forbearance and stamina.

  Bingham’s 1911 discovery of this lost city made it possible for the first time to see what the fabulous Inca had secretly accomplished in these remotest of steep mountains, a high location above thick jungles that the Spanish conquistadores could never reach and destroy. Because of their isolation and secret location, these ruins were never changed and rebuilt by colonials to reflect European values; they remain striking examples of how the Inca lived before Columbus touched the New World.

  To hide a whole city away so high over the whitewater rapids through the narrow jungle valleys, far from highly traveled routes, was ultimately a wise decision for world posterity. This region is part of what the Inca called Antisuyu, the rough land to the north of Cuzco, with its near impenetrable walls of steep cordillera.

  Rumors of lost cities full of treasure plagued the Spanish, who spared no effort searching for them. Those in unhappy contact with the Spanish conquerors might possibly have known of and kept secret the existence of Machu Picchu, but it is unlikely that most of the indigenous Peruvians knew its location. Its exact purpose is still unknown—maybe it was a private royal city or a remote royal villa or even a strategic qolqa (“storehouse”) where valued objects traded between the people of the mountains and the people of the jungles could be safely placed in transit while waiting for the next caravan of llamas to carry them onward in either direction. But the fact that it has important astronomical markers like the Intiwatana (“Hitching Post of the Sun”) that line up at dawn with local peaks like Mount Salcantay and sun temples like the Torreón suggest other functions such as calendrical festivals and that it may have been a priestly center. Royal tombs under the Torreón could be interpreted as evidence that Machu Picchu was a sacred locale for the dynasty of Pachacuti, who built it. Hundreds of terraces for crops carved out and built into the cliffs, where aqueducts brought continuous water from higher up, prove Machu Picchu sustained intensive agriculture, leading historians to believe it was self-sufficient. All these different activities certainly require that Machu Picchu’s exact purpose is yet to be carefully sought. Whatever its purposes, it remained hidden from the colonial powers for at least four centuries until around the beginning of the twentieth century. Fairly intrepid adventurers—now either on foot or by train and tour van—follow the footsteps of Inca llama caravans and later archaeologists to admire Machu Picchu’s magnificence and its breathtaking vistas.