Machu Picchu Research Paper

402 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: The impact of tourism machu picchu society

In the depths of Peru on a great mountain top, lies a piece of inca history,Machu Picchu.
Home to over 200 structures,temples and beautiful terraces,Machu PIcchu purposes are unknown,but some theories believe it to be the last inca city, a royal retreat, a place to worship the inca sun god or a meeting place for war troops.

Located in peru, next to the city of cusco with a latitude of 13.1631° S and a longitude of 72.5450° W. Machu Picchu was built in the 15 century and faces the issues of pollution and tourism Eg: buses that carry the passengers to machu picchu are diesel fuelled and pollute the air,sewerage pumped directly into the Urubamba river polluting the waterways,the Inca trail is eroded from tourist, tea bags and plastic water bottles left by tourists litter the inca trail, garbage piled along the banks of the Urubamba river from near by hotels and restaurants. Helicopters fly in tourists and conduct tours, potentially damaging the ruins,. Timber cut for cooking use have started Forest fires in the area that have threatened Machu Picchu on several occasions. …show more content…

Structures were built with a technique called “ashlar.” Stones are cut to fit together without mortar.
Machu Picchu is historically and archaeologically important because:
It is over 500 years old.
It is the only site built by the incan people that is still intact.
The rocks that were used to build the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, were About 250 million years old
Had no tools and didn’t have the wheel
They were master engineers and builders,there terraces,canals and stone cities rivaled those of ancient rome.
It took 50 years to build
It only ruled for100

Show More
Related

  • Pre-Columbian Civilizations

    365 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Inca civilization started around 1200A.D. and was found in the Andes mountains in what is now Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile.

    Read More

  • Western Civilization: A Very Brief Overview from the Romans to the Counter-Reformation

    1123 Words  | 3 Pages

    Rome’s greatest achievements was to go beyond the limited political process that of the city-states and to develop a world-state with the different nations of the Mediterranean. In the eight century, B.C., peasant communities, along with Etruscan cities south to the Greek cities were absorbed by the Romans. Throughout this century, Roman acquired architectural styles and skills in road construction, sanitation, hydraulic engineering to include underground conduits.

    Read More

  • The Colosseum's Influence On Modern Society

    1188 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Many European cities still bear reminders of the power of ancient Rome, and throughout the western world the influence of Roman power is still manifest.” “As the Roman Empire expanded Roman architects struggled to achieve two overriding aims: to demonstrate the grandeur and power of Rome, while also improving the life of their fellow citizens.” They held the Greeks in high regard for both their sculpture and architecture, learned stonework and pyramid architecture from the Egyptians, and absorbed important techniques from the Etruscans. To that end, the Romans perfected three architectural elements: concrete, the arch, and the vault. These three elements helped lighten the load carried by Roman structures while maintaining overall durability.

    Read More

  • Getting To Know Pictou

    1588 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...y including ghost tours, building lobster traps, nautical themed vacations, genealogical exploration, outdoor enthusiast packages, and much more. Lastly, I would have to say that Pictou needs to take some of the great signage they have throughout the town and use it to inform those of who have not driven the ten minutes off the highway. If they want to generate revenue through tourism without spending the money they don’t have, they need to make potential visitors aware of what they can offer them.

    Read More

  • Brief History Of Machu Picchu

    661 Words  | 2 Pages

    Since then, Machu Picchu became the most tourist destination in Peru and one of the most important worldwide. Declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO and voted by millions as one of the Nine Seven Wonders of the World, Machu Picchu is without doubt the greatest heritage left by the ancient Incas.

    Read More

  • Mayan Architecture Essay

    1033 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Maya were an advanced society, rich and full extraordinary architecture with great complexity of patterns and variety of expressions, that flourished in Mesoamerica long before the arrival of the Spanish in the sixteenth century. They were skilled architects, building prodigious cities of primarily of limestone that remain a thousand years after their civilization fell into decline. Greatness and Grandeur was the signature of all Mayan cities, from the terminal pre-classic period and continued until the abandonment of all the city states by the beginning of the ninth century. The Maya built pyramids, temples, palaces, walls, residences and more. The limestone structures, faced with lime stucco, were the hallmark of ancient Maya architecture.

    Read More

  • Paleolithic Changes

    1050 Words  | 3 Pages

    The first permanent stone fortifications was built in Jericho. They constructed the building using roughly shaped stones laid without mortar (Kleiner, 24). Once Jericho’s inhabitants left their site, a different group of people came to settle there. They used different techniques, “…established a farming community of rectangular mud-brick houses on stone foundations with plastered and painted floors and walls” (Kleiner, 25). The megalithic tomb in Ireland was built in the form of a passage grave. “At Newgrandge, the huge megaliths forming the vaulted passage and the dome are held in place by their own weight without mortar, each stone countering the thrust o neighboring stones. Decorating some of the megaliths are incised spirals and other motifs” (Kleiner, 27). The main chamber used early examples of corralled vaulting and in addition the Newgrandge tomb illuminates sunlight through the passage and the burial chamber during the winter solstice. Nearing the end of the fourth millennium BCE, Neolithic civilization had spread in every diffraction even to small remote areas. “…Hagar Quim is one of many constructed on Malta between 3200 and 2500 BCE” (Kleiner, 27).The builders of Malta constructed the temple by pilling cut stone blocks very carefully in stacked horizontal rows. “To construct the doorways at Hagar Qim, the builders employed the post-and-lintel system in which two upright stones

    Read More

  • Peru Essay

    2713 Words  | 6 Pages

    Peru is located in western South America with an estimated population of 30 million. It is multinational, including Europeans, Africans, Asians and Amerindians. The national language of the country is Spanish, however a significant number or Peruvians still speak other native languages. Peru is a representative democratic republic that is divided into 25 regions. It is a developing country with a poverty level around 25 percent. Its main economic industries are mining, manufacturing, agriculture and fishing. The history of Peru spans multiple millennia and gone through several stages of cultural development in the mountain region and the coastal desert. About 15,000 years ago, humans are believed to have crossed the Bering Strait from Asia and moved south surviving as nomads. The Peruvian region was home to the Norte Chico civilization, one of the oldest in the world, and to the Inca Empire, the largest state in Pre-Columbian America. The Spanish Empire conquered it in the 16th century, which established a Viceroyalty with rule over most of South America. The nation declared independence from Spain in 1821, but consolidated only after the Battle of Ayacucho in 1824.

    Read More

  • Inca Subsistence In Andean South America

    554 Words  | 2 Pages

    Our group presentation is on Andean South America and my part is on subsistence. Machu Picchu was controlled by the Inca empire in the southern Pole of Altiplano. In the northern side of the Lake Titicaca basin, they had both alpaca and llama herding as well as potato and quinoa agriculture. The puna grasslands of the higher altiplano were used to graze alpaca and llama. In the coastal regions the Pacific shore yields, millions of small schooling fish such as the anchovies. However, it is surrounded by a dry landscape which can only be cultivated with large irrigation systems and long canals. Only 10% of this land can be farmed and the people relied mostly on the fishery of the Pacific. Maize agriculture and irrigation were introduced to the coast in 2500 B.C. Mollusks and large fish were vital sources on the coast. But, Anchoveta could be netted throughout the year from small canoes. 90 percent of the coastal food came from the ocean.

    Read More

  • Machu Picchu

    880 Words  | 2 Pages

    Machu Picchu is a physical symbol of the culture that created it. It is located in the Andes Mountains in Peru, South America, high above the Urubamba River Canyon Cloud Forest. The Incan capital, Cuzco, the closest major city, is forty three miles northwest of this landmark. Machu Picchu is five square miles and eighteen square kilometers in size. This ancient civilization has an altitude of eight thousand feet and is surrounded by towering green mountains. Although covered in dense bush, it had many agricultural terraces that were sufficient enough to feed the population. Due to water from the natural springs as well as the agricultural terraces, it had the ability to be self-contained. Machu Picchu was created by the Inca culture for the purpose of religious observance.

    Read More

  • Roman Engineering

    618 Words  | 2 Pages

    The ancient Romans were skilled engineers and have left lasting contributions in this field. The Romans built a great network of roads connecting cities throughout their empire. They also built aqueducts and bridges using arches for support. The Roman arch design was by far the most important innovation of their time. The arch, however, would have been useless without the discovery of concrete. The Romans had many other such discoveries that would make their engineering skills known throughout the world.

    Read More

  • The Features of Mayan Architecture

    2445 Words  | 5 Pages

    The buildings were decorated with masks and crests carved in stone and stucco and generally painted red, by the large amount of limestone available in Peten Maya lands , lime and mixing was easily produced impressive allowing the construction of pyramids and palaces , usually in the Preclassic pyramids were crowned with three wooden temples and thatch , known as " triadic complexes " , during the classic had one or two rooms with the Maya vault feature . To make walls , they used blocks in two rows , then topped with small stones , and other materials, in Tikal , El Naranjo , Wala ' , and many other sites , found pieces of steles and obsidian as filler , as previous structures . Imperfections in the path layers were offset stucco decorations . What we see now , is the last stage of construction, but in reality it is not uncommon to find more than 5 construction phases . The Stucco Limestone was made ​​with cooked, and mixed with an organic glue extracted from a tree known locally endemic Holol Petén, mixed with lime and sascab, a natural mineral like limestone. The building known of the Maya is the Temple I or the Great Jaguar in Tikal, which served at the famous Tomb Hasaw K'a...

    Read More

  • Roman vs. Greek Civilization

    323 Words  | 1 Pages

    Thirdly, the Romans were far more advanced than Greece in terms of engineering progress. In both the areas of civil and hydraulic engineering, Rome towered above Greece. They constructed a network of durable, paved highways and city streets; in fact, most everything had concrete walls and pavement.

    Read More

  • Roman and Islamic Art and Architecture

    527 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Romans also excelled in the highly practical art, architecture. The Romans were the first people in antiquity to use concrete on a massive scale. By using concrete in their new architectural designs, the Romans were able to construct huge buildings, bigger than the Greeks ever could have dreamed of.

    Read More

  • Contributions of Ancient Civilizations

    827 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...ovements on the arch and the dome. Also, they built roads, bridges, harbors, and aqueducts, which they were most famous for. Aqueducts were a revolutionary invention that carried water from the hills to the cities. Even today, the principal of the aqueducts enables many urban areas to have water. The lasting contributions of the Roman Empire have helped to shape modern living.

    Read More

More about Machu Picchu Research Paper

Open Document