Machu Picchu was built over major fault zones... Now, researchers think they know why.

Pedro_P

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▼  Archaeologists and architects alike have long wondered why 15th century Incans built the grand citadel of Machu Picchu in what is now Peru where they did, high in the remote Andes atop a narrow ridge. One simple answer, researchers now suggest, is that that’s where building materials for the site—large amounts of already fractured rock—were readily available.
Both satellite images and recent field work reveal that the ground beneath Machu Picchu is crisscrossed with fault zones of various sizes, some of which control the orientation of river valleys in the region by providing weak zones that are more easily eroded by flowing water. Because some of these faults run from northeast to southwest and others trend from northwest to southeast, they collectively create an X  where they intersect beneath  the site, researchers reported this week at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Phoenix.
When earthquakes along these fault zones cause rocks to shift, they generate prodigious quantities of fractured rock (large stones in foreground). But these fault zones also channel meltwater from ice and snow and rainwater, thus enabling residents to more effectively collect it. They also help drain it away during intense thunderstorms, preventing short-term damage and aiding long-term preservation of the site.
Further evidence that the site selection for Machu Picchu may not have been an accident: Similar analyses reveal other ancient Incan sites, including Ollantaytambo, Pisac, and Cusco were also built at the intersections of fault zones.

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asr335704

Thanks for the informative article. This shows that people during that time were also able to understand and apply Science even though it was somewhat limited.

badalbobby

They built it just because of easy availability of stone? I don’t know how true that is but but our fore fathers were probably much wiser than we think. So much of what they achieved ‘without our technology’, we can’t achieve half of that with all our technology

stockjeeves

Very interesting, worth a visit soon

abhidebb

Wonderfully enlightening Info. It shows that the Incans had great scientific insights. Thanks for such an article.