The ruins of Inca civilization in Peru are among the most popular as well as mysterious spots in the world. Machu Picchu is the 15th century’s city of Inca civilization. It is situated at the ridge of mountain at a height of 7970 feet. It is located above the sacred valley, another site of Inca’s time. Some of mysterious sites of Machu Pichhu are worth to visit and are still puzzles for scientists.
Moray
The Inca civilization is one of the most mysterious civilization of the world, and not too much information is available about them. Machu Picchu is the most famous of Inca ruins in Peru, but another very mysterious creation of Inca’s is “Moray”.It is situated to northwest of Cuzco and west of village Maras. It is about 50 kilometres away from Cuzco. Thus mysterious agriculture terrace is goes deep down to ground and seems like an ancient Greek amphitheatre.
Moray is uniquely designed in the form of number of concentric circular agriculture terrace with amazing accuracy, and still a puzzle for the scientist of present age. They are massive in size and are approximately 150 meter in depth. Some scientists believe that Moray was the Inca’s laboratory for understanding the optimal environmental conditions for growing the crop.
Three Moray structure are present as ruins of Inca’s, one of them is being used by scientists re-enact the site for possible use. The area is an isolated one but not too difficult to reach through highway. The concentric rings of terrace are split by multiple staircases. They seem like spokes of wheel, and are the passage for people to move from top to bottom. The major Circular Moray is surrounded by 6 terraces which are not round rather are elliptical is shape.
The most remarkable and mind boggling feature of the site is a huge temperature difference prevailing between different levels of Moray as we move from top to bottom. The temperature difference can be about 15°C. This temperature difference may be used by Inca’s to study the effect of changing climatic conditions on crops. In studies it has been found that solids from different regions of Inca civilization were imported and laid in different concentric rings of Moray. The temperature difference obtained in Moray is what we obtain for coastal sea level farmland and Andean farming terrace 1000 meter sea level.
Another mysterious feature of Moray is its unbelievable drain system. The bottom most level of Moray never get flooded, how heavy rain it may be. One theory suggests that there are some hidden underground channels for water drainage, whereas other says that its bottom is over very porous natural rock bed, enabling water to filter into earth interior.
Stone Water Mirrors
The two circular cavities made in the ground is another mysterious structure in Machu Picchu. The researchers say that these two cavities seem to be carved for spiritual and ritualistic purpose. They might be used for divination using reflections through these water filed cavities. This is the reason they are called water mirrors.
The Sacred Fountains
One of the most important master pieces of Inca’s in Machu Picchu is water system at such a height, and shows their excellent knowledge of civil and hydraulic engineering. This system is known as “Stairway of Fountains”. The water from a rain fed spring which is almost half mile away from the city was brought through series of fountains. A 48 foot long permeable wall was built by Inca’s for the purpose of concentrating seeping water of spring in a stone canal. The water flows from the canal towards the city.
The canal is made 5 inches wide and 5 inches deep. For every 100 meter distance travelled the slop maintained is 10 meter, enabling the system to maintain a water flow of 300 litres per minute through gravity. The canal is further made to flow through a series of 16 fountains. Each fountain has perfectly designed spout to fill the water jug at the bottom of water jet.
The excess water from the jug is made to drain to next fountain. The water channels were made either fully permeable or semi permeable as per the need. This unique drain engineering had made the city to survive which otherwise could slid down the mountain due to heavy collection of water. Most of this drainage work is not visible and is hidden under the ground.
The Sun Temple
Torreon or “Temple of Sun” is another marvel of Inca architecture. It is elliptical in shape. It is so designed that rising sun shines directly into one of the window of temple during June solstice. It was constructed at the highest altitude, as Inca’s believed that closeness to sun will help them in better studies of astronomy. The tower in the temple is the highest altitude of the city. Temple has two peculiarly designed trapezoidal windows which are supposed to have some spiritual significance.
Amazing Facts of Machu Pichhu
1. Among the Seven Wonders of the World.
2. Heavy rocks used for construction of Machu Pichhu were not transported at such a height with the help of wheels.
3. Stones are cut to fit together without the use of mortar. The technique is called “Ashlar”. The accuracy is such that not even a single needle can be fitted between the two stones.
4. This mysterious city was built without the use of wheels and iron tools.
Kindly like us, share us, comment and follow us.
