knoser3

Machu Picchu, also known as "The Lost City of the Incas", is one of the most fascinating cites today. It lies on the slope of the mountain and in the Urbamba Valley. It was constructed in 1450, and 100 years later it was abandoned as the Incas fled from the Spanish Conquistadors. It is hypothesized that the Spaniards never found or destroyed it like all of the other Incan cities because it was so high up they could not find it. [2] Most of the construction of Machu Picchu uses the classic Inca style of "polished dry stone walls" [2]. Like Cuzco, Machu Picchu's structures are made of stone and are so close together the no mortar was needed. This technique was called **ashlar** and the Incas were masters of it. [2] The main reason why they did not use mortar was because without the mortar, it made the stone structures less prone to earthquakes. Other ways they used to prevent damage from an earthquake were make it so that the "doors and windows are trapezoidal and tilt inward from bottom to top, corners are usually rounded, inside corners often incline slightly into the rooms, and "L" shaped blocks are often used to tie outside corners together. Walls do not rise straight from top to bottom but are offset slightly from row to row." [2]. The stone blocks they used were over 60 tons and they had to move them up and down the mountain, but they never used or knew the concept of the wheel. The general belief is that they "used hundreds of men to push the stones up inclined planes" [2]. The stones has knobs in them for grip and when the stones were in place, the Incas most likely sanded off the knobs. They used the lever to get all of the stones in place. Today, since the city is so high, there are buses that ship up tourists to see this beautiful city and site. To this day there are still over 140 stone structures in tact and stone steps that lead you up the mountain to each level of the gorgeous city. media type="youtube" key="4SGg8Vdm_F8&hl=en" height="314" width="372" This is a video of Machu Picchu
 * __Machu Picchu__**