The Lost City in the Mountains: Uncovering Machu Picchu

April 22, 2015Dan Segal

Built halfway through the 15th century, Machu Picchu was inhabited for only a century before the Incas abandoned it in a mostly unsuccessful attempt to avoid the fatal doses of slaughter and smallpox that Francisco Pizarro was doling out. Fortunately for us, Pizarro never actually found the city, which means the ruins and sacred ritual sights were never ransacked or defaced.