According to the journal of the Andean Institute, over the past 100 years, one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world has been Machu Picchu was misnamed.
Brian Bauer, professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois, Chicago, said the Incas settlement was built around 1420 as a residence for the royal Incas who lived in the capital of the Inca empire, Cuzco.
When the Spaniards conquered the Incas, Machu Picchu was forgotten. It hid for centuries, deep in the Andes mountains until American explorer Hiram Bingham discovered it in 1911.
According to new research, the Incas built the ancient city and called it Huayna Picchu.
Emily Dean, a professor of anthropology at Southern Utah University, Cedar explains that the word Huayna means “new or young”, the word Picchu means “mountain” in the native Quechua language. Meanwhile, Machu means “old”, so it is often called the old mountain peak.
During Brian Bauer’s research on Machu Picchu, he found evidence that the site had a different name at first. He and Peruvian Culture Ministry historian Donato Amado Gonzales cooperated and searched for the real name of this relic.
They began by reviewing the notes of explorer Hiram Bingham.
In his field notes, explorer Hiram Bingham decided to call the ancient city Machu Picchu based on information provided by his guide, who was also a farmer in the area, Melchor Arteaga.
He was unsure of the name of the ancient ruin when he first discovered it. Brian Bauer and Gonzales continue to review maps and printed papers before and after Hiram Bingham’s visit.
Great documents from 1588 show that the natives of Vilcabamba considered returning to Huayna Picchu.
The researchers discovered that the ruins of an Inca town named Huayna Picchu mentioned in a 1904 atlas published seven years before the American explorer Bingham arrived in Peru.
However, Emily Dean thinks the wrong name is not surprising because many archaeologists are not Peruvian, do not understand the names of the sites well and do not fully understand the people and Quechua language.
The discovery of the real name is just an interesting addition to the history of the hundreds of years old site, said study author Brian Bauer.
Machu Picchu was published in thousands of books, articles, advertisements and legal documents. The people of Peru and the government have long accepted the new name.
“We’re not suggesting a name change because Machu Picchu is a household name, known around the world,” Brian Bauer said.
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