Home

 

 

Back to: Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley 

 

El Mundo Magico

Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley of the Incas:

 

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu: The so-called "Intihuatana" or "Itching post of the Sun"

The Intihuatana: Solar Post or Astronomical device...?

Author Graham Hancock (1999:293) points at the fact that the name Intihuatana - which ascribes the function of a sundial to the monument - was given "rather arbitrarily by Hiram Bingham, the American explorer who discovered Machu Picchu in 1911." Then adds how: "It does definitely exhibit solar alignments [...] But it is by no means an ideal shadow-casting or sighting device."

 

 

More interestingly, he goes further in explaining how "archaeoastronomer Ray White recently uncovered depictions of four constellations that are prominent in the Andean skies - the Southern Cross, the Summer Triangle, the bright 'eye stars' of the dark cloud constellation in the Milk Way that the Incas called the Llama and the Pleiades. These were the constellations that are believed to rule the four suyus, or quarters, of the Inca empire."

Home

Contact Us | About Us | Shamanic Journeys | Ecotourism | Machu Picchu, Inca Trail and Sacred Valley -

- Marka Wasi | How to Book | Icaros CD | Plant Teachers of the Amazon | Testimonials | Travel & Medical Info |

 | Contact Email | Site MapLinks |

 

 

Copyright © El Mundo Magico  | All rights reserved  | REGISTERED N. 4076005