This is one of the sites where you can get a real glimpse of pre-Columbian South America. It was hidden from Western eyes until 1911 when Professor Hiram Bingham of Yale University was taken there by a local resident. He was seeking the fabled "lost city of the Incas" and for many years it was believed that Machu Piccu is that city. Later archaeological evidence has proved otherwise. In reality, Machu Piccu is one of a series of fortress towns along a footpath. It may also have been home to a palace. Why this city in the sky was abandoned is uncertain. One theory holds that the water supply was inadequate for such a large population. Visiting requires a certain amount of physical strength as the location is 7,710 feet above sea level. The many terraces are connected by pathways, and sometimes by foot- and hand-holds carved into the rock like ladders. Much of the trip can be made by railway, but the last 1,640 vertical feet must be walked over the course of several days up steps, through tunnels, and across bridges.

• 1983 - Named a UNESCO World Heritage site.
• August, 1997 - A forest fire damages Machu Piccu's famed Inca Bridge.
• August, 1999 - Preservationists are outraged by a plan to build a cable car lift to bring tourists to Machu Piccu.
• 2000 - Fears of erosion caused the number of visitors to be limited.
• September, 2000 - A huge sundial known as the "Hitching Post of the Sun" is damaged during filming of a beer commercial. The crane which fell on the sun clock was specifically prohibited by the National Institute of Culture.
• March, 2001 - Japanese geologists warn that Machu Piccu could be destroyed by a landslide. It is moving about six inches per year.
• 14 October, 2002 - Archaeologists have found a new Incan tomb at Machu Picchu. It contains the graves of three people and a number of objects they were buried with. The tomb is considered the best-preserved one of its kind.
• 18 March, 2003 - The New York Times reports that Machu Piccu may not be the lost city of the Incas, after all. The article details information from a new traveling exhibit on Machu Piccu that shows the massive complex in the clouds was nothing more than a retreat for the emperor – the Incan equivalent of Schloß Schönbrunn in Vienna. The determination was made by examining skeletal remains, Spanish legal documents, and artifacts shipped by the original explorers to Yale University, and subsequently put into storage without much interest.