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Did Machu Picchu have a different name?
It's entirely possible that the famous historical site in Cusco, Peru
was not called Machu Picchu at all.
It was Hiram Bingham III, from Yale University, who, in 1911, set out on
an expedition to Peru to look for ancient civilizations.
Bingham climbed to the top of a steep, Peruvian mountain ridge, looked
down, and saw the impressive ruins of Machu Picchu.
Now, more than 100 years after Bingham's remarkable rediscovery of the
lost land, modern scientists have published some interesting news. All
these years, we might've accidentally been calling Machu Picchu by the
wrong name.
In a recently published paper, researchers used Bingham's original field
notes, 20th century maps of the region and other documents to suggest
that the Incas who used to live there didn't call the land Machu Picchu.
Apparently, there is significant data which suggests that the Inca city
actually was called Picchu or more likely, Huayna Picchu.
The name "Huayna Picchu" consistently appears in a 1904 atlas published
seven years before Bingham even got to Peru. Also, Bingham wrote down
that the son of a local landowner had told him, in 1912, that these
ruins were associated with the name "Huayna Picchu".
Researchers from the Ministry of Culture of Peru in Cusco have verified
this from personal accounts written by the Spaniards who took control of
the Incan region in the 1500s.
And to further confirm the claim, there’s a late 16th-century account
that says the indigenous people of the region were considering returning
to reoccupy the site which they called "Huayna Picchu".
Despite all this, Machu Picchu's well-known title didn't just appear
from nowhere.
The name "Huayna Picchu," the researchers say, refers to a rocky summit
near the ruins, and Machu Picchu, on the other hand, references the
highest mountain close to the ruins, so the doubt cast about the name is
probably due to some confusion and miscommunication.
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