Philosophy
July 24, 1911: Yale professor turned explorer Hiram Bingham stumbles upon what would become one of the most celebrated finds in archaeology, the magnificent Inca citadel Machu Picchu, in the Andes of Peru. Having had no inkling of a city on the desolate peak, he is stunned to encounter the jungle-covered ruins. It's all "an unbelievable dream," with "surprise follow[ing] surprise in bewildering succession." At least, that's the story Bingham told in his 1948 best seller, "Lost City of the Incas."
The discovery made Bingham famous, the prototype of the fedora-clad archaeologist-explorer. Relying on geographic and architectural clues, he decided that Machu Picchu ("Old Peak," in the indigenous Quechua language) was none other than Vilcabamba, the fabled stronghold where Inca emperor Manco had made his last stand against the Spanish in about 1540. Then, as if that claim weren't grand enough for the spectacular setting, he also declared it to be Tampu Tocco, the legendary birthplace of Inca civilization.
Within a decade of Bingham's death in 1956, scholars were showing that Machu Picchu was neither Vilcabamba nor Tampu Tocco. Bingham's reputation suffered again when it was revealed that other outsiders had beaten him to the site—in fact, while in Peru he had carried a map showing the place's name and location. But the great riddle of Machu Picchu remained: the how, and especially the why, of its construction.
Like Bingham, Mark Adams was bored with his day job (in his case, not professor but magazine editor). And like Bingham, he became obsessed with romantic, remote Machu Picchu. So, as the centennial of its "discovery" neared, Mr. Adams decided to retrace Bingham's three Peruvian expeditions. His professed aim was to glean insight into Bingham's achievements, but the real purpose, it is clear, was to have a lark. In "Turn Right at Machu Picchu," Mr. Adams deftly weaves together Inca history, Bingham's story and his own less heroic escapade.
Though he has worked for travel publications, the author confesses to being "a white-wine spritzer explorer." It has been 30 years since he has slept in a tent—and that was a Sears, Roebuck tepee in his parents' backyard. In Cusco, the ancient Inca capital, he meets his phlegmatic Australian guide, John Leivers. As Mr. Adams dons trail clothes—"shirt with dozens of pockets, drip-dry pants that zip off into shorts, floppy hat with a cord pulled tight under the chin"—he realizes, too late, that he looks as though he is trick-or-treating as Ernest Hemingway.
It isn't long before the tenderfoot sports a nasty collection of blisters. When Mr. Leivers complains that his charge doesn't even know to wear two pairs of socks under his squeaky-new hiking boots, Mr. Adams brags that he has had much worse blisters than these. He doesn't tell Mr. Leivers that the others were raised by patent leather pumps he'd worn with his tuxedo while covering the FiFis, the annual awards of the fragrance industry.
Mr. Leivers's motto is: "The body and mind only get stronger when they're traumatized." Over the course of a traumatizing month on switchback trails and swaying log bridges, Mr. Adams hardens into a reasonable facsimile of a competent day hiker, though not a mountaineer. The climax of the journey is the arrival at Machu Picchu. Taking in its sweeping terraces and vertiginous views, the author decides that, whatever else Bingham may have exaggerated, he didn't inflate the place's solitary majesty, the reason that it's No. 1 on so many people's archaeological bucket list. "Machu Picchu isn't just beautiful," he decides, "it's sublime," so grand that it makes his head hurt.
But if it wasn't the cradle of Inca civilization or the last refuge of the emperor Manco, what was Machu Picchu? Just a royal estate, the experts now tell us. Not the Lost City of the Incas, Mr. Adams says, but "the lost summer home of the Incas."
As for Bingham, he resigned from Yale in 1916, the year following his final, disappointing expedition to Peru. After a stint training American airmen during World War I, he turned to politics, where in two scant years (1922-24) he was elected lieutenant governor and governor of Connecticut and then, in a special election to fill a sudden vacancy, U.S. senator. He ended up serving as governor for merely a day before taking up his senatorial duties. A few years later, he was caught with a lobbyist on his payroll and censured by the Senate, then defeated in the 1932 election. His later years were devoted largely to writing accounts of his adventures. Ever the self-promoter, Bingham described his legacy this way: "It was Columbus who made America known to the civilized world. In the same sense of the word I 'discovered' Machu Picchu."
Today, Bingham is apt to be remembered as a fraud and a plunderer, the man who, through his double-dealing of Peruvian officials and his smuggling of bones and antiquities, unleashed a century-long cultural custody battle that Yale University settled only last year, agreeing to repatriate thousands of artifacts.
Mr. Adams is critical of Bingham but also generous: "Regardless of what he implied in 'Lost City of the Incas,' Hiram Bingham was definitelynot the discoverer of Machu Picchu." Instead, Mr. Adams suggests, "he did something less romantic but ultimately much more important. . . . He saw the ruins, quickly determined their importance (if not their origin) and popularized them to a degree that they couldn't be blown up with dynamite or knocked over in the search for buried gold . . . . Would Machu Picchu exist if Hiram Bingham had never seen it? Of course. Would it be the same Machu Picchu we know today? Almost certainly not."
While some readers may prefer a more straightforward version of Bingham's exploits (such as Christopher Heaney's 2010 "Cradle of Gold"), those favoring a quirkier retelling will relish Mr. Adams's wry, revealing romp through the Andes.
[Mr. Helferich's "Stone of Kings: In Search of the Lost Jade of the Maya" will be published in January 2012.]
Machu Picchu is one of the world's most famous archaeological sites, yet it remains a mystery. Even the most basic questions have long remained unanswered: What was its meaning and why was it built in such a difficult location? This full-color book examines Machu Picchu from the perspectives of sacred landscape and archaeoastronomy. Using information gathered from historical, archaeological, and ethnographical sources, the author demonstrates that the site is situated in the center of sacred mountains and is also associated with a sacred river, which is in turn symbolically linked with the sun's passage. Taken together, these features have meant that Machu Picchu formed a cosmological, hydrological and sacred geographical center for a vast region. Key architectural features at Machu Picchu and nearby sites formed parts of this ceremonial center, where economic, political and religious factors combined to lead to their construction in one of the most rugged areas of Peru.
Machu Picchu [Wikipedia]
- Daniel Cowan Jackling--bingham Canyon Mine
Daniel Cowan Jackling August 14th, 1869 to March 13th, 1956 Daniel Jackling was an American mining engineer and metallurgist who founded the Utah Copper Company and with an economical method to process low-grade porphyry copper ores, below 2% copper....
- Zahi Hawass' Glow May Be Fading
Frankly, Zahi Hawass has been riding high for some time...accountability now. "Revolution Dims Star Power of Egypt’s Antiquities Chief" by Kate Taylor July 12th, 2011 The New York Times Until recently Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s antiquities minister,...
- Gerald S. Hawkins...stonehenge
Gerald S. Hawkins April 20th, 1928 to 26 May 26th, 2003 Gerald Stanley Hawkins was an English astronomer and mathematician who identified Stonehenge to be a prehistoric astronomical observatory. He identified 165 key points in the Stonehenge complex...
- Stonehenge--too Much Whining?
Is this too much whining about an ancient site...doesn't appear to be a problem concerning the ancient Egyptian monuments. But in fairness, there has been some concern about foot traffic at the Parthenon. "Stonehenge on 'most threatened'...
- Deceased--ernest W. Adams
Ernest W. Adams 1927 to March 29th, 2009 "Ernest W. Adams" April 23rd, 2009 UC BerkeleyNews BERKELEY — Ernest W. Adams, an emeritus professor of philosophy, died on March 29, shortly after being diagnosed with an advanced case of liver cancer. He...
Philosophy
Machu Picchu...100 years
"In a Lost City, Finding Yourself"
by
Garard Helferich
July 2nd, 2011
Wall Street Journal
by
Garard Helferich
July 2nd, 2011
Wall Street Journal
July 24, 1911: Yale professor turned explorer Hiram Bingham stumbles upon what would become one of the most celebrated finds in archaeology, the magnificent Inca citadel Machu Picchu, in the Andes of Peru. Having had no inkling of a city on the desolate peak, he is stunned to encounter the jungle-covered ruins. It's all "an unbelievable dream," with "surprise follow[ing] surprise in bewildering succession." At least, that's the story Bingham told in his 1948 best seller, "Lost City of the Incas."
The discovery made Bingham famous, the prototype of the fedora-clad archaeologist-explorer. Relying on geographic and architectural clues, he decided that Machu Picchu ("Old Peak," in the indigenous Quechua language) was none other than Vilcabamba, the fabled stronghold where Inca emperor Manco had made his last stand against the Spanish in about 1540. Then, as if that claim weren't grand enough for the spectacular setting, he also declared it to be Tampu Tocco, the legendary birthplace of Inca civilization.
Within a decade of Bingham's death in 1956, scholars were showing that Machu Picchu was neither Vilcabamba nor Tampu Tocco. Bingham's reputation suffered again when it was revealed that other outsiders had beaten him to the site—in fact, while in Peru he had carried a map showing the place's name and location. But the great riddle of Machu Picchu remained: the how, and especially the why, of its construction.
Like Bingham, Mark Adams was bored with his day job (in his case, not professor but magazine editor). And like Bingham, he became obsessed with romantic, remote Machu Picchu. So, as the centennial of its "discovery" neared, Mr. Adams decided to retrace Bingham's three Peruvian expeditions. His professed aim was to glean insight into Bingham's achievements, but the real purpose, it is clear, was to have a lark. In "Turn Right at Machu Picchu," Mr. Adams deftly weaves together Inca history, Bingham's story and his own less heroic escapade.
Though he has worked for travel publications, the author confesses to being "a white-wine spritzer explorer." It has been 30 years since he has slept in a tent—and that was a Sears, Roebuck tepee in his parents' backyard. In Cusco, the ancient Inca capital, he meets his phlegmatic Australian guide, John Leivers. As Mr. Adams dons trail clothes—"shirt with dozens of pockets, drip-dry pants that zip off into shorts, floppy hat with a cord pulled tight under the chin"—he realizes, too late, that he looks as though he is trick-or-treating as Ernest Hemingway.
It isn't long before the tenderfoot sports a nasty collection of blisters. When Mr. Leivers complains that his charge doesn't even know to wear two pairs of socks under his squeaky-new hiking boots, Mr. Adams brags that he has had much worse blisters than these. He doesn't tell Mr. Leivers that the others were raised by patent leather pumps he'd worn with his tuxedo while covering the FiFis, the annual awards of the fragrance industry.
Mr. Leivers's motto is: "The body and mind only get stronger when they're traumatized." Over the course of a traumatizing month on switchback trails and swaying log bridges, Mr. Adams hardens into a reasonable facsimile of a competent day hiker, though not a mountaineer. The climax of the journey is the arrival at Machu Picchu. Taking in its sweeping terraces and vertiginous views, the author decides that, whatever else Bingham may have exaggerated, he didn't inflate the place's solitary majesty, the reason that it's No. 1 on so many people's archaeological bucket list. "Machu Picchu isn't just beautiful," he decides, "it's sublime," so grand that it makes his head hurt.
But if it wasn't the cradle of Inca civilization or the last refuge of the emperor Manco, what was Machu Picchu? Just a royal estate, the experts now tell us. Not the Lost City of the Incas, Mr. Adams says, but "the lost summer home of the Incas."
As for Bingham, he resigned from Yale in 1916, the year following his final, disappointing expedition to Peru. After a stint training American airmen during World War I, he turned to politics, where in two scant years (1922-24) he was elected lieutenant governor and governor of Connecticut and then, in a special election to fill a sudden vacancy, U.S. senator. He ended up serving as governor for merely a day before taking up his senatorial duties. A few years later, he was caught with a lobbyist on his payroll and censured by the Senate, then defeated in the 1932 election. His later years were devoted largely to writing accounts of his adventures. Ever the self-promoter, Bingham described his legacy this way: "It was Columbus who made America known to the civilized world. In the same sense of the word I 'discovered' Machu Picchu."
Today, Bingham is apt to be remembered as a fraud and a plunderer, the man who, through his double-dealing of Peruvian officials and his smuggling of bones and antiquities, unleashed a century-long cultural custody battle that Yale University settled only last year, agreeing to repatriate thousands of artifacts.
Mr. Adams is critical of Bingham but also generous: "Regardless of what he implied in 'Lost City of the Incas,' Hiram Bingham was definitelynot the discoverer of Machu Picchu." Instead, Mr. Adams suggests, "he did something less romantic but ultimately much more important. . . . He saw the ruins, quickly determined their importance (if not their origin) and popularized them to a degree that they couldn't be blown up with dynamite or knocked over in the search for buried gold . . . . Would Machu Picchu exist if Hiram Bingham had never seen it? Of course. Would it be the same Machu Picchu we know today? Almost certainly not."
While some readers may prefer a more straightforward version of Bingham's exploits (such as Christopher Heaney's 2010 "Cradle of Gold"), those favoring a quirkier retelling will relish Mr. Adams's wry, revealing romp through the Andes.
[Mr. Helferich's "Stone of Kings: In Search of the Lost Jade of the Maya" will be published in January 2012.]
Stone of Kings: In Search of the Lost Jade of the Maya
by
Gerard Helferich
No ISBN
by
Gerard Helferich
No ISBN
Machu Picchu: Exploring an Ancient Sacred Center
by
Johan Reinhard
ISBN-13: 978-1-931745-44-4
ISBN-10: 1-931745-44-7
by
Johan Reinhard
ISBN-13: 978-1-931745-44-4
ISBN-10: 1-931745-44-7
Machu Picchu is one of the world's most famous archaeological sites, yet it remains a mystery. Even the most basic questions have long remained unanswered: What was its meaning and why was it built in such a difficult location? This full-color book examines Machu Picchu from the perspectives of sacred landscape and archaeoastronomy. Using information gathered from historical, archaeological, and ethnographical sources, the author demonstrates that the site is situated in the center of sacred mountains and is also associated with a sacred river, which is in turn symbolically linked with the sun's passage. Taken together, these features have meant that Machu Picchu formed a cosmological, hydrological and sacred geographical center for a vast region. Key architectural features at Machu Picchu and nearby sites formed parts of this ceremonial center, where economic, political and religious factors combined to lead to their construction in one of the most rugged areas of Peru.
Lost City of the Incas
by
Hiram Bingham
ISBN-10: 9781842125854
ISBN-13: 978-1842125854
ASIN: 1842125850
by
Hiram Bingham
ISBN-10: 9781842125854
ISBN-13: 978-1842125854
ASIN: 1842125850
Machu Picchu [Wikipedia]
- Daniel Cowan Jackling--bingham Canyon Mine
Daniel Cowan Jackling August 14th, 1869 to March 13th, 1956 Daniel Jackling was an American mining engineer and metallurgist who founded the Utah Copper Company and with an economical method to process low-grade porphyry copper ores, below 2% copper....
- Zahi Hawass' Glow May Be Fading
Frankly, Zahi Hawass has been riding high for some time...accountability now. "Revolution Dims Star Power of Egypt’s Antiquities Chief" by Kate Taylor July 12th, 2011 The New York Times Until recently Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s antiquities minister,...
- Gerald S. Hawkins...stonehenge
Gerald S. Hawkins April 20th, 1928 to 26 May 26th, 2003 Gerald Stanley Hawkins was an English astronomer and mathematician who identified Stonehenge to be a prehistoric astronomical observatory. He identified 165 key points in the Stonehenge complex...
- Stonehenge--too Much Whining?
Is this too much whining about an ancient site...doesn't appear to be a problem concerning the ancient Egyptian monuments. But in fairness, there has been some concern about foot traffic at the Parthenon. "Stonehenge on 'most threatened'...
- Deceased--ernest W. Adams
Ernest W. Adams 1927 to March 29th, 2009 "Ernest W. Adams" April 23rd, 2009 UC BerkeleyNews BERKELEY — Ernest W. Adams, an emeritus professor of philosophy, died on March 29, shortly after being diagnosed with an advanced case of liver cancer. He...