Machu Picchu may be decades older than previously thought
Radiocarbon dating of human bones and teeth in Peruvian ruins indicate that the Inca first lived at the citadel around 1420, not after 1440.
The Inca may have built the Andean citadel of Machu Picchu decades earlier than previously thought.
A team of researchers report in the journal Antiquity that scientific testing of human remains from the Peruvian site’s ruins revealed that the Inca first lived at the site around 1420 rather than after 1440, as has traditionally been accepted.
The Art Newspaper
August 4, 2021
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The discovery challenges scholars’ current reconstruction of Inca history and may also push back the date for the initial expansion of their empire.
Scholars previously used Spanish colonial records to establish the earliest date for Machu Picchu, which served as an Inca royal estate and palace. Based on these accounts, Emperor Pachacuti built the site after conquering the region during his campaigns of expansion, which ultimately led to the creation of the Inca empire. In this reconstruction of history, Pachacuti came to power in 1438, meaning that significant events under his reign had to fall after this date.
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