All language subtitles for Historys Greatest Mysteries S05E08 1080p WEB h264-EDITH

- Tonight, one of
the most puzzling

archeological sites on Earth.

- Machu Picchu is a
very mysterious place.

Why build a city here?

- People keep
digging for answers,

and for some it's even
become an obsession.

- 500-year-old secrets hidden
in skeletons and stone.

- Some of the skulls that were
found didn't even look human.

- It could be the most important
archeological find on Earth.

- You look at
these single stones

and see how perfectly
they're fit.

There's not a good explanation

for how people were
able to do that.

- Now, we explore the top
theories surrounding one

of the ancient world's
most enduring riddles.

- How did they develop

such an accurate understanding
of time and space?

- Some people think that there's
a much more ancient history

to Machu Picchu
we're unaware of.

- Who built this astonishing
complex and why?

[mysterious music]

- [Laurence] It's the
morning of July 24th, 1911.

Deep in the jungles of Peru,

Yale University Professor
Hiram Bingham is

on a quest to find an
infamous lost city.

- There's a story
from 400 years ago

about the end of
the Inca Empire,

when the Spanish came
in and took them over,

that they took all
of the king's gold

and hid it in a place
that is called Vilcabamba.

And that has become
a myth called

the lost city of Inca gold.

- By the turn of the century,

as far as historians
were concerned,

Vilcabamba was like Atlantis.

It was a fairytale.

Hiram Bingham disagreed.

He wasn't a trained
archeologist.

He was a professor at Yale,
but he believed very deeply

that Vilcabamba existed
and that it could be found.

- There was still
persistent talk

by the time Bingham
made his first journeys

to Peru, about this lost city,

where there was a huge
stash of Inca gold.

- When Bingham arrives
to Peru in 1911,

he meets with a Peruvian
scholar who suggests

that he's seen in
maps, information

that there are a series of
very impressive Inca sites

along the Urubamba River.

- [Laurence] Beginning
on July 19th, 1911,

Bingham's team
bushwhacks its way

through perilous jungle terrain,

determined to find
the lost city.

- He has to this deadly river,

and then up this steep,
jungle-covered hillside

that's infested with
poisonous snakes.

- When he finally reaches
the top elevation,

he's expecting something that
would be striking immediately.

And it's just
essentially a farm.

It doesn't have the
immediate gut punch

that he was looking for.

- [Laurence] That is,
until he turns a corner

and takes in a shocking sight.

- He can tell that

there's approximately
200 stone structures

that are buried
underneath the foliage.

- Bingham is somewhat
impressed by the site

that is nevertheless still
covered by the forest.

It's unclear to him
what is it exactly,

but he senses that this might
be the lost city of the Inca.

- It could be the most important
archeological find on Earth.

- [Laurence] Bingham
and his team go on

to uncover five square miles
of what are Inca ruins,

dating back several centuries.

Locals tell Bingham the
site is called Machu Picchu.

- The Inca are really well known
for their incredible stonework,

which is called ashlar masonry,

and the stones fit together
perfectly without any mortar.

It's almost like
a jigsaw puzzle.

They did not have the
advanced technology

that we have today, so
it's really a marvel.

- You cannot fit a dollar bill
or a razor blade between them.

The technique of fitting
these blocks together

baffles archeologists
and engineers today.

- [Laurence] Bingham
marvels at the structures

that kept Machu Picchu
standing for so long,

and wonders if these
ruins could be Vilcabamba.

He also notices that a
grand plaza separates

the agricultural
terraces on one side

and a grid of closely-packed
buildings on the other.

- There's a lot of different
kinds of architecture

on the site, which
suggests that it was used

for a lot of different purposes.

- Machu Picchu is a
very mysterious place.

Why build a city here?

Was it an outpost?

Was it a secret
agricultural place?

- Because the Incan people
had no written language,

we have to rely on what
record keeping was kept

by the Spanish conquistadors.

So what took place
in Machu Picchu,

what it was used for,
remains a mystery to us.

However, Hiram Bingham
does have some ideas.

[tense music]

- [Laurence] The Inca
Empire was founded

in the early 15th century

by a king named Pachacuti.

- Pachacuti is known

as the Alexander the
Great of the Inca Empire.

He's the one that started
to expand the Inca state

from being a very small
state centered in Cusco,

just suddenly exploding like
a supernova across the Andes.

- [Laurence] What
started as a tribe

of around 100,000 people

grew over the next a
hundred years into an empire

of more than 10 million,

stretching over 2,500
miles from north to south.

- The Incan Empire
excels at government,

architecture, agriculture.

And the Incan Empire
was celebrated

for the rumored
abundance of gold.

- [Laurence] Inspired
by rumors of treasure,

Spanish conquistadors
arrive in Peru in 1532.

- The Inca Empire will
never be the same.

There's no competing
with the horses,

with the guns, and the disease.

Smallpox ended up killing
90% of the native population

in all of the Americas.

From the Spanish records,

we know that the last Inca
king retreated to Vilcabamba

with about 100 people,

and they evaded Spanish
invasion for nearly 40 years.

- [Laurence] Based
on Machu Picchu's

nearly inaccessible locale,

this seems like the perfect spot

to hide treasure and people.

- The longer Hiram
Bingham studied this site,

the more apparent it
became that a large number

of people lived and
died at Machu Picchu.

- During Bingham's
first expedition,

he only spent a day
up at Machu Picchu.

He didn't know
what to make of it,

but he came back for
two more expeditions

and started doing
excavations at Machu Picchu

for the first time.

What is this?

Could this possibly
be Vilcabamba?

- [Laurence] Bingham
unearths large burial sites.

What he finds appears
to confirm his theory

that he's found
the lost Inca city.

- Upon examining these graves,

Hiram's team determines

that over 80% of
them must be female.

- Through that, he hypothesized

that this was one of the
cloisters of chosen women.

- The Incas had a
group of women called

the Virgins of the Sun.

They'd find a girl who was
pretty and perfectly formed,

and they would take her
to this kind of a convent

when they were
about 10 years old.

- Bingham believed that
this was Vilcabamba

and that the last
emperor retreated there

with these Virgins of the Sun.

And in 1913, "National
Geographic" devotes

an entire issue to
this incredible find.

- But Bingham's
crew does not find

the legendary stores of gold
that they were looking for.

- [Laurence] Despite
his disappointment

at the lack of treasure,

Bingham is convinced that Machu
Picchu is indeed Vilcabamba.

He even writes the 1948
memoir about the lost city

that becomes an
international bestseller.

- Until his death in
1956, he continued

to argue Machu
Picchu must have been

the last lost city of the Inca.

And it's said that
he may have been one

of the inspirations
for Indiana Jones.

- [Laurence] But by that time,
a growing number of historians

and archeologists
believe Bingham's wrong.

- Bingham's expert took
a look at the skeletons,

and they looked thin and small

and he concluded
that they were women.

But these were
indigenous Quechua people

who are slight of build.

- More recent studies have
shown that there was, in fact,

a fair balance
between men and women.

- Even more importantly,

the Spaniards had
sacked Vilcabamba

and they burned the whole city.

But Machu Picchu was pristine.

There was no ash, there was
no burned anything there,

so it didn't seem to fit.

- [Laurence] Bingham's theory
seems to hit a dead end

in 1964, when American
explorer Gene Savoy

reveals the true location of
the lost city of Inca gold.

- Gene Savoy excavates a
site called Espiritu Pampa,

which was a site that Bingham
had actually traveled to,

but Bingham dismissed it.

In fact, he did
not go far enough

into the ruins to
realize how large it was.

Gene Savoy was able
to do enough research

to realize that the Espiritu
Pampa was Vilcabamba,

the actual lost
city of the Inca.

- [Laurence] Savoy has
found the true Vilcabamba,

but alas, no gold is
found there either.

- According to the
Spanish records,

when they did finally
find Vilcabamba,

they melted down every gold

and silver thing
they could find.

- [Laurence] If
Machu Picchu isn't

the lost city of Inca gold,

then what could it be?

- You can't deny the strategic
location of the site.

It's very high up
on the mountains,

surrounded by the river
on basically three sides.

[tense music]

- [Laurence] For almost all
of its 100-year existence,

the Inca Empire is at war

either with neighboring tribes,
Spanish invaders, or both.

- The Inca Empire
was a patchwork

of other cultures
that they absorbed.

Some of them were in an almost
constant state of rebellion.

- [Laurence] Machu
Picchu's remote location

makes it easily defendable.

- The access to Machu
Picchu is very limited.

There's a formal entrance

where there was a
very narrow path cut

into the side of a cliff.

At one point, there's a bridge.

Below is thousands of feet,

so if you fall, you die.

- And once the planks are
removed off this bridge,

the access to Machu Picchu
is completely cut off.

- And attempting to
scale the cliffs below

would present an incredible
disadvantage against

anybody who wanted
to siege the city.

- Machu Picchu has such a
unique strategic position,

located on the edge of the
mountains in the rainforest,

which means it can watch three
boundaries at the same time.

- So if you wanted a
first line of defense,

that's where you'd
put your citadel.

- [Laurence] Even so,
some historians note

that Machu Picchu
architecture isn't typical

of Inca military outposts.

What's inside the many grave
sites raises further question.

- The Inca were known
for burying their dead

with implements that were
important to the person

during their life.

But we don't see anybody
buried with implements of war

or skeletal injuries that
would be related to war.

And so a military
fortress probably was not

the main purpose of the site.

- [Laurence] Ever since
Hiram Bingham introduced

the modern world
to Machu Picchu,

scholars have puzzled
over its purpose.

- Because the site
is so interesting

and still so well preserved,

people keep digging for answers

and for some it's even
become an obsession.

- [Laurence] In 1987,
one expert searching

through historical archives

in the former Inca
capital of Cusco, Peru

makes an amazing discovery.

- The Inca did not
leave a written record,

but in the 1500s, Spanish
began to interview some

of the descendants of the Inca

to write down these
oral histories

and leave somewhat of a
record of the Inca past.

An anthropologist was in Cusco,

poring over some of the records
that were in the archives,

and came across a
letter from 1568

that said that there
was a royal palace.

- It outlines a court case

in which an Inca family
was demanding the return

of their lands that included
a mountaintop palace

that was named Picchu.

- Not only does it
describe generally

where Machu Picchu is located,

but the Peruvian descendants
who bring this claim

to the Spanish conquistadors
claim themselves

to be descendants of Pachacuti.

- [Laurence] Suddenly, there's
a brand new explanation

for this settlement in the sky.

[tense music]

- After he spent the first part

of his time as Inca king
expanding the empire,

Pachacuti spent the second half

of his life building
these royal retreats

that were on the
outskirts of Cusco.

Many of these palaces are
very similar architecturally

to what we see at Machu Picchu.

- [Laurence] Based
on Spanish records,

many historians agree

that Pachacuti was
probably involved

in Machu Picchu's construction.

- The Inca royalty
itself was divided

into a series of royal lineages.

Each of them had royal estates.

It's possible
Pachacuti's descendants

would spend time in Machu
Picchu, probably relaxing.

- Machu Picchu was at a
elevation of 8,000 feet.

That's 3,200 feet lower
than the elevation of Cusco.

So during the nights,
it was much warmer

and it was a much more
pleasant atmosphere

in the middle of winter.

- If we look at Machu Picchu
as a palatial residence,

the layout makes sense.

There are clearly sectors
that are the most private,

the largest and most
elaborate rooms.

- There's one dwelling
at Machu Picchu believed

to have been the residence
of the Emperor Pachacuti.

That residence is the only
one that had its own bathroom

with flowing water through it.

- [Laurence] A reexamination
of Machu Picchu's dead

reveals new information
about who else lived here.

- They're just
buried in the ground

and though they have objects,

they seem like everyday wares.

- The lack of
treasures indicates

that these bodies were
not necessarily royalty,

but they also don't have
the same kind of injuries

and arthritis that
would indicate

that they were laborers either.

- Those graves that Bingham dug

are really the servants
and staff of the city.

- [Laurence] A technique called
isotopic analysis tells us

even more about Machu
Picchu's residents.

- Archeologists can take
a small sample of bone

and vaporize it, essentially,

examining the DNA for
traces of the diet

of the person while they lived.

And they found that these
individuals ate a lot of corn.

- Corn was, in fact, a symbol
of status among the Inca.

And what they find is these
people ate mainly corn

because of their
privileged status

as retainers and
servants of royalty.

- [Laurence] There are
more clues to be found

by studying the skulls.

- Some of the skulls that
were found were very bizarre

and they didn't even look human.

- Some of the skulls
have cranial deformation

and seem to be squished to
a higher point at the top.

- It's really well known
in the history of the Andes

that the people would bind their
heads into different shapes

that had to do with
an ethnic identity.

This was often done when
an individual was born

and their head was
very malleable.

- [Laurence] Modified skulls
are not the only clues

that Machu Picchu
was a royal hub.

- From the ceramics that
were left in the burials,

they could determine this
was a real heterogeneous

accumulation of people
throughout the empire

who were actually at
Machu Picchu working

as metallurgists,
attendants, and staff.

- [Laurence] Leading
researchers suspect Machu Picchu

was a place for Pachacuti

to entertain a vast
array of guests.

- We can think of it as a
16th-century Camp David.

In addition to the
varied visitors

that may have come to the site,

there were people
that had to work there

to grow the crops, tend to
the fields, to cook the food,

to make the crafts and
the goods that were used.

So these discoveries
have led to the idea

that this could have
been a royal retreat

where people were
coming from a variety

of different locations
from around the empire.

- [Laurence] Many
scholars speculate

that Machu Picchu was built
in the mid-15th century

as a winter getaway for
Inca Emperor Pachacuti

and his entourage.

But could the site have
a more serious purpose?

- If political entertainment

and relaxation are
the primary activities

that are being done
at Machu Picchu,

then why all of these spaces
that seem to be devoted

to religious ceremonies?

- Parts of the architecture

and the landscape where the
site was built really suggest

that there is a sacred
purpose behind Machu Picchu,

which is really
significant when we think

about Inca worldview

and how they worshiped both
their ancestors and the gods.

[tense music]

- In terms of the way in
which the Inca worshiped,

we can't be entirely sure,

but we do know that they
worshiped a number of gods.

[thunder rumbles]

- Illapa's the god of
thunder, god of the weather,

god of rain.

Beneath that, it was a
vast assortment of gods

and a host of spirits.

- Viracocha was the creator god

and one of the most
prominent and important,

but Inti, the sun, was also
very important to the Inca.

- During his first visit,

Bingham came across
this curved wall

that caught his attention.

He famously called
it the Torreon,

right, the turret or tower.

It really resembles the Temple
of the Sun found in Cusco,

which has led
scholars to believe

that this was another
Temple of the Sun.

- Hiram Bingham was
fascinated by this,

not only because of the rare
curved architecture on top,

but it was built
on top of a cave

that had itself very
intricately carved stone.

- It's also very close

to what we believe to
be the king's quarters.

There were places where it
was the king's obligation

to honor and remember
the deeds of Viracocha.

So he, as the son of the sun,

was probably stationed quite
close to the Temple of the Sun.

- [Laurence] But the Inca
didn't just worship gods

in the sky, they also
worshiped water.

- The Inca are world renowned

as some of the most
amazing hydraulic engineers

the ancient world ever knew,

and Machu Picchu is
an incredible showcase

of their abilities.

- Not only did the
Incan people believe

that it was access to
water that gave you power,

but also that their ability
to control that flow of water

was something that was
given to them by the gods.

- For the Inca,
everything is alive.

Pachamama, or Mother
Earth, was very important

to this Inca spirituality.

And Pachamama had to
be nourished through

different kinds
of water rituals.

- [Laurence] Archeological
studies suggest

that a site on the perimeter

of Machu Picchu
called Chachabamba

was built specifically
for the worship of water.

- Chachabamba was
discovered in 1940,

a series of 14 sacred baths

that are believed to
be a very key part

of their ceremonial services.

- Recently, some
researchers went in

and did drone LIDAR work,

using lasers to map the ground,

and then you can remove
that canopy of trees

and see what's below it.

And they were able to see

that there were a
lot more conduits

that were diverting
water from waterfalls

that were further away.

- [Laurence] But why here,

just two miles down the
road from Machu Picchu?

- Some archeologists
believe that Chachabamba

was a place where a traveler
would stop to purify their body

and their soul on their
way to Machu Picchu.

In 2009, a theory
emerged that Machu Picchu

was, in fact, a destination
for a spiritual pilgrimage,

a way to celebrate
their origin story.

- The creator deity
Viracocha called up the sun

and the moon first from
the Island of the Sun

in Lake Titicaca.

He then used clay from
the sides of the lake

and created the first people,

and they take the journey
to establish Cusco

as the capital of
the Inca Empire.

- The idea is that the baths

of Chachabamba are
like Lake Titicaca.

One immersed themselves
in this water.

Then the two-mile walk up
to Machu Picchu represents

this walk across the land.

- If Machu Picchu was
indeed a pilgrimage site,

we can picture people
approaching the city

and conducting cleansing rituals

in places like Chachabamba
and other sites.

- [Laurence] Pilgrimage
or not, scholars believe

that many of the structures
within Machu Picchu

served a religious function.

Among them, the Temple
of the Three Windows.

- When Viracocha sends
the people to Cusco,

he sends them in a cave
entrance near Lake Titicaca.

And there are three cave exits,

so three windows symbolizing
those three exits.

- [Laurence] Another
feature of Machu Picchu

seemingly built
for religious use

is the Temple of the Condor.

(condor shrieks]

- The condor was a sacred
creature among the Inca.

They thought that the
mountain gods could transform

themselves into
condors and vice versa.

So not surprisingly,
at Machu Picchu,

there's this big temple,

and they actually carved
out of the bedrock

two wing-like structures
and the head of a condor.

That's a place where they
could offer sacrifices.

- [Laurence] Some of those
sacrifices may have been animal.

- Some archeologists believe

that the Temple of
the Condor was used

for sacrificing
guinea pigs and llamas

as a symbol of
power and fertility.

- [Laurence] And some
offerings may have been human.

- There's a specific Inca
ceremony called the Capacocha,

and it's very well known that
young children were chosen

to be sacrificial victims when
there were times of trouble.

- That seems very barbaric
from Western society,

but if you are in an
environment where you believe

that the gods need
your sacrifices,

children are the absolute
most precious thing

we could sacrifice.

- Machu Picchu may
have been the place

for the ultimate sacrifice.

- Because the Incas
were dependent upon all

of these spirits and
gods around them,

it was very important

to maintain a good
relationship with them.

And the way they felt they
could best do that was

to offer offerings to
them on a regular basis.

- We see this in various
parts of the empire.

Children that were
sacrificed have been found,

but there's no evidence of
the Capacocha ceremony ever

to have took place
at Machu Picchu.

We have not found any
remains that relate to that.

- But you really can't deny
that there would've been

some religious and spiritual
use for these buildings

when the population
itself was so tied

to their spiritual recognition

of these places
and these entities.

to their spiritual recogn thany

since Hiram Bingham introduced
Machu Picchu to the world,

and even after
decades of scrutiny,

the site is reluctant
to give up its secrets.

But the Inca did
leave clues behind,

including ones that suggest

the site filled a very
practical purpose.

- The Inca really had a
phenomenal understanding

of the movement of
the celestial bodies.

They were very spiritual

and they very much revered
the sun and the moon.

- Incas obviously didn't
have clocks and watches,

so they used passage of the sun

to determine their
clock, so to speak.

The rocks themselves
were like little sundials

so they could tell by
the shadows on the rocks

what time of year it was,
what time of day it was.

- Tracking the movement of
the sun is very difficult

in itself, but they accomplish
this with a lot of precision.

So the Temple of the Sun
especially noteworthy

because, although it might seem

that it's just a beam of light
projecting into the wall,

there's much more to it.

- The architecture
reflects and encompasses

how they could have had
such a precise understanding

of the movements of the cosmos.

[tense music]

- [Laurence] The
Temple of the Sun

isn't the only building
in Machu Picchu

that marks the sun's movement.

- There's at least two
observatories in Machu Picchu.

One marking the summer solstice,

the other one, the
winter solstice.

Beneath the Sun Temple,
there's this cavity there

and is exquisitely cut
stones, like stairways.

And the name of that carved
area underneath the Sun Temple

is called Intimachay, which
means cave of the sun.

- The sun enters
the cave in June

for a certain window of time.

And in 2012, there was
a team of researchers

that went and mapped the
inside of this cave using LIDAR

and 3D technologies to
really understand the details

inside the cave.

- [Laurence] They discover
that this structure

is even more complex
than it appears.

- The cave may not have only

had some of these
solar alignments,

there's probably some
lunar alignments as well

that show that there's much
more in-depth understanding

of the movement of
the heavenly bodies

than we may even understand

was actually
happening at the site.

- [Laurence] While
the Intimachay acts

like a solar
calendar underground,

another carving tracks
the sun from above.

- One of the very prominent
features of Machu Picchu is

you go up on this
precipice there,

and there's a rock carved
right out of bedrock

and it's called the Intihuatana,
the Hitching Post of the Sun.

It marks the four points,

north, east, south, and west,

and also it's thought to mimic
the nearby sacred mountain

of Huayna Picchu,

which is the famous
backdrop of Machu Picchu

because it models the shading
of that mountain there.

- So the Intihuatana is this
extraordinary measuring device.

And during the equinoxes when
the sun is right above it,

it projects no shadow at all.

- It was a place
for the Inca priests

to watch the equinox
and the solstice,

and they would then
ceremoniously tie the sun

to the hitching post

so that it didn't go
farther north or south.

- [Laurence] Keeping time
by observing the skies

was critical to the Inca.

- The way they're tracking
the winter solstice

and the summer solstice

through these buildings
becomes extremely important

for the planting and
harvesting season.

- The Inca spirituality really
was so much about nature,

so being in this location
that's high up in the clouds,

you are really immersed in
this environment of the gods.

You're close to that
celestial movement,

which is so important
to the understanding

of when to perform
certain ceremonies,

when to harvest plants.

- Without being able to so
accurately predict the seasons,

it would've been
virtually impossible

for their terraced
gardens to have been able

to support the people
that were living there.

- So a variety of different
kinds of architecture

at the site may have been used
for astronomical observations.

- People might
think of the Incas

as being a primitive culture,

but they created the largest
empire in the New World.

However, on the other hand,

we'll probably never know
the extent of Inca cosmology.

- It leaves us
absolutely mystified

as to how they could have
made these calculations.

How did they develop such
an accurate understanding

of time and space?

- [Laurence] Whatever
the driving force was

behind Machu Picchu's
construction,

it's a testament to the
ancient Inca's sophistication

as builders, engineers,
and even astronomers.

But not everyone thinks the
Inca created this place alone.

- In the 1960s, theories
emerged regarding a lot

of structures around the Earth,

Stonehenge, Easter
Island, the pyramids,

that suggested that it was
impossible for human beings

to have created these
architectural feats.

- When you look at a wall on
Easter Island called Vinapu,

this building
technique is identical

to what you see in Peru.

Perfectly-fitted granite blocks,

would seem they're
using power tools

to cut very hard rocks,
granite and basalt.

- It was believed that

for human beings to
construct anything like this,

we would've had
to have been aided

by a far more
advanced technology

than was available
on Earth at the time.

And according to proponents of
the ancient astronaut theory,

we got help from other worlds.

[tense music]

- [Laurence] It may sound like
the plot of a sci-fi movie,

but there are some things about
Machu Picchu's construction

that defy logic.

- A few stones in the
center of Machu Picchu

are over 50 tons.

And you look at
these single stones

and see how perfectly
they're fit,

there's not a good
explanation, to this day,

how people with
rudimentary technologies

were able to do that.

It seems impossible.

- The feet of engineering does
seem otherworldly at times,

because even though
the ashlar technique

was used throughout
the Incan Empire,

which was a way that
the stones were carved

and they fit together in
a sort of puzzle piece,

how do you do it at
the top of a mountain?

A closer examination

of the foundations
underneath Machu Picchu show

such a significantly
different architectural style

that it's possible that
the foundations were built

by an entirely
different civilization.

- Whether it's extraterrestrials

or some other
sophisticated civilization,

who can do these things

and perfectly fit giant
blocks of stone together?

- The ancient astronaut
theory is considered by many

to be pseudoscience.

However, there is new evidence

that the history of Machu
Picchu may be much, much older

than anyone has anticipated.

- There's a long history of
civilization in the Andes,

going back to the first
cities being built, 3000 BCE,

throughout what eventually
became the Inca Empire.

- Some of these carved rocks
are as big as box cars,

and archeologists believe
that they predate the Incans

by hundreds of years.

- [Laurence] Just a short
walk from the center

of Machu Picchu in an area
named after Pachamama,

the Earth Mother, stands
a large granite outcrop

that's been hiding a secret
for over 1,000 years.

- In 2016, one of the
Machu Picchu archeologists

discovered a faint symbol that
raised some new questions.

- What's found on that
panel is a man, a llama,

and some black-and-white
geometric shapes.

Some people think
that it's an indicator

that there's a much
more ancient history

to Machu Picchu
we're unaware of.

- Whatever it means,

it has no specific ties
to the Incan population

in the 15th or 16th centuries.

- [Laurence] Further
exploration of Pachamama

reveals even more
puzzling cave paintings,

estimated to have been
made as early as 800 AD.

- Perhaps the
greatest indication

that there was some association

with ancient aliens comes from
the Incan religion itself.

- [Laurence] And there's one
Inca legend in particular

that can certainly be
interpreted as supernatural.

- There's a legend that
the Emperor Pachacuti,

on the eve of a great battle,

went to a lake and is
reflecting on what to do next.

And that in this moment,
a disc fell from the sky

from which emerged a face.

And the supernatural
creature tells Pachachuti

that he's going to win the
upcoming battle and many more.

The story is then that these
huge monolithic stones

come to life and assist
Pachacuti in his battle.

And these levitating rocks

are what helped build Machu
Picchu in the first place.

There is no evidence to
support any of these stories,

but there are many stories
that indicate that the skies

above Machu Picchu today
still remain a hotspot

for paranormal activity.

- UFO activity in Peru
is quite considerable.

And, in fact, when
you're in Peru,

the subject of UFOs
is a very common one.

Most people do not
doubt the existence

of extraterrestrial sky gods

who had the technology
to fly through the sky,

to levitate stones and
magically move them.

Is it possible that these
same sky gods are the ones

who built Machu Picchu?

It's a common belief there that
that is what was happening.

[tense music]

- [Laurence] Nearly 600 years
after Machu Picchu was founded,

research teams aren't certain

how Machu Picchu
was made, or why.

- It's estimated that
potentially up to 60%

of the construction of
Machu Picchu is underground,

and these deep
foundations were necessary

to help with seismic movements
and terrace drainage,

to make sure things
would filter properly.

- To keep a place like
Machu Picchu securely

on the mountaintop,

it takes under-the-earth
infrastructure.

It's entirely possible

that there are subterranean
chambers we've yet to contact.

In 2010, an engineer
named David Crespy

came to Machu Picchu, looking
specifically at those caves

under the Temple of
the Three Windows,

and said that structurally, the
wall that was in the back

looked like it might be hiding

an entrance into
deeper chambers.

- He immediately alerts the
other archeological teams

to his discovery,
but gets no response.

After enough time goes by,

he reaches out to a French
archeologist named Thierry Jamin

to see if he can help see
what might be underground.

- [Laurence] Jamin gets
approval to search the area

with ground-penetrating radar.

In April 2012, along with
a team of archeologists,

he makes a stunning discovery.

- They did some geophysical
investigations at the site.

And what he thinks he found

is some kind of a
chamber below this door

that may have had a
staircase leading into it.

- The radar also
indicates a huge amount

of metal down there,

which could indicate
silver and gold,

exactly the kind of riches
that one would expect

to be buried with royalty.

[tense music]

- [Laurence] Like the
ancient Egyptians,

the Incas mummified
their great leaders,

not to memorialize their
power, but to preserve it.

- They were not fancy
burials, and they believed

that their ancestors did
not die when they died.

They would go into the
afterworld, but their spirit

would remain and would look
over their descendants.

- In the chronicles that
the Spanish left behind,

they describe instances
of them eating

and drinking with these remains,

even building vast palaces
as if they were still alive.

So the Spanish
Conquistadors were horrified

with the amount of power

that these mummies
had over the living.

Maybe this whole place was
dedicated to the afterlife.

Hiram Bingham's crew is believed

to have excavated all of
the graves on Machu Picchu,

but they perhaps missed
the most important one.

- [Laurence] The
Peruvian government

denies Jamin's request
to excavate further,

but he has a hunch
about what or who

may be lying within the chamber.

- Thierry Jamin
believes that Pachacuti,

who is one of the legendary
builders of Machu Picchu,

would be buried there too.

And his gold mummy was somehow
interred inside this wall.

- It's possible that
Pachacuti's mummified remains

were once located in the cave

underneath the Temple of the Sun

that Bingham had originally
believed was a burial chamber.

- [Laurence] Pachacuti
dies in 1471.

According to his wishes,

the whole of the Inca
Empire mourns for a year

and then spends a month
celebrating his life.

- Although his remains
were originally installed

in the capital city of Cusco,

according to the
Spanish chronicles,

a person of his stature

would have made regular
outings, even as a mummy.

- [Laurence] But after
the Spanish conquest

starting in 1532,

just when his people
need him most,

Pachacuti's mummy
mysteriously disappears.

- In 1559, a Spanish
magistrate claims

to have collected, by
order of the viceroy,

the deceased bodies of
Inca kings and queens,

and then shipped them to Lima.

The bodies were
deposited in a hospital

in the city of Lima,

and they were
eventually buried there

where we believe they
can still be found.

- [Laurence] None of
those human remains

have been positively
identified as Pachacuti.

- Unofficially, the
question remains

were Pachacuti's
mummified remains

instead brought to Machu
Picchu for reburial?

Is Machu Picchu a location
for the life and afterlife

of the Inca's greatest leader?

- [Laurence] Thierry Jamin
and his crew are keen to know

if what they've
seen on that radar

could really be
Pachacuti's tomb.

For now, the truth
is staying buried.

- Today, we can't help

but look at Machu Picchu
through our Western eyes.

But, of course, it
was made by people

who had a very different
cosmovision than we do.

Part of the mystery of Machu
Picchu is we just don't know

how to look at it the right way.

- Whether Machu Picchu was
built for war or peace,

as a place of worship
or a place to unwind,

an astronomical wonder
or a tomb for the dead,

the search for more answers

about this astonishing
site continues.

As top archeologists
employ new technologies,

perhaps they will one day
decipher the true purpose

of Machu Picchu.

I'm Laurence Fishburne.

Thank you for watching
"History's Greatest Mysteries."

[mysterious music]