Machu Picchu Granite

Many of the stone blocks weigh more than 50 tons and all are cut and fitted together in such a precise.

Machu picchu granite.

The report which appears in the book geology in the conservation of machu picchu states. Is that the tour of the archaeological site is a visit that never ceases to amaze locals and strangers alike. Granite cutting is a difficult operation even with modern equipment and can take hours to cut. The mainstream theory is however that hundreds of men must have worked together to push these rocks up the.

Most of the granite rocks used in machu picchu s construction weigh well over 50 pounds. Machu picchu s most distinct and famous structures include the temple of the sun and the intihuatana stone a sculpted granite rock that is believed to have functioned as a solar clock or calendar. Inca builders chipped and chiseled stones to construct their citadel of machu picchu from a 250 million year old granite quarry. The reason is the amazing beauty of its landscapes the adventure of ascending the mountain huayna picchu and the mystery that surrounds its ancient stone buildings.

Machu picchu is located high in the peruvian mountains. The buildings of machu picchu. In the southern part of the ruin is the sacred rock also known as the temple of the sun it was called the mausoleum by bingham. The well developed crystals within the granite derived from its slow cooling history as a magma makes it an ideal rock for carving hammer and making.

The inca citadel of machu picchu attracts thousands of tourists year after year. The construction of machu picchu. Scholars still have no clue how people who didn t have the technology of a wheel could have pushed these rocks up the steep andean mountainside. The underlying rocks are 246 million year old granite lancelot et al 1978 with local dykes of bright green serpentine that outcrops along the inca trail.

The inca followed the faults digging up the already loosened debris. Few of machu picchu s white granite structures have stonework as highly refined as that found in cuzco but several are worthy of note. The temples terraces and living structures at machu picchu were built with granite a material abundant in the area. Among the 140 dwellings you will find mostly houses several temples food deposits water fountains a guard house and even a jail.

Along faults the hard granite of the 250 million year old machu picchu batholith was crushed by tectonic movements. There is no evidence of any fortified walls which means that it was not a fortress.