Cementerio superior y roca ritual

In Machu Picchu, as in all Inca cities, burials were made in peripheral areas. In this area skeletal remains were found and at the top they found boulders (rocks), which belong to the site, indicating that offerings were made with these stones.

Sector urbano

The agricultural sector is delimited by a dry moat, and in parallel there is a long stairway leading to the front door. This sector contains the largest architectural elements of a Inca city (llaqta). The city is U shaped.
To the north there is a widespread religious sub-sector of the temples, to the south there are all the rooms and workshops in platforms that Hiram Bingham called “military group”.

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It is a semi-circular building erected on a solid rock, a granite block adapted to the natural curvature, with a circumference of 10.50m. In this edifice there are two trapezoidal windows with protrusions in each corner, on the north side there is a door finely carved details into the, very similar to the Qoricancha Temple in Cuzco.

Roca sagrada

It features a carved monolithic piece of 3 m in height and 7 m at its base resembling a feline. From another angle the outline of the mountains surrounding Machu Picchu can be observed. Because of the characteristics presented by this group, and of the two "Huayrana" - rooms of three walls-the scientists believe that they might have fulfilled ritual functions.

Templo de las tres ventanas

It is located East of the main square, it has a rectangular plan and the name is was chosen because of the three beautiful windows and two vanos ciegos. The architectural type used for this compound, together with the main temple, is the most impressive of all Machu Picchu: they are enormous polyhedrons finely carved and joined with millimetric precision.

Intiwatana

Intrusive bedrock, ceremonial point that can be translated as Inti=sun and wata= year. It was a place for the study of the solar year, and where the solstices and equinoxes could be determined. Many scholars argue that Intiwatana served as directional milestones who´s angles help find the magnetic North. In any case, it was a ritual shaft of great religious significance.

Las plazas

there are four squares on different levels, characterized by the classic rectangular Inca style, interconnected by rungs embedded in the parameters of the platforms. The largest is the central plaza, which served religious and social functions.

Mausoleo o tumba

The enormous leaning stone block that supports the Temple of the Sun in its inferior side, leaves a cave which is furnished and fitted with exceptional skill, only to be used as a mausoleum. This was also a place of worship and an offering to the mummies of the main authorities; in its access point there is sign representing the Earth Goddess.

The most popular route is the one of four days, a journey that, thanks to the beauty of the landscape - as it crossed different ecological levels – and to the archaeological sites built along the way, has earned a reputation of one of the best trekking destinations in the world. The trail reaches  Warmiwañusqa, located at 4200masl and Runkuraqay at 3860masl, to later descend to 2000 m (in the jungle), to run large rock-carved grandstands, to pass through tunnels up to 20 m long. The Piskacucho stretch splits at km 82 of the railroad Cusco - Machu Picchu Pueblo.