Machu Picchu today is one of the most well known world heritage sites and one of the highest in altitude citadels in the world, at around 2400m above sea level. This, along with many other astronomical sites, were geodesically connected. Astronomy for the earlier civilisations was not a research subject of finding the unknown but also of following up with the seasons and was important for agriculture. The building and its surroundings are representing astronomical calendars and are following the movements of the sun and the seasons.

Climbing up the Machu Picchu and entering from the main entrance, looking at the citadel, in the mountains opposite you lies the head of the Inca, the emperor of the civilisation.

Turn 180 degrees. The mountains you face now have a “V” shape gap between them. This V shape marks the summer solstice. On 21st of December, the sun rises from that gap.

Many more buildings are built in a way that the sun passes through them on specific days. Winter and summer solstices as well as equinoxes are placed in the portal of temples and houses in the site that follow it.

Many more religious symbols also, follow the same pattern, eg the statue of chacana, that symbolises connection between life on earth and the universe, are complete with the equinoxes.

Another room that hints to the advancements in astronomy of the Peruvian Mountains is the room of mirrors or water mirrors. There exist two stone plates that are carved into the ground. If they are filled with water, they create reflective surfaces. It is believed now that the people living there understood that looking directly at the sun was dangerous and they could study the sky above through its reflection on the water.

In the same room, the months are represented in each windows, marking the yearly calendar. In quechua, the language of the civilisation in the region that is still spoken today we can also identify the constellations, and a variety of festivities, customs and traditions.

Theories of ancient astronomical connections in Peru: the Nasca signs.
Was Peru and their ancestors connected to aliens? Had alien astronauts visited this land and left the “biggest astronomical map”? The Nasca signs are geometric patterns near the city of Nasca, in the Peruvian dessert. One can barely recognise them from the ground, but an airplane view reveals different shapes and animals. Studies on them, after the late ’60s reveal that they had some come kind of connection with water and rituals, coming from a region that it doesn’t rain frequently, while some have some connection with solar eclipses but nothing is proven.