WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:04.080 Imagine standing on a sheer, jagged ridge of rock. You 2 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:07.839 are like sixteen hundred feet in the air. Right, you 3 00:00:07.879 --> 00:00:11.439 look to your left and there is this terrifying vertical 4 00:00:11.560 --> 00:00:13.679 drop straight down into a river valley. 5 00:00:13.720 --> 00:00:16.039 And if you look to your right, it's well, it's 6 00:00:16.039 --> 00:00:16.960 it's another sheer. 7 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:20.359 Drop exactly, and swirling all around you is this thick, 8 00:00:20.679 --> 00:00:22.760 blinding white miss. 9 00:00:22.440 --> 00:00:24.839 Their lungs are just burning because the air is so 10 00:00:24.960 --> 00:00:25.600 thin up there. 11 00:00:25.719 --> 00:00:29.399 Yeah, and the humidity of the jungle is completely suffocating. Now, 12 00:00:29.519 --> 00:00:32.399 imagine someone hands you a piece of granite that weighs 13 00:00:32.520 --> 00:00:36.399 like twenty tons, a literal boulder, right, and they tell 14 00:00:36.439 --> 00:00:39.640 you to carve it into a perfect geometric puzzle piece. 15 00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:41.560 Oh, and you can't use iron tools, and. 16 00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:43.719 You definitely don't have a wheel to move it, and you. 17 00:00:43.679 --> 00:00:46.119 Can't use mortar to hold it in place. You basically 18 00:00:46.119 --> 00:00:47.920 just have to figure it out using the rocks lying 19 00:00:47.920 --> 00:00:48.719 around on the ground. 20 00:00:49.039 --> 00:00:51.320 I mean, it sounds like a punishment from ancient mythology, 21 00:00:51.399 --> 00:00:53.719 you know, pushing the boulder up the hill, only to 22 00:00:53.759 --> 00:00:55.520 realize the hill is a cliff and you don't even 23 00:00:55.520 --> 00:01:00.159 have a cart. It totally sounds completely impossible. But that 24 00:01:00.280 --> 00:01:03.719 scenario isn't a myth, it is a physical reality that 25 00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:07.560 still stands today. Welcome to the Deep Dive. I'm so 26 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:08.680 thrilled you are joining us. 27 00:01:08.760 --> 00:01:09.760 Yeah, it's great to be here. 28 00:01:09.879 --> 00:01:12.400 Today's mission is to unpack a five hundred year old 29 00:01:12.480 --> 00:01:16.599 riddle hidden high up in the Peruvian Andes. We are, 30 00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:18.599 of course talking about Machu. 31 00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:20.840 Picha, such an incredible topic and our road. 32 00:01:20.719 --> 00:01:24.640 Map for this exploration is the incredibly detailed transcript from 33 00:01:24.680 --> 00:01:29.159 the comprehensive History Channel documentary Mysteries of Machu Picchu Revealed. 34 00:01:29.640 --> 00:01:33.079 It is a really remarkable piece of source material. We 35 00:01:33.159 --> 00:01:37.640 have a mountain of information to unpack today, literally and figuratively. 36 00:01:37.799 --> 00:01:40.480 Absolutely, the mission for us and for you listening right 37 00:01:40.519 --> 00:01:43.760 now is to strip away centuries of accumulated myth. We 38 00:01:43.799 --> 00:01:47.680 are going to tear down those romanticized Hollywood style adventurer. 39 00:01:47.319 --> 00:01:49.359 Tales right the Indiana Jones stuff exactly. 40 00:01:49.599 --> 00:01:52.280 We want to reveal the true identity, the actual purpose, 41 00:01:52.359 --> 00:01:56.560 and the sheer engineering genius behind this lost city of Stone. So, 42 00:01:56.680 --> 00:01:58.480 if you are the kind of person who loves connecting 43 00:01:58.480 --> 00:02:01.799 ancient mysteries to modern SCIGNCE forensics, while this deep dive 44 00:02:01.879 --> 00:02:03.920 is custom built for you, because. 45 00:02:03.640 --> 00:02:08.080 Sometimes the real history is far, far more fascinating than 46 00:02:08.080 --> 00:02:08.520 the legend. 47 00:02:08.599 --> 00:02:09.400 Oh totally. 48 00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:11.919 And you know, the most intriguing part of this documentary 49 00:02:11.919 --> 00:02:16.280 transcript isn't merely the visual spectacle of what the Inca built. 50 00:02:16.280 --> 00:02:18.080 I mean, we all know they built a beautiful city 51 00:02:18.120 --> 00:02:19.000 in the clouds. 52 00:02:18.719 --> 00:02:20.919 Right, we have all seen the postcard photos exactly. 53 00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:25.439 The real narrative tension comes from observing how modern science 54 00:02:25.719 --> 00:02:30.680 had to painstakingly dismantle eighty years of deeply flawed historical 55 00:02:30.680 --> 00:02:35.879 assumptions to finally understand the why of Machu Picchu it is. 56 00:02:36.439 --> 00:02:38.199 It's really a story of forensic correction. 57 00:02:38.439 --> 00:02:41.719 Let's jump right into the sheer impossibility of this place. 58 00:02:42.039 --> 00:02:44.879 We are talking about an entire city made of stone, 59 00:02:45.159 --> 00:02:49.000 perched on a precipice. It just defies gravity. 60 00:02:48.680 --> 00:02:51.120 It completely defies standard architectural logic. 61 00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:53.280 And for four hundred years it managed to hide completely 62 00:02:53.280 --> 00:02:56.439 from the outside world. How does a society without wheels 63 00:02:56.520 --> 00:02:59.000 or iron manage something of this magnitude. 64 00:02:59.159 --> 00:03:02.000 Well, to even begin grasping the mechanics of Machu Pichu, 65 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:03.520 we really have to zoom out. We have to look 66 00:03:03.520 --> 00:03:06.599 at the staggering logistical power of the civilization that built it. 67 00:03:06.719 --> 00:03:08.120 Okay, set the stage for us. 68 00:03:08.360 --> 00:03:11.400 So we often hear about the Aztecs in Mexico, but 69 00:03:11.520 --> 00:03:14.520 the Inca Empire, prior to the arrival of the Spanish, 70 00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:18.680 was arguably the most powerful, highly structured society in the 71 00:03:18.840 --> 00:03:19.639 entire New World. 72 00:03:19.719 --> 00:03:20.159 Wow. 73 00:03:20.400 --> 00:03:22.879 Yeah. They controlled a territory that stretched from modern day 74 00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:24.800 Columbia all the way down to Chile. 75 00:03:25.080 --> 00:03:28.479 That is a massive footprint. I mean thousands of miles 76 00:03:28.520 --> 00:03:30.439 of the most unforgiving terrain on the. 77 00:03:30.439 --> 00:03:32.199 Plant an absolutely brutal terrain. 78 00:03:32.280 --> 00:03:35.520 You have the towering Andes Mountains, the arid coastal deserts, 79 00:03:35.560 --> 00:03:40.400 the dense Amazonian jungles. Managing a population across that geography 80 00:03:40.439 --> 00:03:43.479 seems like an administrative nightmare today, let alone in the 81 00:03:43.520 --> 00:03:44.520 fourteen hundred. 82 00:03:44.360 --> 00:03:48.520 It was an administrative triumph, honestly, and their Golden Age, 83 00:03:48.840 --> 00:03:52.319 the era of their greatest expansion, really began around fourteen 84 00:03:52.400 --> 00:03:54.639 thirty eight under a leader named Pachacuti. 85 00:03:54.879 --> 00:03:58.199 The source material calls Pachacuti a brilliant warrior and leader. 86 00:03:58.240 --> 00:03:59.560 He wasn't just a king, right. 87 00:03:59.560 --> 00:04:03.719 No, far more than that. He centralized control over religion, art, 88 00:04:03.800 --> 00:04:06.680 and government. He was the ultimate architect of the empire. 89 00:04:06.759 --> 00:04:09.159 So he was a revolutionary builder exactly. 90 00:04:09.960 --> 00:04:15.319 Batchkuti initiated massive construction projects across the continent, whole cities, sprawling, 91 00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:20.079 agricultural estates, grand temples. But the true backbone of his 92 00:04:20.240 --> 00:04:24.680 power was an infrastructure network that is just difficult to comprehend. 93 00:04:24.959 --> 00:04:28.959 What kind of infrastructure the INCA engineered and maintained roughly 94 00:04:29.079 --> 00:04:31.639 fourteen thousand miles of paved roads. 95 00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:33.959 Wait, I need to pause on the mechanics of that 96 00:04:34.600 --> 00:04:38.480 fourteen thousand miles of roads through the Andes Mountain yep. 97 00:04:38.759 --> 00:04:39.839 Fourteen thousand miles. 98 00:04:39.879 --> 00:04:42.079 And again, this is a society without the wheel. They 99 00:04:42.079 --> 00:04:45.480 aren't driving carts, they aren't pulling wagons. What is the 100 00:04:45.480 --> 00:04:49.680 physical mechanism of using fourteen thousand miles of mountain highways 101 00:04:49.839 --> 00:04:50.920 if you don't have wheels? 102 00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:54.319 Well, Kenneth Wright, who is a civil engineering expert in 103 00:04:54.319 --> 00:04:56.720 the documentary, he really sheds light on this. Those words 104 00:04:56.720 --> 00:04:59.199 weren't designed for leisurely travel or wheeled carts. 105 00:04:59.439 --> 00:05:00.439 What were they for them? 106 00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:03.000 They were resigned for the rapid projection of state power. 107 00:05:03.519 --> 00:05:05.639 The network was built with a system of relay stations 108 00:05:05.639 --> 00:05:08.879 called tampus, spaced about a day's walk apart, and they 109 00:05:08.920 --> 00:05:12.319 had this messenger system of runners, the Chaskes, who could 110 00:05:12.360 --> 00:05:17.519 transmit information across the empire at incredible speeds. But more importantly, 111 00:05:17.560 --> 00:05:20.680 the roads were wide and stable enough to rapidly move 112 00:05:21.079 --> 00:05:23.560 massive groups of troops from one sector of the empire 113 00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:24.040 to another. 114 00:05:24.199 --> 00:05:28.639 Oh wow, So it's basically the ultimate flex of administrative muscle. Precisely, 115 00:05:28.720 --> 00:05:30.920 it's the emperor saying, I can march an army to 116 00:05:30.959 --> 00:05:33.279 your doorstep across a mountain range before you even have 117 00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:34.720 time to organize a defense. 118 00:05:34.879 --> 00:05:38.199 It was a highly centralized government controlling a vast, highly 119 00:05:38.240 --> 00:05:44.360 diverse population through sheer logistical securiority. By standardizing the road network, 120 00:05:44.600 --> 00:05:48.040 Pachacuti essentially shrank the geography of the Andes. It was 121 00:05:48.079 --> 00:05:51.000 an empire operating at the absolute peak of its capacity. 122 00:05:51.079 --> 00:05:53.680 And then we hit the year fifteen thirty two. Enter 123 00:05:53.720 --> 00:05:57.399 Francisco Bizar, the turning point. A Spanish conquistador lands in 124 00:05:57.439 --> 00:05:59.439 Peru with just one hundred and eighty. 125 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:02.040 Men, tiny, tiny fraction of a force compared to the 126 00:06:02.040 --> 00:06:02.720 Inca armies. 127 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:05.560 That's what I find so jarring, one hundred and eighty 128 00:06:05.600 --> 00:06:09.000 guys against an empire that spans a continent. How does 129 00:06:09.079 --> 00:06:12.319 a tiny band of foreigners even register as a legitimate 130 00:06:12.319 --> 00:06:16.560 threat to a society that can coordinate fourteen thousand miles 131 00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:17.800 of mountain logistics. 132 00:06:17.920 --> 00:06:21.399 Pizarro was driven by a hyper focused motivation. He was 133 00:06:21.480 --> 00:06:25.160 lured by something the Inca possessed, an absolute abundance, and 134 00:06:25.240 --> 00:06:29.839 this element represents a fundamental, fatal clash of values between 135 00:06:29.879 --> 00:06:30.680 the two cultures. 136 00:06:30.759 --> 00:06:35.879 You're talking about gold, gold. The documentary highlights this profound misunderstanding. 137 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:40.600 So beautifully. To the Inca, gold had zero economic value. 138 00:06:40.399 --> 00:06:42.120 Right correct, none whatsoever. 139 00:06:42.240 --> 00:06:45.360 It was entirely sacred. They believed it represented their principal 140 00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:48.279 God into the sun. They literally called gold the sweat 141 00:06:48.279 --> 00:06:48.720 of the sun. 142 00:06:48.800 --> 00:06:52.240 It was purely a spiritual material. They crafted ceremonial knives 143 00:06:52.279 --> 00:06:55.240 from it, beautiful masks, and they even sheeted the walls 144 00:06:55.240 --> 00:06:57.680 of their main temples in brilliant solid gold. 145 00:06:57.800 --> 00:06:59.959 While the Inca saw the spiritual manifestation of their day, 146 00:07:00.360 --> 00:07:02.360 the Spanish saw cold, hard currency. 147 00:07:02.519 --> 00:07:06.759 Exactly, they saw a vast, unimaginable wealth, political power back 148 00:07:06.759 --> 00:07:10.079 in Europe, and basically the entire justification for crossing a 149 00:07:10.120 --> 00:07:10.839 deadly ocean. 150 00:07:10.959 --> 00:07:12.639 It's a complete disconnect, this. 151 00:07:12.639 --> 00:07:15.920 Complete disconnect in how these two cultures valued a yellow 152 00:07:15.920 --> 00:07:20.600 metal sealed the fate of the Inca Empire. Pizarro hears 153 00:07:20.639 --> 00:07:24.560 stories of the Incan emperor Ottawalpa eating from golden plates 154 00:07:24.560 --> 00:07:27.480 and drinking from golden goblets, and he immediately sets out 155 00:07:27.519 --> 00:07:28.279 to intercept him. 156 00:07:28.319 --> 00:07:31.399 And he finds Ottawalpa at a town called Kaja Marca, 157 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:34.439 which is about three hundred and fifty miles inland from 158 00:07:34.439 --> 00:07:38.519 where Pizarro landed. Ottawaalpa is camped there with a massive army, 159 00:07:39.040 --> 00:07:42.360 and the confrontation that follows is just a masterclass in 160 00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:43.399 brutal deception. 161 00:07:43.720 --> 00:07:46.879 In November fifteen thirty two, Pizarro extends an invitation to 162 00:07:46.920 --> 00:07:49.000 Ottawalpa for a feast in his. 163 00:07:48.920 --> 00:07:50.480 Honor, and the emperor just goes. 164 00:07:50.839 --> 00:07:54.399 The Emperor, perhaps curious about these strange men and completely 165 00:07:54.439 --> 00:07:57.680 confident in the size of his own forces, agrees. He 166 00:07:57.759 --> 00:08:01.759 arrives in the town square with his Royal entrae entirely. 167 00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:03.800 Unarmed, unarmed oh man Yeah. 168 00:08:03.839 --> 00:08:06.000 Expecting a diplomatic or ceremonial meeting. 169 00:08:06.079 --> 00:08:08.920 He walks right into a confined courtyard. It's a literal 170 00:08:09.000 --> 00:08:09.639 kill box. 171 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:12.480 It was. The Spaniards had hidden themselves in the buildings 172 00:08:12.519 --> 00:08:16.160 surrounding the square. At a signal. They sprang the trap 173 00:08:16.279 --> 00:08:20.839 just an absolute ambush. They unleashed rudimentary firearms horses which 174 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:23.800 the Inca had never seen before and found absolutely terrifying, 175 00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:28.480 and steal swords. They slaughtered the unarmed attendants and captured 176 00:08:28.519 --> 00:08:29.399 the emperor alive. 177 00:08:29.519 --> 00:08:32.759 Think about the psychological shock for Atahuapa. He is a 178 00:08:32.799 --> 00:08:36.080 god king. His feet aren't even supposed touch the ground, right, 179 00:08:36.360 --> 00:08:38.799 and suddenly he is locked in a room by these 180 00:08:38.879 --> 00:08:43.360 violent aliens. But he quickly assesses his captors and realizes 181 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:45.200 exactly what they want he does. 182 00:08:45.519 --> 00:08:48.080 He offers Pizarro a ransom for his life. 183 00:08:47.799 --> 00:08:51.679 And the documentary describes a staggering visual here at Ahuapa 184 00:08:51.919 --> 00:08:54.679 promises to fill the room. He is imprisoned in a 185 00:08:54.759 --> 00:08:58.080 room roughly twenty two feet by seventeen feet with gold. 186 00:08:57.919 --> 00:08:59.639 Up to a line as high as he can reach. 187 00:08:59.759 --> 00:09:02.799 Yeah, and he promises to fill two smaller rooms with summer. 188 00:09:02.919 --> 00:09:04.840 It is an offer that simply did not compute in 189 00:09:04.840 --> 00:09:08.120 the European mind. The sheer volume of precious metal he 190 00:09:08.200 --> 00:09:10.720 was proposing was just unfathorable. 191 00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:12.600 I tried to put this into a modern perspective. It's 192 00:09:12.639 --> 00:09:16.279 like a tech billionaire being taken hostage and the bias freedom. 193 00:09:16.399 --> 00:09:19.759 He tells his kidnappers, I will literally empty Fort Knox 194 00:09:19.799 --> 00:09:22.519 for you, every gold bar, every coin. I will have 195 00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:23.840 it delivered to this warehouse. 196 00:09:24.120 --> 00:09:25.120 That's a great analogy. 197 00:09:25.240 --> 00:09:28.320 And the crazy thing is the Inca actually deliver the 198 00:09:28.360 --> 00:09:31.120 gold pours in from their capital, Cusco and from temples 199 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:34.840 across the empire. Porters carried over those fourteen thousand miles 200 00:09:34.879 --> 00:09:38.080 of roads. Atawaalpa literally fulfills the ransom. 201 00:09:38.279 --> 00:09:40.480 But the tragedy of the conquest is that no amount 202 00:09:40.519 --> 00:09:44.320 of gold could quench the Spaniard's thirst or secure the 203 00:09:44.360 --> 00:09:45.240 emperor's safety. 204 00:09:45.399 --> 00:09:45.879 Of course not. 205 00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:49.320 Pizarro recognized that as long as Adawalpa lived, he was 206 00:09:49.399 --> 00:09:53.840 a rallying point for a massive, organized resistance. So despite 207 00:09:53.840 --> 00:09:57.159 the rooms being filled, Pizarro arranged a mock trial and 208 00:09:57.320 --> 00:09:58.960 executed Adawalpa. 209 00:09:58.600 --> 00:10:01.120 And then a full scale, bl bloody war erupted. 210 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:01.759 Exactly. 211 00:10:01.840 --> 00:10:04.200 I always struggle with this part of the history. Sitting 212 00:10:04.200 --> 00:10:06.639 here centuries later. It's so easy to look back and think, 213 00:10:06.879 --> 00:10:09.279 how could the Inca be so naive? Why walk into 214 00:10:09.320 --> 00:10:12.159 that courtyard, Why trust them enough to pay the ransom. 215 00:10:12.240 --> 00:10:14.000 It's a common reaction, but I have. 216 00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:16.679 To imagine this was just an unprecedented scenario for them. 217 00:10:17.080 --> 00:10:20.840 How could they possibly anticipate Pizarro's tactics when the very 218 00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:24.240 concept of warfare and diplomacy was so radically different. 219 00:10:24.519 --> 00:10:29.320 That is the essential context. We cannot project modern globalized 220 00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:34.360 cynicism onto a sixteenth century indigenous empire encountering Europeans for 221 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:38.720 the very first time. The Spanish operated entirely outside the 222 00:10:38.720 --> 00:10:42.440 Inca paradigm of honorable warfare. But it is vital to 223 00:10:42.480 --> 00:10:45.879 understand that Pizarro's deceit and steal swords were really only 224 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:48.679 a fraction of the devastating force that toppled the empire. 225 00:10:49.559 --> 00:10:52.360 The logistics of the collapse point to a perfect storm. 226 00:10:52.519 --> 00:10:55.600 What do you mean the invisible weapons were the true conqueror? 227 00:10:55.639 --> 00:10:56.480 I mean the diseases. 228 00:10:56.600 --> 00:10:59.519 Yes, the source material makes it clear that the Inca 229 00:10:59.559 --> 00:11:03.360 were all reeling from a bitter internal civil war just 230 00:11:03.399 --> 00:11:07.240 before Bizarro arrived. But the final crushing blow was a 231 00:11:07.279 --> 00:11:11.440 massive smallpox epidemic. Oh wow, the Spanish inadvertently introduced a 232 00:11:11.519 --> 00:11:15.440 virus to a population with zero inherited immunity. The mechanics 233 00:11:15.480 --> 00:11:18.159 of a virgin soil epidemic are just horrifying. 234 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:19.440 Because it's spread so fast. 235 00:11:19.480 --> 00:11:22.480 The disease swept through the population via that incredibly efficient 236 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:25.320 road network we talked about, traveling way faster than any 237 00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:29.039 army could march. It decimated the military, the leadership class, 238 00:11:29.039 --> 00:11:30.000 and the general population. 239 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:34.240 It's a really sobering reflection on how fragile massive systems 240 00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:38.919 actually are. A civilization that dominated the Mighty andes brought 241 00:11:38.960 --> 00:11:43.120 down not by superior military strategy, but by internal political 242 00:11:43.159 --> 00:11:45.159 fractures and microscopic viruses. 243 00:11:45.279 --> 00:11:45.840 It really is. 244 00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:51.080 The devastation is total. The Spanish systematically destroy the remnants 245 00:11:51.080 --> 00:11:54.399 of the civilization. They leveled the temples and cusco. They 246 00:11:54.440 --> 00:11:58.200 melt down all that sacred gold into standardized European ingots, 247 00:11:58.519 --> 00:11:59.960 and they impose a new religion. 248 00:12:00.559 --> 00:12:04.120 They systematically dismantled the infrastructure of the Inca state, but 249 00:12:04.759 --> 00:12:07.720 a faction of surviving royals, led by a figure named Manco, 250 00:12:08.360 --> 00:12:11.039 managed to retreat deep into the rugged mountains. 251 00:12:10.720 --> 00:12:12.960 And they established a base right yes. 252 00:12:12.799 --> 00:12:16.399 They established a hidden rebel capital called Vilcabamba, and from 253 00:12:16.440 --> 00:12:19.279 there they fought a stubborn guerrilla war against the Spanish 254 00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:20.120 for decades. 255 00:12:20.360 --> 00:12:23.639 The Spanish spent years hunting for this rebel base. Eventually 256 00:12:23.720 --> 00:12:26.399 in fifteen seventy two, they found vil Cabamba, executed the 257 00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:29.440 last royal inca, and that specific site was abandoned. 258 00:12:29.480 --> 00:12:30.879 Right that was the end of the resistance. 259 00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:33.639 But the key takeaway here for you listening is that 260 00:12:33.840 --> 00:12:38.000 while the Spanish destroyed almost everything, they missed one place 261 00:12:38.600 --> 00:12:40.399 They never found, Machu. 262 00:12:40.039 --> 00:12:42.080 Picchu, never even knew it was there. 263 00:12:41.840 --> 00:12:45.720 And the desperate, centuries long historical search for that lost 264 00:12:45.840 --> 00:12:49.759 rebel capital of vill Cabamba is the exact catalyst that 265 00:12:49.879 --> 00:12:53.080 accidentally introduced Machu Picchu to the modern world. 266 00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:56.840 That historical obsession with finding the quote unquote lost city 267 00:12:57.320 --> 00:13:00.759 brings us to the year nineteen eleven, directly to the 268 00:13:00.759 --> 00:13:03.320 doorstep of an American named Hiram Bingham. 269 00:13:03.440 --> 00:13:06.960 Hiram Bingham is such a fascinating, complicated character. He's an 270 00:13:07.000 --> 00:13:11.559 American explorer. He's a geography and history lecturer at Yale University. 271 00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:11.919 Very credentialed. 272 00:13:12.120 --> 00:13:16.159 But the documentary paints a very specific psychological profile of him. 273 00:13:16.519 --> 00:13:19.000 He is a man intensely driven by a desire for 274 00:13:19.080 --> 00:13:19.759 personal fame. 275 00:13:19.879 --> 00:13:23.759 Oh, the ambition was deeply ingrained. Bingham's father and grandfather 276 00:13:23.840 --> 00:13:27.159 were both famous, influential missionaries. He grew up under the 277 00:13:27.159 --> 00:13:30.639 immense weight of their legacy, feeling this crushing pressure to 278 00:13:30.679 --> 00:13:32.559 achieve his own daring exploits. 279 00:13:32.639 --> 00:13:35.399 So he had some serious daddy issues driving him. 280 00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:38.240 You could say that he wanted to carve his name 281 00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:41.279 into the annals of history, and his chosen vehicle for 282 00:13:41.320 --> 00:13:44.559 that glory was to be the man who finally discovered Vilcabamba, 283 00:13:44.919 --> 00:13:46.399 the last refuge of the Inca. 284 00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:50.000 So, fueled by this ambition, he heads to Peru in 285 00:13:50.120 --> 00:13:53.519 nineteen eleven. He arrives in Cusco in July, and he 286 00:13:53.559 --> 00:13:56.600 starts hearing local rumors about ruins near a place called 287 00:13:56.679 --> 00:14:00.279 Mandor Pompa. Right, he puts together a small expedition and 288 00:14:00.320 --> 00:14:04.120 heads into the Urubamba cloud forest. We really need to 289 00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:07.200 establish what a cloud forest actually is because the phrase 290 00:14:07.240 --> 00:14:11.000 sounds lovely and ethereal, but the physical reality of it 291 00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:11.639 is brutal. 292 00:14:11.799 --> 00:14:14.320 Cloud forest is really just a polite term for a wet, 293 00:14:14.600 --> 00:14:19.279 incredibly dense, nearly impenetrable tropical mountain jungle. We are talking 294 00:14:19.320 --> 00:14:22.440 about an environment situated at an altitude between three thousand 295 00:14:22.519 --> 00:14:26.159 and eight thousand feet. The terrain is characterized by steep ravines, 296 00:14:26.360 --> 00:14:30.480 constant rainfall, thick mud, and extremely aggressive vegetation. 297 00:14:30.679 --> 00:14:33.559 It is definitely not a casual weekend hike. Richard Berger, 298 00:14:33.559 --> 00:14:36.720 an anthropologist from Yale featured in the documentary, describes Bingham 299 00:14:36.759 --> 00:14:38.240 as an incredibly. 300 00:14:37.840 --> 00:14:40.200 Lucky scholar, which is very accurate. 301 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:43.320 Because Bingham didn't hack his way through untouched jungle for months. 302 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:46.960 He managed to navigate this dense vegetation primarily because the 303 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:50.600 Peruvian government had very recently blasted and cut a new 304 00:14:50.639 --> 00:14:54.039 trade path deep into the forest to facilitate local commerce. 305 00:14:54.440 --> 00:14:59.360 Exactly, he was utilizing modern local infrastructure, and while camping 306 00:14:59.399 --> 00:15:02.639 near a small hot along this new road, Bingham encounters 307 00:15:02.679 --> 00:15:04.320 a local farmer named. 308 00:15:04.120 --> 00:15:06.480 Arteaga and what is Artaaga? Tell him? 309 00:15:06.679 --> 00:15:10.159 Artiaga casually mentions that up on top of the terrifying 310 00:15:10.440 --> 00:15:14.360 vertical precipice is looming over them, there are some old ruins. 311 00:15:14.039 --> 00:15:15.639 And Bingham is like, sure, I'll check it out. 312 00:15:15.879 --> 00:15:20.399 Basically, Bingham, driven by his relentless checklist, figures it probably 313 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:23.279 isn't the grand capital of thel Cabamba, but he can't 314 00:15:23.320 --> 00:15:24.879 pass up documenting a ruin. 315 00:15:25.080 --> 00:15:28.279 So on the morning of July twenty fourth, nineteen eleven, Bingham, 316 00:15:28.360 --> 00:15:31.000 his local guide, and a military escort start the climb. 317 00:15:31.080 --> 00:15:31.879 The famous climb. 318 00:15:32.080 --> 00:15:35.519 The documentary describes this ascent, and it completely shatters the 319 00:15:35.639 --> 00:15:39.519 romantic image of the heroic explorer boldly striding into the unknown. 320 00:15:40.120 --> 00:15:42.120 They are fighting their way up this mountain for more 321 00:15:42.120 --> 00:15:43.200 than two and a half hours. 322 00:15:43.279 --> 00:15:44.000 It was grueling. 323 00:15:44.159 --> 00:15:46.360 The brush is so thick and the slope is so 324 00:15:46.519 --> 00:15:49.159 steep that they are literally crawling on their hands and knees, 325 00:15:49.320 --> 00:15:53.600 pulling themselves up by roots. They are exhausted, soaking, wet, 326 00:15:53.759 --> 00:15:54.879 and covered in mud. 327 00:15:55.200 --> 00:15:58.080 And when they finally crest the ridge and pull themselves 328 00:15:58.120 --> 00:16:02.279 over the ledge, the reality the site completely subverts the 329 00:16:02.360 --> 00:16:05.159 narrative of a pristine, untouched discovery. 330 00:16:05.679 --> 00:16:08.320 I love this detail more than anything else. In the story, 331 00:16:08.759 --> 00:16:12.720 Bingham is gasping for air, dreaming of historical glory. He 332 00:16:12.799 --> 00:16:14.960 looks up and there's just a local family hanging. 333 00:16:14.759 --> 00:16:15.919 Out that's going about their day. 334 00:16:16.039 --> 00:16:18.639 Yeah, a family had established a farm up there. They 335 00:16:18.639 --> 00:16:21.360 were growing crops on the ancient terraces. They look at 336 00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:24.840 this muddy American and a young boy casually volunteers to 337 00:16:24.879 --> 00:16:27.000 walk them over to see the old stone houses. 338 00:16:27.360 --> 00:16:30.279 It forces us to entirely reframe what the word discovery 339 00:16:30.320 --> 00:16:33.480 means in a historical context. Totally Bigham did not discover 340 00:16:33.600 --> 00:16:35.919 Machu Picchu in the sense of finding something that no 341 00:16:36.080 --> 00:16:40.919 human knew existed. Local indigenous people were intimately aware of it. 342 00:16:41.399 --> 00:16:44.639 They were utilizing the ancient engineering for their daily survival. 343 00:16:44.919 --> 00:16:47.960 The kid leads him a short distance through the overgrowth, 344 00:16:48.360 --> 00:16:51.279 and Bingham finds himself standing in what he describes as 345 00:16:51.320 --> 00:16:53.840 a maze of beautiful granite houses. 346 00:16:53.919 --> 00:16:55.080 But it was very overgrown. 347 00:16:55.559 --> 00:16:58.320 Yeah, the jungle has consumed most of it. There are 348 00:16:58.360 --> 00:17:01.799 trees growing through the roofs, thick moss covering the walls, 349 00:17:02.039 --> 00:17:05.680 but the sheer scale of the stonework is undeniable. It 350 00:17:05.759 --> 00:17:07.079 is a massive complex. 351 00:17:07.200 --> 00:17:10.160 Yet Bigham's immediate reaction to finding one of the greatest 352 00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:13.920 archaeological sites on the planet is incredibly anti climactic. 353 00:17:14.279 --> 00:17:14.839 What does he do? 354 00:17:15.079 --> 00:17:17.680 He takes a few photographs with his camera, He sketches 355 00:17:17.720 --> 00:17:20.279 out a very rough map, and then he turns around 356 00:17:20.359 --> 00:17:24.400 and leaves the very same afternoon. By five pm, he 357 00:17:24.519 --> 00:17:26.720 is heading back down the muddy trail to his camp. 358 00:17:27.400 --> 00:17:29.400 Wait what, Yeah, he didn't even bother to bring his 359 00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:31.599 expedition partners up the mountain the next day to show 360 00:17:31.640 --> 00:17:32.240 them what he found. 361 00:17:32.319 --> 00:17:34.880 That makes absolutely no sense to me. If you stumble 362 00:17:34.920 --> 00:17:38.240 onto a massive, perfectly carved city of granite hidden in 363 00:17:38.279 --> 00:17:40.160 the clouds, why do you just take a few snaps 364 00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:40.559 and bounds. 365 00:17:40.720 --> 00:17:43.720 It is a textbook example of confirmation. 366 00:17:43.240 --> 00:17:45.279 Bias because he was looking for something else. 367 00:17:45.640 --> 00:17:50.799 Precisely, Bingham was singularly obsessed with finding vilc Obamba. In 368 00:17:50.880 --> 00:17:54.640 his mind, vilc Obamba had a specific set of architectural 369 00:17:54.680 --> 00:17:58.960 criteria based on old Spanish chronicles, and this didn't match right. 370 00:17:59.200 --> 00:18:03.839 This overgrown on the ridge didn't neatly fit those preconceived notions, 371 00:18:04.200 --> 00:18:07.119 so his brain basically categorized it as a minor distraction. 372 00:18:07.640 --> 00:18:10.000 He was anxious to check the box and keep moving 373 00:18:10.039 --> 00:18:11.200 toward his actual. 374 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:12.039 Goal, so he just moves on. 375 00:18:12.440 --> 00:18:15.799 He spent the next three months exploring other, frankly much 376 00:18:15.839 --> 00:18:18.039 less impressive sites in the region. It was only when 377 00:18:18.039 --> 00:18:21.119 he returned to the US, developed his photographs and really 378 00:18:21.200 --> 00:18:23.799 looked at the monumental scale of the masonry that he 379 00:18:23.839 --> 00:18:26.960 realized that cliff side ruins were actually something spectacular. 380 00:18:27.039 --> 00:18:30.039 Those photographs change his life. He realizes he has to 381 00:18:30.039 --> 00:18:31.759 figure out what this place was, and. 382 00:18:31.759 --> 00:18:35.279 He leverages the stunning visuals to secure major funding, most 383 00:18:35.319 --> 00:18:37.440 notably from the National Geographic. 384 00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:39.720 Society in nineteen twelve, so less than a year later 385 00:18:39.759 --> 00:18:42.640 he returns. But this time he's not a guy on 386 00:18:42.680 --> 00:18:46.359 a day hike. He brings a massive, multidisciplinary team, a 387 00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:49.079 real expert, He brings dozens of local laborers to hack 388 00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:52.440 away the jungle. He brings a geologist, and crucially, he 389 00:18:52.480 --> 00:18:56.319 brings a bone specialist named George Eaton. They start clearing 390 00:18:56.319 --> 00:18:58.440 the terraces and excavating the soil, and. 391 00:18:58.400 --> 00:19:01.759 The excavation yields signific tic It finds they uncover over 392 00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:05.119 one hundred graves hidden in the rocky overhangs around the city. Okay, 393 00:19:05.200 --> 00:19:09.680 they pull out skeletons, elaborate pottery, stone tools, and bronze knives. 394 00:19:10.279 --> 00:19:12.920 Bingham is desperate for these physical artifacts to tell him 395 00:19:12.920 --> 00:19:17.240 a story. He needs a compelling, marketable narrative to justify 396 00:19:17.240 --> 00:19:19.400 the funding and solidify his newfound fame. 397 00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:22.240 And this is where the limitations of early twentieth century 398 00:19:22.279 --> 00:19:25.359 field science really lead the entire expedition astray. 399 00:19:25.559 --> 00:19:30.640 Absolutely. The team's osteologist, George Eaton, examines the excavated skeletons. 400 00:19:31.079 --> 00:19:33.440 Based on his analysis of the bones, he concludes that 401 00:19:33.480 --> 00:19:35.160