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Intimachay: A December Solstice Observatory at Machu Picchu, Peru

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

David S. P. Dearborn ,
Katharina J. Schreiber  and
Raymond E. White
David S. P. Dearborn
Affiliation:
University of California, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, P.O. Box 808, Livermore, CA 94550
Katharina J. Schreiber
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106
Raymond E. White
Affiliation:
Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721
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Abstract

We show that a structure built by the Inkas at the entrance to a cave at Machu Picchu was designed to admit the light of the rising sun only for a brief period before and after the December solstice. This structure is precisely constructed, unique at Machu Picchu, and may have played a part in the annual Inka ritual, Capac Raymi.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 52 , Issue 2 , April 1987 , pp. 346 - 352
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1987

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References

References Cited

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