Machu Picchu 20221127
Machu Picchu 20221127
Machu Picchu not only offers the visitor the view of the temples and stone houses that are on its cusp, but also gives a look of its terraces and irrigation systems, which give a unique personality to the Incan citadel and its surroundings.
The Functions of the Platforms
These constructions are wide steps built on the mountains’s slopes that allowed the Incas to gain land in order to develop agriculture adapted to the landscape.
Without a doubt, creating great steps meant a great effort, but without these, the constant rains, the humidity of the environment and the steepness of the area would have triggered large landslides that would have destroyed the ruins of Machu Picchu.
This terrace system fulfills three main functions:
Containment: These constructions prevented the land’s erosion from creating landslides when carrying out the construction of cities, houses and temples.
Agriculture: Through the construction of these platforms, the Incas expanded the amount of land used for agricultural activity. These terraces allowed to take advantage of the rainwater as a source of crop irrigation directly from channels that connected each of the levels. Nowadays, crops are not cultivated anymore to maintain their integrity, due to the condition of World Heritage of Machu Picchu.
Ceremonial centers: these finer and more extensive construction platforms were intended to decorate ceremonial and/or administrative centers.
Machu Picchu 20221127
Machu Picchu 20221127
Machu Picchu not only offers the visitor the view of the temples and stone houses that are on its cusp, but also gives a look of its terraces and irrigation systems, which give a unique personality to the Incan citadel and its surroundings.
The Functions of the Platforms
These constructions are wide steps built on the mountains’s slopes that allowed the Incas to gain land in order to develop agriculture adapted to the landscape.
Without a doubt, creating great steps meant a great effort, but without these, the constant rains, the humidity of the environment and the steepness of the area would have triggered large landslides that would have destroyed the ruins of Machu Picchu.
This terrace system fulfills three main functions:
Containment: These constructions prevented the land’s erosion from creating landslides when carrying out the construction of cities, houses and temples.
Agriculture: Through the construction of these platforms, the Incas expanded the amount of land used for agricultural activity. These terraces allowed to take advantage of the rainwater as a source of crop irrigation directly from channels that connected each of the levels. Nowadays, crops are not cultivated anymore to maintain their integrity, due to the condition of World Heritage of Machu Picchu.
Ceremonial centers: these finer and more extensive construction platforms were intended to decorate ceremonial and/or administrative centers.