Researchers from Yale University used radiocarbon dating to estimate an earlier founding of the Inca citadel.
It was thought that the most famous Inca citadel, Machu Picchu, was built as a royal estate around 1440-1450, during the rule of Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui.
However, Yale University researchers reveal the citadel was occupied prior to those dates. The new study, published in the journal Antiquity, looks at 26 human remains that were recovered in 1912 from different cemeteries in Machu Picchu. Radiocarbon dating conducted on these remains reveal their origin date as early as 1420. This means the citadel was occupied at least two decades earlier than previously thought.
Knowledge we had about the construction of Machu Picchu primarily came from Spanish accounts of the conquest of Peru. This new study paves the way for a better understanding of the origins of the establishment of the Inca Empire.
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