Lost City of the Incas (Phoenix Press)

‘Machu Picchu was to Hiram Bingham the crowning of all his purest dreams as an adult child’

‘A handsome edition complete with Hugh Thomson’s fine introduction and superb photographs; it is the classic adventure’

‘Bingham catalogues his finds with admirable concision, and indulges his wide interests, revealing little-known facts about the Incas – their sophisticated system of roads and runners allowed fish to be caught in the Pacific and served fresh at the Inca’s Andean table. He captures the majesty of the architecture in its dramatic and wild surroundings and Hugh Thomson has illustrated the book beautifully from Bingham’s innumerable photographs’

‘Anyone who has been to Machu Picchu must read Hiram Bingham’s classic tale of discovery,
Lost City of the Incas
’

‘It is a measure of Hugh Thomson’s skill as a writer, historian and explorer that
The White Rock
is such a pleasure … a moving and meticulously researched account of the Inca people’s rise, conquest of a continent and tragic annihilation by the conquistadors of the 16th century’

‘Engrossing … the sort of book that fires the armchair traveller with a desire to follow in its author’s footsteps, not just because it is passionate about its subject … but also because it tells of some quite heroic exploration by Thomson himself’

‘In
The White Rock
, the whole continent becomes a plot with suspense and a cast of outrageous characters … This is Bruce Chatwin with
cojones
. More than that, it is a micro-allegory of the saga of fantasy, bravado, conquest, and the frustration that is the collective narrative of the Inca hunters’

‘
The White Rock
has a moral depth and intellectual integrity most similar work lacks’

‘It is Thomson’s generosity of spirit which stands out and makes this a great book … a work that is both accessible and academically rigorous’

‘A dizzying tour through five turbulent millennia. The cumulative effect is enthralling’

‘What makes
Cochineal Red
such a worthwhile book is that it is written by someone who is both an explorer and a scholar’

‘Epic – in an increasingly homogeneous world, he has found, and describes to perfection, a mythical land’

‘Conveys not only Thomson’s great knowledge of the ancient civilisations of the Andes, but also the thrill of the chase for such knowledge’

‘A fascinating, intelligently told tale, full of intriguing revelations, that penetrates deeper into the Andean past than previously attempted’

‘The picture of ancient Peru that bleeds through these pages is of a place so removed from our own world as to be the nearest we can get to encountering an absolutely alien mindset’

‘Reminds us that the world is not, after all, explored’

Hiram Bingham was born in Hawaii in 1875 and educated at Yale, where he later taught. His early expeditions to South America and climactic discovery of Machu Picchu were just the start of a long and colourful career: he went on to command air force troops in France during the First World War and to become a Senator; he was later impeached.
Lost City of the Incas
, written towards the end of his life in 1948, is a final distillation of the many articles and books on the Incas that he had published before. He died in 1956.

Hugh Thomson has led several research expeditions to Peru to locate and study Inca ruins. He has written about Machu Picchu and the Incas in both
The White Rock
and
Cochineal Red
. See
www.thewhiterock.co.uk
.

Cover

Title

Praise

About the Author

By Hiram Bingham

List of Illustrations

Maps

Introduction

Bingham’s Photographs of Machu Picchu

Acknowledgements

Lost City of the Incas

Preface

PART ONE: THE BUILDERS

1 The Incas and their Civilization

2 The Origin of the Incas

3 The Story of the Last Four Incas

PART TWO: THE SEARCH

4 My Introduction to the Land of the Incas

5 The Search for Vitcos

6 The Search for Vilcapampa

PART THREE: MACHU PICCHU

7 The Discovery

8 Exploration of Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu

9 Vilcapampa the Old

10 Results of Excavations at Machu Picchu

11 The Search for Inca Roads leading to Machu Picchu

12 The Origin of the City now called Machu Picchu

Acknowledgements to Original Edition

Bibliography

Further Reading

Index

Plates

Copyright

YALE PERUVIAN EXPEDITION PHOTOGRAPHS
(1911–1915)

Hiram Bingham in front of his tent at Machu Picchu, 1912

Plate Section 1

Hiram Bingham, with mule, at the end of the 1911 expedition
.

Hiram Bingham with other members of the Yale expedition and Peruvian dignitaries at the end of the successful 1911 expedition
.

Poster issued with the
National Geographic
issue of April 1913
.

Excavation under Ñusta Isppana, ‘the White Rock’, 1912.

‘
One of our bearers crossing the Pampaconas River
.’

‘
Saavedra and his Inca Pottery
.’

‘
Deep in the jungle of the Pampaconas River …
’

‘
Inca gable at Espíritu Pampa
.’

‘
Heald’s bridge across the Urubamba, 1912
.’

Plate Section 2

View of Machu Picchu from the expedition’s camp at the start of the 1912 season.

Same view of Machu Picchu, showing progress of clearance by August 17th.