Introduction Historical context The natural setting About the disoccupation when discovered The colonial occupation Written testimonies The archaeological discovery Later investigations Description of Machu Picchu Wayna Picchu and the temple of the moon Reconstructing the past The productive activities About the disoccupation when discovered Written testimonies When this information is cross-checked with what the chroniclers say about the history of Pachakutec, the hypothesis that the sanctuary of Machu Picchu was the mausoleum where the mummy of the Inca was kept gains importance. All the chroniclers speak of Pachakutec since that he was the founder of the empire of the Incas, but who brings particular news about the emperor is Betanzos, whose wife, Angelina Coya Yupanqui, belonged to the Inca nobility and to the lineage of Pachakutec. It is this chronicler who takes the most care with Pachakutec and his reign and who offers details of his life, his customs and including his death. He mentions that his mummy is found in a town called Patallacta that he himself had ordered built. And it must have been through the testimony of Doña Angelina that Betanzos describes the Inca because his mummy was seen as tall and advanced in years. In the area of Machu Picchu we can find several towns called Patallacta, which means "town on the heights". Several notes in Betanzos, which surely come from his Inca wife, can be recognized in the archaeological remains. Finally, Father Jose de Acosta and Licenciado Juan Polo de Ondegardo saw the mummy of the Inca, and Polo was in charge of moving it to Lima by order of the viceroy. Garcilaso de la Vega says he saw it in Cuzco. pag. 1 - 2