The 鈥渓ost city of the Incas鈥�, Machu Picchu, was actually discovered forty years earlier than thought, and ransacked.
Machu Picchu was famously discovered by Hiram Bingham in 1912.
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New evidence shows that it was first visited in 1867 by an obscure German entrepreneur named Augusto Berns, who apparently looted the tombs with the Peruvian government鈥檚 blessing.
When Bingham arrived, he found a hut called 鈥淟a Maquina鈥�. This was actually part of a sawmill which Berns ran in the area, after purchasing 25 kilometres of land along the in 1867. He then realised the immense potential value of Machu Picchu鈥檚 artefacts.
Berns鈥� activities were uncovered by Paolo Greer, who in 1978 discovered an old map of the area and subsequently traced Berns鈥� activities through documents in the National Library of Peru.
快猫短视频 has been given access to some of the documents Greer uncovered, which you can see on the right. Greer uncovered a sketch map of the area by Berns鈥� partner, a lost geology book with material based on Berns鈥� work, a booklet describing Berns鈥� plans to loot Machu Picchu, and his handmade map of the area.
Greer鈥檚 research will be published in .
