Machu Picchu Research Paper
It is well known that Hiram Bingham is the first “discoverer” of Machu Picchu, yet there are many facts about him that people do not know. Bingham had achieved many successes during his lifetime. For example, he served in the military, graduated from both Yale and Harvard, and had seven children all of which being boys. In the early 1900’s it was very sought after to have a male as a child.
Hiram Bingham was born on November 19, 1875 in Honolulu, Hawaii and later died on June 6, 1956 in Washington, D.C. Throughout his legacy he had accomplishments, just a few however, are key events that have gone down in history. One of these events being his discovery of Machu Picchu, a fortress city of the Inca that was thought to be lost through the ages. The Inca were one of three main primitive groups of Native Americans in the central Americas: The Aztecs, The Maya, and The Incas. Hiram Bingham’s crowning moment would be when he put together a Yale Peruvian Expedition with the goal of finding the Inca’s last capital city (Buckley, 34). Then in 1911, the expedition was put into work and they did end up finding and identifying both …show more content…
Vitcos of Rosaspata and Vilcabamba; although they did not identify Vilcabamba as the last capital city, rather the team and Hiram Bingham identified Machu Picchu as the last capital city (Buckley, 34).
Hiram Bingham also served in the military as an officer in the army for a brief time. Adding on to his list of accomplishments, he achieved the rank of captain in the Connecticut National Guard in 1916 and achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Service (Buckley, 34). He served in World War I and worked as a Signalman for airplanes and other aviators of the time (Buckley, 34). He had many achievements during his service; however, his most notable being his rank up to lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Service in World War I. He then continued on after the war to support the separation of the air service from the army; although the air service did not separate until after World War II to form the U.S. Air Force.
Moving on from Hiram Bingham’s military service and archaeological discoveries, his academic life painted a clear picture for his archaeological future. For instance, he attended Yale and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree, then went to the University of California Berkeley where he attended his first course in Latin American History, and finally graduating from Harvard to attain his PhD in South American History (Adams, 22). Before Bingham decided upon a Southern American History PhD he was “in Cambridge pursuing a PhD in history at Harvard” (Adams, 22). Bingham even went to Princeton; however, he did not finish out his education there because of his heavy course load and wavering ability to stay on top of it (Adams, 23).
Hiram Bingham had a fairly average life where he was born in Hawaii and moved to the United States to pursue a greater education. Hence the degrees from three very prestigious universities. Although he lived a lavish lifestyle, he somehow found the spark of tenacity to tempt him to become an explorer. And on July 24, 1911 his expedition team led him up the steps to “discover” Machu Picchu, which had apparently been forgotten and abandoned by many of the inhabitants of the cities below (Buckley, 34). In most history books, it states that Bingham did not discover Machu Picchu, more or less he brought it back into the spotlight of modern times. He gained the attention of the public and even cleaned up, and acquired some antiquities, of Machu Picchu (Buckley, 34). A great deal of scholars believe that Hiram Bingham has been one of the prime bases for the character Indiana Jones. As Bingham in not a true archaeologist, rather a scholar who is dedicated to his discoveries and acquires many antiquities along the way.
Other than his “discovery” of Machu Picchu and his Military service, Hiram Bingham also served in politics for a while. Bingham was elected Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut in 1922 as a Republican and stayed there until 1924 (Buckley, 34). Then he was elected Governor and later resigned to serve in Washington D.C. as a senator (Buckley, 34). He continued to serve as a senator voting on what bills to pass and which to throw out; however, he was censured by the senate for “including a lobbyist among staff members he hired to work on the finance committee of many Connecticut manufacturers (Buckley, 34).” With that censure in place that in turn lost his seat in the senate in 1932 (Buckley, 34). Hiram Bingham’s personal life has had its “ups” and “downs” as well. For example, Bingham had a wonderful first marriage with Alfreda Mitchell, but they assumedly fell apart. Now Bingham, oddly enough, did not take the first step in getting a divorce, it was his first wife that did. And to add on to that the wife had no idea that when Bingham was a senator, Bingham had a “well-closeted” affair with the wife of a senator from Washington State (Buckley, 34). After his divorce, Bingham married again to one Suzanne Carroll Hill in June 1937 (Buckley, 34). Interestingly enough later in 1982 an author known as Char Miller had his doctoral dissertation about the Bingham family published, and the history soon began to gain widespread attention once again. During Hiram Bingham’s first marriage however, Bingham had seven children all of which were male. This being a very sought after thing in the early 1900’s the Bingham’s were viewed as very lucky and privileged people. Earlier than Hiram Bingham’s discovery of Machu Picchu is Giovanni Belzoni’s discovery of the tomb of pharaoh Seti the first. Then there is Belzoni’s grand accomplishment of obtaining and transporting the enormous bust of pharaoh Ramesses the second to the esteemed British Museum in London. But before this though Giovanni Belzoni had what some might say to be a rough life. Giovanni Battista Belzoni was born on November 5, 1778 in Venice and died on December 3, 1823 in now present Nigeria. In Belzoni’s early life he was working in his father’s barber shop and attempting to pursue the study of monastic vows. However, in 1798 he fled Venice and the occupation of French troops to go to the Netherlands where he worked as a barber for a few years (Mayes). Belzoni then, in 1803, fled to England to avoid being jailed for fleeing Venice and tax evasion (Mayes). While in England he met his future wife, Sarah Bane, and together they both joined a traveling circus. Belzoni became a circus strongman and for some time he entertained many by presenting incredible feats of strength that many would think to be impossible (Mayes). His wife then began to show him the use of magic lantern and the creepier side of the circus, and for a good while Belzoni was highly intrigued by the use of the magic lanterns and other phantasmagoria-like illusions at the circus (Mayes). Some years later Belzoni is contracted by one Henry Salt to travel to Egypt and search for, and acquire, any antiquities he can come across. So Belzoni then traveled to Egypt and gathered together an expedition team to discover anything that hasn’t been previously discovered yet. They used previous maps of the Valley of the Kings to identify what has been excavated already and what has yet to be found. And in 1817 Giovanni Belzoni made his most astounding discovery, the discovery of tomb KV17 in the Valley of the Kings. Otherwise known as, the tomb of Pharaoh Seti I or “Belzoni’s Tomb (Lythgoe, 22).” Many scholars still believe that Belzoni’s greatest accomplishment happened a year earlier, when Giovanni Belzoni transported the enormous bust of Pharaoh Ramesses II from the Ramesseum in Thebes, Egypt to the British Museum in London, England (Lythgoe, 22). Many, however, do not know that Giovanni Belzoni was the first person, since the structure was built, to enter and clear away the sands of the Pyramid of Khafre in 1818, also known as the second pyramid of Giza (Mayes). Giovanni Belzoni not only discovered the tomb of Seti the first, cleared the sands and was the first to enter the Pyramid of Khafre, and transported a gigantic bust of Ramesses the second, but he also was the first European to ever visit the Bahariya Oasis in late 1818 (Lythgoe, 22). An oasis said to heal the body, the mind, and the spirit; however, in Giovanni Belzoni’s case this was simply not true.
Giovanni Belzoni later returned home to publish a story of his travels called, Narrative of the Operations and Recent Discoveries within the Pyramids, Temples, Tombs, and Excavations in Egypt and Nubia, in 1819 and found that he was still being called from within to go back and discover more (Mayes). Once he wrote the story of his travels he displayed an identical exhibit of the tomb KV17, otherwise known as the tomb of Seti the first in Paris and later in London; however, he still felt the calling for adventure and discovery. So he then set out on another expedition intending to travel to Timbuktu, but on the route to the destination Giovanni Belzoni sadly died in 1823 of dysentery before he ever arrived (Mayes). A great majority of Belzoni’s life was spent discovering lost jewels of time, and within his life he was an extraordinary man, yet many are still unsure if Belzoni actually was the first to “discover” the jewels or just bring them back into the limelight. For example, Giovanni Belzoni’s “discovery” of the Pyramid of Khafre was a great feat of wonder, but was the “discovery” really a discovery and not just unwrapping a wrapped present that has been in the sand for hundreds of years? Comparing Giovanni Belzoni and Hiram Bingham would be nearly impossible because they are such different men; however, since they both made monumental discoveries a comparison between them is more understandable than it might seem. Going off of what others think about Hiram Bingham and Giovanni Belzoni think, it would be safe to say that a great majority of scholars believe that Belzoni and Bingham did not “discover” their so-called discoveries, more so they just brought them back into the limelight. A great majority of the discoveries both men have made have been pivotal in the knowledge of the history of the world. For example, Giovanni Belzoni’s transportation of the bust of Ramesses the second to the British Museum in London is extremely pivotal because he or any archaeologist had brought anything back from Egypt, all the people would have to get an understanding of Egyptian culture would be the stories and novels written by the explorers themselves. It is obvious that just taking historical objects from another country is despicable, but how would the people of another country learn and understand the others’ culture and history without having to shell out thousands of units of money in order to actually visit the country? For Hiram Bingham however, it seems to be that when he “discovered” Machu Picchu, he wasn’t really inclined to abide by local law or even Peruvian law and just “collected antiquities” as someone would say from that time.
Peru, even now, is still attempting to have some of the artifacts returned that were “collected” from Machu Picchu. Some might believe that if the artifacts are returned it will benefit the country and inspire more tourism to the country; however, many believe that Peru simply wants the artifacts back because the artifacts were “stolen” in 1911. As many great scholars would attest, many, if not all, archaeologists from before the mid 1900’s always collected artifacts and did not set a specific date or contract in place so that they can still keep the artifacts for display in other countries aside from just taking them out
right. Another method that both Hiram Bingham and Giovanni Belzoni used to excavate anything would be to jump in to digging. For example, modern archaeologists of the present would go to major lengths to make sure, when excavating, not to harm any potential artifacts underneath; while archaeologists of the past used the technique of digging holes immediately and if there was any artifacts underneath they might get damaged and they might not. This method was an extremely reckless one, using luck to see if one would pull a broken pot out of the ground or an intact jar with the painting still plastered onto it. In conclusion, every archaeologist that is currently or about to embark on an expedition should learn from the pasts mistakes and attempt to not repeat the past. Giovanni Belzoni and Hiram Bingham’s mistakes can pave the right road for the archaeologists of the future. The three things to take away from their mistakes is as follows: draw up a contract before taking artifacts, excavate safely and dig up only a small layer to not damage any potential artifacts, and teach others about the discoveries made.
Hiram Bingham was born on November 19, 1875 in Honolulu, Hawaii and later died on June 6, 1956 in Washington, D.C. Throughout his legacy he had accomplishments, just a few however, are key events that have gone down in history. One of these events being his discovery of Machu Picchu, a fortress city of the Inca that was thought to be lost through the ages. The Inca were one of three main primitive groups of Native Americans in the central Americas: The Aztecs, The Maya, and The Incas. Hiram Bingham’s crowning moment would be when he put together a Yale Peruvian Expedition with the goal of finding the Inca’s last capital city (Buckley, 34). Then in 1911, the expedition was put into work and they did end up finding and identifying both …show more content…
Vitcos of Rosaspata and Vilcabamba; although they did not identify Vilcabamba as the last capital city, rather the team and Hiram Bingham identified Machu Picchu as the last capital city (Buckley, 34).
Hiram Bingham also served in the military as an officer in the army for a brief time. Adding on to his list of accomplishments, he achieved the rank of captain in the Connecticut National Guard in 1916 and achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Service (Buckley, 34). He served in World War I and worked as a Signalman for airplanes and other aviators of the time (Buckley, 34). He had many achievements during his service; however, his most notable being his rank up to lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Service in World War I. He then continued on after the war to support the separation of the air service from the army; although the air service did not separate until after World War II to form the U.S. Air Force.
Moving on from Hiram Bingham’s military service and archaeological discoveries, his academic life painted a clear picture for his archaeological future. For instance, he attended Yale and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree, then went to the University of California Berkeley where he attended his first course in Latin American History, and finally graduating from Harvard to attain his PhD in South American History (Adams, 22). Before Bingham decided upon a Southern American History PhD he was “in Cambridge pursuing a PhD in history at Harvard” (Adams, 22). Bingham even went to Princeton; however, he did not finish out his education there because of his heavy course load and wavering ability to stay on top of it (Adams, 23).
Hiram Bingham had a fairly average life where he was born in Hawaii and moved to the United States to pursue a greater education. Hence the degrees from three very prestigious universities. Although he lived a lavish lifestyle, he somehow found the spark of tenacity to tempt him to become an explorer. And on July 24, 1911 his expedition team led him up the steps to “discover” Machu Picchu, which had apparently been forgotten and abandoned by many of the inhabitants of the cities below (Buckley, 34). In most history books, it states that Bingham did not discover Machu Picchu, more or less he brought it back into the spotlight of modern times. He gained the attention of the public and even cleaned up, and acquired some antiquities, of Machu Picchu (Buckley, 34). A great deal of scholars believe that Hiram Bingham has been one of the prime bases for the character Indiana Jones. As Bingham in not a true archaeologist, rather a scholar who is dedicated to his discoveries and acquires many antiquities along the way.
Other than his “discovery” of Machu Picchu and his Military service, Hiram Bingham also served in politics for a while. Bingham was elected Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut in 1922 as a Republican and stayed there until 1924 (Buckley, 34). Then he was elected Governor and later resigned to serve in Washington D.C. as a senator (Buckley, 34). He continued to serve as a senator voting on what bills to pass and which to throw out; however, he was censured by the senate for “including a lobbyist among staff members he hired to work on the finance committee of many Connecticut manufacturers (Buckley, 34).” With that censure in place that in turn lost his seat in the senate in 1932 (Buckley, 34). Hiram Bingham’s personal life has had its “ups” and “downs” as well. For example, Bingham had a wonderful first marriage with Alfreda Mitchell, but they assumedly fell apart. Now Bingham, oddly enough, did not take the first step in getting a divorce, it was his first wife that did. And to add on to that the wife had no idea that when Bingham was a senator, Bingham had a “well-closeted” affair with the wife of a senator from Washington State (Buckley, 34). After his divorce, Bingham married again to one Suzanne Carroll Hill in June 1937 (Buckley, 34). Interestingly enough later in 1982 an author known as Char Miller had his doctoral dissertation about the Bingham family published, and the history soon began to gain widespread attention once again. During Hiram Bingham’s first marriage however, Bingham had seven children all of which were male. This being a very sought after thing in the early 1900’s the Bingham’s were viewed as very lucky and privileged people. Earlier than Hiram Bingham’s discovery of Machu Picchu is Giovanni Belzoni’s discovery of the tomb of pharaoh Seti the first. Then there is Belzoni’s grand accomplishment of obtaining and transporting the enormous bust of pharaoh Ramesses the second to the esteemed British Museum in London. But before this though Giovanni Belzoni had what some might say to be a rough life. Giovanni Battista Belzoni was born on November 5, 1778 in Venice and died on December 3, 1823 in now present Nigeria. In Belzoni’s early life he was working in his father’s barber shop and attempting to pursue the study of monastic vows. However, in 1798 he fled Venice and the occupation of French troops to go to the Netherlands where he worked as a barber for a few years (Mayes). Belzoni then, in 1803, fled to England to avoid being jailed for fleeing Venice and tax evasion (Mayes). While in England he met his future wife, Sarah Bane, and together they both joined a traveling circus. Belzoni became a circus strongman and for some time he entertained many by presenting incredible feats of strength that many would think to be impossible (Mayes). His wife then began to show him the use of magic lantern and the creepier side of the circus, and for a good while Belzoni was highly intrigued by the use of the magic lanterns and other phantasmagoria-like illusions at the circus (Mayes). Some years later Belzoni is contracted by one Henry Salt to travel to Egypt and search for, and acquire, any antiquities he can come across. So Belzoni then traveled to Egypt and gathered together an expedition team to discover anything that hasn’t been previously discovered yet. They used previous maps of the Valley of the Kings to identify what has been excavated already and what has yet to be found. And in 1817 Giovanni Belzoni made his most astounding discovery, the discovery of tomb KV17 in the Valley of the Kings. Otherwise known as, the tomb of Pharaoh Seti I or “Belzoni’s Tomb (Lythgoe, 22).” Many scholars still believe that Belzoni’s greatest accomplishment happened a year earlier, when Giovanni Belzoni transported the enormous bust of Pharaoh Ramesses II from the Ramesseum in Thebes, Egypt to the British Museum in London, England (Lythgoe, 22). Many, however, do not know that Giovanni Belzoni was the first person, since the structure was built, to enter and clear away the sands of the Pyramid of Khafre in 1818, also known as the second pyramid of Giza (Mayes). Giovanni Belzoni not only discovered the tomb of Seti the first, cleared the sands and was the first to enter the Pyramid of Khafre, and transported a gigantic bust of Ramesses the second, but he also was the first European to ever visit the Bahariya Oasis in late 1818 (Lythgoe, 22). An oasis said to heal the body, the mind, and the spirit; however, in Giovanni Belzoni’s case this was simply not true.
Giovanni Belzoni later returned home to publish a story of his travels called, Narrative of the Operations and Recent Discoveries within the Pyramids, Temples, Tombs, and Excavations in Egypt and Nubia, in 1819 and found that he was still being called from within to go back and discover more (Mayes). Once he wrote the story of his travels he displayed an identical exhibit of the tomb KV17, otherwise known as the tomb of Seti the first in Paris and later in London; however, he still felt the calling for adventure and discovery. So he then set out on another expedition intending to travel to Timbuktu, but on the route to the destination Giovanni Belzoni sadly died in 1823 of dysentery before he ever arrived (Mayes). A great majority of Belzoni’s life was spent discovering lost jewels of time, and within his life he was an extraordinary man, yet many are still unsure if Belzoni actually was the first to “discover” the jewels or just bring them back into the limelight. For example, Giovanni Belzoni’s “discovery” of the Pyramid of Khafre was a great feat of wonder, but was the “discovery” really a discovery and not just unwrapping a wrapped present that has been in the sand for hundreds of years? Comparing Giovanni Belzoni and Hiram Bingham would be nearly impossible because they are such different men; however, since they both made monumental discoveries a comparison between them is more understandable than it might seem. Going off of what others think about Hiram Bingham and Giovanni Belzoni think, it would be safe to say that a great majority of scholars believe that Belzoni and Bingham did not “discover” their so-called discoveries, more so they just brought them back into the limelight. A great majority of the discoveries both men have made have been pivotal in the knowledge of the history of the world. For example, Giovanni Belzoni’s transportation of the bust of Ramesses the second to the British Museum in London is extremely pivotal because he or any archaeologist had brought anything back from Egypt, all the people would have to get an understanding of Egyptian culture would be the stories and novels written by the explorers themselves. It is obvious that just taking historical objects from another country is despicable, but how would the people of another country learn and understand the others’ culture and history without having to shell out thousands of units of money in order to actually visit the country? For Hiram Bingham however, it seems to be that when he “discovered” Machu Picchu, he wasn’t really inclined to abide by local law or even Peruvian law and just “collected antiquities” as someone would say from that time.
Peru, even now, is still attempting to have some of the artifacts returned that were “collected” from Machu Picchu. Some might believe that if the artifacts are returned it will benefit the country and inspire more tourism to the country; however, many believe that Peru simply wants the artifacts back because the artifacts were “stolen” in 1911. As many great scholars would attest, many, if not all, archaeologists from before the mid 1900’s always collected artifacts and did not set a specific date or contract in place so that they can still keep the artifacts for display in other countries aside from just taking them out
right. Another method that both Hiram Bingham and Giovanni Belzoni used to excavate anything would be to jump in to digging. For example, modern archaeologists of the present would go to major lengths to make sure, when excavating, not to harm any potential artifacts underneath; while archaeologists of the past used the technique of digging holes immediately and if there was any artifacts underneath they might get damaged and they might not. This method was an extremely reckless one, using luck to see if one would pull a broken pot out of the ground or an intact jar with the painting still plastered onto it. In conclusion, every archaeologist that is currently or about to embark on an expedition should learn from the pasts mistakes and attempt to not repeat the past. Giovanni Belzoni and Hiram Bingham’s mistakes can pave the right road for the archaeologists of the future. The three things to take away from their mistakes is as follows: draw up a contract before taking artifacts, excavate safely and dig up only a small layer to not damage any potential artifacts, and teach others about the discoveries made.