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60 free Machu Picchu trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Machu Picchu sits on a ridge 2,430 metres up in the Peruvian Andes, was built for the Inca emperor Pachacuti around the 1450s, was abandoned within about eighty years and stayed hidden under jungle until the early twentieth century. This quiz covers the site from every angle: what the Quechua name means, who lived and worked there, why the walls have no mortar and lean inwards, what the Intihuatana and the Temple of the Sun were for, the local farmer and the Peruvian explorer who reached it before Hiram Bingham, the 1911 Yale expedition, the century-long fight over the artefacts, and modern life at the site from visitor caps to the New Seven Wonders vote. Easy questions ask which country it is in and which civilisation built it; harder ones cover the peak that may have been its original name, the earthquake faults under the terraces, the bismuth-bronze knives, and the one day in 1925 that Bingham spent as Governor of Connecticut. It suits travellers planning the trip, history and geography students, and quiz setters who want a world-heritage round with real detail. Fans of the wider empire will also find our Inca Empire quiz. Every answer has been checked against the Wikipedia articles on Machu Picchu, Hiram Bingham, Huayna Picchu, the Inca Trail and related topics, and each question shows its source once you have answered.
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Q 01Machu Picchu is located in which South American country?
Peru
It lies in the Eastern Cordillera of the Andes, about 80 km northwest of Cusco.
Q 02Which civilisation built Machu Picchu?
The Inca
It is often called the 'Lost City of the Incas' and is one of the most iconic symbols of their civilisation.
Q 03Roughly how high above sea level does Machu Picchu sit?
2,430 m
That is more than 1,000 metres lower than Cusco, so the site enjoyed a milder climate than the Inca capital.
Q 04Machu Picchu is about 80 km northwest of which former Inca capital?
Cusco
Cusco sits at around 3,400 metres; the tourist train runs from there or Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes below the ruins.
Q 05Which river loops around Machu Picchu on three sides, far below the ridge?
The Urubamba
Cliffs drop 450 metres from the site to the river, and morning mists rise from it.
Q 06What does the name Machu Picchu mean in Quechua?
Old peak
Machu means 'old' and pikchu 'peak'; a 2021 study argues the Incas themselves probably called the site Huayna Picchu, 'young peak', after the smaller mountain beside it.
Q 07Machu Picchu is believed to have been built as an estate for which Inca emperor?
Pachacuti
He was the ninth Sapa Inca, who turned the chiefdom of Cusco into an empire; no contemporary written records confirm the attribution.
Q 08What is Machu Picchu's palace complex thought to have functioned as?
A seasonal royal retreat
Although a royal estate, it would not have passed down the line of succession, and was used for about 80 years.
Q 09A 2021 Yale-led radiocarbon study places the occupation of Machu Picchu between roughly which years?
1420 and 1530
That is a little earlier than the traditional date of 1450, ten years after Pachacuti's takeover.
Q 10Roughly how many people are estimated to have lived at Machu Picchu while it was in use?
About 750
Most were yanaconas, permanent support staff; in winter numbers fell to a few hundred servants and religious specialists.
Q 11What do studies of skeletal remains suggest about the people who lived at Machu Picchu?
Immigrants from many regions
Genome-wide analyses found Andean, coastal, Ecuadorian and Amazonian ancestries living, reproducing and being buried together.
Q 12Which animals account for most of the animal bones found at Machu Picchu?
Llamas and alpacas
They naturally live around 4,000 metres, so were probably brought in from the puna for meat and pelts; guinea pigs and six dogs were also found.
Q 13What is the Quechua-derived term for the artificial farming terraces at Machu Picchu?
Andenes
Q 21Bingham compared his 'discovery' of Machu Picchu to whose 'discovery' of America?
Columbus
In a 1922 letter he argued that, like Columbus, he was the one who made the place known to the geographical and historical societies.
Q 22Which two institutions sponsored Bingham's 1912 return expedition to clear and excavate the site?
Yale University and the National Geographic Society
Clearing ran from July to November 1912, with local labour partly organised by Lizárraga's younger brother Ángel.
Q 23Ceremonial Inca knives recovered by Bingham's expedition are the earliest known artefacts of what alloy?
Bismuth bronze
The terraces cover only about 4.9 hectares, not enough to feed 750 people, so food was imported from the valleys.
Q 14Why did Inca engineers design Machu Picchu's terraces primarily for drainage rather than irrigation?
Annual rainfall exceeds 1,800 mm
Kenneth Wright's soil analyses in the 1990s showed layers of large stones, gravel, sand and imported topsoil.
Q 15Which Machu Picchu structure is interpreted as a site of animal sacrifice?
The Temple of the Condor
There is little direct evidence for human sacrifice at Machu Picchu; camelid offerings were common.
Q 16Approximately how many caves and rock shelters around Machu Picchu were used as burial chambers?
About 104
They held the remains of about 174 individuals, mostly yanaconas of diverse origins rather than Inca elite.
Q 17Which Peruvian explorer reached Machu Picchu in 1902 and left his name in charcoal on a temple wall?
Agustín Lizárraga
Bingham noted in his field journal that Lizárraga was the discoverer, but gradually wrote him out of the story by 1952.
Q 18Which American historian brought Machu Picchu to international attention in 1911?
Hiram Bingham
A Yale lecturer, not a trained archaeologist, he was actually searching for the lost Neo-Inca capital of Vilcabamba.
Q 19Who led Bingham up to the ruins on 24 July 1911?
Farmer-innkeeper Melchor Arteaga
At the top an 11-year-old boy, Pablito Richarte, whose family farmed the old terraces, guided him along the ridge to the main ruins.
Q 20What was Bingham's 1911 expedition primarily searching for?
The lost capital of the Neo-Inca state
He was looking for Vitcos and Vilcabamba, where Manco Inca had held out after the Spanish conquest; he later misidentified Machu Picchu as that lost city.
Rumours that the team smuggled artefacts out via Bolivia were false; the removals were open and legal under Peru's 1852 civil code.
Q 24In which year did Yale University deliver the final batch of Machu Picchu artefacts back to Peru?
2012
They had been taken in 1912–15 supposedly for 18 months; they are now shown at the Casa Concha museum in Cusco.
Q 25The Yale lecturer who publicised Machu Picchu held what political office for a single day in 1925?
Governor of Connecticut
It was the shortest gubernatorial term in history; he had also been elected to the US Senate and chose that seat instead.
Q 26Where was the Yale lecturer who publicised Machu Picchu in 1911 born?
Honolulu, Hawaii
His father and grandfather were Protestant missionaries to the Kingdom of Hawaii.
Q 27The Intihuatana stone's name, probably applied by Bingham, means what in Quechua?
Place where the sun is tied
Scholars reject the popular idea that it was a sundial gnomon; at midday on 11 November and 30 January it casts almost no shadow.
Q 28The Temple of the Sun at Machu Picchu is also known by what Spanish name, referring to its shape?
The Torreón
It is a semicircular tower built among granite boulders; its openings create characteristic sunlight patterns and views of the Pleiades.
Q 29What is the opening in the Torreón that leads to a platform overlooking Huayna Picchu?
The Serpent's Door
The rock inside is carved with steps and a Z-shaped edge usually interpreted as an altar.
Q 30The cave Inti Mach'ay's window admits sunlight only for a few days around which event?
The December solstice
During the Qhapaq Raymi festival noble boys were initiated into manhood by an ear-piercing ritual as they watched the sunrise from inside.