Exploring the mystery

Learn about the Incas in this intriguing showcase of ancient artifacts.
By LAURA S. MEYN
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
PITTSBURGH -- Carnegie Museum of Natural History has just opened a traveling exhibition that is making only six stops nationwide: "Machu Picchu: Unveiling the Mystery of the Incas."
Visitors will see never-before displayed artifacts from the 15th century Peruvian mountaintop retreat. The ruins of Machu Picchu had been completely swallowed by the surrounding jungle when Yale professor and archaeologist Hiram Bingham III rediscovered the area in 1911.
Following in Bingham's tradition, two current Yale University archaeologists, co-curators Richard Burger and Lucy Salazar, created the exhibit. When they conceived the project, Burger noted that some Inca pottery held at Yale University's Peabody Museum of Natural History was still wrapped in a copy of The New York Times dating back to 1922.
"Lucy and I decided it should be on public display," he said. In fact, more than 400 artifacts are included in the exhibit, beginning with Bingham's journal and the explorer's correspondence with such companies as Kodak and Abercrombie and Fitch (both provided supplies and the latter also furnished fetching explorer clothing).
Burger and Salazar combined holdings from the Yale University museum with borrowed items from museums around the country to assemble the largest collection of Inca artifacts ever displayed in the United States.
Dashing figure
At the exhibit, the story of the dashing Bingham (who is thought to be the inspiration for the movie character Indiana Jones) provides an exciting entry into the Inca world of Machu Picchu. But the exhibit's focus quickly shifts from Bingham and his stunning black-and-white photographs to the real subject: the artifacts themselves and what they reveal about the area's Inca inhabitants.
Machu Picchu was first thought to have been the last Inca stronghold against the Spanish; it is now believed to have been a royal retreat for resting, relaxing, hunting and rituals.
A recreation of an Inca roadway leads visitors past stone, silver, gold, wood, textile, and pottery artifacts. Their uses lend insight into life among the Inca of Machu Pichhu.
A range of shawl pins, used to keep women's clothing secured (before buttons) are on display; many were found in excavated graves as they were laid to rest with their owners. Bells that had been sewn to costumes show that dancing was a part of life in Machu Picchu.
The artifacts are placed in context by a re-creation of the king's house, a painstaking model with a roof of thatched Peruvian ichu grass.
The computer savvy (who are so often kids) will enjoy an interactive 360-degree exploration of Machu Picchu at one of three large-screen computers -- a popular diversion at the exhibit's previous stops: "It's nice seeing parents trying to pull children out of a museum," commented Burger.