Remains of the Inca city of Machu Picchu, set on terraces high above the Urubamba river in southern Peru. The prominent peak of Huayna Picchu dominates the city's towers, temples, and stepped streets (the Incas had not invented the wheel). Since Spanish conquerors never found the city, it was not destroyed like many other contemporary sites. After centuries lost in the jungle, Machu Picchu was rediscovered in 1911 by the American archaeologist Hiram Bingham.