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Picture of
living rocks (rocks covered with lichens) at Machu Picchu Sanctuary. The
orange-yellow colored lichens on the granite rocks from which Machu Picchu was
carved give meaning to the term "living rocks." In this image from 1965,
these rock steps were still relatively pristine and planar with little wear
noticed. Modern day Machu Picchu must endure "hoards" of visitors and
these same rocks are now appear worn and curved, not by the ancient Incas, but
by modern tourists. You can see that these rocks were not brought in from
another area, but rather were carved from the original granite rocks that were
here before the Incas founded the citadel. In contrast to Cusco, where the
Incas used andesite (a fine-grain rock), all the rocks structures in Machu
Picchu were made out of granite (a coarse-grain rock) that is native to the
area. Despite the coarse grain of the rocks, some of the most finely and
accurately carved rocks are found in Machu Picchu. The rock work is so
fine that modern day Peruvians are not able to duplicate the quality of the
original Inca rockwork during their attempts to reconstruct and repair various
rock walls in Machu Picchu.
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