Peru 1952 – Inca observatory
Although the inscription on the stamp identifies Cusco as the location of this
Inca monument, it is in fact the Intihuatana stone at the ancient “lost city” of Machu Picchu, over 40 miles to the northwest. The Intihuatana stone is a
pillar surrounded by an irregular pedestal carved out of the rock on a mountain
peak, and stands some 6 ft high overall. The corners of the central pillar are
aligned to the four main compass points, while the pedestal is aligned on the
setting point of the Sun at the December solstice (summer in the southern
hemisphere).
Dr Ed Krupp of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, an expert in
archaeoastronomy, describes it as follows in his book Echoes of the Ancient Skies: “The intihuatana at Machu Picchu is a mass of granite about the size and height
of a large dining room table. Carved from the rocky summit of an 80-foot-high
natural pyramid, this peculiar combination of oddly angled surfaces, corners
and projections has defied interpretation.”
The name “Intihuatana” is usually translated as “hitching post of the Sun”. Inca priests are said to have symbolically lassoed the Sun to the pillar
either at the June solstice or the equinoxes (opinions differ). In the case of
the June solstice, the Sun would have been at its most northerly (and lowest in
the sky) as seen from this southern hemisphere location. It is said that the
stone is angled at 13°, equal to the latitude of the site, so that at noon at the equinoxes it casts
no shadow. As with all such ancient monuments, its true purpose may never be
known and many descriptions of it are coloured by mysticism.
Other structures lower down the same hillside at Machu Picchu are also thought
to have had an astronomical significance.
The original 1952 issue of this stamp had a face value of 2.20 s and was printed
in blue; shown above is the same design reissued in 1959 with a value of 3.80 s
and in orange (SG 836).
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