El Intihuatana
Intihuatana means 'the place to catch the sun' and is located in the highest area of Machu Picchu on a round hill,
surrounded by terracing giving it a pyramidal shape.
A carved rock which sits on top of a quadrangular prism would have served as a sun dial to judge with remarkable precision the agricultural cycles that were so important to the Incas. The sun dial appears to have been built in sitio and not brought to the site from elsewhere.
The Inca believed the stone held the sun in its place along its annual path in the sky. At midday on October 27 and February 14, the sun stands almost above the pillar—casting no shadow at all. Researchers believe that it was built as an astronomic clock or calendar.
