About Machu Picchu Discoveries

Machu Picchu Cusco Discoveries - Simone Waisbard, a long-time researcher of Cusco, claims that Enrique Palma, Gabino Sánchez, and Agustín Lizárraga left their names engraved on one of the rocks at Machu Picchu on July 14, 1901. Likewise, in 1904, an engineer named Franklin supposedly spotted the ruins from a distant mountain.

He told Thomas Payne, an English Christian missionary living in the region, about the site, Payne's family members claim. They also report that in 1906, Payne and another fellow missionary named Stuart E McNairn (1867–1956) climbed up to the ruins.

It has recently come to light that the site may have been discovered and plundered in 1867 by a German businessman, Augusto Berns.

There is also evidence that a British missionary, Thomas Payne, and a German engineer, J. M. von Hassel, arrived earlier, and maps found by historians show references to Machu Picchu as early as 1874.