Temple of the Moon (Peru) Temple of the Moon (Peru) The Temple of the Moon is an Incan ceremonial temple on Huayna Picchu near Machu Picchu, in Peru. The site is made up of stone masonry and an open-face, shallow cave. The temple is arbitrarily named, like many of the sites in Machu Picchu. In the center of the cave is a throne carved out of rock. Beside the throne are steps that lead deeper into the cave. It is thought that the caves were used to hold mummies. The Temple of the Moon dates back 1500 years. It was rediscovered in 1936. It lies
Hiram Bingham III Pampa), which he named "Eromboni Pampa". However, he did not correctly recognize Vilcabamba as the last capital, instead continuing onward and misidentifying Machu Picchu as the "Lost City of the Incas", as his book titled it. Decades later, Bingham's oversight was rectified by the Andean explorer Vince Lee, whose detailed researches proved that Vilcabamba was indeed the 'last capital' of the Incas. On July 24, 1911, Melchor Arteaga led Bingham to Machu Picchu, which had been largely forgotten by everybody except the small number of people living in the immediate valley (possibly including two local missionaries named Thomas Payne and