Machu Picchu was constructed with such advanced ashlar masonry that the stones are tightly packed without mortar, allowing them to bounce and settle perfectly back into place during earthquakes.

A closer look

Machu Picchu was constructed with such advanced ashlar masonry that the stones are tightly packed without mortar, allowing them to bounce and settle perfectly back into place during earthquakes. The Incan engineers lived in a highly active seismic zone and knew exactly how to build a citadel on a literal mountain peak that would survive centuries of tectonic violence. Fast forward to the modern era, and contemporary construction companies struggle to build a highway overpass that does not immediately begin crumbling after three years of moderate rain. Millions of backpackers hike the Inca Trail every year, taking thousands of identical selfies in front of these ancient ruins, blissfully unaware that the fifteenth-century stonework is structurally sounder than the wildly expensive apartment buildings they rent back home. It is a brilliant reminder that humanity peaked in masonry skills five hundred years ago and has been enthusiastically half-assing it ever since