This book aims at integrating archaeology with science in order to provide additional information with respect to a traditional archaeological anthropological perspective. It sheds light on Incan culture, the relation between human frequentation and environmental changes, the Incan architecture in relation with Andean cosmovision using, for the first time, diverse technological and scientific approaches including LiDAR remote sensing, geophysics and radio carbon dating. A number of recent studies conducted by Polish, Italian and Peruvian scientific missions in Machu Picchu, Chachabamba and Cusco are presented and discussed.

Chapter 5 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Mariusz S. Ziókowski is an Archaeologist and ethnohistorian. He is the Director of the Centre for Andean Studies at the University of Warsaw, Poland, Extraordinary Professor at the Catholic University "Santa Maria" of Arequipa, Peru. He is specialised in archaeology and Inca ethnohistory, absolute dating techniques, archaeoastronomy. He participated in archaeological works e.g. in Poland, Iraq, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia. He is the Director of the Condesuyos Archaeological Project (Arequipa) and of the "Satellite Sites of Machu Picchu" project. Author of, among others : "Pacha unanchan. The Metropolitan Calendar of the Inca State", 2015; (with Jan Szemiski) "Myths, Rituals and Politics of the Incas". 2018 ; "The Iconography and Use of Inca and Colonial Drinking Vessels", [in] The Oxford Handbook of the Incas, ed. by Sonia Alconini, R. Alan Covey, Oxford University Press, 2018; and others.

Nicola Masini is a Research Director of CNR, Deputy Director of CNR-Institute of Heritage Science (ISPC). At the University of Basilicata, he teaches Restoration Fundamentals at the Degree Course in Architecture, Ancient Construction Techniques and Archaeological Restoration at the Master of Specialization in Archeology. He is also a member of the Doctoral School "Cities and Landscapes: Architecture, Archaeology". He is Co-Editor in Chief and co-founder of the journal "Heritage". Since 2008 he has been the Director of Scientific  Mission of CNR ITACA-Peru and directed projects and scientific campaigns in Peru (Nasca, Cahuachi, Pachacamac, Ventarron, Machu Picchu, Chankillo), Bolivia (Tiwanaku), Colombia (Cartagenas de indias).His dominant scientific interests are focused on the development and application of remote sensing based methods for archaeological research, landscape archeology, cultural heritage risk analysis and conservation; and the study of the dynamics of human attendance and environmental changes in pre-Hispanic civilizations. Heauthored and coauthored about 400 publications, including papers in international journals, chapters and books. He has received several awards and recognitions among which the American Library Association's Choice Magazine Award as "Outstanding Academic Title" for 2017 for the volume "Ancient Nasca World. New Insights from Science and Archeology" (Springerv 2017) and President's International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI) of the Chinese Academy of Science in 2016. 

José M. Bastante is an Archaeologist with completed studies in Cultural Heritage Management Master and in Social Sciences PhD specialising in History from the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos. Member of institutions such as the College of Archaeologists of Peru and the American Society of Archaeology. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Icomos Peru Association and has published extensively on the archaeology and history of Machu Picchu. He has given courses and participatedin academic events in Peru and in other countries, such as the United States, Mexico, Poland, Ecuador, Indonesia and Italy. In 2013, he was appointed director of the Archaeological and Interdisciplinary Research Programme at the Machu Picchu Historic Sanctuary and, since 2019, he is also the head of the Machu Picchu National Archaeological Park, where he has been implementing a new model of sustainable integrated management based on the conservation of the Outstanding Universal Value of the property.

Part 1: Context.- Chapter 1. Machu Picchu Physiographic and Environmental Settings.- Chapter 2. Geological Setting and Geomorphological Hazards in Machu Picchu Area.- Chapter 3. Machu Picchu in the Context of the Expansion of the Inca State: Between Historical and Radiocarbon Chronologies.- Chapter 4. Machu Picchu in Context: The Inca Building Culture.- Chapter 5. Astronomical Observations at Machu Picchu: Facts, Hypothesis and Wishful Thinking.- Part 2: Prospecting Machu Picchu and Urubamba valley: New Results from Earth Observations Sciences and Technologies.- Chapter 6. Open Big Earth Observation Data and Artificial Intelligence for the Study and Preservation of UNESCO Natural and Cultural Heritage: The Case of Machu Picchu.- Chapter 7. New Results from Archaeogeophysical Investigations in Machu Picchu.- Chapter 8. Possibilities of Using LiDAR Systems in Architectural and Archaeological Research in the National Archaeological Park of Machu Picchu.- Chapter 9. Ina Search for Standards in Inca Measuring System.- Chapter 10. Investigation at the Chachabamba Archaeological Monument.- Part 3: New results from  Archaeological and Historical Investigations.- Chapter 11. Machu Picchu: Interdisciplinary Researches.- Chapter 12. The Phaqcha from Chachabamba.- Chapter 13. High Mountain Underwater Archaeology: Research in the Lakes at the Foot of Salkantay Mountain.- Chapter 14. Inca Road System within Machupicchu National Archaeological Park.- Chapter 15. Quillcas in the Historic Sanctuary-National Archaeological Park of Machupicchu, a New Line of Evidence for the Earliest Occupancy of the Lower Vilcanota Basin.- Chapter 16. Ethnohistorical Documents of Machu Picchu National Archaeological Park.- Chapter 17. Proof of Concept Chemical Studies of the Biodeterioration of Ancient Structures in Machu Picchu.- Chapter 18. In a Search for Inca Construction Process Logistics: Case Studies of Four Structures from the Llaqta Machu Picchu.