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what was found was beyond their wildest dreams. On the highest peak was the site that has since been called Machu Picchu, a city in wonderful preservation, a place that has since become an iconic image of South Americas past civilizations.

The third section of the book is more to do with the archaeological work on the site and it is in this section that most of the books photographs are to be found. Being that the photographs are contemporary to Bingham's expedition, they are in black and white, which is a shame, but colour versions can easily be found elsewhere for those who wish to further their knowledge of the site after reading this book. That said even in black and white the photographs are awesome and maybe more useful from a scientific point of view for the clarity that black and white images deliver. There are a number of maps in the book to help pin point the area in question for those who wish to accurately follow Bingham's footsteps.

For an older book it is surprisingly easy to read. It does smack a bit of the language of a older time in its rigid and proper style, but never so much that it is difficult to follow or overly dry in its approach. It does retain a vivid descriptive style and the way it uses words to paint these pictures is wonderful to behold. Rather than its slightly dated style detracting from the book, i think that it gains something for it, especially when you consider the "boys own" nature of the subject matter. All in all it's a great record of how exploration used to be done a century ago, but still has a lot of value to historians today as it details the finds and the site as it was first found untouched before tourism kicked in and renovation of the site was began. It is also a nice travelogue from the days when there were parts of this world still waiting to be opened up and explored.

Learn more about this author, Dave Franklin.
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