Machu Picchu (Also spelled Macchupicchu) is the name of the archeological ruins of the ancient Inca city, whcih can be found 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Cuzco, Peru, in the Cordillera de Vilcabamba of the Andes Mountains. Machu Picchu is perched above the Urubamba River valley in a narrow saddle between two sharp peaks- Machu Picchu which means in Quechua “Old Peak” and Huayna Picchu which means "New Peak"- at an elevation of 7,710 feet (2,350 meters). Machu Picchu is very unique, for it's one of the few major pre-Columbian ruins found nearly intact. Machu Picchu was designated a World Heritage site in 1983. Machu Picchu managed to hide from the eye of the Spaniards and was “discovered” only in 1911 by Professor Hiram Bingham from Yale University, who was led to the site by Melchor Arteaga, a local Quechua-speaking resident. Discovering Machu Picchu wasn't Bingham's reason for being in Peru, for he had been seeking Vilcabamba (Vilcapampa), the “lost city of the Incas,” from which the last Inca rulers led a rebellion against the Spanish up until 1572. During his excavations of Machu Picchu in 1912, which were sponsored by Yale University and the National Geographic Society, he came to the conclusion that Machu Picchu was the Vilcabamba, the “lost city of the Incas.” This designation is no longer widely accepted. Nevertheless, many sources still follow Bingham's conclusions based on an incorrect assumption and label Machu Picchu as the “lost city of the Incas”. Machu Picchu was further excavated in 1915 by Bingham, in 1934 by the Peruvian archaeologist Luis E. Valcarcel, and in 1940–41 by Paul Fejos. Additional discoveries throughout the Cordillera de Vilcabamba have uncovered that Machu Picchu was considered to be one of a series of pucaras (fortified sites), tambos (travelers' barracks, or inns), and signal towers along the boundless Inca highway. The homes at Machu Picchu were probably built and occupied from the mid-15th to the early or mid-16th century, although the use of Machu Picchu as a fortress, city, or palace is uncertain.