The Inca scribes (known as armantus) used the quipu (knotted ropes) to record and store information about the immense holdings of the vast Inca empire.
It's among the greatest artistic and architectural sites in the world built as a legacy of the Inca civilization in Peru in the 15th century and then later abandoned.
After fighting off the fierce local native population, they founded their capital, and Ayar Manco became Manco Capac, the first Sapa Inca, or king of the Incas.
Peruvian and Polish scientists worked with a specialist in facial reconstruction from Sweden to build up a silicon likeness of " Juanita" , a teenage Inca girl sacrificed high in the Andes 500 years ago.
In the early 1500s, Spanish and Portuguese conquistadors conveyed it west across the Atlantic, where it ravaged native communities and contributed to the downfall of the Aztec, Mayan, and Inca empires.
The Maya, Inca and Aztec cultures were fascinating but they were South American empires and they did not really directly impact American history, or so it was told.
Mr Garcia says that the American explorer Hiram Bingham sent 46,000 pieces from Machu Picchu to Yale University, shortly after he rediscovered the Inca site in 1911.
The remaining artifacts, including a variety of different textiles, flutes, a ceramic piece and three pre-Inca dolls, were returned by private citizens in Germany.
Machu Picchu was constructed at the height of the Inca Empire, some time around 1450, and represents one of the greatest achievements of architecture and engineering in the history of the Inca civilization.
At this point the Inca Empire extended for roughly 2500 miles along the western coast of South America encompassing much of modern Peru and Chile with parts of Ecuador.