Verano Probes Incan Mystery

Tulane anthropologist John Verano will be part of a new episode on the Incas that premieres tonight (Feb. 2) on the PBS program NOVA.

Verano, professor and chair of anthropology, appears in NOVA's program on "Ghosts of Machu Picchu," part of an ongoing series on the Inca on PBS.

In New Orleans, the program is at 7 p.m. on WYES, Channel 12.

"Ghosts of Machu Picchu" explores an extraordinary trail of clues about Machu Picchu, the most famous archeological ruin in the Western Hemisphere and an iconic symbol of the power and engineering prowess of the Incas. Perched atop a mountain crest, it was mysteriously abandoned more than four centuries ago.

Ever since the city was discovered by Hiram Bingham in 1911, there have been countless theories about this "Lost City of the Incas," yet it remains an enigma. Why did the Incas build it on such an inaccessible site, clinging to the steep face of a mountain? Who lived among its stone buildings, farmed its emerald green terraces and drank from its sophisticated aqueduct system?

The NOVA program joins a new generation of archeologists, including Verano, as they probe areas of Machu Picchu that haven't been touched since the time of the Incas and unearth burials of the people who built the sacred site.