After his discovery of Machu Picchu, Bingham became the first recipient of a National Geographic Society archaeological grant. He went on to lead three expeditions back to the site in 1912, 1914, and 1915.

Of his original find in 1911, Bingham wrote in the April 1913 Geographic: “Machu Picchu might prove to be the largest and most important ruin discovered in South America since the days of the Spanish conquest.”