|
If you would like to contribute to this page...
...please Contact-Us with references.
|
|
|
|
Location:
12 miles from Lake Titicaca, Bolivia.
|
Grid Reference:
16.555˚ S 68.673˚ W |
-
 Tiahuanaco.
(Tiwanaku).
Description
- Tiahuanaco sits in the Bolivian Andes at a height of over 12,500 ft.
Inca tradition spoke of the founding Inca male and female coming
to
Cuzco
from the 'Island of the Sun' on Lake Titicaca, nearby. (1)
When the Spanish first encountered
Tiahuanaco in the sixteenth century, they went to great efforts to
destroy it. Early in the 20th century, Bolivian railway workers broke up
many of the blocks as ballast for the railway beds. The remains of the site
are now finally being restored. (1)
(Click here for interactive map of the site) (1877
Description of Site)
Tiahuanaco - General overview of the site:
Tiahuanaco sits high in the Andes at an altitude of
around 2 miles above sea level. The location is curious as a lake nearby
to lake Titicaca, with which the site is associated, is a
sea-water lake, apparently with sea-fauna still present. Indications of man-made
structures below the level of lake Titicaca (which is slowly drying up over
time), suggests that our understanding of the site is far from complete.
In addition, the style, size and skill
demonstrated by the vast number of precision-cut cyclopean stones at
Tiahuanaco (and nearby Puma-punka) reminds us that cutting and moving
100+ ton stones was common-place for the highly skilled builders of the
complex, who also managed to move the stones over tens of miles from
distant quarries to Tiahuanaco, which at such a high altitude is in
itself, a remarkable physical feat.
The mythology of the Incas relates that Titicaca
was the birthplace of the Inca nation, further adding to its
importance.
|
Chronology of Tiahuanaco:
Although a date of extreme antiquity is often suggested,
carbon-14 dates from the site place the construction at no earlier
that 1,700 BC. A date which was greatly contested by the
Archaeologist Posnansky who spent 50 years researching the site,
and who became determined through archaeo-astronomy that it was
either built at an earlier time, or built over pre-existing
constructions (also from an earlier time).
Prof. Posnansky
summed up his 50 year study in a 4 volume work entitled
Tiahuanaco, The cradle of American Man first published in
1945. He based his theories on the astronomical phenomena known as
"obliqueness of the ecliptic" (not to be confused with the other
astronomical phenomenon known as "Precession".
Since the Earth is tilted on its axis in respect to the plane of
the solar system, the resulting angle when viewed from earth
causes the
planets of our solar system to travel across the sky in a line called
the plane of the ecliptic.
At present our earth is tilted
at an angle of around 23 ˚
27'
00", but
this is not constant. The earth's axis oscillates slowly between
22˚
01' 00" to an extreme of 24˚
05' 00".
This cycle (repeating itself from one extreme to the other and
back) takes roughly 41,000 years to complete. The alignments at
the Kalassaya temple suggest a tilt of the earth's axis amounting
to 23˚
8' 48", indicating a date of 15,000 B.C.
This date is generally not accepted by archaeologists,
and indeed conflicts with another strong theory on the table at
the moment; that of Crust-shift-displacement. For example, on one hand Posnasky says that Tiahuanaco dates
back to 15,000 BC, and on the other, Hapgood (and Einstein) talk of
crust-shift-displacement, which would have the effect of displacing any
cardinally orientated structures. Should this theory ever become
realised as fact, it will have to be accepted that structures such
as Tiahuanaco and the Sphinx etc, were built after the
last displacement (suggested as 10,500 BC), which means that either the earth-crust-displacement
theory is wrong or Posnasky is... figure it out for yourself..
-
Carbon-14 Dating puts the
first period of Tiahuanaco back to 1,700 BC, the second period to 360 BC,
and the third era from 133-374 AD to 1,200 AD (1).
The city was the administrative and
religious heart of a pre-Incan civilisation that began in the year
237 BC and endured for over 1400 years. During its peak (724- 1172
AD) the Tiahuanacan Empire covered nearly all of Bolivia, Northern
Chile and Southern Peru, ruling over more than three million
subjects. (2)
|
Tiahuanaco constructions.
|
The Akapana:
The Akapana pyramid was once a
seven-step pyramid measuring some 200 meters on each side and
standing nearly 17 meters tall. Like the nearby Subterranean
Temple and the Kalasasaya, the Akapana was precisely oriented to
the cardinal directions. Each of the seven levels was constructed
with beautifully cut and precisely joined andesite blocks (of
which 90% are now missing), that were faced with panels once
covered with metal plaques, carvings, and paintings. In the centre
of the Akapana’s flat summit is a small, sunken courtyard laid out
in the form of a square superimposed over a perfect cross; this
courtyard was also oriented to the cardinal directions. Recent
excavations of this courtyard, the interior of the pyramid, and
the grounds beneath it have revealed an unexpectedly sophisticated,
and monumental system of interlinked surface and subterranean
channels. These channels brought water collected upon the summit
down and through the seven levels, where it exited below ground
level, merged into a major subterranean drain system underneath
the civic/ceremonial core of Tiwanaku, and ultimately flowed into
Lake Titicaca.
A drainage hole at the base of the destroyed pyramid. |
The Kalasasaya: ('The Standing Pillars', 'Place of the
vertical stones')
The Kalasaya is
a raised rectangular enclosure measuring about 450 feet by 400 feet,
built like a stockade with 12 foot high columns
jutting upward at intervals, each of these being carved into human figures.
The grand entrance of the Kalasasaya.
 The
walls of the Kalasasaya are built in the same style as the semi-submerged
temple, which opens out before it. Unlike the semi-submerged temple, the
Kalasasaya is a semi-raised edifice, with the space inside the walls being
filled in.
As part of Posnansky`s studies, he conducted
precise surveys of all the principal structures of Tiahuanaco. The Kalasasaya structure, was delineated by a series of vertical stone
pillars (the name Kalasasaya means "the standing pillars") and had
an east-west orientation. Utilizing his measurements of the lines of
sight along these stone pillars, the orientation of the Kalasasaya,
and the purposely intended deviations from the cardinal points,
Posnansky was able to show that the alignment of the structure was
based upon an astronomical principle called the obliquity of the
ecliptic.
|
|
The Monoliths (Stelae):
 (Right)
- The largest Stelae at Tiahuanaco is 7.3m high (20 ton), Bennett monolith, or 'Pachamama', which stood
for several years in front of Le Paz stadium was taken in 1932 and returned
2002. The lower half of its body,
which is covered with fish-scales (which upon close inspection are actually
fish-heads), immediately reminds one of the Mesopotamian deity called Oannes,
the man-fish amphibious being who conveyed special knowledge to ancient
mankind
(left) - The red andesite monolith ('El
Fraile, 'The Friar'), was found
there as was the remaining smaller monolith of a bearded figure
(Right) - The Ponce monolith, named after its discoverer Wendell
Bennett, was found in the centre of the semi-submerged temple (see below).
Three more in the semi-subterranean temple...
|
|
The Semi-subterranean Temple:
The Subterranean
Temple, was studded with sculptured stone heads set into cut-stone
facing walls and in the middle of the court was located a now-famous
monolithic 'Bennett' stela, Named for archaeologist Wendell C.
Bennett who conducted the first archaeological research at
Tiahuanaco in the 1930's, the Bennett Stela represents a human
figure wearing elaborate clothes and a crown.
 
It is noticeable that all the stones are of
different colours and sizes.
Note: The lower heads seem to be considerably more worn than the upper
ones?
|
|
The Gateway of the sun -
(Puerta del Sol):
 The 10
ton Gateway of the Sun is monolithic, carved from a single block of
Andesite granite, now broken right down the center. It now stands in
the NW corner of the Kalasasaya, although it was found fallen and
completely covered in mud elsewhere on the site.
A
close-up of the crying sun-god symbol... |
Construction techniques at Tiahuanaco:
All these pictures are from Tiahuanaco.
These blocks show that 'metal ties' were used
in the new-world for securing the blocks of important structures. The same style
can be seen in
Ollantiatambo, but more importantly, also in
old-world countries such as in ancient Egypt and
even Angkor Watt.
(Other examples)
It is noticeable that although there are similarities in construction
methods between the Tiahunacans and the Inca's that followed them, however,
the finished results were starkly different as the Tiahuanacan mason's left
their stones with sharp 90 ˚
angles, exacting measurements, straight lines and sophisticated patterns
involving numerous flat planes.
Associated sites of interest.
|
Lake Titicaca:
(Click
here for map of Titicaca)
Roughly fifteen miles from Tiahuanaco, this lake is believed
to have once extended to the city. The highest navigable water in
the world. Its present fauna (including a species of sea horse),
a nearby salt-water lake, and the angle of an ancient shore-line have led scientists
to consider that the lake may have once been attached to the sea, following
which it was raised to its present
height.
On the rock
cliffs near the piers and wharfs of the port area are yellow-white
calcareous deposits forming long, straight lines indicating
pre-historic water levels. These ancient shorelines are strangely
tilted, although once they must have been level.
Athough the lake averages between 460 and 600 feet (140 and 180 m)
in depth, but the bottom tilts sharply toward the Bolivian shore,
reaching its greatest recorded depth of 920 feet (280 m) off Isla
Soto in the lake's northeast corner.
On Titicaca Island the ruins of a temple
mark the spot where, according to the tradition of the Incas the
founders of the Inca dynasty, Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo,
depending on which variation one hears, were either sent down to
Earth by the Sun or emerged from the depths to found their empire.
Discoveries in the Lake.
In November 1980,
the Bolivian author
and scholar of pre-Columbian
cultures, Hugo Boero Rojo, announced the finding of archaeological ruins
beneath Lake Titicaca about 15 to 20 meters
below the surface off the coast of
Puerto Acosta, a Bolivian port village
near the Peruvian frontier on the
northeast edge of the lake. At
a press conference the Bolivian author stated that:
"we can now say
that the existence of pre-Columbian
constructions under the waters of Lake
Titicaca is no longer a mere
supposition or science-fiction, but a real fact. Further," he added,
'the remnants found show the existence of old
civilizations that greatly antecede
the Spanish colonization. We have found
temples built of huge blocks of
stone, with stone roads leading to unknown
places and flights of steps whose
bases were lost in the depths of the lake
amid a thick vegetation of algae." Boero Rojo described these monumental
ruins as being "of probable
Tiahuanaco origin.
In August 2000, the BBC announced the
discovery of ancient ruins 30m beneath the lake, and confirmed that
a temple had been discovered by following a submerged stone road.
The discoveries are believed to
date
back 1,000 to 1,500 years ago,
and are credited as pre-Incan
confirming that the level of the lake fluctuates periodically.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/892616.stm
It has been observed in relation
to this that soil covers the
ancient Tiahuanacan plateau to a depth of
at least 6 feet, under which relics
and artefacts of the ancient culture have been found.
|
The 'Fuenta Magna'...
This 'libation' bowl, with cuneiform hieroglyphs on it was discovered
in the 1950's near
Tiahuanaco.
The authenticity of the bowl is challenged by
sceptics who claim it to be fabricated by archaeologists. It now
resides in the Museo De Oro, La Paz.
(More
about the Fuente Magna)
|
The Puma Punka (Door of the Puma):
The nearby structure known as the Puma Punka is
still littered with giant, precisely shaped blocks, many of which
weighing appear machine made. The so-called 'port' of Tiahuanaco, called Puma
Punku or "Door of the Puma," which is often quoted to have once been a
wharf with a massive four-part building, is an area filled with enormous
stone blocks scattered around the ground like matchsticks, with several
estimated to weigh between 100 and 150 tons.
The quarry for these blocks was on the western shore of Titicaca,
ten miles distant and the means or purpose of transporting such large stones
is still a mystery.
(The Top-50 Stones)
'A story was told by the local Aymara indians to a Spanish
traveller who visited Tiahuanaco shortly after the conquest spoke of the
city's original foundation in the age of Chamac Pacha, or First
Creation, long before the coming of the Incas. Its earliest
inhabitants, they said, possessed supernatural powers, for which
they were able miraculously to lift stones of off the ground, which
"...were carried [from the mountain quarries] through the air to the sound
of a trumpet'. (1)
(Other examples of Sonics)
It has been suggested that there
is evidence of basic machining at Puma-punka, as the following photo
demonstrates:
A close inspection of the stone
above reveals that there are regularly spaced drill marks in the
precision-cut 6mm groove
One of the most interesting things
to have transpired about the site is that many of the immense blocks were
built as if from a template, and amazingly appear to interlock as the
picture below illustrates. Such a discovery flies directly in the face of
all our concepts of the construction skills of the ancients. With no
previous examples of masonry at such a sophisticated level, nor on such
great scale leaves one to wonder at the confidence and skills of the
designers and masons.
(Left) Illustrating the sophisticated
way in which the Puma-punka stones fit together. (Right) A wall of the
Akapana pyramid shows the same modular feature. (3)
Other examples of 'Brick
Ties' can be seen in the floor at Puma-punka. It is now believed
that theses 'Ties' were made by pouring molten metal into the
prepared holes.
(Ancient
construction techniques -
Extreme masonry)
(Other
Pre-historic South-American sites)
(Return to Top)
|
|
