|
Stone Technology | PumaPunku
| Aramu Muru |
Cataclysmic Myths
| Mythology
| Books
| Websites
Introduction
Tiahuanacu (also called
Tiwanaku) is a mystery because of its age (estimated to be 17,000
years) and the peculiar stone technology. Today there is little doubt that Tiahuanaco was a
major sacred ceremonial centre and focal point of a culture that spread
across much of the region. The ancient people built a stone pyramid known as the Akapana
Gateway of the
Sun, Tiahuanaco
(courtesy of www.sacredsites.com
and Martin Gray)
View of the
Kalisasaya complex (Courtesy Alexei Vranich)
Entrance to
Kalasayaya temple, Tiahuanaco, Bolivia
(courtesy of www.sacredsites.com
and Martin Gray)
That structure dominates the
bottom half of this aerial photo.
When first discovered the pyramid
was largely covered with soil. After several decades of excavation
some of the walls have been uncovered and treasure hunters opened a
depression in the top. This was built originally to open towards the
east. The dark line across the lower part of the picture is the
railway line from a lakeside port to La Paz, the Bolivian capital.
The rectangular outline just 'above and to the left ' of the Akapana
is a terreplein. known as the Kalasasaya. The lighter patch with an
indistinct outline 'above' the Akapana is where an excavated
semi-subterranean 'temple' has been discovered. Other features are
visible but most of the 'patches' are fields. The upper part of the
picture is crossed by the road from the the village of Tiwanaku
leading eastwards to La Paz. (taken from 'Pathways to the Gods' by
Tony Morrison 1978).
PERU Incidents of Travel and Exploration
in the LAND OF THE INCAS
by E. George Squier, New York, Harper and Brothers, 1877.
NOTE: This excerpt serves to provide a description of the
ruins before the harvesting of many stones for railroad
construction. It also provides insights into some
nineteenth-century attitudes towards archaeology sites by and the
racism of its author, cited writers, and the local priest (cura)
in Tiahuanaco village.
CHAPTER XV. TIAHUANUCO, THE BAALBEC OF THE NEW WORLD.
Tiahuanuco a Centre of Ancient Civilization.-Difficulties.-The
Chuño Festival.-Death of my Photographer.-Studying the Art.-My
Assistants.-The Edifices of Ancient Tiahuanuco.-The Ruins a Quarry
for Modern Builders.-Their Extent. -The Temple.-The Fortress.-The
Palace.-The Hall of Justice.-Precision of the
Stone-cutting.-Elaborate Sculptures.-Monolithic Gate-ways.-The
Modern Cemetery.-The Sanctuary.-Symbolical Slab.-The great
Monolithic Gate-way. -Its Elaborate Sculptures.-Monuments
described by Cieza de Leon and D'Or-bigny.-Material of the
Stone-work.-How the Stone was cut.-General Resume. -Tiahuanuco
probably a Sanctuary, not a Seat of Dominion.
TIAHUANUCO lies almost in the very centre of the great
terrestrial basin of lakes Titicaca and Aullagas, and in the heart
of a region which may be properly characterized as the Thibet of
the New World. Here, at an elevation of twelve thousand nine
hundred feet above the sea, in a broad, open, unprotected, arid
plain, cold in the wet and frigid in the dry season, we find the
evidences of an ancient civilization, regarded by many as the
oldest and the most advanced of both American continents.
It was to explore and investigate the monumental remains that
have made this spot celebrated that I had come to Tiahuannco, and
I lost no time in commencing my task. This was not an easy one,
for even with the aid of the drunken Cura we were unable to
procure laborers to assist us, for not only had we reached the
village on the eve of the Chuño, or potato festival, a remnant of
ancient observances, but before we had finished our work the Feast
of Corpus Christi had commenced. Chicha flowed like water, and the
few inhabitants that the Chuño festival had left sober
deliberately gave themselves up to beastly intoxication.
This was not my only difficulty. While we were toiling our way
upwards through the mountain road, my photographer, on whose skill
I had depended, became dangerously ill. One bitter night, under an
ebon sky, with no one to assist us save some kindly Indians, we
tried in vain to relieve his sufferings and compose his mental
hallucinations. The disease baffled all our efforts, and before
sunrise death brought him relief and release. He murmured
something in the Gaelic tongue, in which only the endearing word
"mamma"—sacred in all languages—was intelligible, and died with
that word lingering on his thin, blue lips.
I had provided myself with a complete and costly set of
photographic apparatus, which I regarded as indispensable to
success in depicting the ancient monuments; but I had little
knowledge of the art, and must now become my own photographer, or
lose many of the results of my labor. With no instruction except
such as I could gain from Hardwick's" Manual of Photographic
Chemistry," I went to work, and, after numerous failures, became
tolerably expert. I had but a single assistant, Mr. H-, an amateur
draughtsman, and only such other aid as I could get from my
muleteer and his men, who were eager to conclude their engagement,
and simply astounded that we should waste an hour, much more that
we should spend days, on the remains of the heathens. Still, the
investigation was undertaken with equal energy and enthusiasm,
and, I am confident, with as good results as could be reached
without an expenditure of time and money which would hardly have
been rewarded by any probable additional discoveries. We spent a
week in Tiahuanuco among the ruins, and, I believe, obtained a
plan of every structure that is traceable, and of every monument
of importance that is extant.
The first thing that strikes the visitor in the village of
Tiahuanuco is the great number of beautifully cut stones, built
into the rudest edifices, and paving the squalidest courts. They
are used as lintels, jambs, seats, tables, and as receptacles for
water. The church is mainly built of them; the cross in front of
it stands on a stone pedestal which shames the symbol it supports
in excellence of workmanship. On all sides are vestiges of
antiquity from the neighboring ruins, which have been a real
quarry, whence have been taken the cut stones, not only for
Tiahuanuco and all the villages and churches of its valley, but
for erecting the cathedral of La Paz, the capital of Bolivia,
situated in the deep valley of one of the streams falling into the
river Beni, twenty leagues distant. And what is true here is also
true of most parts of the Sierra. The monuments of the past have
furnished most of the materials for the public edifices, the
bridges, and highways of the present day.
The ruins of Tiahuanuco have been regarded by all students of
American antiquities as in many respects the most interesting and
important, and at the same time most enigmatical, of any on the
continent. They have excited the admiration and wonder alike of
the earliest and latest travelers, most of whom, vanquished in
their attempts to penetrate the mystery of their origin, have been
content to assign them an antiquity beyond that of the other
monuments of America, and to regard them as the solitary remains
of a civilization that disappeared before that of the Incas began,
and contemporaneous with that of Egypt and the East. Unique, yet
perfect in type and harmonious in style, they appear to be the
work of a people who were thorough masters of an architecture
which had no infancy, passed through no period of growth, and of
which we find no other examples. Tradition, which mumbles more or
less intelligibly of the origin of many other American monuments,
is dumb concerning these. The wondering Indians told the first
Spaniards that "they existed before the sun shone in the heavens,"
that they were raised by giants, or that they were the remains of
an impious people whom an angry Deity had converted into stone
because they had refused hospitality to his viceregent and
messenger.
I shall give only a rapid account of these remains, correcting
some of the errors and avoiding some of the extravagances of my
predecessors in the same field of inquiry. I must confess I did
not find many things that they have described; but that fact, in
view of the destructiveness of treasure-hunters and the rapacity
of ignorant collectors of antiquities, does not necessarily
discredit their statements; for Tiahuanuco is a rifled ruin, with
comparatively few yet sufficient evidences of former greatness.
The ruins are about half a mile to the southward of the
village, separated from it by a small brook and a shallow valley.
The high-road to La Paz passes close to them—in fact, between them
and some mounds of earth which were probably parts of the general
system. They are on a broad and very level part of the plain,
where the soil is an arenaceous loam, firm and dry. Rows of erect
stones, some of them rough or but rudely shaped by art; others
accurately cut and fitted in walls of admirable workmanship; long
sections of foundations, with piers and portions of stairways;
blocks of stone, with mouldings, cornices, and niches cut with
geometrical precision; vast masses of sandstone, trachyte, and
basalt but partially hewn; and great monolithic doorways, bearing
symbolical ornaments in relief, besides innumerable smaller,
rectangular, and symmetrically shaped stones, rise on every hand,
or lie scattered in confusion over the plain. It is only after the
intelligent traveler has gone over the whole area and carefully
studied the ground, that the various fragments fall into something
like their just relations, and the design of the whole becomes
comprehensible.
Leaving aside, for the present, the lesser mounds of earth of
which I have spoken, we find the central and most conspicuous
portion of the ruins, which cover not far from a square mile, to
consist of a great, rectangular mound of earth, originally
terraced, each terrace supported by a massive wall of cut stones,
and the whole surmounted by structures of stone, parts of the
foundations of which are still distinct. This structure is
popularly called the" Fortress," and, as tradition affirms,
suggested the plan of the great fortress of Sacsahuaman,
dominating the city of Cuzco . The sides of this structure, as
also of all the others in Tiahuanuco, coincide within ten degrees
with the cardinal points of the compass. Close to the left of the
Fortress (I adopt this name, and the others I may use, solely to
facilitate description) is an area called the "Temple," slightly
raised, defined by lines of erect stones, but ruder than those
which surround the Fortress. A row of massive pilasters stands
somewhat in advance of the eastern front of this area, and still
in advance of this are the deeply embedded piers of a smaller
edifice of squared stones, with traces of an exterior corridor,
which has sometimes been called the "Palace." At other points,
both to the south and northward, are some remains to which I shall
have occasion to refer.
The structure called the Temple will claim our first attention;
primarily because it seems to be the oldest of the group, the
type, perhaps, of the others, and because it is here we find the
great monolithic sculptured gateway of Tiahuanuco, which is
absolutely unique, so far as our knowledge goes, on this
continent.
The body of the Temple forms a rectangle of 388 by 445 feet,
defined, as I said before, by lines of erect stones, partly shaped
by art. They are mostly of red sandstone, and of irregular size
and height; those at the corners being more carefully squared and
tallest. For the most part, they are between 8 and 10 feet high,
from 2 to 4 feet broad, and from 20 to 30 inches in thickness. The
portions entering the ground, like those of our granite gateposts,
are largest, and left so for the obvious purpose of giving the
stones greater firmness in their position.
These stones, some of which have fallen and others disappeared,
seem to have been placed, inclining slightly inwards, at
approximately 15 feet apart, measuring from centre to centre, and
they appear to have had a wall of rough stones built up between
them, supporting a terre-plein of earth, about 8 feet above the
general level of the plain. On its eastern side this terre-plein
had an apron or lower terrace 18 feet broad, along the edge of the
central part of which were raised ten great stone pilasters,
placed 15 1/2 feet apart, all of which, perfectly aligned, are
still standing, with a single exception. They are of varying
heights, and no two agree in width or thickness. The one that is
fallen, which was second in the line, measures 13 feet 8 inches in
length by 5 feet 3 inches in breadth. It is partly buried in the
earth, but shows 32 inches of thickness above ground. Among those
still erect the tallest is 14 feet by 4 feet 2 inches, and 2 feet
8 inches; the shortest 9 feet by 2 feet 9 inches, and 2 feet 5
inches. These are less in dimension than the stones composing the
inner cell or sanctum of Stonehenge , which range from 16 feet 3
inches to 21 feet 6 inches in height; but they are nearly, if not
quite, equal with those composing the outer circle of that
structure. They are much more accurately cut than those of
Stonehenge , the fronts being perfectly true, and the backs alone
left rough or only partially worked. The tops of the taller ones
have shoulders cut into them as if to receive architraves; and as
this feature does not appear in the shorter ones, it may be
inferred that their tops have been broken off, and that originally
they were all of one length. And here I may call attention to
another singular feature of this colonnade—namely, that the sides
or edges of each erect stone are slightly cut away to within six
inches of its face, so as to leave a projection of about an inch
and a half, as if to retain in place any slab fitted between the
stones, and prevent it from falling outwards. The same feature is
found in the stones surrounding the great mound or Fortress, where
its purpose becomes obvious, as we shall soon see.
Such is the general character of the exterior propylon, if I
may so call it, of the structure called the Temple. But within the
line of stones surrounding it there are other features which claim
our attention. I have said that the interior is a mound of earth
raised about eight feet above the general level. But in the centre
and towards the western side is an area sunk to the general level,
280 feet long by 190 feet broad. It was originally defined on
three sides by walls of rough stones which rose above the surface
of the mound itself, but which are now in ruins. If this sunken
area communicated in any way with the more elevated interior parts
of the structure, the means of communication, by steps or
otherwise, have disappeared. Across the end of the area not shut
in by the mound, the line of stones which surrounds the Temple is
continued without interruption; but outside and connected with it
is part of a small square of lesser stones, also erect, standing
in the open plain.
Regarding the eastern side of the Temple , marked by the line
of pilasters which I have described, as the front, we find here,
at the distance of 57 feet, the traces of a rectangular structure,
to which I have alluded as the" Palace," which was composed of
blocks of trachyte admirably cut, 8 to 10 feet long by 5 feet
broad, with remains of what appears to have been a corridor 30
feet broad extending around it. The piers which supported the
Palace still remain, sunk deep in the ground, apparently resting
on an even pavement of cut stones. Remove the superstructures of
the best-built edifices of our cities, and few, if any, would
expose foundations laid with equal care, and none of them stones
cut with such accuracy, or so admirably fitted together. And I may
say, once for all, carefully weighing my words, that in no part of
the world have I seen stones cut with such mathematical precision
and admirable skill as in Peru, and in no part of Peru are there
any to surpass those which are scattered over the plain of
Tiahuanuco. The so-called Palace does not seem to have been placed
in any symmetrical relation towards the Temple, although seemingly
dependent on it; nor, in fact, do any of the ancient structures
here appear to have been erected on any geometric plan respecting
each other, such as is apparent in the arrangement of most of the
remains of aboriginal public edifices in Peru.
The Fortress stands to the southwest of the Temple , the sides
of the two coinciding in their bearings, and is 64 feet distant
from it. As I have already said, it is a great mound of earth,
originally rectangular in shape, 620 feet in length and 450 in
width, and about 50 feet high. It is much disfigured by the
operations of treasure-seekers, who have dug into its sides and
made great excavations from the summit, so that it now resembles
rather a huge, natural, shapeless heap of earth than a work of
human hands. The few of the many stones that environed it, and
which the destroyers have spared, nevertheless enable us to make
out its original shape and proportions. There are distinct
evidences that the body of the mound was terraced, for there are
still standing stones at different elevations, distant
horizontally nine, eighteen, and thirty feet from the base. There
may have been more terraces than these lines of stones would
indicate, but it is certain that there were at least three before
reaching the summit. This coincides with what Garcilasso tells us
of the mound when first visited by the Spaniards. He says,
speaking of the ruins under notice: "Among them there is a
mountain or hill raised by hand, which, on this account, is most
admirable. In order that the piled-up earth should not be washed
away and the hill leveled, it was supported by great walls of
stone. Noone knows for what purpose this edifice was raised."
Cieza de Leon, who himself visited Tiahuanuco soon after the
Conquest, gives substantially the same description of the
so-called Fortress.
On the summit of this structure are sections of
the foundations of rectangular buildings, partly undermined, and
partly covered up by the earth from the great modern excavation in
the centre, which is upwards of 300 feet in diameter, and more
than 60 feet deep. A pool of water stands at its bottom. This
latest piece of barbarism was, however, only in continuation of
some similar previous undertaking. All over the Fortress and on
its slopes lie large and regular blocks of stone, sculptured with
portions of elaborate designs, which would only appear when the
blocks were fitted together.
Some portions of the outer or lower wall are
fortunately nearly intact, so that we are able to discover how it
was constructed, and the plan and devices that were probably
observed in all the other walls, as well as in some parts of the
Temple. In the first place, large, upright stones were planted in
the ground, apparently resting on stone foundations. They are
about ten feet above the surface, accurately faced, perfectly
aligned, and inclining slightly inwards towards the mound. They
are placed seventeen feet apart from centre to centre, and are
very nearly uniform in size, generally about three feet broad and
two feet in thickness. Their edges are cut to present the kind of
shoulders to which I alluded in describing the pilasters in front
of the Temple , and of which the purpose now becomes apparent. The
space between the upright stones is filled in with a wall of
carefully worked stones. Those next the pilasters are cut with a
shoulder to fit that of the pilaster they adjoin; and they are
each, moreover, cut with alternate grooves and projections, like
mortise and tenon, so as to fit immovably into each other
horizontally. Vertically they are held in position by round holes
drilled into the bottom and top of each stone at exact
corresponding distances, in which, there is reason to believe,
were placed pins of bronze. We here see the intelligent devices of
a people unacquainted with the uses of cement to give strength and
permanence to their structures. Nearly all the blocks of stone
scattered over the plain show the cuts made to receive what is
called the T clamp, and the round holes to receive the metal pins
that were to retain the blocks in their places, vertically.
The Fortress has on its eastern side an apron,
or dependent platform, 320 by 180 feet, of considerably less than
half the elevation of the principal mound. Like the rest of the
structure, its outline was defined by upright stones, most of
which, however, have disappeared. The entrance seems to have been
at its southeast corner, probably by steps, and to have been
complicated by turnings from one terrace to another, something
like those in some of the Inca fortresses.
The tradition runs that there are large vaults
filled with treasure beneath the great mound, and that here
commences a subterranean passage which leads to Cuzco, more than
four hundred miles distant. The excavations certainly reveal some
curious subterranean features. The excavation at its southwest
corner has exposed a series of superimposed cut stones, apparently
resting on a pavement of similar character, twelve feet below the
surface. It is said that Von Tschudi, when he visited the ruins,
found some "caverns" beneath them (but whether under the Fortress
or not does not appear), into which he endeavored to penetrate,
but "was glad to be pulled out, as he soon became suffocated." I
found no such subterranean vaults or passages in any part of
Tiahuanuco; but I do not deny their existence.
To the southeast of the Fortress, and about two hundred and
fifty paces distant, is a long line of wall in ruins, apparently a
single wall, not connected with any other so as to form an
enclosure. But beyond it are the remains of edifices of which it
is now impossible to form more than approximate plans. One was
measurably perfect when visited by D'Orbigny in 1833, who
fortunately has left a plan of it, more carefully made than others
he has given us of ruins here or elsewhere. Since 1833, however,
the iconoclasts have been at work with new vigor. Unable to remove
the massive stones composing the base of what was called the Hall
of Justice, they mined them, and blew them up with gunpowder,
removing many of the elaborately cut fragments to pave the
cathedral of La Paz. Enough remains to prove the accuracy of
D'Orbigny's plan, and to verify what Cieza de Leon wrote
concerning these particular remains three hundred years ago.
The structure called the Hall of Justice occupied one end of a
court something like that discoverable in the Temple. In the first
place, we must imagine a rectangle, 420 feet long by 370 broad,
defined by a wall of cut stones, supporting on three sides an
interior platform of earth 130 feet broad, itself enclosing a
sunken area, or court, also defined by a wall of cut stones. This
court, which is of the general level of the plain, is 240 feet
long and 160 broad. At its eastern end is, or rather was, the
massive edifice distinguished' as the Hall of Justice, of which
D'Orbigny says:
"It is a kind of platform of well-cut blocks of stone, held
together by copper clamps, of which only the traces remain. It
presents a level surface elevated six feet above the ground, 131
feet long and 23 broad, formed of enormous stones, eight making
the length and two the breadth. Some of these stones are 25 1/2
feet long by 14 feet broad, and 6 1/2 feet thick. These are
probably the ones measured by Oiego de Leon, who describes them as
30 feet long, 15 in width, and 6 in thickness. Some are
rectangular in shape, others of irregular form. On the eastern
side of the platform, and cut in the stones of which they form
part, are three groups of alcoves, or seats. One group occupies
the central part of the monument, covering an extent of
fifty-three feet, and is divided into seven compartments. A group
of three compartments occupies each extremity of the monument.
Between the central and side groups were reared monolithic
doorways, similar in some respects to the large one, only more
simple, the one to the west alone having a sculptured frieze
similar to that of the great gateway. In front of this structure,
to the west, and about twenty feet distant, is a wall remarkable
for the fine cutting of its stones, which are of a blackish basalt
and very hard. The stones arc all of equal dimensions, having a
groove running around them, and each has a niche cut in it with
absolute precision. Every thing goes to show that the variety of
the forms of the niches was one of the great ornaments of the
walls, for on all sides we find stones variously cut, and
evidently intended to fit together so as to form architectural
ornaments."
So much for the description of D'Orbigny. I measured one of the
blocks with a double niche, which is shown in the engraving of the
terrace walls of the Fortress. It is 6 feet 2 inches in length, 3
feet 7 inches broad, and 2 feet 6 inches thick. The niches are
sunk to the depth of 3 inches.
One of the monolithic doorways originally belonging to this
structure is unquestionably that forming the entrance to the
cemetery of Tiahuanuco . This cemetery is an ancient rectangular
mound, about a hundred paces long, sixty broad, and twenty feet
high, situated midway between the village and the Fortress. Its
summit is enclosed by an adobe wall, and, as I have said, the
entrance is through an ancient monolithic gateway, of which I give
a front and rear view. It is 7 feet 5 inches in extreme height, 5
feet 10 1/2 inches in extreme width, and 16 1/2 inches thick. The
doorway, or opening, is 6 feet 2 inches in height, and 2 feet 10
inches wide. The frieze has a repetition of the ornaments
composing the lower line of sculptures of the great monolith, but
it has suffered much from time and violence. The ornamentation of
the back differs from that of the front, and seems to have been
made to conform to the style adopted in the interior of the
structure.
In making our measurement in the cemetery we disturbed a pack
of lean, hungry, savage dogs of the Sierra-an indigenous
species—which had dug up the body of a newly-buried child from its
shallow, frozen grave, and were ravenously devouring it. They
snarled at us with bristling backs and bloodshot eyes as we
endeavored to drive them away horn their horrible feast—by no
means the first, as the numerous rough holes they had dug, the
torn wrappings of the dead, and the skulls and fragments of human
bodies scattered around too plainly attested. I subsequently
represented the matter to the cura, but he only shrugged his
shoulders, ejaculating, "What does it matter? They have been
baptized, and all Indians are brutes at the best."
Returning to the Hall of Justice, we find, to the eastward of
it, a raised area 175 feet square, and from 8 to 10 feet high, the
outlines defined by walls of cut stone. This seems to have escaped
the notice of travelers; at least, it is not mentioned by them. In
the centre of this area there seems to have been a building about
fifty feet square, constructed of very large blocks of stone,
which I have denominated the" Sanctuary." Within this, where it
was evidently supported on piers, is the distinctive and most
remarkable feature of the structure. It is a great slab of stone
13 feet 4 inches square, and 20 inches in thickness. It is
impossible to describe it intelligibly, and I must refer to the
engraving for a notion of its character. It will be observed that
there is an oblong area cut in the upper face of the stone, 7 feet
3 inches long, 5 feet broad, and 6 inches deep. A sort of sunken
"portico" 20 inches wide, 3 feet 9 inches long, is cut at one
side, out of which opens what may be called the entrance, 22
inches wide, extending to the edge of the stone.
At each end of the "portico" is a flight of three miniature
steps leading up to the general surface of the stone, and sunk in
it, while at the side of the excavated area are three other
flights of similar steps, but in relief. They lead to the broadest
part of the stone, where there are six mortises, 8 inches square,
sunk in the stone. 6 inches, and forming two sides of a square, of
3 feet 7 inches on each side, and apparently intended to receive
an equal number of square columns. The external corners of the
stone are sharp, but within six inches of the surface they are cut
round on a radius of twelve inches.
I cannot resist the impression that this stone was intended as
a miniature representation or model of a sacred edifice, or of
some kind of edifice reared by the builders of the monuments of
Tiahuanuco. The entrance to the sunken area in the stone, the
steps leading to the elevation surrounding it, and the naos
opposite the entrance, defined perhaps by columns of bronze or
stone set in the mortises and supporting some kind of roof,
constituting the shrine within which stood the idol or symbol of
worship—all these features would seem to indicate a symbolic
design in this monument. The building in which it stood, on
massive piers that still remain, was constructed of blocks of
stone, some of them nearly fourteen feet in length and of
corresponding size and thickness, and was not so large as to
prohibit the probability that it was covered in. Looking at the
plan of the Temple, and of the enclosure to the area, one side of
which was occupied by the building called the Hall of Justice, we
cannot fail to observe features suggestive of the plan cut in the
great stone which I have called symbolical.
The most remarkable monument in Tiahuanuco is the great monolithic
gateway. Its position is indicated by the letter m in the plan. It
now stands erect, and is described as being in that position by
every traveler except D'Orbigny, who visited the ruins in 1833, and
who says it had then fallen down.
I give two views of this unique monument, both from photographs, of
some interest to me, as the first it was ever my fortune to be
called on to take. It will be seen that it has been broken—the
natives say by lightning—the fracture extending from the upper
right-hand angle of the opening, so that the two parts lap by each
other slightly, making the sides of the doorway incline towards each
other; whereas they are, or were, perfectly. vertical and parallel—a
distinguishing side two small niches, below which, also on either
side, is a single larger niche. The stone itself is a dark and
exceedingly hard trachyte. It is faced with a precision that no
skill can excel; its lines are perfectly drawn, and its right angles
turned with an accuracy that the most careful geometer could not
surpass. Barring some injuries and defacements, and some slight
damages by weather, I do not believe there exists a better piece of
stone-cutting, the material considered, on this or the other
continent. The front, especially the part covered by sculpture, has
a fine finish, as near a true polish as trachyte can be made to
bear.
The lower line of sculpture is 7 1/2 inches broad, and is
unbroken; the three above it are 8 inches high, cut up in
cartouches, or squares, of equal width, but interrupted in the
centre, immediately over the doorway, by the figure in high-relief
to which I have alluded. This figure, with its ornaments, covers a
space of 32 by 21 1/2 inches. There are consequently three ranges
or tiers of squares on each side of this figure, eight in each
range, or forty-eight in all. The figures represented in these
squares have human bodies, feet, and hands; each holds a sceptre;
they are winged; but the upper and lower series have human heads
wearing crowns, represented in profile, while the heads of the
sixteen figures in the line between them have the heads of
condors.
The central and principal figure is angularly but boldly cut,
in a style palpably conventional. The head is surrounded by a
series of what may be called rays, each terminating in a circle,
the head of the condor, or that of a tiger, all conventionally but
forcibly treated. In each hand he grasps two staves or sceptres of
equal length with his body, the lower end of the right-hand
sceptre terminating in the head of the condor, and the upper in
that of the tiger, while the lower end of the left-hand sceptre
terminates in the head of the tiger, and the upper is bifurcate,
and has two heads of the condor. The staves or sceptres are not
straight and stiff, but curved as if to represent serpents, and
elaborately ornamented as if to represent the sinuous action of
the serpent in motion. The radiations from the head—which I have
called rays, for want of a better term—seem to have the same
action. An ornamented girdle surrounds the waist of this principal
figure, from which depends a double fringe. It stands upon a kind
of base or series of figures approaching nearest in character to
the architectural ornament called grecques, each extremity of
which, however, terminates in the crowned head of the tiger or the
condor. The face has been somewhat mutilated, but shows some
peculiar figures extending from the eyes diagonally across the
cheeks, terminating also in the heads of the animals just named.
The winged human-headed and condor-headed figures in the three
lines of squares are represented kneeling on one knee, with their
faces turned to the great central figure, as if in adoration, and
each one holds before him a staff or sceptre. The sceptres of the
figures in the two upper rows are bifurcate, and correspond
exactly with the sceptre in the left hand of the central figure,
while the sceptres of the lower tier correspond with that
represented in his right hand. The relief of all these figures is
scarcely more than two-tenths of an inch; the minor features are
indicated by very delicate lines, slightly incised, which form
subordinate figures, representing the heads of condors, tigers,
and serpents. Most of us have seen pictures and portraits of men
and animals, which under close attention resolve themselves into
representatives of a hundred other things, but which are so
artfully arranged as to produce a single broad effect. So with
these winged figures. Every part, the limbs, the garb, all
separate themselves into miniatures of the symbols that run all
through the sculptures on this singular monument.
The fourth or lower row of sculpture differs entirely from the
rows above it. It consists of repetitions—seventeen in all—smaller
and in low-relief, of the head of the great central figure,
surrounded by corresponding rays, terminating in like manner with
the heads of animals. These are arranged alternately at the top
and bottom of the line of sculpture, within the zigzags or
grecques, and every angle terminates in the head of a condor.
The three outer columns of winged figures, and the
corresponding parts of the lower line of sculpture, are only
blocked out, and have none of the elaborate, incised ornamentation
discoverable in the central parts of the monument. A very distinct
line separates these unfinished sculptures from those portions
that are finished, which is most marked in the lower tier. On each
side of this line, standing on the rayed heads to which I have
alluded, placed back to back, and looking in opposite directions,
are two small but interesting figures of men, crowned with
something like a plumed cap, and holding to their mouths what
appear to be trumpets. Although only three inches high, these
little figures are ornamented in the same manner as the larger
ones, with the heads of tigers, condors, etc.
These are the only sculptures on the face of the great monolith
of Tiahuanuco. I shall not attempt to explain their significance.
D'Orbigny finds in the winged figures with human heads symbols or
representations of conquered chiefs coming to pay their homage to
the ruler who had his capital in Tiahuanuco, and who, as the
founder of sun-worship and the head of the Church as of the State,
was invested with divine attributes as well as with the insignia
of power. The figures with condors' heads, the same fanciful
philosopher supposes, may represent the chiefs of tribes who had
not yet fully accepted civilization, and were therefore
represented without the human profile, as an indication of their
unhappy and undeveloped state. By parity of interpretation, we may
take it that the eighteen unfinished figures were those of as many
chieftains as the ruler of Tiahuanuco had it in his mind to
reduce, and of which, happily, just two-thirds had claims to be
regarded as civilized, and, when absorbed, to be perpetuated with
human heads, and not with those of condors. Another French writer,
M. Angrand, finds a coincidence between these sculptures and those
of Central America and Mexico, having a corresponding mythological
and symbolical significance, thus establishing identity of origin
and intimate relationship between the builders of Tiahuanuco and
those of Palenque, Ocosingo, and Xochicalco.
Leibnitz tells us that nothing exists without a cause; and it
is not to be supposed that the sculptures under notice were made
without a motive. They are probably symbolical; but with no
knowledge of the religious ideas and conceptions of the ancient
people whose remains they are, it is idle to attempt to interpret
them. Nowhere else in Peru, or within the whole extent of the Inca
empire, do we find any similar sculptures. They are, as regards
Inca art, quite as unique in Peru as they would be on Boston
Common or in the New York Central Park.
The reverse of the great monolith shows a series of friezes
over the doorway, five in number, of which the engraving will give
a better idea than any description. Above the entrance on either
hand are two niches, twelve by nine inches in the excavation. It
will be observed that those on the right have a sort of sculptured
cornice above them which those on the left have not. The second
one on the left, it will also be observed, is not complete, but
evidently intended to be finished out on another block, which was
to form a continuation of the wall of which the gateway itself was
designed to be a part. Indeed, as I have said, nearly all the
blocks of stone scattered over the plain are cut with parts of
niches and other architectural features, showing that they were
mere fragments of a general design, which could only be clearly
apparent when they were properly fitted together.
The lower niches, now on a level with the ground, show that the
monolith is sunk deeply in the soil. They exhibit some peculiar
features. At each inner corner above and below are vertical
sockets, apparently to receive the pivots of a door, extending
upwards and downwards seven inches in the stone. D'Orbigny avers
that he discovered the stains of bronze in these orifices and I
have no doubt that these niches had doors, possibly of bronze,
hinged in these sockets, and so firmly that it was necessary to
use chisels (the marks of which are plain) to cut into the stone
and disengage them. These large niches are 28.2 inches by 18.2
inches wide. On the face of the monolith, on each side of the
doorway, but near the edges of the stone, are two mortises 10
inches by 9, and 6 inches deep, and 12 inches by 6, and 3 1/2
inches deep respectively, which are not shown in the drawings
published by D'Orbigny and some others.
I very much question if this remarkable stone occupies its
original position. How far it has sunk in the ground it was
impossible for me to determine, for the earth was frozen hard, and
we had no means of digging down to ascertain. D'Orbigny, as I have
already said, states it was fallen when he visited it. Who has
since raised it, and for what purpose, it is impossible to say.
Noone that we could find either knew or cared to know anything
about it. It seems to me not unlikely that it had a position in
the hollow square of the structure called the Temple, in some
building corresponding with that called the Hall of Justice. Or,
perhaps, it had a place in the structure enclosing the stone I
have ventured to call symbolical. It is neither so large nor so
heavy that it may not be moved by fifty men with ropes, levers,
and rollers and although we no not know of any reason why it
should have been removed from its original position, we know that
many of the heaviest stones have been thus moved, including the
monolithic doorway at the entrance of the cemetery.
In addition to the various features of Tiahuanuco already
enumerated, I must not neglect to notice the vast blocks of unhewn
and partially hewn stones, that evidently have never entered into
any structure, which lie scattered among the ruins. The positions
of two or three are indicated in the plan. The one to the
northeast of the Temple is 26 by 17, and 3 1/2 feet aboveground.
It is of red sandstone, with deep grooves crossing each other at
right angles in the centre, twenty inches deep, as if an attempt
had been made to cut the stone into four equal parts. Another of
nearly equal dimensions, partly hewn, was between the Temple and
the Fortress. Another, boat-shaped and curiously grooved, lies to
the northwest of the great mound. It measures upwards of forty
feet in length, and bears the marks of transportation from a
considerable distance.
There were formerly a number of specimens of sculpture in
Tiahuanuco besides the two monolithic gateways I have described.
Says Oiego de Leon: "Beyond this hill [referring to the Fortress]
are two stone idols, of human shape, and so curiously carved that
they seem to be the work of very able masters. They are as big as
giants, with long garments differing from those the natives wear,
and seem to have some ornament on their heads." These, according
to D'Orbigny, were broken into pieces by blasts of powder inserted
between the shoulders, and not even the fragments remain on the
plain of Tiahuanuco. The head of one lies by the side of the road,
four leagues distant, on the way to La Paz , whither an attempt
was made to carry it. I did not see it, but I reproduce the sketch
of it given by D'Orbigny, merely remarking that I have no doubt
the details are quite as erroneous as those of the figures
portrayed by the same author on the great monolith. The head is 3
feet 6 inches high and 2 feet 7 inches in diameter; so that if the
other proportions of the figure were corresponding, the total
height of the statue would be about eighteen feet.
D'Orbigny found several other sculptured figures among the
ruins; one with a human head and wings rudely represented; another
of an animal resembling a tiger, etc. Castelnau mentions "an
immense lizard cut in stone," and other sculptured figures. M.
Angrand, whose notes have been very judiciously used by M.
Desjardains, speaks of eight such figures in the village of
Tiahuanuco, besides two in La Paz , and one, broken, on the road
thither. I found but two; rough sculptures of the human head and
bust, in coarse red sandstone, one of a man and the other of a
woman, standing by the side of the gateway of the church of
Tiahuanuco. They are between four and five feet high, roughly cut,
much defaced, and more like the idols which I found in Nicaragua,
and have represented in my work on that country, than any others I
have seen elsewhere.
Among the stones taken from the ruins, and worked into
buildings in the town of Tiahuanuco, are a number of cylindrical
columns cut from a single block, with capitals resembling the
Doric. One of these stands on each side of the entrance to the
court of the church, 6 feet high and 14 inches in diameter. There
are also many caps of square columns or pilasters, besides numbers
of stones cut with deep single or double grooves, as if to serve
for water-conduits when fitted together—a purpose the probability
of which is sanctioned by finding some stones with channels
leading off at right angles, like the elbows in our own
water-pipes.
The stones composing the structures of Tiahuanuco, as already
said, are mainly red sandstone, slate-colored trachyte, and a
dark, hard basalt. None of these rocks are found in situ on the
plain, but there has been much needless speculation as to whence
they were obtained. There are great cliffs of red sandstone about
five leagues to the north of the ruins, on the road to the
Desaguadero; and, on the isthmus of Yunguyo, connecting the
peninsula of Copacabana with the mainland, are found both basaltic
and trachytic rocks, identical with the stones in the ruins. Many
blocks, hewn or partially hewn, are scattered over the isthmus. It
is true this point is forty miles distant from Tiahuanuco in a
right line, and that, if obtained here, the stones must have been
carried twenty-five miles by water and fifteen by land. That some
of them were brought from this direction is indicated by scattered
blocks all the way from the ruins to the lake; but it is difficult
to conceive how they were transported from one shore to the other.
There is no timber in the region of which to construct rafts or
boats; and the only contrivances for navigation are floats, made
of reeds, closely bound into cylinders, tapering at the ends,
which are turned up so as to give them something of the outline of
boats. Before they become water-soaked these floats are
exceedingly light and buoyant.
As to how the stones of Tiahuanuco were cut, and with what kind
of instruments, are questions which I do not propose to discuss. I
may, nevertheless, observe that I have no reason to believe that
the builders of Tiahuanuco had instruments differing essentially
in form or material from those used by the Peruvians generally,
which, it is certain, were of champi, a kind of bronze.
I have thus rapidly presented an outline of the remains of
Tiahuanuco-remains most interesting, but in such an absolute
condition of ruin as almost to defy inquiry or generalization.
Regarding them as in some respects the most important of any in
Peru, I have gone more into details concerning them than I shall
do in describing the better-preserved and more intelligible
monuments with which we shall have hereafter to deal.
We find on a review that, apart from five considerable mounds
of earth now shapeless, with one exception, there are distinct and
impressive traces of five structures, built of stones or defined
by them—the Fortress, the Temple, the Palace, the Hall of Justice,
and the Sanctuary—terms used more to distinguish than truly
characterize them. The structure called the Fortress may indeed
have been used for the purpose implied in the name. Terraced, and
each terrace faced with stones, it may have been, as many of the
terraced pyramids of Mexico were, equally temple and fortress,
where the special protection of the divinity to whom it was reared
was expected to be interposed against an enemy. But the absence of
water and the circumscribed area of the structure seem to weigh
against the supposition of a defensive origin or purpose. But,
whatever its object, the Fortress dominated the plain; and when
the edifices that crowned its summit were perfect, it must have
been by far the most imposing structure in Tiahuanuco.
The Temple seems to me to be the most ancient of all the
distinctive monuments of Tiahuanuco. It is the American
Stonehenge. The stones defining it are rough and frayed by time.
The walls between its rude pilasters were of uncut stones; and
although it contains the most elaborate single monument among the
ruins, and notwithstanding the erect stones constituting its
portal are the most striking of their kind, it nevertheless has
palpable signs of age, and an air of antiquity which we discover
in none of its kindred monuments. Of course, its broad area was
never roofed in, whatever may have been the case with smaller,
interior buildings no longer traceable. We must rank it,
therefore, with those vast open temples (for of its sacred purpose
we can scarcely have a doubt), of which Stonehenge and Avebury, in
England, are examples, and which we find in Brittany, in Denmark,
in Assyria, and on the steppes of Tartary, as well as in the
Mississippi Valley. It seems to me to have been the nucleus around
which the remaining monuments of Tiahuanuco sprung up, and the
model upon which some of them were fashioned. How far, in shape or
arrangement, it may have been symbolical, I shall not undertake to
say; but I think that students of antiquity are generally prepared
to concede a symbolical significance to the primitive pagan
temples as well as to the cruciform edifices of Christian times.
We can hardly conceive of remains so extensive as those of
Tiahuanuco, except as indications of a large population, and as
evidences of the previous existence on or near the spot of a
considerable city. But we find nowhere in the vicinity any decided
traces of ancient habitations, such as abound elsewhere in Peru,
in connection with most public edifices. Again, the region around
is cold, and for the most part arid and barren. Elevated nearly
thirteen thousand feet above the sea, no cereals grow except
barley, which often fails to mature, and seldom, if ever, so
perfects itself as to be available for seed. The maize is dwarf
and scant, and uncertain in yield; and the bitter potato and
quinoa constitute almost the sole articles of food for the pinched
and impoverished inhabitants. This is not, prima facie, a region
for nurturing or sustaining a large population, and certainly not
one wherein we should expect to find a capital. Tiahuanuco may
have been a sacred spot or shrine, the position of which was
determined by an accident, an augury, or a dream, but I can hardly
believe that it was a seat of dominion.
Some vague traditions point to Tiahuanuco as the spot whence
Manco Capac, the founder of the Inca dynasty, took his origin, and
whence he started northwards to teach the rude tribes of the
Sierra religion and government; and some late writers, D'Orbigny
and Castelnau among them, find reasons for believing that the
whole Inca civilization originated here, or was only a reflex of
that which found here a development, never afterwards equaled,
long before the golden staff of the first Inca sunk into the earth
where Cuzco was founded, thus fixing through superhuman design the
site of the imperial city. But the weight of tradition points to
the rocky islands of Lake Titicaca as the cradle of the Incas,
whence Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo, his wife and sister, under the
behest of their father, the Sun, started forth on their beneficent
mission. Certain it is that this lake and its islands were
esteemed sacred, and that on the latter were reared structures, if
not so imposing as many other and perhaps later ones, yet of
peculiar sanctity.
But before starting on our visit to that lake and its sacred
islands, I must relate some of the incidents of our stay in
Tiahuanuco.
CHAPTER XVI. AT TIAHUANUCO, AND TO THE SACRED ISLANDS.
Suspected of Treasure-hunting.-The Guardian of the Tapadas.-The
Potato-feast and Corpus Christi.-The Indian Celebration.-Music,
Dancing, and Costumes.-Departure from Tiahuanuco.-Village of
Guaque.-Cattle feeding in the Lake.-Tortora Bridge over the Outlet
of the Lake.-Entry into the Village of Desaguadero.-A Convivial
Cura.-Hospitalities of the Caballeros and Señoritas.-Mine Host the
Comandante.-Zepita.-Scenes on the Road.-Comparatively Fertile
Region.-Village of Yunguyo.-A Pressing Invitation.-A Dinner
Compliment. -A Legal Luminary.
I HAVE no doubt, the Cura of Tiahuanuco believes to this day
that our visit to the ruins was for the purpose of digging for
treasures, and that we had some itinerario, or guide, obtained
from the archives of Old Spain to direct our search.
What the Indians themselves thought, they did not tell us. But
on our very first day among the monuments, and within an hour
after we had pitched our photographic tent and got out our
instruments, we became aware of the presence of a very old man,
withered, wrinkled, and bent with the weight of years. His hair
was scant and gray, his eyes rheumy, and his face disfigured by a
great quid of coca that he carried in one cheek. He wore tattered
pantaloons of coarse native cloth, made from the fleece of the
llama, kept together by thongs; his poncho was old and ragged; and
the long woollen cap, that was pulled low over his forehead, was
greasy from use and stiff with dirt. He had an earthen vessel
containing water suspended from his waist, besides a pouch of skin
containing coca, and a little gourd of unslacked lime. In his hand
he carried a small double-edged stone-cutter's pick or hammer. He
paid us no perceptible attention, but wandered about deliberately
among the blocks of cut stone that strew the ground, and finally
selected one of a kind of white tufa, which he rolled slowly and
with many a pause up to the very foot of the great monolith, then
seated himself on the ground, placed it between his legs, and
after preparing a new quid of coca, began to work on the stone,
apparently with the purpose of cutting it in halves. He worked at
it all day with small effect, and during the whole time neither
noticed us nor responded to our questions. Just before returning
to the village, in the edge of the chill night, I prevailed on one
of our arrieros, who could speak Aymara, to ask him what was his
occupation. He got the curt answer from the old man, that he was
"cutting out a cross." Every morning he was at the ruins before
us, and he never left until after we did at night. All day he
pecked away at the stone between his knees, apparently absorbed in
his work and oblivious of our presence. After a time we came to
look upon him as an integral part of the monuments, and should
have missed him as much as the great monolith itself.
One evening I mentioned the old man to the cura, who again put
on mystery, took me out for a turn in the plaza, and explained in
whispers, heavy with fumes of cañaso, that the old man was nothing
more nor less than a spy on our doings, and that we made no
movement in any direction that he did not carefully observe. "He
is," said the padre, "one of the guardians of the tapadas. He is
more than a hundred years old. He was with Tupac Amaru when he
undertook to overturn the Spanish power, and he led the Aymaras
when they sacked the town of Huancane, and slew every white man,
woman, and child that fell into their hands. He is a heathen
still, and throws coca on the apachetas. Ah! if I only knew what
that old man knows of the tapadas, señor," exclaimed the cura,
with fervor, " I should not waste my life among these barbarians !
You can pity me! And for the love of God, señor, if you do come
across the treasures, share them with me! I can't live much longer
here !" And the padre burst into a maudlin paroxysm of tears.
Von Tschudi, when he was at Tiahuanuco, found or obtained some
ancient relics—small stone idols, if I remember rightly—but had
not proceeded many miles on his way to La Paz before he was
surrounded by a party of Indians from the town, and compelled to
surrender them. We suffered no molestation, although there is no
doubt we were closely watched, and that the deaf and apparently
almost sightless old stone-cutter was a spy on our actions.
I have already said that our visit to Tiahuanuco was coincident
in time with the Chuño and Corpus Christi. The population of the
place, as indeed of the whole region, is Indian, the white
priests, officials, and landed proprietors being so few as hardly
to deserve enumeration. These Indians are of the Aymara as
distinguished from the Quichua family, and are a swarthier, more
sullen, and more cruel race........
Source:
http://www.jqjacobs.net/andes/tiwanaku.html
Pumapunku, also called “Puma Pumku” or “Puma Puncu”, is part of a
large temple complex or monument group that is part of the
Tiwanaku
Site near Tiwanaku, Bolivia. In Aymara, its name means, “The Door of
the Cougar”. The processes and technologies involved in the
creation of these temples are still not fully understood by modern
scholars. Our current ideas of the Tiwanaku culture hold that
they had no writing system and also that the invention of the wheel
was most likely unknown to them. The architectural achievements seen
at Pumapunku are striking in light of the presumed level of
technological capability available during its construction. Due to
the monumental proportions of the stones, the method by which they
were transported to Pumapunku has been a topic of interest since the
temple's discovery.
Puma Punku ruins,
Tiahuanaco, Bolivia
(courtesy of www.sacredsites.com
and Martin Gray)
Of course there is no certainty
that this was the reason as the ancient builders left no written
records. All the legends have been handed down through the
generations.
Read
More >>
Tiahuanaco, Archaeoastronomy and Cataclysmic Myths
by Martin Gray
© Copyright Martin Gray
Reprinted with permission.
Anthropologist and photographer
Martin Gray specializes in
the study of sacred sites and power places around the world, having
visited more than 1000 of these magical sites in 80 countries. Each
year he also guides group pilgrimages to different countries and
this year is offering magical journeys to Peru/Bolivia in June and
Greece in October.
More articles by Martin Gray on our web site. For more
information, see Martin’s web site at
www.sacredsites.com
Early in January of 1998, I bought an old Volkswagen van and
began a long drive to the lower reaches of South America. Over the
next year, rambling 22,000 miles on rough mountain roads and muddy
jungle tracks, I visited and photographed more than 150 sacred sites
and power places in fourteen different countries. Along the way, I
had fascinating experiences, ranging from the scary to the sublime.
There were five robberies (three by the police), dramatic encounters
with Columbian guerilla fighters, meetings with authentic shamans,
nights of wild dancing at Latin discos, and splendid days
exploration and meditation at the sacred places.
Eight months into the journey, I ascended the altiplano region of
Peru and Bolivia to spend ten weeks criss-crossing the Andean
mountains. The Andes birthed several great cultures, including the
Inca and that of Tiahuanaco. While the Inca empire is better known
and its sites more numerous and visually remarkable, Tiahuanaco is
the true sacred center of Andean region. Now almost entirely in
ruins, it is to South America what the Great Pyramid is to Egypt and
Avebury stone ring is to England. Twelve miles from the coast of
sacred Lake Titicaca, Tiahuanaco was the source of the creation
myths, the social order, and the extraordinary preoccupation with
astronomy that underwrote thousands of years of Andean culture. Yet,
for all its importance, Tiahuanaco remains an enigma. This is not
because the ruins have not been excavated or studied. Rather, the
reason for the enduring mystery of Tiahuanaco derives from some of
its structures - and the astronomical alignments of those structures
- that indicate a probable construction period far more ancient than
any other monumental archaeological site in all of South America.
Driving to Tiahuanaco from Lake Titicaca (where I had spent
several days camping on the islands of the Sun and Moon), I found
myself again thinking about several questions that had been with me
during my long travels from Sedona. Was South America originally
inhabited by Paleo-Indians walking across the Bering land bridge
during past ages of polar glaciation (the orthodox assumption) or
had there been pre-existing sophisticated cultures that had
mysteriously disappeared (the alternative theory)? Was there any
factual reality behind the many Andean myths of great cataclysms and
enormous floods in archaic times? Who was the legendary hero/savior
Viracocha that supposedly re-seeded civilization into the Andean
regions following the cataclysm? And what is the meaning behind the
astonishing stories of contact, indeed settlement, from the mythic
land of Atlantis?
Here is one variant of the myth of Viracocha. Long ago in a
forgotten time the world experienced a terrible storm with
tremendous floods. The lands were plunged into a period of absolute
darkness and frigid cold, and humankind was nearly eradicated. Some
time after the deluge, the creator god Viracocha arose from the
depths of Lake Titicaca. Journeying first to the island of Titicaca
(now called Isla del Sol or the Island of the Sun), Viracocha
commanded the sun, moon, and stars to rise. Next going to Tiahuanaco
(whose original name, taypicala, meant ‘the rock in the center’),
Viracocha fashioned new men and women out of stones and, sending
them to the four quarters, began the repopulation of the world. With
various helpers, Viracocha then traveled from Tiahuanaco (also
written as Tiwanaku), bringing civilization and peace wherever he
went. Known by other names including Kon Tiki and Tunupa, he was
said to have been a bearded, blue-eyed, white man of large stature.
A teacher and a healer, a miracle worker and an astronomer,
Viracocha is also credited with introducing agriculture, writing,
and metallurgy.
I had been reading about Viracocha’s pilgrimage to Tiahuanaco for
twenty years and was enchanted to have finally arrived myself. The
first thing I noticed is that Tiahuanaco is not a grand visual
spectacle such as the ruins of Machu Picchu, Palenque or Teotihuacan.
The excavated central part of the city is relatively small and one
can walk across it in fifteen minutes. Additionally, there are not a
large number of structures to be seen, because so much has been
stolen and carted away over the centuries. The next thing I noticed
was that the site appeared to be much, much older than the primary
construction and habitation period postulated in orthodox
archaeology theory. This conventional interpretation theory assumes
that the civilization that spawned Tiahuanaco rose around 600 BC and
fell into decline sometime soon after 1000 AD. Yet, something about
this relatively recent dating didn’t fit with my impression of the
place. With more than thirty years of experience exploring and
photographing many hundreds of archaeology ruins I have developed
something of a sense for gauging the antiquity of these places, and
the remains of Tiahuanaco felt very much older than just 2500 years.
The orientation of the site was different too; it had a most unusual
style. It seemed to have been designed and crafted by a people with
artistic, scientific and philosophic sensibilities distinctly
different than that of other pre-Columbian cultures.
This same sort of feeling is what motivated Arthur Posnansky, a
German-Bolivian scholar, to exhaustively study Tiahuanaco for almost
fifty years. Living at the ruins and intimately familiar with them,
Posnansky noticed dozens of things that could not be explained by
the conventional archeological theory nor slotted into its
chronological framework. For example, all over the site were
enormous blocks of stone that no known pre-Columbian culture had the
technology to fashion or transport. Even more astonishing, the
spatial arrangement of these structures - relative to one another
and to the stars above - indicated that the initial site engineers
had a highly sophisticated knowledge of astronomy, geomancy and
mathematics. Let us take a brief tour of some of these structures
and reflect on their remarkable qualities.
Tiahuanaco has four (surviving) primary structures, called the
Akapana pyramid, the Kalasasaya platform, the Subterranean temple,
and the Puma Punku. The ceremonial core of Tiahuanaco was surrounded
by an immense artificial moat that archaeologist Alan Kolata
believes was “not to provide the Tiwanaku elite with a defensive
structure…but rather evoked the image of the city core as an island,
not a common, generic island, but the sacred island of Titicaca, the
mythic site of world creation and human emergence.” Further
commenting on this idea of the mythic centrality of Tiahuanaco,
Kolata explains that, “the true name of Tiwanaku was Taypikhala,
‘the stone in the center.’ Such a name had a geocentric and
ethnocentric meaning signifying that the city was conceived not only
as the political capital of the state but also as the central point
of the universe.”
The Akapana pyramid, sometimes called the sacred mountain of
Tiahuanaco, is a much eroded, seven-level pyramid measuring some 200
meters on a side and nearly 17 meters tall. Like the nearby
Subterranean Temple and the Kalasasaya, the Akapana is precisely
oriented to the cardinal directions. Each of the seven levels is
constructed with beautifully cut and precisely joined blocks that
were faced with panels once covered with metal plaques, carvings,
and paintings. In the center 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 is also oriented
to the cardinal directions. Recent excavations of this courtyard,
the interior of the pyramid, and the grounds beneath it have
revealed an unexpected, 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.
Commenting on this magnificent engineering, Kolata states, “It is
apparent that the complex system of draining the Akapana was not a
structural imperative. A much simpler and smaller set of canals
could have drained the accumulated water from the summit. In fact
the system installed by the architects of Akapana, although superbly
functional, is over-engineered, a piece of technical stone-cutting
and joinery that is pure virtuosity.” Kolata goes on to wonder about
why all this work was done and concludes that, “the Akapana was
conceived by the people of Tiwanaku as their principal emblem of the
sacred mountain, a simulacrum of the highly visible, natural
mountain huacas (sacred places) in the Quimsachata range....The
Akapana was Tiwanaku’s principal earth shrine, an icon of fertility
and agricultural abundance. It was the mountain at the center of the
island-world and may even have evoked the specific image of sacred
mountains on Lake Titicaca’s Island of the Sun. In this context, the
Akapana was the principal huaca of cosmogenic myth, the mountain of
human origins and emergence, which took on specific mytho-historic
significance.”
The structure known as the Puma Punka also startles the
imagination. It seems to be the remains of a great wharf and a
massive, four-part, now collapsed building, and this makes eminent
sense for Lake Titicaca long ago lapped upon the shores of
Tiahuanaco city, now inland from the lake twelve miles. One of the
construction blocks from which the pier was fashioned weighs an
estimated 440 tons (equal to nearly 600 full-size cars) and several
other blocks are between 100 and 150 tons. The quarry for these
giant blocks was on the western shore of Titicaca, some ten miles
away. There is no known technology in the ancient Andean world that
could have transported stones of such massive weight and size. The
Andean people of 500 AD, with their simple reed boats, could
certainly not have moved them. Even today, with modern advances in
engineering and mathematics, we could not fashion such a structure.
How were these monstrous stones moved and what was their purpose?
Posnansky suggested an answer, based upon his studies of the
astronomical alignments of Tiahuanaco, but that answer is considered
so controversial, even impossible, that it has been ignored and
censured by the scientific community for fifty years. As such it
hasn’t made in into the mainstream history books and therefore
hardly anyone knows of the astonishing implications of Posnansky’s
findings.
Nearby the Puma Punka and the Akapana pyramid are the Kalasasaya
compound and the so-called subterranean temple. It was in these
structures that Posnansky made the discoveries that led him to
suggest both a great antiquity for Tiahuanaco and an extraordinary
use. As part of his studies, Posnansky had conducted precise surveys
of all the principal structures of Tiahuanaco. The Kalasasaya
structure, a rectangular enclosure measuring about 450 feet by 400
feet, 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.
This term, the obliquity of the ecliptic, refers to the angle
between the plane of the earth’s orbit and that of the celestial
equator, equal to approximately 23 degrees and 27 minutes at the
present. The tilt of the obliquity, however, changes very slowly
over great periods of time. Its cyclic variation ranges between 22
degrees, 1 minute and 24 degrees, 5 minutes over a period of 41,000
years or 1 degree in 7000 years (this cycle is not to be confused
with the better known precessional cycle of 25,920 years or 1 degree
of movement every 72 years). The figure that Posnansky determined
for the obliquity of the ecliptic at the time of the building of the
Kalasasaya was 23 degrees, 8 minutes, and 48 seconds. Based on these
calculations, Posnansky was thereby able to date the initial
construction of the Kalasasaya and Tiahuanaco to 15,000 BC. This
date was later confirmed by a team of four leading astronomers from
various prestigious universities in Germany.
This initial construction date, being vastly older than that
deemed possible by the prevailing paradigm of history, was (and
still is) ridiculed by mainstream archaeologists and prehistorians.
But it is not so easy to dismiss Posnansky’s findings as there are
other mysteries concerning Tiahuanaco that seem to confirm the great
antiquity of the site. Among these are the ancient myths of
Tiahuanaco (from throughout the Andean region) that tell of its
founding and use in a pre-flood time; the scientific studies that
prove a cataclysmic flood did indeed occur some twelve thousand
years ago; the utensils, tools, and the fragments of human skeletons
that are mixed in with the deepest layers of the flood alluvia
(indicating human use of the site prior to the great flood); and the
strange carvings of bearded, non-Andean people that are found around
the site (replete with sculptural and iconographic details that are
completely unique in the western hemisphere).
Posnansky, and other writers such as Graham Hancock, Zecharia
Sitchin and Ivar Zapp, have suggested that these findings and the
astronomical alignments of the site, strongly point to the
likelihood that the original Tiahuanaco civilization flourished many
thousands of years before the period assumed by conventional
archaeologists. Rather than rising and falling during the two
millennia around the time of Christ, Tiahuanaco may have existed
during the vastly older time of the last Ice Age, some 15,000 to
20,000 years ago. The implications of this are truly stunning.
Tiahuanaco may be (along with Teotihuacan in Mexico, Baalbeck in
Lebanon, and the Great Pyramid in Egypt) a surviving fragment of a
long lost civilization.
Who were the people of this lost civilization, and where was it
located? Readers interested in exploring these mysteries will enjoy
Hancock’s fascinating book, Fingerprints of the Gods. In support of
his radical ideas concerning the great antiquity of Tiahuanaco,
Hancock gives startling proof that the coastline of South America
was mapped in extraordinarily accurate detail long before that
continent was “discovered” by Europeans. Maps such as Piri Reis map
of 1513 and the Oronteus Finaeus map of 1531, depict the coastline
of southern South America and - on the same map - accurately show
the sub glacial topography of nearby Antarctica beneath its great
layer of ice. (Both these maps have notes on their borders saying
they were copied from much earlier sources.) Simply stated, this
means that some unknown civilization had explored and precisely
mapped the then ice-free continent of Antarctica thousands of years
before Europeans first sighted it in 1818.
Did these same shadowy people construct and use the enigmatic
city of Tiahuanaco? And, if so, what became of them? Is it not
highly significant that both ancient myths and modern day geological
studies tell of great floods that swept the high Andean altiplano
some twelve thousand years ago? There are parallel myths of
civilization-destroying floods found in nearly all the ancient
cultures of the world, from the same time period. What was the
nature of these floods? What caused them? Using the calendrical
mathematics of archaeoastronomy to decode the myths, we can discern
specific times of comets and continent-shifting earthquakes that
impacted human civilization in prehistoric times.
Velikovsky has theorized that an enormous chunk of rock was spun
off from the planet Jupiter and that it rampaged as a comet through
the inner solar system, nearly colliding with the earth and causing
catastrophes spoken about in numerous ancient mythologies. More
recently, other scientists have suggested possible causes for the
great cataclysms such as the three major periods of glacial melting
inundation between 13,000 and 8000 BC, the phenomena of crustal
displacement in 9600 BC, and the seven cometary impacts of 7460 BC.
In a future issue of Four Corners magazine, I will examine each of
these fascinating matters in more detail. As the following quote
from Plato reminds us, great catastrophes have visited the earth
many times in ages past and will surely do so again.
...with you and other peoples again and again life has
only recently been enriched with letters and all the other
necessaries of civilization when once more, after the usual period
of years, the torrents of heaven sweep down like a pestilence
leaving only the rude and unlettered among you. And so you start
again like children, knowing nothing of what existed in ancient
times, here or in your own country.
Anthropologist and photographer
Martin Gray specializes in the study of sacred sites and power
places around the world, having visited more than 1000 of these
magical sites in 80 countries. Each year he also guides group
pilgrimages to different countries and this year is offering magical
journeys to Peru/Bolivia in June and Greece in October.
More articles by Martin Gray on our web site. For more
information, see Martin’s web site at
www.sacredsites.com
© Copyright Martin Gray
Reprinted with permission
The ruins of Tiahuanaco city and centre of worship are located on
the Altiplano in today's Bolivia, ca 4000 m from water level, and 21
km north-east from Lake Titicaca. Tiahuanaco was a capital of a
theocratic state governed by priest kings. The state exerted its
influence on the development of the whole southern part of Peru in
the closing centuries of the last millennium, expanding its
influence in a peaceful manner on the vast highland as well as
coastal territory.
Tiahuanaco, therefore, carried out a pacifistic cultural mission
quite different from that of its contemporary militant country of
Huari (Wari) in the Peruvian Andes. The religious sources of this
period are first and foremost archaeological findings, but to a
great extent also the recordings of the 16th century chroniclers.
The religion of Tiahuanaco centred around the cult of a sky and
thunder god Viracocha. The deity was generally depicted as having
staves in both of his hands and an aureole around his head. The
aureole suggests the qualities of a sun god, represented on the
bas-relief in the upper part of the famous Sun Gate in Tiahuanaco as
well as on ceramic.
The staves, on the other hand, suggest Viracocha's distant
ancestry from the nearly thousand years older Chavín sky god in
North Peru. His attendants were ranking deities in the shapes of
cougar, condor, falcon and snake. Viracocha was worshipped as the
main god in Huari as well; there his characteristics were apparently
more militant. A head of Tiahuanaco state functioned both as a king
and the arch-priest and he was revered as Viracocha's embodiment on
earth (Kelm 1990: 524-528).
The chronicle records describe the citizens of Tiahuanaco as
«the Viracochas», who were fair-skinned and wore white long robes.
Viracocha is also described as a man with fair skin and white beard,
attired in a long robe and sandals, wearing a staff, with a cougar
lying at his feet. He was a kind and peace-loving god who had also
subjected the dreadful jaguar-god to his power.
The idea might refer to the Tiahuanaco's peaceful mission among
the distant warrior cultures of Peru. According to the legend,
however, evil people in short clothes came to the sacred lake and
forced Viracocha to leave to north. On his departure they mocked and
taunted him for his long robe and lenient disposition. Eventually,
he had descended from the highlands to the coast and left over the
ocean, promising to return some day
In 1921 one of the leading researchers of Peruvian cultures from
the first part of this century José de la Riva Agüero y Osma, who
had also studied the chronicle records as well as linguistic and
archaeological data for nearly 25 years, published his «theory of
the paleo-Quechuan empire».
The theory focused on the hypothesis that Tiahuanaco was
originally the cradle and home of the Inca Empire, and the Inca
themselves the upper class of the once emigrated Tiahuanaco people.
He also argued that the Quechuans, Aymarans and Araucanians had to
originate from the same ancient and anthropologically close
ancestral nation who spoke a language related to theirs, and was
developed to a degree that could influence them, the younger
peoples. Riva-Agüero's term for such ancestors was 'paleo-Quechuans'
(Busto I s.a.: 186-194).
Even today the Aymarans inhabit the surroundings of Lake Titicaca.
They have preserved heritage on their ancient migration and the
subjugation of the town people who were driven from the city. Also,
the archaeological data supports the idea of the late arrival of the
Aymarans. Riva-Agüero speculates that the paleo-Quechuans were now
forced to leave among other places for the Cuzco Valley, the later
settlement of the Inca.
A chronicler informs us that the first king of the Inca Manco
Capac came from Tiahuanaco (Vega 1988: 34-37). We also know that the
relationship between the Quechuans and the Aymarans could be
characterised by a constant feud which might have been caused by the
fugitives' anger towards the invaders.
Agüero also argues that the affinity of the Quechuan and Aymaran
languages is due to the existence of a common primal language,
possibly the paleo-Quechuan. The archaeological data also confirms
the Aymaran immigration.
The chullpa's, or the burial towers around Titicaca belonged
supposedly to the Aymarans; still, the earliest settlers of
Tiahuanaco mummified their dead similarly to the Inca, similarities
could be found also between the pottery from the golden age of
Tiahuanaco and that of the Inca - the ceramic ware of Aymarans is
considerably different.
The clothing of the Aymarans differed as well, being shorter than
the Quechuan dress, which once again supports the legend about the
departure of the long-robed Tiahuanacos.
Montesinos, the chronicler, informs us that the priest kings of
Tiahuanaco, or los amautas as they were called, fled the country
trying to save the cult of their own gods (Busto I s.a.: 191). This
is another evidence proving that the Inca originated from the upper
class who were forced to leave Tiahuanaco by the militant Aymarans,
or los piruas.
The idea of the Inca having been militant aroused from the new
circumstances.
The Inca regarded the surroundings of Titicaca as their former
home and revered Viracocha as a god who had told them to build the
city of Cuzco. Later, the mythology related to Viracocha acquired an
important role in the Inca religion.
Thus, we might reason that the founders of the Tiahuanaco culture
were the common ancestors of the Quechuans and Aymarans, i.e. the
paleo-Quechuans. Presumably, the militant Aymarans crushed
Tiahuanaco in the 10th-11th century and forced the majority of the
upper class flee northward to the mountain valleys inhabited by
other Quechuan kin tribes.
The Aymarans could not destroy the powerful civilisation all at
once and founded the kingdom of Colla, which in the 15th century was
incorporated into the state of the same Inca who were once driven
from their homeland by the Collas. Thus, the hypothesis of Riva-Agüero
expanded to a theory which is acknowledged by most of the historians
in Peru.
Consequently, the Inca were the genetic and cultural successors
of the Tiahuanaco people. According to the archaeological data these
Quechuan emigrants arrived at their kin tribes in the Cuzco Valley
at the beginning of the 12th century and founded their city-state on
the spot.
Since 1538 the Inca ruler Pachacutek Yupanqui employed the
necessity of defeating the militant Chancas, subjugated other
Quechuan city-states and merged them into the empire that reigned
the whole of Peru, northern Chile, northern Bolivia and southern
Ecuador until the invasion of Spanish conquistadors.
The archaeological material for the religion of this period is
abundant, and can be compared to the detailed accounts of the
16th-17th century Spanish chronicles (Kauffmann Doig 1991: 78).
The highest ranking deity of the Inca was a celestial supreme
being who was first known under the name Viracocha, later also as
Pachacamak. Originally, Pachacamak was a sky god of the Lurín
Valley in central Peru whose name was later given to the sky god of
the Inca.
The main god of the Inca state religion was the sun god Inti, who
might have been a nature totem of the Quechua or a god of a certain
tribe. Another significant deity in the Inca pantheon was the
thunder god Illapu who was apparently distinctive from the
Tiahuanaco sky god, but was named after a thunder god of the central
Peruvian tribes.
Viracocha became the culture hero of the Inca who was said to
have brought culture to people, then set off to the Pacific and
promised to return. (Kulmar 1999: 101-109).
The Inca myths can be divided in two groups:
- the creation myths
-
the origin myths
Creation Myths
The world was created by Viracocha near Lake Titicaca. After the
great deluge or the receding of chaotic floodwaters Viracocha
descended to earth and created plants, animals and men to the empty
land; he built the city of Tiahuanaco and appointed 4 world rulers
of whom Manco Capak became the superior of the Ursa Major world,
i.e. the north horizon (Busto II 1981: 7).
Origin Myths
Myths about the Ayar brothers
Four pairs of brothers-sisters created by Viracocha to rule the
world left the cave of Mountain Pacaritambo. The whole world was
living in an uncivilised and ignorant manner. The newcomers began
with organising the mankind and divided people into ten large
communities.
Leading the tribes the brothers set off in search of enough
fertile land to sustain themselves. They carried Sunturpaucar, a
long staff adorned with colourful feathers, a cage with a sun-bird
who could give good advice and other sacred objects in front of
them.
Making shorter and longer stops they moved towards Cuzco. In the
course of the long journey the group became smaller: the rivalling
brothers confined one of their companions to a cave, two others
wished to break away but were turned into stones. The only surviving
brother Ayar Manco a.k.a. Manco Capak accompanied by his sister and
wife Mama Ocllo and his brothers' wives, founded the city of World
Pole in the name of Viracocha the Creator and Inti the Sun God, and
settled there with his people.
A myth of Manco Capak and Mama Ocllo
A long time ago when the world was filled with savages, misery
and poverty, a brother and a sister, a married couple Manco Capak
and Mama Ocllo left Lake Titicaca. Inti, the sun god had sent them
to refine the surrounding peoples, and gave them a golden stick for
testing the land for cultivation and then settling in the suitable
place.
Having found such a place they had to found the state, teach the
people how to live proper lives and advocate the worship of the sun
god. The journey took a long time. Eventually, in the Cuzco Valley
the golden stick disappeared into the ground, and they could start
with their mission.
Manco Capak taught his people the cultivation and irrigation of
land and handicraft, Mama Ocllo taught women spinning, weaving and
sewing. The tribe of Manco Capak became to be called by the name of
Hanan Cuzco (High Cuzco) and the relatives of Mama Ocllo by the name
of Hurin Cuzco (Lower Cuzco).
The city and the state was founded in the name of Viracocha and
Inti the sun god, also the Sun Temple was built in Cuzco (Busto II
1981: 10-17).
How to interpret the myths?
María Rostworowski de Díez Canseco argues that the creation of
the Inca state is introduced already in the creation myths (Rostworowski
1988: 31-34). Although originally they seemed to function as
creation stories about Tiahuanaco culture, they were later
apparently customised by the Inca for ideological purposes. The
origin of the Inca from the cultural centre around Lake Titicaca has
been supported by archaeological data. Editing seems most apparent
in accounts of introducing the first legendary ruler Manco Capak, on
the one hand, and in dividing the world in four parts, on the other.
The Inca state Tahuantinsuyu was also divided into four large
provinces ruled by governors.
Recent customisation is even more apparent in the origin myths.
Today's scholars argue that both the myth of the Ayar brothers as
well as the myth about Manco Capak comes from the same source,
whereas the former is older and less edited, the latter more recent
and also more edited.
Both versions say that the main character Ayar Manco or Manco
Capak had arrived from south and settled in the Cuzco Valley. The
part of the story suggests the Tiahuanaco origin of the Inca as well
as the flight of the Quechuan elite from the Aymaran invaders.
Leaving Lake Titicaca could serve as a hypothesis that the home
of the Inca was located on the Isle of Sun (La Isla del Sol) in Lake
Titicaca - according to archaeologists it might have been one of the
residences of the upper class Tiahuanaco people. The hypothesis
would also explain why Manco Capak was sent by the sun god, as the
island became to be called the Isle of Sun only after the sun
worship had become the Inca state religion.
In the original version the brothers are sent to refine people by
Viracocha, which suggests even the earlier modification of the story
from the time when Viracocha was revered as the main god.
The four pairs of brothers-sisters in the original version refers
to the four Quechuan tribes who left Tiahuanaco. The married couple
consisting of a brother and a sister, in its turn, could be
explained by the fact that the Quechuan tribe was exogamous and
consisted of two fraterias: in exogamous societies men belong to one
frateria and women to another. This could be inferred also from the
myth version concerning the division of Cuzco in two - the High and
Lower fraterias.
The disposing of all the other Ayar brothers on the journey in
the original version refers either to their settling to different
places or the feud between the tribes of Manco and the rest of his
brothers.
Different accounts confirm that the Inca led to the Cuzco Valley
by Manco Capak had to drive local tribes from the land in order to
establish themselves there. People from the droughty Altiplano had
to search for humid soils necessary for cultivating corn. Therefore,
Manco's golden stick was supposed to point to the land where corn
could be grown. For settling in the new place a fight was put up,
and we all know the outcome of the attack. In fact, chronicler
Sarmiento do Gamboa's expression «gloomy and fertile» might refer
to the gory battles fought for the fertile valley.
Both versions end with the account of building the city by Manco
in the name of Viracocha the Creator and Inti the sun god. The
former was originally the sky god of the ancient Tiahuanaco people,
whose cult was later abandoned. Inti, on the other hand, was the
tribal deity of the Inca who later became the highest ranking god in
the pantheon.
The fact that in the later version the instigator of refining
people was Inti, and also that a temple to the sun god was first
erected in Cuzco suggests that the journey from Altiplano to the
Cuzco Valley must have taken a long time, at least a couple of
centuries (archaeological data supports the fact that Tiachuanaco
was destroyed by the Aymarans in the 10th century, and the Inca
reached the Cuzco Valley at the end of the 12th century).
Thus, during this period one deity was substituted for another:
Viracocha became deus otiosus, Inti, on the other hand became so
popular that the first temple was built for him.
As I mentioned before, the supreme god was given a new name -
Pachacamak. From then on, Viracocha was associated with the myth of
a culture hero, because:
- the fact that the Tiachuanaco people had spread the cult of
Viracocha widely in Peru was never forgotten;
-
the sc. civilisational emigration of the Inca really did take place;
-
the abandoning of the sky god's cult is reflected by the account of
Viracocha's set-off to the ocean;
-
Viracocha's promise to return refers to the fact that the sky god's
cult never really disappeared, and in greatest troubles the Inca
still addressed their sky god, as is common for deus otiosus (Kulmar
1999: 101-109).
Thus, Manco Capak who supposedly ruled the Inca at the time of
their arrival at the Cuzco Valley, became the first half-legendary
ruler of the country and started the official Inca dynasty.
Certainly, he was nothing more than a tribal chief - it took another
two centuries for the Inca civilisation to reach its golden era
under the rule of the first emperor Pachacutek Yupanqui (Busto II
1981: 22).
The founding of city in the name of two gods could be interpreted
in a manner uniquely provident and theocratic for the history of the
Andean state Tahuantinsuyu: the supreme god Viracocha had provided
that Manco's tribe will rule the world, and Manco started to carry
it out at the will and guidance of Inti, the sun god. Thus, the
civilisational mission of the Inca found a theological explanation
as well (see also Soriano 1990: 483-499).
Finally, these origin myths also reveal the ethnocentric
world-view of the Quechuans: the Inca believed in the inherent
superiority and wisdom of their own people, thinking they were
destined to refine the mankind whether other peoples accepted it or
not. That could be inferred also from the names of the country and
its capital. The name of the Inca empire Tahuantinsuyu stands for
«the country of four points of compass» (Vega 1988: 17). Most
chroniclers (except for Sarmiento) argue that Cuzco means «pole» (Busto
II 1981: 8), i.e. the centre of the world or the world pole.
The analysis of the history and society of the Inca state has
confirmed that it was the first and only totalitarian state on the
American continent and Pre-Columbian America (Kulmar 1989: 74-76;
Soriano 1990: 483-499). The ethnocentric and imperialist origin myth
formed the ideological foundation for establishing such a scheme of
society, determining also the mentality of its nation by education
and in everyday life.
Thus, the Inca built their historical studies and regulations on
the ancient Tiahuanaco myths, having customised them according to
their own need.
|
