Tiahuananco

TIAHUANACO
The City on the Shores of Lake Titicaca

Chapter Four: Macchu Picchu

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One of the main features of this ancient city is the Gateway of the Sun, shown on the left. It is a portal carved from a single block of stone weighing 15 tons. The entire upper panel is intricately carved with a repeating pattern. The monolith has broken and was found partially downfallen in modern times, though has since been restored. It was originally the centerpiece of the most important part of the Kalasaya mound, the huge chief temple of Tiahuanaco, or Tiwanaku, the name the Aymara indians gave it.

Just south of the complex is another meglithic enigma, Puma Punku, of which little to nothing is known for certain. No written records were left of this silent place.

Figure 1: The entrance side of the Portal of the Sun atop the Kalasaya mound.

The megalithic entrance to the Kalasaya mound is seen in figure 2 from the Sunken Courtyard viewing west. The Kalasaya stairway is a well-worn megalith, a single block of carved sandstone. The sandstone was quarried about 15 kilometres from the site. The statue in the centre of the Kalasaya doorway is depicted in figure 3. The andesite stone from which this statue was carved was transported from 100 kilometres distance.

Figure 2: The megalithic entrance to the Kalasaya Mound; note the wear on the sandstone staircase.

Figure 3: Statue in the doorway of the Kalasaya.

Here we see the Sunken Courtyard, standing at the base of the sandstone steps leading to the Kalasaya mound. Like the Kalasaya mound, the Sunken Courtyard is walled by standing stones and masonry infill. In this case the stones are smaller and sculptured heads are inset in the walls. Several stelae are placed in the center of the 30 m square courtyard.

Figure 4: The Sunken Courtyard.

Figure 6: The full complex, the Kalasaya Mound to the left, the Sunken Courtyard to the right.

The largest terraced pyramid of the city, the Akapana, was once believed to be a modified hill, but has proven to be a massive human construction with a base 197 metres square and a height of 17 metres. It had originally been a clean-sided step pyramid of earth faced with large andesite blocks. In the centuries since the Spanish conquests, however, it had been used as a quarry by builders from as far away as La Paz, with the result that only around 2% of its superb facing blocks now remain.

The true function of the pyramid is probably never going to be understood, according to ‘orthodox’ historians. It could not be merely decorative or ceremonial. On the contrary, it seemed almost as though it might have functioned as some kind of alternate power source, or a kind of ‘machine’, as postulated by Professor Arthur Posnansky. Deep within its bowels, archaeologists have discovered a complex network of zig-zagging stone channels, lined with finely hewn ashlars. These had been meticulously angled and jointed (to a tolerance of 5 millimetres) and had served to sluice water down from a large reservoir at the top of the structure, through a series of descending levels, to a moat that encircled the entire site of Tiahuanaco, washing only against the southern side of the pyramids’ base.

Figure 7: The Akapana Pyramid, as seen from above. Images of this structure are difficult to obtain. This shows the reservoir residing atop the monument. The structural damage resulting from the removal of the facing blocks is clearly evident.

For information on the true origin of these monuments, go to the Current Theories section. Otherwise, continue on to Macchu Picchu.

Figure 5: Example of the Kalasaya external walls.

The purpose of this moat was thought to have been for ceremonial purposes, not necessarily warfare or defence. Also, because of the yearly torrential rainfall the moats served to distribute the rain to other drainage canals found throughout the city, which dumped it into the Tiwanaku River.

Just as an aside, it is interesting to note that atop the Akapana Pyramid granite stones have been found that turn away the compass-needle,towards Puma Punku. Where did the knowledge of magnetism come from, considering that the peoples attributed with building these edifices never knew iron?