On the border of Peru and Bolivia, Lake Titicaca is located on a vast high plateau called Altiplano (or Collao). This largest alpine lake in the world is located at an altitude of 3,820 meters above sea level. In the 1st millennium BC. e. on its shores existed one of the brightest civilizations of Peru - Tiahuanaco.
The name Titicaca (in the Quechua language - Puma Rock) was assigned to the lake by the Spaniards, although the Quechua Indians themselves called it Mamakota (Mother Water). The ancient Peruvians believed that at Lake Titicaca, the Creator created all living things, both humans and animals, therefore the entire region around the lake was considered sacred. According to one of the versions of the Inca myth about their origin, the sun god created the first Inca Manco Capac and his sister on the Sun Island, located in the central part of the lake.
Therefore, it is not surprising that along the shores of Lake Titicaca there are a large number of archaeological sites belonging to different cultures and eras. But among them there is one unique and mysterious one, which has no analogues in Peru.
On the western shore of the lake in the area called Ayia Marka there is an amazing rock named Amaru Meru. According to the ideas of the Indians, the City of the Gods was located here in immemorial antiquity, although no significant archaeological sites were found in the vicinity.
THE MYSTERY OF THE GOLDEN DISC
The local landscape looks fantastic: narrow ridges of red granite rocks, stretching for hundreds of meters and having the most bizarre shapes. In ancient times, the vertical surface of one of the rocks was leveled in such a way that it resembles a gate.
A smooth vertical wall measuring about 7 by 7 meters is cut into the rock mass. To the full height on both sides there are two gutters deepened by half a meter, and in the central part there is a shallow trapezoidal niche with a height of 1.7 meters. In general, the whole structure gives the complete impression of a gate with a small door that leads to nowhere.
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The gate became known to the general public several decades ago. Until that time, historians did not know about the existence of the monument. The field studies that followed the discovery revealed that the local Indians preserved the legend of the gate leading to the world of the gods.
According to this legend, in ancient times, great heroes went through the gate to the gods in order to gain immortality there. Very rarely, some of them returned briefly to inspect the lands they had left. Later, another, later Inca legend was discovered.
According to her, during the years of the Conquest, the high priest of the temple of the Seven Rays by the name of Amaru Meru (from which the modern name appeared) fled from the Spanish soldiers to the shores of Lake Titicaca. He took with him a gold disc, which was the key to the ancient gate. After performing the ritual with the local priests, Amaru Meru opened the gates and left for the "world of the gods", leaving the golden disc for the priests to keep. By the way, on the right side of the rear wall of the door niche there is a small rounded recess, as if intended for a key disc.
EXPERIMENT
No archaeological traces have been found near the gate - neither petroglyphs, nor the remains of any buildings. Thus, from an archaeological point of view, the monument cannot be dated. It is just as impossible to determine its purpose from a scientific point of view.
But there was an enthusiastic researcher José Mamani who approached this problem from a different angle. He used a complex of sophisticated equipment that records various types of electromagnetic waves. The result of the experiment was overwhelming. After turning on the equipment, the gates began to attack with fireballs, the air thickened and became viscous.
The local elders who accompanied the scientist knelt down and fainted. After the end of the experiment, the elders who came to their senses told that the opened gates let them into the abode of their ancestors - a boundless fiery ocean saturated with electricity and filled with crystal formations of blue color. So, in their opinion, the inhabitants of that world looked like.
AT ANOTHER END OF THE WORLD
However, let's get back to the historical side of the issue. The fact is that such mysterious structures depicting gates are known in another part of the world, namely in Asia Minor.
In the east of modern Turkey, on the shores of Lake Van, there are the remains of the ancient capital of the Urartian kingdom, Rusakhinili. The city was built by Tsar Rusa I at the end of the 8th century don. e. On the territory of this monument there is a detached cliff, in the vertical wall of which similar gates are also carved. They are somewhat different from Peruvian in design and shape.
This is a rectangular niche cut into the rock in three steps. Its approximate dimensions are 2 by 5 meters. On the sides of the niche there are extensive cuneiform inscriptions. They say how many bulls and rams should be presented to the gods. But it is not at all excluded that the niche itself was made before the foundation of the Urartian city here. Moreover, it can be assumed that the choice of the location for the new capital of the kingdom was due to the sacred nature of this place.
In the Armenian tradition, this monument is called the Gate of Mher. Mher, aka Mithra in the ancient Iranian tradition, was the god of the Sun. In the Armenian epic "Sasna Tsrer" there are two characters named Mher (Mihr) - the Elder and the Younger (the grandson of the previous one, the son of David of Sasun). Mher the Younger, meeting his father David, fights with him, not knowing that it is his father, and defeats him.
The humiliated David curses Mher, condemning him to childlessness and misfortune. Mher fails to overcome injustice in the world, the earth ceases to hold him and his horse, and he gets stuck in the earth. After consulting the graves of his ancestors, Mher receives their covenant to wait for the onset of justice in the rock. He strikes the rock with his sword, she steps aside, letting him in along with the horse. Periodically, Mher comes out of the cliff and checks whether a just peace has come. If this happens, then he can leave the rock forever.
Thus, in the Armenian epic there is a similar plot dedicated to the gates. They are associated with the solar deity, in them the hero is removed to another world, who can return to inspect the abandoned world.
In the west of Turkey, on the territory of ancient Phrygia, there is another gate, which today is called the temple of Cybele (Mother of the Gods).
This is also a free-standing flat rock, on one surface of which a gate measuring 16 by 17 meters is carved. Unlike the two previous gates, the Phrygian surface is covered with carved geometric ornaments, and the door itself is framed with pylons and a ceiling. Perhaps the Phrygians also used more ancient gates, covering them with ornaments and dedicated to the Mother of the gods.
How can you explain the presence of such unique and at the same time similar monuments located on opposite ends of the planet? Similar ideological stereotypes of different ancient peoples? Or, perhaps, these gates are the legacy of a much more ancient and unknown civilization that left rare traces in different parts of the world?..
Andrey ZHUKOV, candidate of historical sciences