Puma Punku in Bolivia is one of the most mysterious archaeological sites in the world. It attracts both archaeologists and professional historians, and amateurs to explore hypotheses about the existence of highly developed ancient civilizations or aliens visiting the Earth in antiquity.
Puma Punku is located in the ancient city of Tiwanaku southeast of Lake Titicaca in the Andes. This site testifies to the existence of Inca settlements in this part of South America.
One of the main mysteries is the accuracy and complexity of structures. Doorways and stone blocks show no traces of the tools used to cut them and are perfectly fitted.
According to Jason Edger, a professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin, when the Incas conquered the region in 1470, the city was already abandoned. The Incas incorporated Puma Punku and the rest of Tiwanaku City into their empire, and it became part of their culture.
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The Incas believed that this city is the place where the creator god Viracocha created heavenly people of all nationalities, and then sent them into the world to populate it.
“The Incas changed the configuration of existing structures to adapt them to their rituals,” Edger writes in his article. "They turned this place into a 'theater of memory." The Incas revered Tiwanaku as the place where Viracocha created the first couples of all ethnic groups, thanks to which different nationalities appeared in the world."
Eger says that the Incas considered the fallen stone portraits at Puma Punku to be images of the first people from their myth. In fact, these were portraits of the city's former rulers.
There are controversies surrounding the origin and exact age of the place.
The site was built between AD 500 and 600, according to anthropology professor William H. Isbell's radiocarbon dating. But others believe that radiocarbon analysis is wrong, and these structures may have been built thousands of years ago.
Amazing accuracy 17,000 years ago?
One of the modern researchers of the site, engineer Arthur Poznansky, believes that Puma Punku was built in the 15000th century. BC. Archaeologist Neil Steed supports this view.
To determine the date Poznansky used the astronomical location of the main temple. "This temple is essentially a giant clock," Steed told The Forbidden History.
On the first day of spring, the sun rises exactly over the center of the temple and shines through the arched doorway. The sun moves along the horizon throughout the year. Poznansky hoped that on the day of the winter or summer solstice the sun would be above the corner stones of the temple, but it was at some distance from them.
However, for 17,000 years on the day of the solstices, the sun rose exactly over the cornerstones.
Bolivian archaeologist Dr. Oswald Rivera agrees that the temple was built with an astronomical orientation in mind. The buildings are precisely oriented to the points of east, west, north and south, he said on the program Forbidden History. But from his point of view, the builders made a mistake; that is why the sun does not rise over the corner stones of the temple during the solstices.
Steed disagrees that such precise builders could have made such a mistake. The stones are so perfectly fitted that it is impossible to put a needle between them in any place. “Looking at the perfect precision of the buildings, I find it incredible that they could have made such a gross mistake as incorrectly positioning the sun at the solstices,” says Stide. Poznansky's measurements have been confirmed by modern scientists, but his findings are considered controversial.
Another feature of the site is the complex irrigation system and carefully drilled holes and gutters in some of the stone blocks that are not found in other structures of the Incas or peoples who lived in the region before them.
Edger writes: “Landscapes and monumental structures form structures that become the embodiment of human experience and knowledge. Famous places are transformed into symbols that acquire a special meaning over time."