Just 30 kilometers from Cusco, in the direction of the southeast, there is one of the most amazing monuments of the construction of an ancient civilization that has sunk into oblivion, the archaeological complex - Tipon. Without a doubt, this property is a gem of engineering thought of the past, representing a collection of unimaginable architectural and engineering achievements.
Tipon is a truly unique object, in fact, which is a complex, high-tech, mathematically calculated building complex, consisting of several dozen terraces built of polygonal (often megalithic!) Blocks and permeated with a perfect water supply system that still works today. All of the above set of engineering achievements are spread out on the hillside, at an altitude of 300 meters above the valley level. Dear reader, we offer you a short virtual trip to this building, built in ancient times.
About 3 400 meters above sea level.
Just 30 kilometers from Cusco, in the direction of the southeast, there is one of the most amazing monuments of the construction of an ancient civilization that has sunk into oblivion, the archaeological complex - Tipon. Without a doubt, just a few kilometers from the Oropesa settlement lies an engineering gem of the past, a collection of unimaginable architectural and engineering solutions.
Officially Tipon is recognized as a complex of religious and cultural orientation, focused on unity with the forces of nature, water and intended for spiritual purification. Even today, Tipon, for some people, is an important place of pilgrimage, where one can touch the ancient sacred point of power and receive enlightenment. According to various sources, Tipon, during the Inca empire, was a beautiful blooming garden. The original ancient name was Muyna or Moyna
Tipon is a truly unique object, in fact, representing a complex, high-tech, mathematically calculated building complex, consisting of several dozen terraces built of polygonal (often megalithic!) Blocks and permeated with a perfect water supply system that is still working today. All of the above set of engineering achievements is spread out on a hillside, at an altitude of 300 meters above the lowland. For reference, all buildings over 300 meters are considered "ultra-high"
Promotional video:
The terraces of Tipon are different from the vast majority of terraces in the Cusco region, and in Peru as a whole. The common ones, including the terraces of Pisak, Maras and others, are built of rough materials, often with the use of bonding materials, while in the construction of Tipon's terraces, filigree, often processed blocks were used, tightly fitted to each other and joined together like a fancy mosaic:
Taking into account the height to which thousands of tons of stone blocks were raised, the construction of such an object would be a rather difficult task today. In addition to the use of road construction equipment, CNC machines for shaping the stone and logistics for the delivery of all building materials with the subsequent, pre-planned joining of all blocks that do not have a single standard for their shape would be needed.
Officially, it turns out that the Incas, who do not know the wheels, managed to do all this without modern technology. Raise everything to a height of three hundred meters, then prepare the landscape, think over the water supply system and only then, according to the plan, from somewhere in the quarries prepared in advance to assemble a mosaic. A titanic work on the verge of fantasy.
A notable feature is the large polygonal blocks that are found on some areas of the terraces:
In fact, blocks taller than human height are excruciatingly difficult to move without the use of road construction equipment, especially to a height of three hundred meters.
But one should immediately make a reservation, despite the phenomenal construction technologies, in many areas of the terraces, far from high technologies are visible. Somewhere the same blocks were used, but they were already fastened with a solution, and somewhere a completely rough stone on a solution, or even without it. So, it turns out that the ancient builders did not disdain primitive technologies? Why not! It is possible that the Indians could build not the most critical parts of the object, there is nothing wrong with that. It is important that the main structures were built with high technology in mind.
But there is another version, firstly, the Incas could well carry out restoration work on the ancient object, which they did quite often. And most importantly, secondly, according to the work "Petroglifos y litograbados de Cruzmoqo, Tipón, Cusco" by Rainer Hostnig and Raúl Carreño Collatupa in 1970, with the financial support of CRYF (Corporation for the Development and Reconstruction of Cusco), the restoration and reconstruction of the object was started … Quite possibly, a lot has been restored over the past decades and restored already taking into account our capabilities, which sometimes do not reach the heights of the ancient builders. We must pay tribute to Peru during the reconstruction they really do not fantasize and do not re-create objects in a new way, what they can, they restore, what they cannot, they simply do not touch. This approach is much more valuable than in some other countries,where they simply rebuild objects using concrete.
The surest way to evaluate an object is to look at its photographs of the 19th, early 20th centuries, but, unfortunately, there are no similar photos, according to Tipon, on the network.
Inca houses located on the top of the terraces or higher up the slope are of no interest and are made in a rather rough construction form:
However, even among these houses, which were officially considered the residences of various officials of the Inca Empire, you can find interesting artifacts, for example, here we see very high-quality processed and polished rectangular blocks. Traces of polygonal masonry are also visible at the base of the structure:
An interesting place is where the ascent to the buildings on the hill begins, where large polished blocks are located, which were once part of the most likely trapezoidal gates:
For a general assessment of the object, I propose to watch the following two video reviews, one from a bird's eye view, the other allows you to assess the scale of the object:
Watch to the end, or at least the last three minutes !:
This is how I imagine the exhausted, gifted article of the Inca nobles making such pedestrian climbs, there is no wheel, and the draft power has died out, God knows when.
Tipon is amazing not only by polygonal masonry, not less, but somewhere even more interesting is the water supply system, which originates … But there is no definite answer here! Modern scientists do not know where the water supply system originates and how it works, they can only state the fact of its existence and are able to give a general description of it.
In fact, Tipon's water supply system permeates the terraces through a system of external and internal canals. According to some reports, the end point of the hydraulic system is a city located in a lowland, which is still used by local residents. It turns out that the genius of engineering thought of the past, managed to design such a water supply system that, despite the past millennia (!), War, looting, earthquakes, the ancient aqueduct continues to work properly! Not only does it regularly supply water from the top to the lowland, but also perform the complex function of irrigating terraces located on the hillside.
A surprisingly difficult task for Indians who do not know the wheel or the writing. It is interesting, for example, the ancient Romans were known as skilled builders, but such achievements are not born from scratch, they are based, including planning and reporting skills, which can be observed from them. Famous Roman estimates. How did the Incas plan without knowing the script? Did they plan in knots? Did you do mathematics using ligature too? However, this can also be.
Each terrace has not only an internal complex water supply structure, but also an external one that rather has an aesthetic, visual function:
There is an external water supply system not only on the terraces, at least one external channel originates two hundred meters up the slope:
The outer channel has no signs of polygonal masonry, moreover, most likely it is no longer active, but there is no exact information.
So what do we have according to Tipon? A restored object with many traces of high technology and advanced knowledge in the exact sciences. Honestly, it's hard to say what Tipon could have been in the past, a truly blooming garden or something bigger. No matter how deeply you study this object, there is a feeling of understatement and the fact that Tipon is a splinter from something more and there is an explanation for this feeling:
It turns out that the main tourist route is laid only in one zone of a huge archaeological complex. No, access to it is not closed, you can get there, you just need to know about it! The reason may be that restoration and restoration work is still being blown out there. Perhaps, a full-fledged path has not been organized there, which will not torment tourists with pedestrian ascents and transitions. As a result, the lack of video and photographic materials. According to some reports, there is also something to see there - these are irrigation canals, terraces only slightly inferior in their grandeur to the famous Tipon sector, temples and other objects.
But that's not all, observing from the heavens, using the Google Earth program, it is difficult not to notice that both the right and left sectors of the terraces stretch to the top, where you can see ruins in the form of protective walls, perhaps this is an illusory deception:
Officially, petroglyphs were discovered on the top, which is marked as "Big unknown structures", which does not exclude the presence of other interesting objects there.
The partially rebuilt and refurbished Tipon complex requires further study, but it is certainly one of the jewels of an ancient, highly developed civilization that existed in South America before the Incas!