Education History Av. In Bolivia, on the Altiplano plateau, near Lake Titicaca and the mysterious ancient city of Tiahuanaco, are the ruins of Puma Punku. This name is translated from the local Quechua language as "the gate (or door) of the cougar". Today only numerous stone slabs remain of the once majestic structure.
The ruins of Puma Punku were discovered during the time of the conquistadors who conquered South America. They were first reported to Spain by the Bishop of La Paz Antonio de Castro y del Castillo in 1651. The bishop, who was familiar with the local legends of the Indians, confidently attributed the construction of structures to ancient times. Or rather, to the antediluvian era, when giants lived on Earth. Who but giants could move and process huge stone monoliths?
Under the yoke of centuries
The Indians considered Puma Punku a sacred place. Legends said that the god Viracocha descended from heaven to earth there. And then he built Tiahuanaco and made it his capital. The bishop, of course, did not believe in the god Viracocha. For him, the ruins of Puma Punku looked more like a pagan temple. But Antonio de Castro did not doubt the antiquity of the buildings. Native American myths said that Viracocha first appeared and built Tiahuanaco, and then the Flood happened. The bishop compared the Indian flood legends with the biblical information. That is why he attributed the creation of megaliths to antediluvian times.
Puma Punku once stood on a mound, archaeologists say. Some add - on an artificial clay hill. The buildings on the hill were surrounded by powerful stone walls, assembled, like in a children's construction set, from the same type of stone blocks. Outside the walls were strange, T-shaped structures.
There is a lot of confusion about the dating of these objects. Some scientists attribute the foundation of Puma Punku to the VI century, others to the II millennium BC. There is also the opinion of the Bolivian archaeologist Arthur Poznanski, who stated that the ruins of Puma Punku are 17 thousand years old. Poznanski drew conclusions based on astronomical calculations, which allegedly showed that the structures were oriented towards the starry sky 17 thousand years ago. Radiocarbon analysis showed a date around 1500 BC. But most experts traditionally reduce the age of the ruins to 500-700 years. The most interesting thing is that there is no cultural layer under Puma Punku, it rests on layers of the Pleistocene era.
Who built Puma Punku is as much a mystery as when it was founded. There was an attempt to link the megaliths with the famous South American tribes. But the local Indians denied any involvement in the construction of Puma Punku. In previous years, they tried to collect at least some structures from the stones scattered around the hill, even hewed out blocks that looked like fallen to the ground. But they did it very rudely, ineptly, and in the end the work was abandoned.
Promotional video:
When European archaeologists came (the beginning of the planned excavations of Puma Punku dates back to the middle of the 20th century), the artificial hill had already been completely destroyed, everywhere only multi-ton stone monoliths were lying randomly …
Blast from the past
At first glance, the stone blocks were lying in complete disorder. But this disorder also raised many questions. The first is: how was Puma Punku destroyed? He immediately baffled scientists and sparked violent controversy.
Some experts confidently spoke about the extraordinary strength of the earthquake. Since Puma Punku is located at an altitude of about 4 kilometers above sea level and is surrounded by a whole ring of active or dormant volcanoes, this version looked quite logical. Only the nature of the destruction in Puma Punku looked different, unlike the consequences of seismic activity.
Other scientists have put forward a meteorite version. However, excellent traces remain from the fall of celestial bodies on earth. There were none. Still others, recalling local myths and the words of Bishop Antonio de Castro, called the Flood the cause of this trouble. Some have even modeled the destruction from the giant tsunami wave that swept over the mountain ranges. But the tsunami, as supporters of this version were forced to admit, does not give such a picture of destruction.
The blocks weighing several tons are either simply dumped on the ground or literally thrown away from the center of Puma Punku so that they overturned several times in the air. And several multi-ton blocks, when dropped, stuck into the ground at an angle of 45 degrees! Only directional explosions give a similar result. But who could blow up Puma Punku at a time when not only Indians, but also Europeans knew nothing even about simple gunpowder? So none of the versions gives a reliable answer.
Another important question: what was Puma Punku “during his lifetime” and what was it intended for? He also remains unanswered. Most likely, it was a temple complex.
Inexplicable oddities
Once upon a time, the walls of buildings were built from stone blocks of Puma Punku. Archaeologists, like the Indians once, tried to collect any structures from the existing monoliths. And in some way they even succeeded. The monoliths, as it turned out, could be adjusted to each other, if you carefully examine the traces of the ancient screed - a special kind of grooves cut in the stone.
This is a very interesting feature of the Puma Punku stones - they were attached to each other with metal parts. According to archaeologists, the molten metal was poured into the prepared stone recesses by the craftsmen, and the building became monumental. Some of the blocks from which Puma Punku was built were made of andesite, a stone similar in composition to basalt. It is a very hard and difficult material to cut.
However, the craftsmen managed not only to cut out the andesite blocks, but also to delicately cut holes in them - some round, some polygonal, some cruciform. Some holes are huge, others are so small that they seem to be cracks or scratches. Surprisingly, among these "patterns" there are those that are used by modern craftsmen, if they need not only to assemble a structure, but, if necessary, then disassemble it. The presence of such fastenings in lightweight material is quite understandable, but in multi-ton stone blocks?
None of the Indian stone processing technologies known today gives such a result. The subtlety and precision of the craftsmen of the past even raised the suspicion that the stone that looked like andesite might be something like ancient concrete. But alas! This version has been swept aside. Traces of machining were found on the stone. So the stone was sawed, drilled, polished. It is only unclear what tools.
Another mystery is how the stone was delivered if the quarries are located 90 kilometers from Puma Punku? Rolled on logs? Dragged? Raised and lowered on ropes over rocks? Or maybe this American civilization knew wheeled transport? Or, as some believe, the blocks were moved through the air? And in general, what kind of civilization was it?
The answer could be two artifacts that immediately fell into the category of "irrelevant". The first is the Fuente Magna cup (that is, literally "the great cup"). It was found in the 1950s near Puma Punku by a simple Bolivian peasant Maximiliano. And for a long time used as a … trough for pig feed. But then the "trough" caught the eye of people interested in history, it was taken away from Maximiliano and transferred to the museum of the city of La Paz.
The artifact is golden brown in color, covered with drawings and was probably a ritual object. Most importantly, there is an inscription on the bowl. It was because of her that the artifact lay in the museum's storerooms for a long time. The inscription, as the archaeologists were surprised to find out, was made in a language very similar … to Sumerian! Of course, because of this, the cup was recognized as a fake. But in 2000, enthusiasts returned to studying this strange subject. And they tried to translate the ancient text. It turned out that it was written on the bowl that it should be used during temple rituals to receive advice from the gods.
While linguists were engaged in translation, another artifact with a text in the same language was found - the so-called "Pocotia Monolith". And already this artifact was extracted from the earth by archaeologists. It is possible that people who spoke "a language close to Sumerian" erected both Puma Punku and Tiahuanako. But the answer can only be given by further archaeological research.
Nikolay KOTOMKIN