The Mystery of Tiwanaku / Phase 12

 

The Kalasasaya complex was used as a ceremonial center and for astronomical observations, allowing users to observe and define certain astronomical activities on any day of the 365-day year.  This indicates that the Tiwanaku civilization understood earth/sun cycles (calendar) and astronomy well enough to incorporate them into their construction  and agricultural projects.

 

Tiwanaku Panorama

 

Throughout their imperial reign, the Tiwanaku shared domination of the Middle Horizon Period with the Wari. The Wari culture rose and fell around the same time and was centered 500 miles north in the southern highlands of Peru. The relationship between the two empires is unknown. Definite interaction between the two is proved by their shared iconography in art. Significant elements of both of these styles (the split eye, trophy heads, and staff-bearing profile figures, for example) seem to have been derived from that of the earlier Pukara culture in the northern Titicaca Basin.  This may indicate the people of the Pukara culture were related to the people of Tiwanaku too.  The people of Tiwanaku created a powerful ideology, using previous Andean icons that spread throughout their sphere of influence using extensive trade routes and shamanistic art.
Tiwanaku sculpture is comprised typically of blocky column-like figures with huge, flat square eyes, and detailed with shallow relief carving. They are often holding ritual objects like the Ponce Stella or the Bennett Monolith.

The Bennett Monolith

The largest Stella at Tiwanaku (above) is 24 feet high (20 tons), known as the Bennett monolith, or 'Pachamama' monolith. The lower half of its body, which is covered with fish-heads,   reminds one of the Mesopotamian legendary deity, Oannes, the half-man, half-fish, amphibious being who conveyed special knowledge to ancient humankind. Oannes is often associated with the Andean creator god, Viracocha. It is said that Viracocha came from the sea too.   Some statues have been found holding severed heads such as the figure on the Akapana Pyramid, possibly a puma-shaman.

 

Tiwanaku Human Effigy

These images suggest ritual human beheading, which correlate with the discovery of headless skeletons found under the Akapana Pyramid. Therefore, this civilization was quite bloodthirsty in its religion.  The Nazca also beheaded people and practiced the use of Trophy Heads.  The Nazca took the trophy head hunting as far as they could and that may be one of the reasons for that civilization’s downfall.  They practiced a fertility rite that also went to extremes.  Tiwanaku probably had a similar  religion.  It is possible that during a rite of Pachamama some sort of fertility ritual was conducted atop their high altars.

 

A Pachamama fertility symbol

From 300 A.D. on Tiwanaku began to expand in influence and power in the region. From 400 A.D., the Tiwanaku culture emerges from Lake Titicaca and spreads to southern Peru, eastern Bolivia, and northern Chile.  This was in Early Intermediate Period 200 A.D. – 600 A.D. that made them contemporaries with the Moche and Nazca.  I am beginning to believe there may have been more than a casual relationship with the Nazca as there is evidence that the Ancient Astronauts also were in  this area.   The Classic Period, 300-700 AD., is the period that produced most of the large stone structures seen today. The use of bronze and gold indicates trade contacts. Pottery includes human heads and faces with bulging cheeks, indicating the coca leaf was in use by this time.
Near the main complex there appears at first glance to be little more than a gentle slope, but upon closer inspection shows the entire surface to be covered with huge quantities of ceramics and other artifacts. A little over ten years ago, excavations by Bolivian archaeologist Javier Escalante revealed that this sloped area was formally sculpted into a series of stone terraces that served as platforms for homes.  Did this population make the food, drink, and elaborate decorations necessary for ceremonies? Were they allowed to attend the rituals at the monuments, or were they simply observers?   No one at this time knows for sure - but people who lived and worked at this giant ceremonial complex had to have a place to live:

 

The La Karana Mound

The Mystery of Tiwanaku / Phase 11

 

Viracocha above the Portal of the Sun

 

So was Viracocha from another world?  It would seem so by this account as none of the native people had fair skin or red beards and wore white clothing.

 

Viracocha Stella monolith

The Inca believed that their creator deity rather than a civilized society much older than their own made  monoliths such as these in the Semi-Subterranean Temple.

 

A close up of the monolith Stella that depicts a man with a beard and eyebrows that looks like the description above.

 

Viracocha seems to be a celestial teacher of an extraordinary sort and his so-called offspring may be the officers who served under him.  No written language of Tiwanaku survives. Did they have a written language that we have not discovered?   We know the people of Tiwanaku used the khipu.

 

Tiwanaku Khipu

What we have that might be the written language of Tiwanaku is in the symbols that they left behind. 

 

Tiwanaku monolith statue

 

As you should notice, this monolith has symbols carved into the skirt.  These marks could indicate the figure’s importance; they could be astronomical or astrological symbols, all of which could be notations and hence writing.

 

Close up of the symbols on the skirt of the statue

 

The people of Tiwanaku left these symbols on their monoliths and this may have been their written language whose translatability is now lost.  I strongly suspect that is what has happened. Since we barely understand how to translate the Quipus (or Talking Knots), it would only make sense that the language of the Tiwanaku would be hard to decipher or translate too.  Because these symbols definitely have a meaning.

 

Side view of monolith statue

 

You will note from this view you can see symbols on the monoliths belt, on the arm a tattoo and an armband, and the hat on the head seems to have some symbols carved into it too. Could the belt be a power belt of some sort? As you can see condor symbols and there may be symbols of Viracocha on it as well.

 

Relief on the top of the Portal to the Sun

 

On the Portal to the sun, Viracocha in the center signifies the spring and autumn equinox (the longest days in the year).  There are forty-five birds on this relief most probably condors.  At the bottom, there are small carvings of Viracocha at each full moon. At each end on the bottom is a representation of the solstices. Their year began with the first full moon and ended with the last full moon.  Therefore, this part of the Portal of the Sun gives us Tiwanaku’s year.  The New Year for the Tiwanaku is June 21st.  The Aymara have preserved this tradition.

 

Relief of the Condors on the Portal of the Sun

 

Therefore, from this evidence we can infer that the Tiwanaku did have some form of simple written language carved in stone.  However, we need to find more evidence if we expect to decipher these symbols.

The Mystery of Tiwanaku / Phase 10

 

The Aymara people celebrate their New Year on June 21. A particularly beautiful and significant celebration occurs at sunrise when the sun shines right through the Portal (or Gate) of the Sun in Tiwanaku.

 

Tiwanaku - Portal of the Sun

Tiwanaku’s god of the sun is depicted here in stone in the center above the gateway.   This sun god and their creator is a being who may be thought of as an ancient astronaut.   Viracocha here is carved into this most famous gateway, the Portal of the Sun, to overlook his people and lands. The Portal of the Sun is a monolithic structure of regular, non-monumental size.  Viracocha many believe is associated with the weather: a celestial high god that personified various elements of natural forces intimately associated the productive potential of altiplano ecology: the sun, wind, rain, hail.    This portal has symbols that may have been the written language of Tiwanaku.  They are symbols that probably indicate the months and days of the year that were important to the people of Tiwanaku.

 

Detailed drawing of god in center of the Portal of the Sun

 

Viracocha was worshipped as god of the sun and of storms. He was represented as wearing the sun for a crown, with thunderbolts in his hands, and tears descending from his eyes as rain.  The art form above then is a representation of Tiwanaku’s religious cosmology.   In some accounts, he wore sandals and a white, flowing robe that reached to the ground and carried a book in his hands. Viracocha taught the the ancestors of the Tiwanaku agriculture, mathematics, astronomy, and technological skills that enabled them to advance into the civilized culture they eventually became. He is credited with giving these primitive peoples all the knowledge they absorbed, used, and was immortalized in stone, leaving a legacy that baffles the best and brightest archaeologists and scientists of our time.    As there exists no local written language yet deciphered (khipus remains poorly understood), what is known of their religious beliefs are based on archaeological interpretation and some myths, which may have been passed down by the Aymara, the Inca, and the Spanish.

 

 

An Inca Khipus

 

The word "khipu", means, "talking knot" or "to knot", comes from the Quechua language.  Archaeological evidence has shown that systems similar to the khipu were in use in the Andean regions from ca. 5000 BC.  There is a possibility that the Ancient Astronauts taught the people of the Andes a rudimentary way of keeping records and that this was by using a Khipu. 

 

Gary Urton Professor of Pre-Columbian Studies in the Department of Anthropology at Harvard University Specialist with Khipus Research

 

There is currently a theory put forward by Gary Urton that the Khipus represented a binary system capable of recording phonological information, which can be symbols of language.  A logographic method where  a single symbol representing an entire morpheme, word, or phrase, as for example the symbol (%), meaning per-cent  could have been written in  the language of  an early Andean culture before the Incas.   All information for what is known today is based on what was recorded by priests, from the iconography on Incan pottery and architecture, and the myths and legends, which survived amongst these native peoples.  A few of these ancient priests may have been Ancient Astronauts as well.  

 

Ancient Tiwanaku khipus

Khipus (or Quipus), sometimes called talking knots, were recording devices historically used in the region of Andean South America. A quipu usually consisted of colored, spun, and plied thread or strings from llama or alpaca hair. It could also be made of cotton cords. The cords contained numeric and other values encoded by knots in a base ten positional system. Khipus might have just a few or up to 2,000 cords.  However, the name by which Tiwanaku was known to its inhabitants may have been lost, as the people of Tiwanaku have no recognizable written language that has been discovered yet. Nevertheless, they used khipus too, and the name we know them by probably comes from the Inca.    Like most ancient civilizations, the Inca probably adopted the Khipus from an older civilization that they conquered or assimilated.  What was bartered for, how much, when and who, was recorded by making marks (or knots here).  The real wordiness of language came along much later. They did not know the experience we have of writing today-as in writing; we use to write books (like this story or a story in a book). They preserved such stories in the oral tradition passed down from generation to generation.  The Inca also probably made Tiwanaku’s religion and mythology their own much as the Romans did when they conquered ancient Greece. Things that were used to make writing marks and the objects or materials they used to write on did not last long in these early times.  The khipus subsequently played a key part in the administration of Tahuantinsuyu, the empire controlled by the Incan ethnic group, which flourished across the Andes from ca.1450 to 1532 AD.  However, their use began long before the Inca came into existence.  Khipus, sometimes called talking knots, were recording devices historically used in the region of Andean South America. . The cords contained numeric and other values encoded by knots in a base ten positional system.  Quipu is the Spanish spelling and the most common spelling in English. Khipu (pronounced [ˈkʰipu]) is the word for "knot" in Cusco Quechua (the native Inca language); the kh is an aspirated k. In most Quechua varieties, the term is kipu.

System:

Marcia and Robert Ascher, after having analyzed several hundred Quipus, have shown that most information on Khipus is numeric, and these numbers can be read. Each cluster of knots is a digit, and there are three main types of knots:

1.  Simple overhand knots:

 

2. "Long knots", consisting of an overhand knot with one   or more additional turns:

 

 

3.  “E” knots, “Z” (top) and “S” (bottom):

 

 

 

Structure of a Khipus:

 

 

• Powers of ten are shown by position along the string, and this position is aligned between successive strands.

 

• Digits in positions for 10 and higher powers are represented by clusters of simple knots (e.g., 40 is four simple knots in a row in the "tens" position).

 

• Long knots represent digits in the “ones” position (e.g., four is a knot with four turns). Because of the way, the knots are tied, the digit 1 cannot be shown this way and is represented in this position by a figure-of-eight knot.

 

• Zero is represented by the absence of a knot in the appropriate position.

 

• Because the ones digit is shown in a distinctive way, it is clear where a number ends. One strand on a quipu can therefore contain several numbers.

 

Pendants showing three common types of multicolored cords

Khipus could be quite complex as they could indicate number and place and time. Knots indicated number; time could be indicated by location of the knot, and place of origin by the color of the cord (cords come in four or five different colors).   The Inca used it in the administration of its empire to account for population and taxes. However, some theorists believe there may be a type of cryptic writing that can be deciphered from it.   Gary Urton, may have already decoded the first word from a khipu—the name of a village, Puruchuco, which Urton believes was represented by a three-number sequence, similar to a ZIP code. If this conjecture is correct, Khipus are the only known example of a complex language recorded in a 3-D system.  If the Ancient Astronauts did teach ancient man how to use this simple but complex computing device then they did it world wide, as Khipus were also used by ancient man in Europe and Asia as well.

The Mystery of Tiwanaku / Phase 9

 

At the Kalasasaya Complex above the Main Entrance is an elaborate bas-relief frieze depicting a central deity,  standing on a stepped platform, wearing an elaborate headdress, and holding a staff in each hand.

 

Monolithic statue at  Entrance of  Kalasasaya Complex

In one  legend Viracocha,  destroyed the people around Lake Titicaca with a Great Flood, saving two people to bring civilization to the rest of the world, these two beings were Manco Cápac, the son of Inti (sometimes taken as the son of Viracocha), which name means "splendid foundation", and Mama Ocllo, which means "mother fertility" (Pachamama).  Pachamama is a goddess revered by the indigenous people of the Andes. Pachamama is usually translated as Mother Earth, but a more literal translation would be "Mother world" (in Aymara and Quechua mama = mother / pacha = world or land; and later widened to the modern meaning as the cosmos or the universe). Pachamama and Inti are their most benevolent deities; they are worshiped in parts of the Andean mountain ranges, also known as the Tawantinsuyu (the former Inca Empire) stretching from present day Ecuador to Chile and northern Argentina to Peru the center of the ancient Inca Empire with its capital city in Cuzco.  This particular statue is made of green basaltic Andesite.   One of the most puzzling aspects of the Tiwanaku construction projects was the lack of nearby quarries. The source of the green Andesite stones, the material from which the most elaborate carvings and this monolith are made is on the Copacabana Peninsula, across Lake Titicaca. One theory is that these giant Andesite stones (the largest weighing 40 tons) were transported some 90 kilometers across Lake Titicaca on reed boats, then laboriously dragged another 10 kilometers to the city of Tiwanaku.  You will note the lines carved into a statue that it was carved in a certain way.  Statues of deities were not exact copies of how that deity looked, but rather an artistic representation of what the people of Tiwanaku thought of their deities.  Everything it wore had in its hands, and what it was portrayed doing, had a religious significance in their culture.

 

Green Andesite pillar

In most cases the ancient civilizations had little, if any, advanced technology that would help them move these monoliths. The most notable exception is that of the ancient Greeks and Romans who had cranes and tread wheels to help lift colossal stones.  Published scholars base most of these weights on estimates; however, there have been numerous false estimates of many of these stones presented as facts. To help recognize exaggerations, an introductory description shows how to calculate the weight of colossal stones by calculating volume and density.  The weight of a stone can be calculated by multiplying its volume and density. The density of most stones is between two and three tons per cubic meter. The average weight of granite is about 2.75 metric tons per cubic meter, limestone 2.3 metric tons per cubic meter, sandstone or marble 2.5 tons per cubic meter. Some softer stones may be lighter than 2 tons per cubic meter like volcanic tuff or basalt, which weighs about 1.9 tons per cubic meter. Since the density of most of these stones fluctuates, it is necessary to know the source of the stone and volume to obtain accurate measurements.

 

Densities of common rocks:
(in g/cm3 / ton/m3)
````` Material:            Density:
Sediments                 1.7–2.3
Sandstone                 2.0–2.6
Shale                         2.0–2.7
Limestone                 2.5–2.8
Granite                      2.5–2.8
Metamorphic Rock    2.6–3.0
Basalts                       2.7–3.1

 

Andesite is a volcanic-basaltic rock usually with 60% Si03 (quartz) and various other elements are involved as well, including pyroxene, feldspar, and plaigiase.  In Tiwanaku, Bolivia several ashlars weighing 100 to 130 tons, was transported 6 miles (9.7 km).  It is believed that the transporting was done by land or water (or a combination of both), in the later case often by special-built ships such as obelisk carriers. For lifting operations, ancient cranes were employed since ca. 515 BC.  However, we do not know if the people of Tiwanaku had any equipment like that or what they used to transport 100-130 ton stones.

How Stones Could Have been loaded on boats:

It should be stressed that all numbers are estimations, since only in the rarest cases were monoliths actually weighed.   The distance from Tiwanaku to quarry in Copacabana area is 36.61 miles. Area where Andesite stones near Lake Titicaca were found (area where they were probably unloaded from boat-transport) is 10.09 miles from Tiwanaku.  Here Ancient Astronaut technology could have been used to move the heaviest of stones, stones weighing more than 100 tons.  First, we must consider how the Tiwanaku could have moved some of the smaller stones they used in building their structures.  Those stones weighing in the area of 40 tons such as that used in making the monolithic statue above.

 

The Copacabana Peninsula today

 

The Qala Yampu Experiment

In Aymara, qala means stone, and yampu means totora boat.  The prehistoric city of Tiwanaku, near the southern shore of Lake Titicaca, was abandoned around 1250 AD, some 200 years before the Inca established their Andean empire. Its monumental ruins have often been compared to Stonehenge in that no one knows how an ancient civilization could have made them. It is puzzling not only because some of the stones weigh as much as 130 tons, but because there are no quarries nearby in the case of Andesite,  but rather on the other side of Lake Titicaca on the Copacabana Peninsula.  Again, Andesite was not the only type of stone they used as I earlier stated.

 

Tiwanaku stone route

One theory is that these giant Andesite stones were transported across Lake Titicaca on reed boats of ancient design to the closest shores to Tiwanaku, and then laboriously dragged 10 kilometers to the city. Archeologists wanted to test this theory by recreating the Tiwanaku building process with a multi-national team of volunteers, aided by leading Aymara experts in totora boat building.

 

This project was to (in part):

1.  Quarry a 9-ton stone.
2.  Build a totora boat to carry the stone and sail it across the lake. 
3.  Load and unload the stone using only natural ancient means.

 

Dried totora that was used to build the boat

 

Reed boat manufacturing in this region includes gathering and joining bundles of totora reeds and fastening them with rope made from dried out prairie grass or ichu.

 

Tiwanaku boat progress size and shape

 

The reed bundles are connected with more ichu to build the spine of the boat. Finally, the row of bundles was pounded into a crescent shape. The theory was to emulate the ancient design successfully. The raft's porous nature should filter out water from the waves kicked up by the high winds of the Altiplano. If not, they could be swamped and lose the stone or worse. 

 

Loading the nine-ton Andesite stone on the boat

 

Once in the lake the boat-absorbed water, this is the nature of totora. The absorbed water acted like ballast, having a tremendous stabilizing effect. Originally, the boat only drafted about 15 inches. Once the stone was loaded the boat drafted about double that in the center where the weight was located, but considerably less away from center. The boat held the weight of the 9-ton stone. If poles had been placed correctly on the deck of the boat to distribute the weight, the boat could have easily carried double the weight.  Nevertheless, this is still nowhere near the weight of a stone weighing 40 tons.

 

 

Boat carrying stone across Lake Titicaca

The Mystery of Tiwanaku / Phase 8

From about 1-300 AD. Tricolor pottery in geometric designs, decorated with images of stylized animals was being made at Tiwanaku.

Tiwanaku Bottle depicting Wiracocha (Viracocha)

The construction of the Kalasasaya complex continued.  Large stones of exceptional workmanship characterize Tiwanaku monumental architecture. In contrast, to the masonry style of the Inca.  Tiwanaku stone architecture usually employs rectangular ashlar blocks in regular courses, and monumental structures were frequently fitted with elaborate drainage systems.

 

Tiwanaku-Kalasasaya Complex Courtyard

The Kalasasaya (kala for stone; saya or sayasta for standing up) or Stepped Stones Complex is a major archaeological structure that is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Tiwanaku. The Kalasasaya is a low platform mound with a large courtyard that is surrounded by high stonewalls. The Kalasasaya is about 120 by 130 meters in dimension and aligned to the cardinal directions. Like the other platform mounds within Tiwanaku, it has a central sunken court (The Subterranean Temple). A monumental staircase through an opening in its eastern wall can reach the sunken court.

 

Tiwanaku- Ashlar blocks

The walls are composed of sandstone pillars that alternated with sections of smaller blocks of Ashlar masonry and incorporate tenon heads of many different styles. Ashlar blocks were cemented together by gravel and clay.

 

Tiwanaku- Close-up of a Tenon head

East of the main entrance to Kalasasaya Complex is the Templete Semisubterraneo, or the Semi-subterranean Temple (or Subterranean Temple). Some think this temple represents the Underworld, while Kalasasaya symbolizes the Earth. Made of red sandstone, the Subterranean Temple measures 26 meters by 28 meters in area and includes a rectangular sunken courtyard. Its walls are decorated with 175 intriguing sculptures of human faces. Some of the faces strongly resemble modern depictions of aliens, which naturally has led to some interesting speculations.

In the Museum in La Paz-The Subterranean Temple Collection

Many theories for Tiwanaku's architecture construction have been proposed. One is that they used a measurement called a luk’a, which is a standard measurement of about sixty centimeters. Another argument is for the Pythagorean Ratio. This idea calls for right triangles at a ratio of five to four to three used in the gateways to measure all parts. Lastly, some argue that Tiwanaku had a system set for individual elements dependent on context and composition. This is shown in the construction of similar gateways ranging from diminutive to monumental size proving that scaling factors did not affect proportion. With each added element, the individual pieces shifted to fit together.

 

Tiwanaku, Kalasasaya Complex Entrance

The Kalasasaya Complex is a large courtyard over three hundred feet long, outlined by a high gateway. It is located to the north of the Akapana Pyramid and west of the Subterranean Temple.  The walls of Subterranean Temple are covered with tenon heads of many different styles postulating that it was probably reused for different purposes over time.  The largest stone block in the Kalasasaya Complex is estimated to weigh 26.95 metric tons.

 

 

 

Aerial View of the Kalasasaya Complex

The Mystery of Tiwanaku / Phase 7

 

The primary objective for the archeological project is to understand how the site's ceremonial core grew over time. Since Tiwanaku has been terribly damaged over the centuries, such understanding is very difficult to achieve. Substantial damage occurred to the site both during the Pre-Columbian period, when buildings were modified and torn down to make room for new ones, or by the Inca, and after them the European invasion and people of Bolivia, during which about 90 percent of the site's stone constructions were destroyed to build their structures.  That is the reason why the buildings of Tiwanaku look unfinished. Nevertheless, archeologists have achieved an idea of how Tiwanaku's monumental city grew. What we know is based partly on nearly a century of excavations.

 

Excavation at Pumapunku pyramid refuse pit and feeding halls

 

Tiwanaku’s Earliest monuments

The earliest monuments that survive from the period of approximately 300 B.C. to A.D. 200 are the semi-subterranean temple (background) and the Chunchukala Complex (foreground).

 

Tiwanaku - Semi-subterranean Temple walls

Most certainly there had been other ritual buildings that were long ago dismantled by the people of Tiwanaku themselves or buried under subsequent constructions and by those who came after them  At this stage in time, Tiwanaku was probably an important local ceremonial site competing with other ceremonial sites in the Titicaca basin.  The faces on the walls are called Tenon heads and are blocks of stone with carved heads on them.  They represent either important leaders or the ancestors of the people of Tiwanaku.

Starting in about 200 A.D., they began construction on the Kalasasaya complex by building the Subterranean Temple first.   After that the Kalasasaya Complex pillars were erected to serve as a solar observatory. The walls pictured below of the Kalasasaya, are almost all reconstruction. The original stones making up the Kalasasaya would have resembled a more "Stonehenge" like style, spaced evenly apart and standing straight up.

 

Tiwanaku- Modern walls of the Kalasasaya Complex (note the original pillars in the wall).

 

Unfortunately, the parties that made the reconstructions decided to enclose the Kalasasaya Complex with a wall that they themselves built.  Ironically enough, the reconstruction itself is actually much poorer quality stonework than the people of Tiwanaku would do.  It should also be noted that the Gateway of the Sun that now stands in the Kalasasaya Complex is not in its original location, having been moved sometime earlier from its original location.

 

The Kalasasaya Complex  Solar Observatory as it should look

The original Kalasasaya Temple being an astronomical observatory may have looked more like this.  A common source of data for archaeoastronomy is the study of alignments. This is based on the assumption that the axis of alignment of an archaeological site is meaningfully oriented towards an astronomical target.  A common justification for the need for astronomical observatory is the need to develop an accurate calendar for agricultural purposes.

 

 

The Kalasasaya Complex was used as a ceremonial center and for astronomical observations, allowing users to observe and define certain astronomical activities on any date of the 365-day year. On the spring and fall equinoxes (21 March and 21 September, respectively, for the southern hemisphere) the light of Sun shined through the main entrance gate. This indicates that the Tiwanaku civilization understood earth/sun cycles (a calendar) and astronomy well enough to incorporate them into their construction projects and activities  The importance of zenith passages was very important to the people of the ancient world. For peoples living between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn there are two days of the year when the noon Sun passes directly overhead and casts no shadow. In parts of Mesoamerica this was considered a significant day as it would herald the arrival of rains, and so play a part in the cycle of agriculture. 

Stars in alignment above Tiwanaku

Another motive for studying the sky is to understand and explain the universe. In these cultures, myth was a tool for achieving this and the explanations for life, while not reflecting the standards of modern science; these were cosmologies that became a part of their religion and their understanding of their world.

The Mystery of Tiwanaku / Phase 6

The tribes of the Aymara speaking people were probably organized in the following way: The Apu Mallku is an Aymara title meaning "supreme leader" or "king" was conferred on a Mallku or "prince" of a tribe among the Tiwanaku to be supreme leader. The Apu Mallku's mandate was to oversee a large network of Ayllus.  He may have had a council made up people from the Ayllus to assist in the government. He may have ruled under the advice of a priest who was an Ancient Astronaut or had connections with them for instruction purposes.  The Ayllus were the basic political and social units of pre-Inca Aymara life. They were essentially extended family groups but they could adopt non-related members, giving individual families more variation and security to the land that they farmed. They would often have their own huaca, or minor god, usually embodied in a physical object such as a mountain or rock (sometimes the body of an ancestor). A chief (called a Curaca) usually led them. The Ayllu were self-sustaining units and would educate their own offspring and farm or trade for all the food they ate. Their primary function was to solve subsistence issues, and issues of how to get along in family, and larger units.  Each Ayllu owned a parcel of land, and the members had reciprocal obligations to each other.  Therefore, the system of government had its roots based in agriculture.

A Tiwanaku Curaca Performing a New Year’s Rite

 

It is believed shortly before 500 B.C. the people of Tiwanaku began to make stone monoliths from rock.  A monolith is a large stone, which is used to build a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones.

 

A Tiwanaku monolith statue

We must now go forward in time to understand what took place back at this time:  After the decline of Tiwanaku other Aymara societies emerged, politically organized, the most important kingdoms were the Lupaqa and Qulla. The Incas were called without distinction by all Aymaristas the Qullas.  All their territory together with the southernmost areas became the Qullasuyu.  The Qulla were the ancestors of the Inca.  They were descendants of the Aymara of Tiwanaku. 

Viracocha above the Portal of the Sun at Tiwanaku

Viracocha was the god of everything to the Tiwanaku. In the beginning, he was the main god, but in the time of the Inca Inti, the Sun god became his equal and separate.   The Tiwanaku had a special place for the worship of the Sun god and the Moon god. 

 

The Gate of the Moon at Tiwanaku

Since Inti was the sun god. Inti was the source of warmth, light, and a protector of the people. Inti was considered the most important god by the Inca but not by the Tiwanaku.  For the Tiwanaku Inti may have been the same person as Viracocha.  Mama Quilla ("mother moon" or "golden mother") was a marriage, festival and moon goddess and daughter of Viracocha and Mama Cocha, as well as wife and sister of Inti. She was the mother of Manco Cápac, Pachacamac, Kon and Mama Ocllo.  Mama Ocllo was the sister and wife of Manco Cápac. You will note all these gods were married to their sisters and brothers, and some may ask why?   They may been the Ancient Astronauts themselves who as I said earlier were unable to reproduce like humans.  They produced clones of themselves instead.   To continue:  Mama Ocllo was thought to have taught the Inca the art of spinning.  The Inca probably multiplied the number of gods the Tiwanaku worshipped by adding some of their own to the list. 

Pachamama daughter of Sun god at Tiwanaku

Mama Pacha (aka Pachamama) was the wife of Pachacamac and a dragoness fertility deity who presided over planting and harvesting. She caused earthquakes.  The Inca had four types of origin myths based on tradition they learned from their ancestors.

1.  Con Tici (also spelled Kon Tiki) Viracocha (some spelling alternatives are Wiracocha, Apu Qun Tiqsi, and Wiraqutra) sent forth his four sons and four daughters to establish a village. Along the way, Sinchi Roca was born to Manco and Ocllo, and Sinchi Roca is the person who finally led them to the valley of Cuzco where they founded their new village.  Manco became known as Manco Cápac the first Inca ruler.

Mama Ocllo

2.  There were many myths about and Manco Capac coming to power. In one myth, Manco Cápac and his brother Pacha Kamaq (or Pachacamac) were sons of the sun god Inti/Viracocha and that is how they came to have  power.

3.  In another myth, Manco Cápac was sent with Mama Ocllo (others even mention numerous siblings) to Lake Titicaca where they resurfaced and settled on the Isla Del Sol, in Bolivia.  This story may have some truth to it.  During 1987-92, Johan Reinhardt directed underwater archaeological investigations off the Island of the Sun (Isle Del Sol), recovering Inca and Tiwanaku offerings. These artifacts are currently on display in the site museum of the village of Challapampa.  In 2000, the international scientific group Akakor Geographical Exploring launched the expedition “Atahualpa 2000”. They found ruins of what appeared to be a temple and a submerged road dating back 1,000 to 1,500 years, the ruins belong to the Tiwanaku culture. Their conclusion was that the temple exists but it is not a submerged city. Attempts to bring the ruins to surface have faced resistance from the local population who are superstitious about disturbing the waters of Lake Titicaca.  This was more than likely an underwater Ancient Astronaut base, which may have looked something like this:

Ancient Astronaut underwater base near the Isle Del Sol in Lake Titicaca

 

Manco Capac

4.  According to another Inti/Viracocha legend, Manco Cápac and his siblings were sent to the earth by the sun god and emerged from the cave of Puma Orco at Pacaritambo carrying a golden staff called the ‘tapac-yauri’. They were instructed to create a Temple of the Sun in the spot where the staff sank into the earth to honor the sun god Inti, their father (This tradition may have arisen at the time of the construction of Machu Picchu).  During the journey, one of Manco's brothers (Ayar Cachi) was tricked into returning to Puma Orco and sealed inside, because his reckless and cruel behavior angered the tribes that they were attempting to rule or instruct.  Pacaritambo is a quasi-mythical place believed to have been flooded by Lake Titicaca. 

 This may be true in the sense that Manco Capac and some other officers under the orders of the Supreme Leader Viracocha surfaced in a UFO off the coast of the Isle of Del Sol in a public show of power to the people gathered there as witnesses.  The witnesses of course were the ancestors of the leaders and nobles of Tiwanaku.

The Isle Del Sol and ruins

The archeological evidence seems to indicate that the Inca were a relatively unimportant tribe until the time of Sinchi Roca, also called Cinchi Roca, who is the first figure in Inca mythology whose existence can be supported historically. Cusco was the aboriginal name of the city Qusqu. Although it was used in Quechua, its origin has been found in the Aymara language. The word itself originated in the phrase qusqu wanka ('Rock of the owl'). This concerned the foundational myth of the Ayar Siblings.

Sinchi Roca

From about 500 B.C.-200 A.D., the earliest monuments began to be built by the people of Tiwanaku.  The quarries, from which the stone blocks used in the construction of structures at Tiwanaku, came from lie at significant distances from this site. The red sandstone used in this site's structures has been determined by petrographic analysis to come from a quarry 10 kilometers away—a remarkable distance considering that the largest of these stones weighs 131 metric tons. At first most of their stonework was made of red sandstone, but that would not be the only type of stone they would use.

Tiwanaku sandstone quarry

This was the time when Tiwanaku is thought to have begun to be a place of important moral and cosmological power, a place made for pilgrimages.