Pumapunku
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Pumapunku or Puma Punku (
Aymara Aymara may refer to: Languages and people * Aymaran languages, the second most widespread Andean language ** Aymara language, the main language within that family ** Central Aymara, the other surviving branch of the Aymara(n) family, which today ...
and
Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several Indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, an Indigenous South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language ...
'Gate of the Puma') is a 6th-century T-shaped and strategically aligned
man-made Artificiality (the state of being artificial, anthropogenic, or man-made) is the state of being the product of intentional human manufacture, rather than occurring naturally through processes not involving or requiring human activity. Connotati ...
terraced
platform mound A platform mound is any earthwork or mound intended to support a structure or activity. It typically refers to a flat-topped mound, whose sides may be pyramidal. In Eastern North America The indigenous peoples of North America built substru ...
with a sunken court and monumental structure on top, near Tiwanaku, La Paz, Bolivia. It is part of the Pumapunku complex, at the
Tiwanaku Tiwanaku ( or ) is a Pre-Columbian archaeological site in western Bolivia, near Lake Titicaca, about 70 kilometers from La Paz, and it is one of the largest sites in South America. Surface remains currently cover around 4 square kilometers and in ...
Site, an ancient archeological complex in the Andes of western Bolivia that has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Pumapunku complex is a collection of plazas and ramps centered on the Pumapunku platform mound. Long ago the monumental complex on top of the Puma Punku platform mound deteriorated or was destroyed, and now only ruins remain of this feature. Construction of Puma Punku is believed to have begun after AD 536. Pumapunku was the most important construction in Tiwanaku, other than
Akapana Akapana (Akkapana) is an artificial platform mound (sometimes referred to as a pyramid) at the pre-Columbian archaeological site of Tiwanaku in Bolivia, located in the department of La Paz. It is composed of seven levels of platforms contained by ...
, which is believed to be "Pumapunku's twin". Among the place names in Tiwanaku, only the names "Akapana" and "Pumapunku" have historical relevance. Pumapunku holds several miniature gates that are perfect replicas of once standing full-size gateways. In addition to these miniature gateways, likely, at least five gateways (and several blind miniature gateways) were once (or were intended to be) integrated into the Pumapunku monumental complex. The foundation platform of Pumapunku supported as many as eight
andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...
gateways. The fragments of five andesite gateways with similar characteristics to the Gateway of the Sun were found. Tiwanaku, the location of Pumapunku, is significant in
Inca The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The History of the Incas, Inca ...
traditions. According to traditions, Tiwanaku is believed to be the site where the world was created. The Pumapunku complex consists of an unwalled western court, a central unwalled
esplanade An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortress or city walls to provide cle ...
, a terraced platform mound that is faced with stone, and a walled eastern court. At its peak, Pumapunku is thought to have been "unimaginably wondrous," adorned with polished metal plaques, brightly colored ceramic and fabric ornamentation, and visited by costumed citizens, elaborately dressed priests, and elites decked in exotic jewelry. Current understanding of this complex is limited due to its age, the lack of a written record, and the current deteriorated state of the structures due to treasure hunting,
looting Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...
, stone mining for building stone and railroad ballast, and natural weathering.


History

When the Spanish arrived at Tiwanaku, architecture was still standing at Pumapunku.
Bernabé Cobo Bernabé Cobo (born at Lopera in Spain, 1582; died at Lima, Peru, 9 October 1657) was a Spanish Jesuit missionary and writer. He played a part in the early history of quinine by his description of cinchona bark; he brought some to Europe on a vi ...
reports that one gateway and one "window" still stood upright on one of the platforms.


Description

The Pumapunku is a terraced earthen mound faced with blocks. It is wide along its north–south axis and long along its east–west axis. On the northeast and southeast corners of the Pumapunku, it has wide projections extending north and south from the rectangular mound. The eastern edge of the Pumapunku is occupied by the ''Plataforma Lítica''. This structure consists of a stone terrace in dimension. This terrace is paved with multiple enormous stone blocks. It contains the largest stone slab in the Pumapunku and Tiwanaku Site, measuring long, wide and averages thick. Based on the
specific gravity Relative density, also called specific gravity, is a dimensionless quantity defined as the ratio of the density (mass of a unit volume) of a substance to the density of a given reference material. Specific gravity for solids and liquids is nea ...
of the red
sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
from which it was carved, this stone slab is estimated to weigh 131
tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1,000  kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton in the United States to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the s ...
s (144 short tons). The remarkable aspects of the sandstone slabs, including their size and smooth surfaces have drawn comments for several centuries. The other stonework and facing of the Pumapunku consists of a mixture of
andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...
and red sandstone. Pumapunku's core consists of clay, while the fill under parts of its edge consists of river sand and cobbles instead of clay. Excavations documented "three major building epochs plus repairs and re-modeling". The even older
Kalasasaya The Kalasasaya (also: Kalassasaya; ''kala'' for ''stone''; ''saya'' or ''sayasta'' for ''standing up'') or Stopped Stones is a major archaeological structure that is part of Tiwanaku, an ancient archeological complex in the Andes of western Boli ...
complex a kilometre away shows a long period of settlement in the area. The area between the Pumapunku and the
Kalasasaya The Kalasasaya (also: Kalassasaya; ''kala'' for ''stone''; ''saya'' or ''sayasta'' for ''standing up'') or Stopped Stones is a major archaeological structure that is part of Tiwanaku, an ancient archeological complex in the Andes of western Boli ...
complex a kilometre away was surveyed around 2007 using
ground-penetrating radar Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is a geophysical method that uses radar pulses to image the subsurface. It is a non-intrusive method of surveying the sub-surface to investigate underground utilities such as concrete, asphalt, metals, pipes, cables ...
,
magnetometry A magnetometer is a device that measures magnetic field or magnetic dipole moment. Different types of magnetometers measure the direction, strength, or relative change of a magnetic field at a particular location. A compass is one such device, o ...
, induced
electrical conductivity Electrical resistivity (also called volume resistivity or specific electrical resistance) is a fundamental specific property of a material that measures its electrical resistance or how strongly it resists electric current. A low resistivity in ...
, and
magnetic susceptibility In electromagnetism, the magnetic susceptibility (; denoted , chi) is a measure of how much a material will become magnetized in an applied magnetic field. It is the ratio of magnetization (magnetic moment per unit volume) to the applied magnet ...
. The geophysical data collected from these surveys and excavations indicate the presence of numerous man-made structures in the area between the Pumapunku and Kalasasaya complexes. These structures include the wall foundations of buildings and compounds, water conduits, pool-like features,
revetment A revetment in stream restoration, river engineering or coastal engineering is a facing of impact-resistant material (such as stone, concrete, sandbags, or wooden piles) applied to a bank or wall in order to absorb the energy of incoming water an ...
s, terraces, residential compounds, and widespread gravel pavements, all of which are buried and hidden beneath the modern ground surface.Ernenweini, E. G., and M. L. Konns, 2007, ''Subsurface Imaging in Tiwanaku’s Monumental Core.'' Technology and Archaeology Workshop. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C.Williams, P. R., N. C. Couture and D. Blom, 2007 ''Urban Structure at Tiwanaku: Geophysical Investigations in the Andean Altiplano.'' In J. Wiseman and F. El-Baz, eds., pp. 423–441. ''Remote Sensing in Archaeology.'' Springer, New York. The area was mapped with a drone in 2016. The survey showed the site is seventeen hectares in size, of which only two hectares are unearthed. Two additional platforms exist underground.


Age

Noted by Andean specialist, W. H. Isbell, professor at
Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university in Binghamton metropolitan area, Greater Binghamton, New York, United States. It is one of the four uni ...
, a
radiocarbon date Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was de ...
was obtained by
Alexei Vranich Alexei Vranich ( ; born July 15, 1968) is an American archaeologist specializing in the pre-Columbian South America. His current position as a professor at the University of Warsaw. He is currently based at the Center for Andean Studies at the Uni ...
from organic material from the deepest and oldest layer of mound-fill forming the Pumapunku. This layer was deposited during the first of three construction epochs, and dates the initial construction of the Pumapunku to AD 536–600 (1510 ±25 B.P. C14, calibrated date). Since the radiocarbon date came from the deepest and oldest layer of mound-fill under the
andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...
and
sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
stonework, the stonework was probably constructed sometime after AD 536–600. The excavation trenches of Vranich show the clay, sand, and gravel fill of the Pumapunku complex were laid directly on the sterile middle
Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...
sediments. These excavation trenches also demonstrated the lack of any pre-Andean Middle Horizon cultural deposits within the area of the Tiwanaku Site adjacent to the Pumapunku complex.


Engineering

The largest of Pumapunku's stone blocks is long, wide, averages thick, and is estimated to weigh about . The second largest stone block found within the complex is long, wide, and averages thick. Its weight is estimated to be . Both of these stone blocks are part of the ''Plataforma Lítica'', and are red
sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
. Based on detailed
petrographic Petrography is a branch of petrology that focuses on detailed descriptions of rocks. Someone who studies petrography is called a petrographer. The mineral content and the textural relationships within the rock are described in detail. The classi ...
and chemical analyses of samples from individual stones and known quarry sites, archaeologists concluded these and other red sandstone blocks were transported up a steep incline from a quarry near
Lake Titicaca Lake Titicaca (; ; ) is a large freshwater lake in the Andes mountains on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It is often called the highest navigable lake in the world. Titicaca is the largest lake in South America, both in terms of the volume of ...
roughly away. Smaller andesite blocks for stone facing and carvings came from quarries within the Copacabana Peninsula about away from and across Lake Titicaca from the Pumapunku and the rest of the Tiwanaku Site. Archaeologists dispute whether the transport of these stones was by the large
labor force In macroeconomics, the workforce or labour force is the sum of people either working (i.e., the employed) or looking for work (i.e., the unemployed): \text = \text + \text Those neither working in the marketplace nor looking for work are out ...
of ancient Tiwanaku. Several conflicting speculative theories attempt to imagine how this labor force transported the stones. Two common possibilities involve the use of
llama The llama (; or ) (''Lama glama'') is a domesticated South American camelid, widely used as a List of meat animals, meat and pack animal by Inca empire, Andean cultures since the pre-Columbian era. Llamas are social animals and live with ...
skin ropes, and the use of ramps and
inclined plane An inclined plane, also known as a ramp, is a flat supporting surface tilted at an angle from the vertical direction, with one end higher than the other, used as an aid for raising or lowering a load. The inclined plane is one of the six clas ...
s. In assembling the walls of Pumapunku, each stone interlocked with the surrounding stones. The blocks were fit together like a puzzle, forming load-bearing joints. Jean-Pierre Protzen and Stella Nair identified a 1 to 1.5 millimeters thick thin coat of whiteish material covering some of the stones as a possible layer of mortar. One common engineering technique involves cutting the top of the lower stone at a certain angle, and placing another stone on top of it which was cut at the same angle. The precision with which these angles create flush joints is indicative of sophisticated knowledge of stone-cutting and a thorough understanding of
descriptive geometry Descriptive geometry is the branch of geometry which allows the representation of three-dimensional objects in two dimensions by using a specific set of procedures. The resulting techniques are important for engineering, architecture, design an ...
. Much of the
masonry Masonry is the craft of building a structure with brick, stone, or similar material, including mortar plastering which are often laid in, bound, and pasted together by mortar (masonry), mortar. The term ''masonry'' can also refer to the buildin ...
is characterized by accurately cut rectilinear blocks of such uniformity, they could be interchanged for one another while maintaining a level surface and even joints. Although similar, the blocks do not have the same dimensions. The precise cuts suggest the possibility of pre-fabrication and
mass production Mass production, also known as mass production, series production, series manufacture, or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines ...
. Some of the stones are in an unfinished state, showing some of the techniques used to shape them. The architectural historians Jean-Pierre and Stella Nair who conducted the first professional field study on the stones of Tiwanaku/Pumapunku conclude:
€¦to obtain the smooth finishes, the perfectly planar faces and exact interior and exterior right angles on the finely dressed stones, they resorted to techniques unknown to the Incas and to us at this time. €¦The sharp and precise 90° interior angles observed on various decorative motifs most likely were not made with hammerstones. No matter how fine the hammerstone's point, it could never produce the crisp right interior angles seen on Tiahuanaco stonework. Comparable cuts in Inca masonry all have rounded interior angles typical of the pounding technique €¦ The construction tools of the Tiahuanacans, with perhaps the possible exception of hammerstones, remain essentially unknown and have yet to be discovered.
According to Protzen and Nair, no tools have been excavated that were used in the construction of Tiwanaku, or if they have, they have not been identified as tools. According to the art historian Jessica Joyce Christie, the experiments of Jean-Pierre Protzen and Stella Nair showed that the Tiwanaku artisans may have used tools other than hammerstones to facilitate the creation of exact geometric cuts and forms and of which archeology has no record. Nair subsequently experimented with replicating a small section of a carving using a variety of possible stone tools, including blades, flakes and thin chisels made of stones including flint, agate, jasper, obsidian, hydrated obsidian, greywacke, quartzite, and hematite. (Bronze tools proved to be largely ineffective against hard andesite). She succeeded in carving a half-cross-shaped design about eight inches across, achieving the same high precision shown by the Puma Punku carvings. One element that she was unable to work out how to replicate was the accurately flat surface of the inside of the carving, and the researchers were struck by the ubiquity of such surfaces in the Tiahuanaco carvings. The process took 40 hours, although some of this was time taken in trial and error - the researchers estimated that it would take an experienced person about 25 hours. Tiwanaku engineers also developed civic infrastructure at this complex, constructing functional irrigation systems, hydraulic mechanisms, and leak-proof sewage lines.


Architecture

Pumapunku was a large earthen platform mound with three levels of stone
retaining wall Retaining walls are relatively rigid walls used for supporting soil laterally so that it can be retained at different levels on the two sides. Retaining walls are structures designed to restrain soil to a slope that it would not naturally keep to ...
s. Its layout is not square in plan, but rather T-shaped. To sustain the weight of these massive structures, Tiwanaku architects were meticulous in creating foundations, often fitting stones directly to bedrock or digging precise trenches and carefully filling them with layered sedimentary stones to support large stone blocks. Modern engineers argue that the base of Pumapunku was constructed using a technique called layering and depositing. By alternating layers of sand from the interior and layers of composite from the exterior, the fills overlap at the joints, grading the contact points to create a sturdy base.


Use of cramps

Notable features at Pumapunku are I-shaped architectural cramps, composed of a unique copper-arsenic-nickel bronze alloy. These I-shaped cramps were also used on a section of canal found at the base of the terraced platform mound
Akapana Akapana (Akkapana) is an artificial platform mound (sometimes referred to as a pyramid) at the pre-Columbian archaeological site of Tiwanaku in Bolivia, located in the department of La Paz. It is composed of seven levels of platforms contained by ...
at Tiwanaku. These cramps hold the blocks comprising the walls and bottom of stone-lined canals to drain sunken courts. In the south canal of the Pumapunku, the I-shaped cramps were cast in place. In sharp contrast, the cramps used at the Akapana canal were fashioned by the cold hammering of copper-arsenic-nickel bronze ingots.Lechtman, H.N., 1998, 'Architectural cramps at Tiwanaku: copper-arsenic-nickel bronze.' In ''Metallurgica Andina'': In Honour of Hans-Gert Bachmann and Robert Maddin, edited by T. Rehren, A. Hauptmann, and J. D. Muhly, pp. 77-92. ''Deutsches Bergbau-Museum'', Bochum, Germany. The unique copper-arsenic-nickel bronze alloy is also found in metal artifacts within the region between Tiwanaku and San Pedro de Atacama during the late Middle Horizon around 600–900.Lechtman, H.N., 1997, ''El bronce arsenical y el Horizonte Medio. En Arqueología, antropología e historia en los Andes.'' in ''Homenaje a María Rostworowski'', edited by R. Varón and J. Flores, pp. 153–186. ''Instituto de Estudios Peruanos'', Lima. Within Peru, T-shaped sockets can also be found at the
Qorikancha Coricancha, Curicancha, Koricancha, Qoricancha or Qorikancha (''"The Golden Temple,"'' from Quechua ''quri'' gold; ''kancha'' enclosure) was the most important temple in the Inca Empire, and was described by early Spanish colonialists. It is l ...
and
Ollantaytambo Ollantaytambo () is a town and an Inca archaeological site in southern Peru some by road northwest of the city of Cusco. It is located at an altitude of above sea level in the district of Ollantaytambo, province of Urubamba, Cusco region. D ...
. The cramp technique can also be found at buildings of
Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...
(e. g. at the temple of Khnum) and
Ancient Greece Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...
(e.g. at the
Erechtheion The Erechtheion (, latinized as Erechtheum ; , ) or Temple of Athena Polias is an ancient Greek Ionic temple on the north side of the Acropolis, Athens, which was primarily dedicated to the goddess Athena. The Ionic building, which housed the ...
). According to Stübel and Uhle the cramp sockets of Olympia and the Erechtheum in Athens are of the same shape as the ones of Tiwanaku. They call it "strikingly consistent choice of technical means" ("''auffallend übereinstimmenden Wahl der technischen Mittel''") which they think is due to "similar patterns in human way of thinking" ("''Gesetzmässigkeit der menschlichen Denkentwickelung''"). Puma Punku foundation plate joint.JPG, cramp sockets in the foundation platforms of Pumapunku Andean culture history (1964) (18007646698).jpg, cramp sockets in the foundation platforms of Pumapunku Puma Punku10.JPG, Ornamental stone with I-cramp sockets which suggests that more stones were added to this block Ollanta, Ollantaytambo, Peru - Laslovarga (27).jpg, T-shaped sockets at Ollantaytambo that are similar to those found at Pumapunku Interlock 1.jpg, Comparison of the Tiwanaku cramp technique (left) with that in
Delphi Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), was an ancient sacred precinct and the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient Classical antiquity, classical world. The A ...
(right)


Possible connection to Ollantaytambo

The architectural historian Jean-Pierre Protzen from
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
states that in the past it often has been argued that among the buildings at
Ollantaytambo Ollantaytambo () is a town and an Inca archaeological site in southern Peru some by road northwest of the city of Cusco. It is located at an altitude of above sea level in the district of Ollantaytambo, province of Urubamba, Cusco region. D ...
the monumental structures (e. g. the Wall of the six monoliths) were the work of the earlier Tiwanaku culture and have been reused by the
Inca The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The History of the Incas, Inca ...
s:
An argument persists that the Wall of the six monoliths and the vanished structures from which the blocks have been recycled predate the Incas and were work of the earlier Tiahuanaco culture. Support for the argument is found in the step motif carved on the fourth monolith and the T-shape sockets cut into several blocks, both believed to be hallmarks of Tiahuanaco-style architecture. €¦A variant of this argument is that Tiahuanacoid elements were brought to Ollantaytambo by €¦stonemasons from Lake Titicaca. €¦The only question here is why stonesmasons from Lake Titicaca should have remembered anything Tiahaunacoid when for several centuries nothing like it had been built. If anything remembers me of Tiahuanaco it is €¦the T-shaped sockets and the regularly coursed masonry of strongly altered andesite. €¦Many T-shaped sockets are indeed found at Tiahuanaco in particular at the site of Puma Punku €¦
However, according to Protzen, in Ollantaytambo only T-shaped sockets are found, whereas in Tiwanaku cramp sockets of a wide range of shapes — L, T, double-T or ‡, U, Y, Z — and dimensions are found. Similarities between Ollantaytambo and Tiwanaku were also noticed by Heinrich Ubbelohde-Doering,
Alphons Stübel Moritz Alphons Stübel (26 July 1835 â€“ 10 November 1904) was a German geologist and naturalist. Biography He studied chemistry and mineralogy at the University of Leipzig. With geologist Wilhelm Reiss (1838–1908), he conducted geolog ...
and
Max Uhle Friedrich Max Uhle (25 March 1856 – 11 May 1944) was a German archaeologist, whose work in Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Bolivia at the turn of the Twentieth Century had a significant impact on the practice of archaeology of South America. Biograp ...
.


Gateways of Pumapunku


Full-sized gateways

At least five gateways (and several blind miniature gateways) were once (or were intended to be) integrated into the Pumapunku monumental complex. The foundation platform of Pumapunku supported as many as eight andesite gateways. The fragments of five andesite gateways with similar characteristics to the Gateway of the Sun were found.


Miniature gateways

There also exist miniature gateways at Pumapunku which are perfect replicas of once standing monumental full-sized gateways. When reducing the full-sized monumental architecture to miniature architecture the Tiahuanacans applied a specific formula. There also exist replicas of larger monumental structures. For example it has been shown that the much-admired carved block known as the "Escritorio del Inca" is an accurate and reduced-scale model of full-scale architecture. Some of these "model stones" like "little Pumapunku" are not isolated stones but, rather, seem to fit in the context of other stones and stone fragments. According to Protzen and Nair the fact that many of these "model stones" were executed in multiple exemplars bespeaks mass production.


Doubly curved lintels

At Pumapunku and other areals of Tiwanaku such as Kantatayita doubly curved lintels with complicated surfaces were found. Jean-Pierre Protzen and Stella Nair point out that the "steep parabolic curve" of the doubly curved lintels (like that of the Kantatayita lintel) would be difficult to replicate for modern stonemasons ("would tax any stonemason's skills today").


Sculptures

There are at least two monoliths associated with the Pumapunku platform mound. One of these monoliths is the Pumapunku monolith (or Pumapunku stela). It was discovered west of the Pumapunku campus and first documented in photographs in 1876. There is evidence that like in the case of Akapana sculptures known as Chachapumas once were guarding the entrance to Pumapunku. Chachapumas usually were placed on andesite pedestals on either side of the entrance. These sculptures show fearsome traits of predatory animals, they crouch or kneel while clutching a human head in one hand and an axe in the other. Some authors believe that the Chachapumas demanded a "sacrifice" of humans when entering the monumental structures. Some authors believe, because of certain markings on stones found at Puma Punku, the
Gate of the Sun A gate or gateway is a point of entry to or from a space enclosed by walls. The word is derived from Proto-Germanic ''*gatan'', meaning an opening or passageway. Synonyms include yett (which comes from the same root word) and portal. The c ...
was part of Puma Punku. According to Alan Kolata the terraced platform mound depicted on the gateway of the sun is actually a stylized depiction of Pumapunku. The backside of the gateway of the sun has patterns which can be found on the stone slabs and gates of Pumapunku. Therefore some assume that the gateway of the sun once formed the main entrance to Pumapunku.


Roofs

The roofs of the entrance to Pumapunku were most likely out of Totora-reed stones. At the west entrance of Pumapunku Totora-reed stones were found. Early visitors who saw standing architecture at Tiwanaku reported about stones which resemble "straw":
€¦ e roof of the hall, on the outside, looks like straw, although it is of stone. Because the Indians cover their houses with straw, and for this oomto look like the others ouses they dressed the stone and incised it so that it would appear like a cover of straw.
Large Totora-reed stones can be found in the museum at Tiwanaku.


Cultural and spiritual significance

According to some theories, the Pumapunku complex and surrounding monumental structures like Akapana,
Kalasasaya The Kalasasaya (also: Kalassasaya; ''kala'' for ''stone''; ''saya'' or ''sayasta'' for ''standing up'') or Stopped Stones is a major archaeological structure that is part of Tiwanaku, an ancient archeological complex in the Andes of western Boli ...
, Putuni, and Kerikala functioned as spiritual and ritual centers for the Tiwanaku. This area might be the center of the Andean world, attracting pilgrims from far away to marvel in its beauty. These structures transformed the local landscape; Pumapunku was integrated with
Illimani Illimani () is the highest mountain in the Cordillera Real (part of the Cordillera Oriental, a subrange of the Andes) of western Bolivia. It lies near the cities of El Alto and La Paz at the eastern edge of the Altiplano. It is the second high ...
mountain. The spiritual significance and the sense of wonder might be amplified into a "mind-altering and life-changing experience"Morell, Virginia (2002). ''Empires Across the Andes'' National Geographic. Vol. 201, Iss. 6: 106 through the use of
hallucinogenic Hallucinogens, also known as psychedelics, entheogens, or historically as psychotomimetics, are a large and diverse class of psychoactive drugs that can produce altered states of consciousness characterized by major alterations in thought, moo ...
plants. Examinations of hair samples exhibit remnants of psychoactive substances in many
mummies A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and Organ (biology), organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to Chemical substance, chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the ...
found in Tiwanaku culture from Northern Chile, including babies as young as one year of age, demonstrating the importance of these substances to the Tiwanaku.


Peak and decline

The Tiwanaku civilization and the use of these enclosures and platform mounds appears to peak from AD 700 to 1000, by which point, the city core and surrounding area could house 10,000 to 20,000 residents. An extensive
infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and pri ...
was developed, including a complex
irrigation system Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has be ...
extending more than to support cultivation of potatoes,
quinoa Quinoa (''Chenopodium quinoa''; , from Quechuan languages, Quechua ' or ') is a flowering plant in the Amaranthaceae, amaranth family. It is a herbaceous annual plant grown as a crop primarily for its edible seeds; the seeds are high in prote ...
, corn, and other various crops. During their peak centuries, the Tiwanaku culture dominated the Lake Titicaca basin as well as portions of Bolivia and Chile.Kolata, A.L. (1993) ''The Tiwanaku: Portrait of an Andean Civilization.'' Wiley-Blackwell, New York. 256 pp. Janusek, J.W. (2008). ''Ancient Tiwanaku,'' Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, UK. 362 pp. Apparently, this culture dissolved abruptly some time around AD 1000, and researchers can only guess the reasons. A likely scenario involves rapid onset extended drought. Unable to produce the massive crop yields necessary for their large population, the Tiwanaku apparently scattered into the local
mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have aris ...
s, then disappeared shortly thereafter. Apparently, Puma Punku was abandoned before its builders could complete it.


Atlantis and aliens enthusiasts

Pumapunku is a subject of
pseudoscience Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable cl ...
theories about lost continents and extraterrestrial interventions. Thousands of websites and references refer to pseudoscientific theories put forward by enthusiasts of alien life-forms and Atlantis. The archeologist Jeb J. Card notes that Pumapunku is a fixture of books and television programs on alternative archeology and especially ancient aliens. According to Card, Atlantis and alien enthusiasts point to the fine-cut masonry and the location of Pumapunku in the high
Altiplano The Altiplano (Spanish language, Spanish for "high plain"), Collao (Quechuan languages, Quechua and Aymara language, Aymara: Qullaw, meaning "place of the Qulla people, Qulla") or Andean Plateau, in west-central South America, is the most extens ...
as mysteries. The archeologist Alexei Vranich counters the idea held by some ancient alien enthusiasts that well-preserved local precursors of the monumental complex of Pumapunku have been found (some monumental structures at
Pukara Pukara ( Aymara and Quechuan "fortress", Hispanicized spellings ''pucara, pucará'') is a defensive hilltop site or fortification built by the prehispanic and historic inhabitants of the central Andean area (from Ecuador to central Chile and ...
and Chiripa). In his view such discoveries are "a solid piece of evidence" against the claims by ancient alien enthusiasts that Pumapunku is an example of extraterrestrial technology, based in part on the idea that the form and design of the monumental complex of Pumapunku has no local precursors. The buildings at Chiripa (which are similar to buildings of Pumapunku) were identified as "storage bins" because impressions of baskets and remains of food were found. Vranich notes that generations of amateurs, the fringe element, and pseudo-archeologists claimed that the "apparent geometric perfection of Tiwanaku architecture" is a result of extraterrestrial intervention or of a lost super civilization. He instead attributed the ruins to the inhabitants of the Titicaca basin. In the 2019 issue of ''Public Archaeology'', Franco D. Rossi of
Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...
criticizes that ancient alien theorists have called the Aymara "stone age people" who could not have built Pumapunku.


Gallery

Puma Punku12.JPG, "nested square" symbol inside one "H-block". Identical "nested square" symbols can be found on stone stelas in the museum at
Pukara Pukara ( Aymara and Quechuan "fortress", Hispanicized spellings ''pucara, pucará'') is a defensive hilltop site or fortification built by the prehispanic and historic inhabitants of the central Andean area (from Ecuador to central Chile and ...
." Puma_Punku9.jpg, One gateway at Pumapunku with similar iconography to the Gateway of the Sun Ruins Tiwanaku Bolivia.jpg, Fragment of one gateway at Pumapunku Tiahuanacu 0032.jpg, Ornamental stones at Pumapunku Puma Punku10.JPG, Ornamental stone with I-cramp sockets which suggests that more stones were added to this block Puma_Punku_carvedrock_3.JPG, Detail of one of the andesite blocks Puma Punku11.JPG, Nested structures which are typical for Pumapunku Style architecture


Bibliography

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References


External links


Interactive Archaeological Investigation at Pumapunku Temple
– Archaeological Institute of America * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pumapunku Archaeological sites in Bolivia Buildings and structures in La Paz Department (Bolivia) Indigenous topics of the Andes Pre-Columbian architecture Ruins in Bolivia Tourist attractions in La Paz Department (Bolivia) 6th-century establishments in South America 11th-century disestablishments in South America Tiwanaku culture