November 19, 2017 readadmin Culture , News , People , Travel

Tiwanacu, Bolivia: an ancient and technologically advanced civilization which was disappeared from the earth long before the birth of other known civilization to us. One of the traces they left behind was their massive and magnificent constructions.

Who were they? How they created such massive structures which can’t even create by today’s engineers with all the technologically advanced machinery available now?

Tiwanaku alternate names in Spanish such as Tiahuanaco and Tiahuanacu

Tiwanacu is a pre-Columbian archaeological site in Western Bolivia, South America. The site was built by a most advanced civilization of both American continents. Archaeologists believe that these supernatural people who lived around 15000-BC before the civilizations like Incas, Mayan, Aztecs, Egyptians and Eastern had begun.

Tiahuanaco city is situated at an elevation of 12900 ft. above the sea level and almost near to the southern shore of Lake Titicaca. The site is still looking so majestic even though in ruins. The principle structure embraces a huge stepped pyramid of earth faced with cut andesite (the Akapana Pyramid) and rectangular arena known as the Kalasasaya, which is constructed of alternating stone columns and rectangular blocks. The entrance of Kalasasaya is a gigantic monolithic gateway draped with carved figures. Tiahuanaco, Bolivia is an example of engineering is so majestic that it dwarfs even the works of Aztecs.

The stone blocks used to create this majestic structure on the site weigh more than 100 tons with no chisel marks is one of the surprising facts. The traces of stones used to build the structure came from two quarries which are located 10 and 50 miles away from the site. One quarry supplied the “Sandstone” and the other supplied “Andesite”. The one of the mysterious question here is how these people transported the massive stone blocks from such a far distance in a time before the horse was domesticated in South America and even before the discovery of wheels. Also, it shows signs that these magical people even transported stone blocks weigh up to 400 tons.

The construction model of these structures in the site of Tiwanacu, Bolivia is interesting. The massive blocks of stone were notched first and then fitted together so that they interlocked in three dimensions. Such unusual technique behind their building structure gave enough strength to withstand earthquakes.

Archeologists have recently concluded this place as the ritual site for Tiahuanaco (Tiwanacu, Bolivia), as the structure design has docks, quays and harbors. This harbor cannot be used by any ships as the place is situated at an elevation of about 13000 ft. above the sea level and the nearest water bodies to the site is miles away. Because of all the mysteries associated with the site and the structural designs, archeologists concluded that Tiahuanaco (Tiwanacu, Bolivia) were never lived here rather than used as a temple which built as if a harbor and the design like a port is probably given because belief that the souls could sail to the heaven from here.

But by 1995 some new discussions refueled on this topic that Tiahuanaco (Tiwanacu, Bolivia) was the capital of an ancient empire which extending across eastern and southern Bolivia, northern and western Argentina and northern Chile and southern Peru. They have some unique form of Agriculture techniques such as:

Creation of raised planting surfaces separated by small irrigation drains

These drains absorbed sunlight and prevent crops from freezing, even on extreme cold climates

Algae collected from the drains and used as fertilizer

This discovery helped many modern Bolivian farmers to cultivate crops with a better yield than the modern techniques they used so far.

Tiahuanaco (Also known as Tiwanaku ) will be one of the real mysteries to the modern world until getting a single valuable clue to decipher how they constructed these marvelous masterpieces. Now Tiwanacu, Bolivia is one of the UNESCO World heritage sites.