BOLIVIA: Archaeologists discover new keys to ancient civilisation in Tiwanaku excavations

Record ID: 1505776

  • Title: BOLIVIA: Archaeologists discover new keys to ancient civilisation in Tiwanaku excavations
  • Date: 17th November 2005
  • Summary: TIWANAKU, BOLIVIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EXCAVATIONS TAKING PLACE AT THE AKAPANA PYRAMID ARCHAEOLOGIST WALKING ALONGSIDE THE STONE WALLS UNCOVERED IN THE AKAPANA PYRAMID EXCAVATIONS
  • Embargoed: 7th December 2005 17:53
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: History
  • Reuters ID: LVA59WS46P77TYXEZNZ5WXCFMMMV
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: In western Bolivia on the shores of Lake Titicaca, the ancient city of Tiwanaku is slowly revealing its centuries-old secrets to archaeologists. Once the most important city in pre-hispanic America, Tiwanaku was home to an ancient culture that began as far back as 1,500 BC and lasted for 27 centuries, twice that of the Roman empire. Once home to tens of thousands, this ancient metropolis boasts some key constructions, among them temples, pyramids and monoliths, as well as a semi-subterranean temple. First excavated in the early 1900s, archaeologists abandoned the site until recently, when a new excavation project began to reveal much more about the ancient civilization than had been previously known. The elaborately carved stones being uncovered around the Akapana pyramid have their own tale to tell, as have newly discovered interlinked, subterranean tunnels. According to archaeologist Freddy Arce, these underground channels, or ducts, raise all sorts of new and exciting possibilities. "(The excavations) are presenting us with things that were not known before, for example, the existence of ducts that are still in the study stage but that already raise the possibility of the existence of interior ducts, chambers or passages that would be speaking about a ceremonial use in this building," he said. These tunnels, which are 60 centimetres wide and 70 centimetres high, are also being used by archaeologists to place cameras inside the pyramid. Enter Robotech, a robot specially created to enter into the pyramid and record images of its contents. According to engineer Luis Infantes, Robotech will allow the team of archaeologist penetrate the structure to a much deeper level. "With this new robot we are trying to enter much further. To conquer the three levels and enter a fourth and if we can a fifth level. The robot is completely analogue, it has electronic systems, it has television channels," he explained. Robotech will be hooked up to an external control centre which will allow the experts to see exactly what is inside these tunnels. Another astonishing new discovery is that the main stones that form these elaborate constructions are not just positioned on the basis of solstices and equinoxes, but on the position of the stars at various times of the year, indicating a sophisticated knowledge of astronomy. The mounted heads that adorn the city's Subterranean Temple also represent people of different racial origin, suggesting that these ancient peoples had some sort of contact with distant lands and cultures. Archaeologists also believe that the Tiwanaku people had some knowledge of the magnetic qualities of rock, and perhaps used these to achieve altered states of consciousness as part of religious ceremonies. "It seems that in Tiwanaku there existed knowledge regarding the operation of rocks containing magnetism, and they formed some kind of ensemble where a person who was in the presence of these rocks received some kind of magnetic influence. We must not forget that the human being is a magnetic being because of the current of blood which is of an iron character. So what the Tiwanakota wise men must have done was to construct some environments that generated influence on the people, on the priests," explained Arce. This team of archaeologists, financed by the Andean Centre of Fomentation (CAF), the Soboce cement company and the Mayor's office at Tiwanaku, is continuing its work on the Akapana pyramid, and the Puma Punku structure, to discover more about this significant pre-Hispanic culture that once dominated the shores of Lake Titicaca. But many mysteries still surround this city's seven-layer pyramid that reaches to almost seventeen metres, which experts believe was constructed not long before the city was abandoned.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2020. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register