Tiwanaku is a bolivian city located on the high plateau of the Altiplano at almost 4000m altitude ,70km away from La Paz and 15km from the Titicaca Lake. Tiwanaku was the capital of a prosperous regime : the Tiwanaku’s civilisation (the name designates the city, the culture but also the Tiwanaku people). They preceded incas and dominated the southern half of the Central Andes between the 5Th century and the 11th century AD.
drawing by the archeologist Ephraim Squier in 1877
I – Archeological mysteries, source of inspiration and fantasist theories :
When the conquistadors discovered the ruins of Tiwanaku, they asked locals who built them. No one knew… It seems like the site was abandoned centuries ago without raisons.
There is only a few reliable bibliographical sources foundable about Tiwanaku : every guides seem to tell their own stories… In fact, many questions about Tiwanaku ‘s civilization have still not found answers and are feeding the most wacky theories.
The date of the construction of the city is also subject to question. The town may have been founded before the tiwanaku era. Some clues even evoke a foundation older than 10000 years: « docks » were built in Tiwanaka even if the Lake Titicaca is now distant from more than 10 km . Likewise, some constructions are no longer aligned with the soltice and would have been only about 12 000 years ago… – As a reminder, the Summerian and Egyptian civilizations date from ca. 3500 BC.
The archeological site is composed of a andean cross shaped pyramid and of 3 temples, each one situated on a different level (semi-burred, …), 4 other sites were discovered by archeologists in the past years but are still burried.
The site of Pumapumku 500m north of the complex witch exact function stays uncertain.
The temple of Khalasasaya, the upper temple and the semi-buried temple. Each would be associated with a spiritual level. Four other levels would have been discovered but would still be buried.
In the first ground, the walls of the semi-underground temple alternate large monolithic pilars and brickwork of corse arschlar as well as around 170 carved human heads. This temple was find burried in the earth witch explains that its walls were the only ones discovered in good state of conservation.
Some of the stones of the archeological stones are still surprising sharps and archelogues don’t know witch technics were used to carved them. Likewise the way in which the Tiwanaku people transported some blocks of several tones remains a partial mystery (some holes in the stones could have been carved so that it would be possible to manipulate them with thick ropes) . The junction between certain blocks of stone was ensured by metal staples with « I » shapes.
Tiwanaku’s skulls discovered somewhere else in the Andes. The rich people used to used to comb their child with a wooden frame so that their skull, growing up, tooks on an oblong form. Some then argued that the Tiwanakus wanted to look like aliens from whom they would have been visited. These theories may have inspired the screenwriters of « Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull » who also imagined aliens with oblong cranes …
One of the gates carved in one single block of stone. Since the doors were found isolated and far away of any construction this elements has fed many fantasies. Some argue that these doors allow access to other dimensions, much like in Stargate.The monolyth Ponceis is covered with fine engravings. After my previous visit in Easter Island it is difficult not to think about the similarities between the monolythes. Of course their similar scale, the interrogations concerning their way of transportation and the mystery around the future of tiwanaku’s civilization fed (and still feed) numerous theories about contact between this two civizations.The Sun Gate could have been carved between 800 and 1000 AD. It consists just in one tone block of more than 10 tons witch should have been brought from the Kapia volcanic hill on boat then pulled maybe by rolling it on logs. Archeologists find it spilled on the ground and broken in two parts. It could have been the entrance of a bigger ceremonial complex.Details of the Sun Gate, the central figure, probably a representation of the Sun divinity, is surrounded by wings warriors and condors. In total there are 48 figures engraved in boxes whitch may represent the months of a calendar.Several symbols used by Hergé in « Tintin : Le Temple du Soleil » are not incas but copied from the Tiwanaku’s culture. As in the Incas civilization, astronomical and astrological principles were of paramount importance for the Tiwanaku’s people.
II – Archeological aberrations
After its abandonment, the city was plundered by conquestitadors and treasure hunters. Many stones were also recovered on the site to build the neighboring village. But beyond these pillages, archaeologists have also contributed to denature the site. This is an opportunity to remember that the profession has evolved a lot in the twentieth century and that some actions that once seemed natural now pass for aberrations.
On this picture, we see the monolith of Benett (discovered in 1932 by the american archeolog Wendell Benett) moved on an avenue of La Paz soon after its discover. Despite it has been exposed to the elements for several centuries, in just 69 years in the middle of the traffic pollution, it was damaged considerably. So much than 15 years ago, it was finaly repatriated to Tiwanaku to be put to safety in a dark museum…On the temple « Kasasaya » only the colums were found in place, the carved stones were scattered all over the site. Archeologists decided to build them back, unfortunately the stoneworks reconstituted are really far from equal to the quality of the original puzzle. water drainage systems are not all well placed while the Tiwanaku people were expert in the field of irrigation – indispensable to practice agriculture at such an attitude.
III- Struggles between cults and overlapping cultures :
A grec cross surmounting a triangle, christian symbols, were probably engraved on the monolyth Ponce by the spannish colons when they discovered the archeological site – It translates well the intention to deny this pagan icon and to impose their religion on local people.
Part of the stones of the archaeological site were recovered by the natives to build the village of Tiwanaku. We can find some of them in the Church of Tiwanaku built between 1580 and 1612. This building is an exeptional exemple of superposition of cultures : two monoliths recovered from the archaeological site were placed on both sides of the entrance gate and 28 gargoyles inspired by from the tiwanaku’s culture were also placed in the bell tower. The intention was undoubtedly to reuse several pagan symbols in order to gradually bring the natives to adopt the Christian cult.
In the church’s courtyard, a gargoyle and a basin whose engravings represent the tiwanaku’s figure of the pachapuma were installed next to a christian cross.
by baptiste quételart – architect / architectural reporter
