![Puma Punku landscape](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Puma_Punku_landscape.JPG)
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, a Native South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language
**So ...
which literally means 'Gate of the Puma') is a 6th-century T-shaped and strategically aligned
man-made
Artificiality (the state of being artificial or manmade) is the state of being the product of intentional human manufacture, rather than occurring naturally through processes not involving or requiring human activity.
Connotations
Artificiality ...
terraced
platform mound
Platform may refer to:
Technology
* Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run
* Platform game, a genre of video games
* Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models
* Weapons platform, a system or ...
with a
sunken court and monumental structure on top that is part of the Pumapunku complex, at the
Tiwanaku
Tiwanaku ( es, Tiahuanaco 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 kilo ...
Site near Tiwanacu, in western
Bolivia
, image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg
, flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center
, flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
. The Pumapunku complex is an alignment of plazas and ramps centered on the Pumapunku platform mound. Today the monumental complex on top of the platform mound lies in ruins.
It is believed to date to AD 536. After
Akapana, which is believed to be "Pumapunku's twin", Pumapunku was the second most important construction in Tiwanaku. Among all the names for the areas in Tiwanaku only the names "Akapana" and "Pumapunku" have historical relevance. At Pumapunku several miniature gates which are perfect replicas of once standing full-size gateways were found. Additionally 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 predomi ...
gateways. The fragments of five andesite gateways with similar characteristics to the
Gateway of the Sun
The Gate of the Sun, also known as the Gateway of the Sun, is a monolith carved in the form of an arch or gateway at the site of Tiahuanaco by the Tiwanaku culture, an Andean civilizations, Andean civilization of Bolivia that thrived around Lake ...
were found.
Tiwanaku is significant in
Inca
The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, (Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The admin ...
traditions because it is believed to be the site where the world was created.
In
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 ...
, Puma Punku's name means "Gate of the Puma". 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.
[Vranich, A., 1999]
''Interpreting the Meaning of Ritual Spaces: The Temple Complex of Pumapunku, Tiwanaku, Bolivia.''
Doctoral Dissertation, The University of Pennsylvania.[Vranich, A., 2006, "The Construction and Reconstruction of Ritual Space at Tiwanaku, Bolivia: A.D. 500-1000.
," ''Journal of Field Archaeology'' 31(2): 121–136.]
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 there was still standing architecture at Pumapunku.
Bernabé Cobo
Padre 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 ...
reports that one Gateway and one "window" was still standing 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, or specific gravity, is the ratio of the density (mass of a unit volume) of a substance to the density of a given reference material. Specific gravity for liquids is nearly always measured with respect to water (molecule), wa ...
of the red
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
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 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...
s (144 short tons).
[Ponce Sanginés, C. and G. M. Terrazas, 1970, ''Acerca De La Procedencia Del Material Lítico De Los Monumentos De Tiwanaku.'' Publication no. 21. ''Academia Nacional de Ciencias de Bolivia''.] 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 predomi ...
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".
[Protzen, J.-P., and S.E.. Nair, 2000, "On Reconstructing Tiwanaku Architecture:" ''The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians.'' vol. 59, no. 3, pp. 358–371.]
The area within the kilometer separating the Pumapunku and
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 ...
complexes was surveyed 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 o ...
,
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 specific electrical resistance or volume resistivity) is a fundamental property of a material that measures how strongly it resists electric current. A low resistivity indicates a material that readily allow ...
, and
magnetic susceptibility
In electromagnetism, the magnetic susceptibility (Latin: , "receptive"; denoted ) 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 ap ...
. 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
...
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.]
After the area was mapped with a drone in 2016, the results showed the site has a size of seventeen hectares of which only two hectares are unearthed. There are two additional platforms still 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 with campuses in Binghamton, New York, Binghamton, Vestal, New York, Vestal, and Johnson City, New Yor ...
,
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 dev ...
was obtained by Vranich
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 predomi ...
and
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
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 ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
sediments. These excavation trenches also demonstrated the lack of any pre-Andean
Middle Horizon
Middle or The Middle may refer to:
* Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits.
Places
* Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man
* Middle Bay (disambiguation)
* Middle Brook (disambiguation)
* Middle Creek (di ...
cultural deposits within the area of the Tiwanaku Site adjacent to the Pumapunku complex.
Engineering
![Pumapunkubolivia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Pumapunkubolivia.jpg)
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 sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
.
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 class ...
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 (; es, Lago Titicaca ; qu, Titiqaqa Qucha) 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. By volume of water and by surface area, ...
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.
![Puma Punku6](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Puma_Punku6.jpg)
Archaeologists dispute the transport of these stones was by the large
labor force
The workforce or labour force is a concept referring to the pool of human beings either in employment or in unemployment. It is generally used to describe those working for a single company or industry, but can also apply to a geographic regio ...
of ancient Tiwanaku. Several conflicting theories attempt to imagine the ways this labor force transported the stones, although these theories remain speculative. Two common proposals involve the use of
llama
The llama (; ) (''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 othe ...
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.
[Protzen, Jean-Pierre; Stella Nair, 1997, ''Who Taught the Inca Stonemasons Their Skills? A Comparison of Tiahuanaco and Inca Cut-Stone Masonry:'' The ]Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians
The ''Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians'' () is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by the University of California Press on behalf of the Society of Architectural Historians. It was established in 1941 as the ''J ...
. vol. 56, no. 2, pp. 146–167.
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 and ...
.
Many of the joints are so precise, a razor blade cannot fit between the stones. Much of the
masonry
Masonry is the building of structures from individual units, which are often laid in and bound together by mortar; the term ''masonry'' can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are bricks, building ...
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 flow production or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines. Together with job production and batch ...
, technologies far in advance of the Tiwanaku’s Inca successors hundreds of years later.
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, tools have never in history been excavated or identified that were used in the construction of Tiwanaku. According to the art historian Jessica Joyce Christie, the experiments of Jean-Pierre Protzen and Stella Nair showed that the Tiwanaku artisans may have possessed additional tools which facilitated the creation of exact geometric cuts and forms and of which archeology has no record at this time.
Tiwanaku engineers were also adept at developing a civic infrastructure at this complex, constructing functional irrigation systems, hydraulic mechanisms, and waterproof sewage lines.
Architecture
![7 Puma Punku](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/7_Puma_Punku.jpg)
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 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 at Tiwanaku. These cramps hold the blocks comprising the walls and bottom of stone-lined canals to drain sunken courts.
I
-cramps of unknown composition were used to hold together the massive slabs forming Pumapunku's four large platforms. 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
Middle or The Middle may refer to:
* Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits.
Places
* Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man
* Middle Bay (disambiguation)
* Middle Brook (disambiguation)
* Middle Creek (di ...
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 and
Ollantaytambo
Ollantaytambo ( qu, Ullantaytampu) 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 Urubamb ...
. The cramp technique can also be found at buildings of
Ancient Egypt (e. g. at the temple of Khnum) and
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...
(e. g. at the
Erechtheion
The Erechtheion (latinized as Erechtheum /ɪˈrɛkθiəm, ˌɛrɪkˈθiːəm/; Ancient Greek: Ἐρέχθειον, Greek: Ερέχθειο) or Temple of Athena Polias is an ancient Greek Ionic temple-telesterion on the north side of the Acropoli ...
). According to Stübel and Uhle the cramp sockets of Olympia and the Erechtheum in Athens are of the same shape that 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), in ancient times was a sacred precinct that served as the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient classical world. The oracle ...
(right)
Possible connection to Ollantaytambo
![Ollantaytambo Monolithen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Ollantaytambo_Monolithen.jpg)
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 land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
states that in the past it often haven been argued that among the buildings at
Ollantaytambo
Ollantaytambo ( qu, Ullantaytampu) 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 Urubamb ...
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 (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, (Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The admin ...
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 – 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.
Biograph ...
.
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
The Gate of the Sun, also known as the Gateway of the Sun, is a monolith carved in the form of an arch or gateway at the site of Tiahuanaco by the Tiwanaku culture, an Andean civilizations, Andean civilization of Bolivia that thrived around Lake ...
were found.
Miniature gateways
![Puma Punku H profile wall](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Puma_Punku_H_profile_wall.JPG)
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 isolates 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 the one 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
The Gate of the Sun, also known as the Gateway of the Sun, is a monolith carved in the form of an arch or gateway at the site of Tiahuanaco by the Tiwanaku culture, an Andean civilization of Bolivia that thrived around Lake Titicaca in the Andes ...
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
![Puma Punku5](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Puma_Punku5.jpg)
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 (Aymara) 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 secon ...
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 are a large, diverse class of psychoactive drugs that can produce altered states of consciousness characterized by major alterations in thought, mood, and perception as well as other changes. Most hallucinogens can be categorize ...
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 organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay furth ...
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 400,000 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 priv ...
was developed, including a complex
irrigation system
Irrigation (also referred to as watering) 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 been develop ...
extending more than to support cultivation of potatoes,
quinoa
Quinoa (''Chenopodium quinoa''; , from Quechua ' or ') is a flowering plant in the amaranth family. It is a herbaceous annual plant grown as a crop primarily for its edible seeds; the seeds are rich in protein, dietary fiber, B vitamins, and ...
, 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 arise ...
s, then disappeared shortly thereafter.
Apparently, Puma Punku was abandoned before its builders could complete it.
Atlantis and aliens enthusiasts
Pumapunku is subject of pseudoscience theories on lost continents and extraterrestrial interventions. Thousands of websites and references which refer to pseudoscientific theories of alien and Atlantis enthusiasts exist. The archeologist Jeb J. Card notes that Pumapunku is a fixture of books and television programs on alternative archeology and especially
ancient aliens
''Ancient Aliens'' is an American television series that explores the pseudohistorical and pseudoarchaeological ancient astronauts hypothesis, past human- extraterrestrial contact, UFOs, government conspiracies and related pseudoscientific top ...
. According to Card, Atlantis and aliens enthusiasts point to the fine-cut masonry and the location of Pumapunku in the high
Altiplano
The Altiplano (Spanish for "high plain"), Collao (Quechua and Aymara: Qullaw, meaning "place of the Qulla") or Andean Plateau, in west-central South America, is the most extensive high plateau on Earth outside Tibet. The plateau is located at the ...
as mysteries. The archeologist
Alexei Vranich
Alexei Vranich ( ; born July 15, 1968) is an American archaeologist specializing in the pre-Columbian South America. His previous positions include Visiting Professor at the University of Warsaw, Poland (2021-22)Programme ZIP UNIA Europejska, Lec ...
counters the ancient alien enthusiasts that well-preserved local precursors regarding the monumental complex of Pumapunku are now known (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 nor ...
and
Chiripa). This fact is in his view "a solid piece of evidence" against the claims by ancient alien enthusiasts that hold Pumapunku as a best 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 amateur, fringe and pseudo-archeologist claimed that the "apparent geometric perfection of Tiwanaku architecture" is a result of extraterrestrial intervention or a lost super civilization instead attributing the ruins to the inhabitants of the Titicaca basin. In the 2019 issue of
''Public Archaeology'', Franco D. Rossi of
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...
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 nor ...
."
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
External links
Bibliography
*
Alphons Stübel
Moritz Alphons Stübel (26 July 1835 – 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 ...
,
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.
Biograph ...
''Die Ruinenstätte von Tiahuanaco im Hochlande des alten Peru.''Breslau (1892), p. 25–28
* Jean-Pierre Protzen, Stella Nair: ''Who taught the Inca stonemasons their skills? A comparison of Tiahuanaco and Inca cut-stone masonry.'' The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (1997). Volume 56, Nr. 2
* Alexei Vranich: ''Interpreting the meaning of ritual spaces: the temple complex of Pumapunku, Tiwanaku, Bolivia.'' University of Pennsylvania, 1999.
* Jean-Pierre Protzen, Stella Nair: ''On Reconstructing Tiwanaku Architecture.'' The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (2000) Vol. 59
* Jean-Pierre Protzen, Stella Nair: ''The Gateways of Tiwanaku. Symbols or passages?'' In: Andean Archaeology II: ''Art, landscape and society.'' Helaine Silverman and William H. Isbell (ed.) Springer, Boston, MA, 2002. pages 189–223.
* Alexei Vranich: ''The construction and reconstruction of ritual space at Tiwanaku, Bolivia (AD 500–1000).'' Journal of Field Archaeology 31.2 (2006): 121–136.
* Jean-Pierre Protzen, Stella Nair: ''The Stones of Tiahuanaco: A Study of Architecture and Construction.'' Vol. 75. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press, University of California, Los Angeles (2013)
* Alexei Vranich, Charles Stanish: ''Advances in Titicaca Basin Archaeology-2.'' (2013), p. 140 ff.
* Alexei Vranich
''Reconstructing ancient architecture at Tiwanaku, Bolivia: the potential and promise of 3D printing.''Heritage Science 6.1 (2018): 1–20.
References
External links
– 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