|
|
1951
The Mystery of Titicaca, by Egerton Sykes (a summary of)
In the Andes and partly in Peru, and partly in Bolivia,
lies Lake Titcaca, the site of an ancient culture which, on the basis of the evidence
before us may well be pre-diluvian. The traces of cities and harbors above
13,000 feet, and where the storage of oxygen renders life most difficult for
plain dwellers to live, then we are faced with something so much out of the
ordinary as to deserve our attention. Lake Titcaca complex is the remnant of a
vast inland sea, some 460 miles in length, and 30 to 100 miles wide. It
stretched from Latitudes 15' to 21' degree South, and longitude 67' and 70'. It
comprised the present Lake Tticaca and 180 miles to the South East Lakes Poopo
and Coipassa. At present Titcaca, which is brackish, measure 11 miles by 25;
Lake Poopo, which is salty, 50 miles by 20; and Lake Coipassa, which is briny,
20 miles by 10. The river Desaguadero, which drops some 500 feet in 130 miles,
links these Lakes. The remarkable thing about Lake Titcaca complex is the
slanting, intermediate strand line, which slants from north to south, dropping
from 12,800 feet in the North, to 12,596 feet at Tiahuanaco; and to 12,000 feet
in the extreme south, a drop of over 800 feet. There are also traces of a
higher strand line, also slanting, which drops from 13,550 feet, to 13,266 feet
and 12,500 feet. The culture of the City of Tiahuanaco to which we are about to
refer, must have existed at the time of the intermediate strand line, which we
may take to have occurred at the same time as the final stages of Atlantis,
bringing the close of the era to about 11,500 years ago. There are several
cultural layers in the area, one of which, including the building latter
referred to as the "old Temple", must have existed before the lake
rose to the intermediate level of the main Titcaca culture. This would mean
that it must be at least 12,000 years old, and as such, must be the oldest
civilization as yet discovered. In Tiahuanaco 13 miles from the lake had what
was then in the northern part of the town series of buildings bounded by a quay
on the North, and by a harbor canal on the East South and West. They include
the Kalasasava, the palace of the Black and White stairs, the Akapana, the Old
Temple, and a series of constructions which only resemble air raid shelters.
There are also several unidentified buildings. The Kalasasava, a large
monolithic gateway 13 ft. 6 long, 9ft. high, and 18 inches thick, in which is
cut a doorway 6 feet high and about 2ft. 6 in. wide.
"what well may be the largest carved monolithic
structure in the world, being cut out of one piece of andesite, an extremely
hard material which blunts all but the hardest steel tools." How they cut and
handled the rock in works as if it were cheese is unknown.
"The staircase of the Kalasasava temple is coated with
scale which would show that it had been under water for a considerable period
of time." The god of this temple has come down to us as probably
Viracocha. This is by no means certain, names of gods tend to change over time,
and especially with the changes of races hands.
The Palace of the Black and White Stairs leads upto the
West toward the sun temple. To the south is Akapana, hill citadel fortress.
This semi artificial mound resembles to some extent Silbury Hill, is 650 by 490
feet at the base, and is roughly aligned to the points of the compass. At the
top in the center, are the remains
Of an artificial pond, which was drained by the most elaborate
stone overflow down the side of the hill. The height is at least 150 feet. On
this portion of the site there was the remains of the 'Old Temple', a building
of an earlier construction, and its orientation does not correspond with the
other sites. Three-quarters of a mile to the South-West lies the Puma Punku.
The word "Puma' means gate and so the title means Puma Gate, but it is
also known as Water-Gate and Tunca, or Ten Gates. This building had a
rectangular shape with six stories or steps, and as usual a artificial pond at
the summit. Base was 500 by 360 feet. Immediately to the south of the building
are the remains of of a road, on the other side of which there were two harbour
basins which would take a vessels of up to 150 feet in length with ease. The
general impression is that it would have been a small harbour. "That some
vestiges of the past survived until fairly recent times is shown by the field
of mastodons found near Bogota, in Columbia, at about the same height as
Titcaca, and probably destroyed at the same time." "The llama is a
four toed domestic animal unknown in the wild state, but in several of these
ruins the remains of a five toed llamas, which were either kept as pets or for
usual domestic use are their cousins today. This would appear to imply
considerable age to the first builders of these fortresses. Another interesting
fact is that the natives made many drawings of toxodons, a species of animal
similar to the hippopotomus, the bones of which have been discovered in nearly
all these cities. The toxodon has been extinct for probably at least ten
thousand years, and we only know what it looked like from the Indian drawings
and scupltures, such as those on the monolithic gateway of the sun temple. On
the gateway is depicted flying fish, which are only found nearby the Pacific
150 miles away. Titcaca Culture practiced cranial deformation, which is one
factor of a Atlantean introduced custom. On the Sun Temple depicts a Priest or
a King who resembles those at Easter Island. The Long Ears associated with the
Lemnurian Culture may show not just Easter Island but a practice the involved
Cranial deformation and elongated ears as mixing of Atlantean and Lemurian race
practices from a remote time? "When we turn to myths, there are so many
having their origin at Titicaca, that it is a problem to choose. Here is one of
them from Sarmiento De Gamboa's History of the Incas written in 1581. "
"Viracocha, the Creator of the world, created not only mankind but also a
race of giants. These people sinned and warred, and so he decided to destroy
them. Some were turned to stones, some were swallowed by the earth, some by the
sea, and the remainder were drowned by a flood which came after it had rained
for 60 days and 60 nights. From the flood only a few escaped." Here is the
survival story from the same source:
"Two brothers escaped the flood by climbing to the top
of a high mountain and after the flood intermarried with two women who had
survived-presumably on another peak-and from them one of the tribes is
descended."
To continue with Viracocha:- "After the flood had
receded, the god went to the Island of Tiahuanaco, in Lake Titicaca. After he
had arrived there the sun, moon and stars appeared again. He then sent his
servants by different routes, to go through the land saying: 'Oh you tribes and
nations, hear and obey the order of Viracocha, which commands you to go forth
and multiply and settle the land'. And the people came forth, some from the
valleys, caves, rocks and hills to spread over the land."
Linked up with this story of how Viracocha called froth the
volcanic eruption on his disobedient subjects, and that huge blocks of pumice
stone were hurled down the mountain side at them.
Garcilasso de la Vega- tells of a man at Tiahuanaco
dividing the world among four kings.
Cieza de Leon-tells that Viracocha was a man of a great
stature who came from the North.
Molina- describes how man was created at Tiahuanaco, and
the chiefs sent forth by him.
Betanzos-tells alsoViracocha rose from the Lake.
All the legends told about him seem to have been told about
Manco Ccapac, who may have been a subordinate leader of the same period, who
eventually settled near Cuzco, as it is told that with his wife Oulla Huaca he
brought with him a golden wedge, which was laid in the foundations of Cuzco,
the capital city of ancient Peru. At a later date Incas called Lake Titicaca,
Mama Cota or Mother Water, believed to be the site of creation.
From the Webmaster there is enough stories and evidence of
9,000 B.C. escaping people from a watery region and that the Temples in the
Andes may have been tectonic wise vaulted upwards overtime which may explain
An interest by the cultures to be closer to safety from the
rising seas then is near the ocean for awhile directly. There is enough stories
to show the movement inland precluded the advent of the tidal grid which the
Tiahuanaco myths may refer to in the tears of the god i.e. of 'Obsidian Glass'
i.e. volcanic erupted glass.
From Mexico
to Aztlan by Sea, by Edmund Kiss
