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Description: We’ve all heard of the mystical and wondrous ancient civilizations of Mesoamerica and South America: The Maya, Olmecs, Aztecs, and the Inca. But one culture that developed on the southern end of Lake Titicaca in present-day western Bolivia near the border with Peru left behind ruins s

Ep 228: The Mystery of Pumapunku Part 1 — Astonishing Legends All Episodes Topics Blog Shop About Contact SUBMIT A LISTENER SEGUE Back All Episodes Recent Episodes Archived Episodes Back All Topics Conversations Creatures & Beings Folklore & Legend Haunted Landmarks, Structures, & Objects Notable Figures True Crime Unexplainable Phenomena UFOs & Aliens Vanished Back Shop All AL Apparel & Gear Patreon Bookstore Sponsor Offers Back About Our Team FAQ Back Contact Where to Reach Us Listener Segue All Episodes All Episodes Recent Episodes Archived Episodes Topics All Topics Conversations Creatures & Beings Folklore & Legend Haunted Landmarks, Structures, & Objects Notable Figures True Crime Unexplainable Phenomena UFOs & Aliens Vanished Blog Shop Shop All AL Apparel & Gear Patreon Bookstore Sponsor Offers About About Our Team FAQ Contact Contact Where to Reach Us Listener Segue SUBMIT A LISTENER SEGUE Ep 228: The Mystery of Pumapunku Part 1   Read Episode Transcript   “Life has been often disturbed on this earth by terrible events. Numberless living beings have been the victims of these catastrophes; some have been destroyed by sudden inundations. Their races even have become extinct, and have left no memorial of them except some small fragments which the naturalist can scarcely recognise.” — Excerpted from an 1812 quote by Baron Georges Cuvier, French zoologist, statesman, anatomist, and paleontologist   Description:We’ve all heard of the mystical and wondrous ancient civilizations of Mesoamerica and South America: The Maya, Olmecs, Aztecs, and the Inca. But one culture that developed on the southern end of Lake Titicaca in present-day western Bolivia near the border with Peru left behind ruins so monumental they continue to intrigue archaeologists and spark hypotheses of anachronistic, advanced technologies. The Inca referred to Lake Titicaca as their origin place. The culture that evolved in the region became known as Yaya-Mama, or “Father-Mother,” for the sculptures depicting dualistic Male-Female opposites. The remains of the capital city for this society are now known as Tiwanaku, one of the most significant archaeological sites in South America. Beginning as a small village in the BCE period, Tiwanaku grew to an enormous metropolis for its time. Peaking around 700 to 1000 CE, with a population near 40,000 and as many as 500,000 people settling in the high plains valley, what remains is a little over one and a half square miles of artifacts such as impressively carved stone gates and monolith statues, artisan ceramics, and quality metalwork. But perhaps the most awe-inspiring remnants are found at a particular spot within Tiwanaku called Pumapunku. Translating as “Gate of the Puma,” archaeologists define Pumapunku as a ceremonial and elite residential complex constructed in the typical fashion of a sunken court surrounded by plazas and ramps, sitting on a terraced platform mound. Yet what makes Pumapunku stand out from other similarly designed sites is the sophisticated masonry of its massive stone blocks ranging in size from 30 to 130 tons. Baffling as it is to imagine how these stones may have been quarried and moved great distances, it’s even more unaccountable how the Tiwanaku were able to cut the blocks so precisely they fit like interlocking puzzle pieces. This feat has some guessing the lost techniques were known only to them or even guided by otherworldly visitors. With construction beginning between 500 and 600 CE and rebuilt over the following centuries, the city would fall just as mysteriously, sometime around 1000 CE. Whether from natural disaster, withering from internal strife, or some violent end, Pumapunku and Tiwanaku leave us with one of the world’s great archaeological enigmas. Tonight, we unearth the artifacts and culture of a city once known by the Aymara people of the Bolivian Andes as “stone in the center,” meaning the center of the world.   Overview of Pumapunku. Photo by Brattarb. Use by CC BY-SA 3.0 “This map of Lake Titicaca was made by Rafael E. Baluarte, cartographer of the Geographical Society of Lima, for a presentation to the society in December 1891 of a monographic study of the lake by Dr. Ignacio La Puente.” From the Library of Congress. Pumapunku landscape. Photo by Janikorpi, use CC BY-SA 3.0, no changes made to any photos in this gallery, via Wikimedia Commons “Puerta del sol” or Gate of the Sun Alexson Scheppa Peisino(AlexSP), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons “Some of the so-called "H-blocks" which were interconnected (or intended to interconnect) with other andesite blocks forming blind miniature gateways.” Photo by Janikorpi. Use by CC BY-SA 3.0 “Demonstration of the building block technique” Photo by By Brattarb - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 Janikorpi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons “Cramp sockets in the foundation platforms of Pumapunku” By Janikorpi - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 “Detail of stone with precisely cut straight line and tooled holes within the line” Photo By Mattcorbitt - Public Domain “An example of high-precision small holes” By Brattarb - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 “Unfinished (upside down) block of andesite with blind holes. On analog finished blocks, each blind hole houses a tiny T-cramp socket, proving that blocks of this type should be mated with others.” By Brattarb - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 “Interlocking of stone blocks – Comparison of the Tiwanaku cramp technique (left) with that in Delphi (right)” Photo by Pacal, use by CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons “Virtual model of the model stones in their proper location” by Alexei Vranich, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Virtual color reconstruction of Pumapunku, by Alexei Vranich, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons “Virtual model of the model stones in their proper location” by Alexei Vranich, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons A partial overview of the carved stones on the plaza, by Benjamin Burga, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Stones at Pumapunku, photo by Tom Barnett @rompsk on Twitter Brattarb, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Stones at Pumapunku, photo by Tom Barnett @rompsk on Twitter Stones at Pumapunku, photo by Tom Barnett @rompsk on Twitter Artifacts at Tiwanaku, photo by Tom Barnett, @rompsk on Twitter Artifacts at Tiwanaku, photo by Tom Barnett, @rompsk on Twitter Mhwater at Dutch Wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Artifacts at Tiwanaku, photo by Tom Barnett, @rompsk on Twitter Artifacts at Tiwanaku, photo by Tom Barnett, @rompsk on Twitter Sasha India, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Peter van der Sluijs, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Alexson Scheppa Peisino(AlexSP), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Alexson Scheppa Peisino(AlexSP), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Photo by victorsounds, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Photo by Clairette ~ commonswiki Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 France license Flickr user: by machimon2006, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons rodoluca, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Pavel Špindler, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Photo byClairette; Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 France Alexson Scheppa Peisino(AlexSP), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Alexson Scheppa Peisino(AlexSP), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Photo by LBM1948, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Pavel Špindler, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Gold amulet from Tiwanaku, photo by Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Photo by Daderot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Pottery fragment, photo by Daderot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Photo by Daderot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Wall of the Six Monuments at Ollantaytambo, featuring t-shaped cramps found at Pumapunku. Photo by Wolfgangbeyer, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons  To navigate, press the arrow keys.←Move left→Move right↑Move up↓Move down+Zoom in-Zoom outHomeJump left by 75%EndJump right by 75%Page UpJump up by 75%Page DownJump down by 75%Keyboard shortcutsMap DataMap data ©2023 Google Imagery ©2023 NASA, TerraMetricsMap data ©2023 Google Imagery ©2023 NASA, TerraMetrics200 km Terms of UseReport a map error Location:Tiwanaku, the ruins of a once-massive city just south of Lake Titicaca in western Bolivia and near the southern border of Peru. Pumapunku, a ceremonial and elite residential complex partly constructed with inexplicably huge stones is one of the fascinating sites within it.   Suggested Viewing:Watch lecture #12: “Enigmatic Tiwanaku by Lake Titicaca” from the series Lost Worlds of South America with Dr. Edwin Barnhart over at Wondrium by CLICKING HERE. If you haven’t signed up yet for Wondrium, CLICK HERE to get a special, free 22-day trial offer which also includes unlimited access to their entire library, or go to Wondrium.com/legends   Reference Links:TiwanakuOfficial website for TiwanakuPumapunku“Pumapunku, The Ancient Ruins Where The Inca Believed The World Began” by By Aimee Lamoureux on AllThatsInteresting.com“Puma Punku: Ancient Alien Technology From 12,000 Years Ago?” from Brien Foerster on YouTube“In Search of Aliens: Mystery of Puma Punku Revealed (S1, E7) | Full Episode” from The History Channel on YouTube“The Non-Mystery of Puma Punku” by Brian Dunning of SkeptoidChavín de HuántarPucará on Encyclopaedia BritannicaKalasasayaLake TiticacaQullasuyuBoliviaLa PazPDF: Newspaper article on Pumapunku and Tiwanaku from The Washington Post, 1990“Scientists Virtually Reconstruct Magnificent Pre-Incan Temple” on Gizmodo.com“Interpreting the meaning of ritual spaces: The temple complex of Pumapunku, Tiwanaku, Bolivia” by Alexei N Vranich, University of Pennsylvania, 1999PDF: “The Construction and Reconstruction of Ritual Space at Tiwanaku, Bolivia (A.D. 500-1000)” by Alexei Vranich, Journal of Field Archaeology, Vol. 31, No. 2 (Summer, 2006)“Reconstructing ancient architecture at Tiwanaku, Bolivia: the potential and promise of 3D printing” by Alexei Vranich on Heritage Science Journal“Late-Holocene atmospheric lead deposition in the Peruvian and Bolivian Andes” on ResearchGate.net“Hints of mysterious religion discovered in world’s highest lake” by Erin Blakemore on NationalGeographic.comAxis mundi“Difference Between The Aztec, Maya, Inca, And Olmec” on KnowledgeNuts.com Mayan history on lost-civilizations.net“See Bolivia's celebration of human skulls” by CHRISTINE BEDNARZ on NationalGeographic.com“Amateur archeologist may have found an ancient city off the coast of St. Bernard”   Click here to get Stan Gordon’s new book!   View fullsize Stan Gordon's new book, "Creepy Cryptids and Strange UFO Encounters of Pennsylvania: Bigfoot, Thunderbirds, Mysteries of Chestnut Ridge, and more, Casebook Four    Related Books:   SPECIAL OFFERS FROM OUR SPECIAL SPONSORS:FIND OTHER GREAT DEALS FROM OUR SHOW’S SPONSORS BY CLICKING HERE! 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Copyright 2022 Astonishing Legends Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Landmarks Objects & StructuresForrest BurgessFebruary 27, 2022Tiwanaku, Tiahuanaco, Tiahuanacu, Pumapunku, Puma Punku, Boliva, Peru, Andes, stones, archaeology, Titicaca, South America, Maya, Mayan, Olmec, Aztec, Inca, Gate of the Sun, Mesoamerica, 228, 2022, Human Sacrifice, monolith, Ancient Aliens, technology, Ollantaytambo, stone softening1 Comment Facebook0 Twitter LinkedIn0 Reddit Pinterest0 0 Likes Comments (1) Newest First Oldest First Newest First Most Liked Least Liked Preview Post Comment… Sean Ferguson 10 months ago Pending Awaiting Moderation · 1 Like Great episode! W could listen for five more hours chasing the historical and archaeological roots of this story with you! 29 years ago I entered university and enrolled in the archaeology program and my main interest was monumental architecture and and cultural/ritual practice in both Mesoamerica and Celtic Europe. It was so interesting to hear Celtic culture raised in the episode because I wrote an undergrad paper doing a comparative analysis with ritual sites of Mayan culture and society and Celtic counterparts. While there are very specific forms each expressed and unique styles of art, I was staggered by the underlying commonality between two desperate groups across both time and space. I think we in the modern era take for granted how much ancient ways have actually influenced our current state and how there are very shocking similarities once once shrugs off the bias of our temporal experience. Looking forward to part 2 and hope there is room to revisit these kinds of topics. Fantastic effort on the part of the ARC. Cheers! Preview Post Reply Newer Post Ep 229: The Mystery of Pumapunku Part 2 Folklore & Legend, Landmarks Objects & StructuresForrest BurgessMarch 13, 2022Tiwanaku, Tiahuanaco, Tiahuanacu, Pumapunku, Puma Punku, Boliva, Peru, Andes, stones, archaeology, Titicaca, South America, Maya, Mayan, Olmec, Aztec, Inca, Gate of the Sun, Mesoamerica, 228, 2022, Human Sacrifice, monolith, Ancient Aliens, technology, Ollantaytambo, stone softening2 Comments Older Post Ep 227: Boundless Remote Viewing with Lori Williams Part 2 Conversations, Unexplainable Phenomena, True CrimeForrest BurgessFebruary 12, 2022Remote Viewing, Lori Williams, Controlled Remote Viewing, Stanford Research Institute, Russell Targ, Hal Puthoff, Harold E. Puthoff, Project Stargate, Lyn Buchanan, Men Who Stare at Goats, Third Eye Spies, Soviet spy, Joseph McMoneagle, psychic, spies, Boundless, Lori Lambert Williams, True Crime, Russian, CIA, DIA, NSA, NASA, Defense Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, Mars [email protected] Hours Listen & subscribe on your favorite platform Powered by Squarespace Privacy Policy + terms & conditions By using this website, you agree to our use of cookies. We use cookies to provide you with a great experience and to help our website run effectively.OK