Ep 229: The Mystery of Pumapunku Part 2

“The Tiwanaku is the greatest Native American empire that many Americans have never heard of. Every time we find something that reflects the complexity of the society, it adds to our deeper knowledge of the origins of complex societies worldwide.”

— Archaeologist Paul Goldstein, Department of Anthropology, UC San Diego

Description:

In tonight's Part Two of our series, we continue with the "Why?" of Tiwanaku and Pumapunku. As in, why was it all built? Why did Tiwanaku society spend so much effort and resources on it, and what did it mean to them? We then transition to the "How?" such a monumental architectural and cultural feat could be accomplished. What craftsmanship skills and construction technology did they possess to erect structures that continue to baffle present-day archaeologists and engineers? Could an organic technique of creating geopolymers, or essentially a type of concrete, explain the precise geometric shapes attained? Or was it a combination with a lost art of stone softening and shaping to achieve such exact tolerances? Perhaps they were just some of the best stonemasons in the world, with modern-quality chisels, drills, saws, and generations of labor at their disposal? And how did they come by their craft, through observation of nature and technical evolution, or some otherworldly source? We'll ask our good friend, Chemical Engineer Dr. Chris Cogswell, Ph.D., of The Mad Scientist Podcast, about the theoretical possibilities of ancient formulations as it applies to material sciences and their implications. Finally, we'll speculate on hypotheses and one aspect of the Tiwanaku enigma that is no less important than studying its stones – the legends and the beliefs that sparked its creation. For it is the folklore and spirituality of a culture that echoes through the ages, adding wonder about the mystery of Pumapunku.

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

 

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:

• “Underwater ritual offerings in the Island of the Sun and the formation of the Tiwanaku state” by Christophe Delaere, José M. Capriles, and Charles Stanish from the PNAS

• Ollantaytambo

• “Clues at Ollantaytambo. The Lost Art of Stone Softening” from Intriguing Megalithic Perspectives on YouTube

• “Tambomachay, Cusco, Peru: An Inca spa, military outpost or maybe… both?” on AtlasObscura.com

• Sacsayhuamán

• “The Non-Mystery of Puma Punku” by Brian Dunning of Skeptoid

• “Puma Punku: Ancient Alien Technology From 12,000 Years Ago?” from Brien Foerster on YouTube

• “Seeing The Patterns In Sound: A pair of artists find ghostly imagery in sound vibrations” by Chau Tu on ScienceFriday.com

• PDF: Cymatics: A Study of Wave Phenomena and Vibration by Hans Jenny

• “In Search of Aliens: Mystery of Puma Punku Revealed (S1, E7) | Full Episode” from The History Channel on YouTube

• “Are There Lost Alien Civilizations in Our Past?” from Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

• “Rethinking disaster-induced collapse in the demise of the Andean Highland States: Wari and Tiwanaku” by Patrick Ryan Williams, Field Museum of Natural History

• Guano

• “What Makes Bird Poop White?” from audubon.org

• Oxalic acid

• Uric acid

• Post-processual archaeology

• Tiwanaku

• Official website for Tiwanaku

• Pumapunku

• “Pumapunku, The Ancient Ruins Where The Inca Believed The World Began” by By Aimee Lamoureux on AllThatsInteresting.com

• Chavín de Huántar

• Pucará on Encyclopaedia Britannica

• Kalasasaya

• Lake Titicaca

• Qullasuyu

• Bolivia

• La Paz

• PDF: 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, 1999

• PDF: “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.com

• Axis 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

• “Machu Picchu: Inca site ‘has gone by wrong name for over 100 years’” on NewsBreak.com

• “Amateur archeologist may have found an ancient city off the coast of St. Bernard”

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CREDITS:

Episode 229: The Mystery of Pumapunku Part 2. Produced by Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess; Audio Editing by Sarah Vorhees Wendel. Sound Design by Ryan McCullough; Tess Pfeifle, Producer, and Lead Researcher; Research Support from the astonishing League of Astonishing Researchers, a.k.a. The Astonishing Research Corps, or "A.R.C." for short. Copyright 2022 Astonishing Legends Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.