Chapter 11 Chapter 10 The Capital of the Sun Gate

When early Spanish tourists visited the ruins of the ancient city of Tihuanaco during the Spanish army's conquest of Bolivia, they were awed by its magnificence and mysterious atmosphere and left a deep impression on it.The historian Pedro Cieza de leon wrote in his book: "I asked the local indigenous people whether these buildings were built in the Inca era. They couldn't help laughing when they heard me ask. .These natives claim that the buildings in the city existed long before the Incas established their dynasty...According to their ancestors, these buildings suddenly appeared overnight..."①Recorded by another Spanish tourist at the same time It is a wonderful legend circulated among the aborigines: the stone suddenly rose from the ground, like a miracle, "floated in the air with the sound of the horn, and was transported all the way to the site where the city was built". ②

Shortly after the Spaniards conquered Bolivia, the historian Vega gave a detailed description of the ancient city.At that time, the invaders had not yet begun to plunder the treasures and building materials in the city. Therefore, despite the years of devastation, the city of Tihuanaco was still quite intact, and its magnificence was enough to shock a Spanish historian: Especially worth mentioning are the huge and breathtaking buildings in the city of Tihuanaco.There is a rockery in the city, very high, built on a stone foundation to prevent the loosening of the soil under it.There are huge statues carved in stone everywhere in the city... they have been weathered and sunburned, and they are very old.The walls of the city are built of such huge stones that it is hard to believe that they were made by human hands.In addition, the remains of strange buildings can be seen everywhere in the city, the most striking of which are stone gates hewn from a single block of rock; And the base and the door were carved out of the same rock... What tools, instruments, and methods did humans use to complete such a large-scale construction project?We have no way of answering this question... We also have no way of knowing what means of transportation used to transport such a huge stone here...③

That was the city of Tihuanaco in the 16th century. More than 400 years later, at the end of the 20th century, when I came to this ancient city, I was also awed by its momentum.Despite all these years of looting, the city of Tihuanaco is still scattered with stele pillars carved out of a single block of rock—these stones are so huge and heavy, but so neatly cut and chiselled. So beautifully crafted, we can't help but wonder if they came from the hands of the gods. underground temple Like a disciple prostrating at the master's feet, I sat on the floor of the underground temple in Tihuanaco City, raised my neck, and looked up at the enigmatic face—scholars say that this is the legendary Viracocha.Many centuries ago, an unknown artisan carved Viracocha's likeness onto a tall red stone pillar.Despite being eroded by wind and sand, the face shown in this portrait is still so peaceful and quiet, exuding an inexplicable terrifying power...

His forehead was broad, his eyes were large and round, his lips were full, his nose was straight, and the bridge of his nose, though narrow, flared out to the nostrils.The most striking feature of this face is his oddly shaped and forbidding beard, which makes his jaw appear wider than his temples.Taking a closer look, I found that when the craftsman carved this portrait, he deliberately polished the skin around his lips smooth, so that his beard was raised high on his cheeks, parallel to the tip of his nose, and then extended exaggeratedly along the corners of his mouth , forming a mighty goatee on the chin, and then turning back along the jawbone to the temples.

On both sides of his head, above and below his ears, there are strange animal figures carved.Strictly speaking, it's not the graphics that are bizarre, but the animals themselves, for they look like huge, awkward prehistoric mammals with fat tails and misshapen limbs. There are also some intriguing features of this stone statue from Viracocha.For example, his hands and arms are folded across his chest, embracing the flowing robes he wears.A long, sinuous snake is carved on either side of the robe, winding its way up from the ground to Viracocha's shoulders.Looking at this beautiful pattern (perhaps it was originally embroidered on a rich piece of cloth), I thought of Viracocha as a magician or wizard or something, with a beard on his face, like a round table. In a samurai tale, Merlin, the wizard, wears outlandish costumes and summons fire from heaven to descend on the earth.

The "temple" enshrining Viracocha's statue was open-air, set in a large rectangular pit shaped like a swimming pool and six feet deep.The floor of the temple was paved with hard, smooth gravel, about 40 feet long and 30 feet wide.The walls are very strong and straight, and consist of many pieces of ashlar of various sizes, seamlessly matched, the joints being entirely free of plaster.Along the wall, at intervals, stood tall, rough stone pillars.A staircase led from the south wall to the subterranean temple--the same staircase I descended when I entered the temple gate. I walked around the statue of Viracocha several times, reaching out my hand from time to time, touching the stele warmed by the sun, thinking about what mystery this statue contains.The whole statue is about 7 feet high, facing south, facing the ancient shoreline of Lake Titicaca (the lake shore was less than 600 feet away from the temple at the time).Behind this obelisk standing in the center of the temple, representing Viracocha, are two smaller steles, apparently representing Viracocha's legendary disciples.The sun was slanting to the west, and I stared at the three statues standing upright, and saw them quietly casting sharp shadows on the ground.

I sat down on the floor again and browsed around the temple.Like the conductor of a symphony orchestra, Viracocha presides over everything in the temple, however, it is the hundreds of heads carved from rock that line the walls that attract the most attention.These are all complete heads, protruding from the wall one by one, lifelike.As for their use, the academic community is still debating. Yakapana Pyramid Sitting on the floor of the underground temple, looking towards the west, I saw a huge wall with a gap in the middle, and a geometric door made of large stone slabs, which was very eye-catching.A tall statue stood in the darkness of the doorway, and under the setting sun, the outline looked particularly sharp.I understand that this wall encloses a wide square called Kalasasaya (in the local Aymara dialect, the word means "where the stone stands" ④).The towering statue is one of several ancient statues mentioned by Vega in his writings.

I really want to go over to see its style, but at this moment, my eyes are attracted by a rockery in the south.The hill was fifty feet high; I climbed the steps from the subterranean temple, and saw it standing straight ahead.The hill that Vega also mentioned in his writings is called "Akspana Pyramid".Just like the pyramids in the Giza area of ​​Egypt, it was built according to the four cardinal directions of east, west, south and north, and its accuracy is astonishing.Unlike the Egyptian pyramids, its foundations are not so square.However, based on its length of 690 feet on each side alone, this pyramid is qualified to be revered as a masterpiece of ancient architecture, and it is proud of the entire ancient city of Tihuanaco.

I walked towards it, walked around it several times, and climbed up and down the stairs for a while.When it was first built, the pyramid was first piled up with soil to form a hill, and then covered with huge neutral feldspar (andesite) on the surface, and the steps were built, and the tower body was polished very smoothly.However, in the hundreds of years after the Spanish invasion, the Acapana pyramid became a quarry; builders came from the capital La Paz to plunder its priceless stone materials, and now only about 10% off. How many precious historical materials were destroyed by this group of unknown thieves in the process of stealing stone materials?I climbed up the dilapidated steps, paced back and forth around the weed-grown groove on the top of the tower, and thought to myself: The purpose of this pyramid's original construction may become an eternal historical mystery.Today, what is certain is that the construction of the Yakapana Pyramid was by no means purely for decorative or ceremonial purposes. On the contrary, it seems to have been used as some kind of mysterious "device" or mechanism.Inside the pyramid, archaeologists discovered a criss-cross network of channels made of fine ashlar.The angles and connection points of these channels have been carefully measured and designed (with an error of only 1/50 inch). The original function was to draw water down layer by layer from the tank on the top of the tower, inject it into the moat around the tower body, and wash the pyramid. The foundation on the south side ⑤.

Using so much manpower and spending so much thought to build this complicated water diversion system must be for a specific and important purpose.As far as I know, some archaeologists speculate that the construction of the Yakapana Pyramid is related to some primitive religion worshiping the rain god or the river god, in order to show the supreme respect for the power of water. Another school of scholars believes that the mysterious "technological device" inside the Yakapana pyramid is related to death.Their proof is the name of this pyramid, Akapana.In the ancient Wenmara dialect still in use today, "Hake means human being or people; Apana means death (here probably drowning in water). Therefore, Akapana means the place where people die... ". ⑥

A scholar carefully studied all the characteristics of the water diversion system in the Yakapana Pyramid, and came to the conclusion that these artificial waterways are most likely "a part of the ore washing equipment, perhaps used to wash the ore sand mined nearby." ⑦ "Where the Stone Stands" From the west of this mysterious pyramid, I walked all the way to the Karasasaya Square in the southwest corner of the castle.Now I finally understand why the locals call it "the place where the stone stands".It turned out that on the wall made of trapezoidal huge stones, a stone pillar shaped like a dagger and more than 12 feet high was erected at equal intervals. in the red soil.The stone palisade built in this way is quite extensive, covering an area of ​​500 square feet, and it is about twice as high as the sunken temple. So Kalasasaya is a fortress?Otherwise, most scholars now believe that it was originally used to observe astronomical phenomena, and its design was quite advanced.Its function is not to defend the enemy, but to set the dates of the vernal equinox, autumnal equinox, summer solstice, and winter solstice, and accurately predict the four seasons of the year.Certain fixtures in the wall (and indeed the wall itself) were apparently designed to match certain constellations in the sky to facilitate the measurement of spring and summer.The azimuth of the sun in autumn and winter in four seasons ⑧.In addition, the world-famous "Gateway of the Sun" (Gateway of the Sun) standing in the northwest corner of the castle is not only a world-class work of art, but also considered by experts to be a complex set of sculptures carved on stone. And the exact calendar: The more we observe this carving, the more we believe that the unique design and pattern of this set of stone calendars cannot come from the imagination of an artist; its patterns are full of profound meanings, and clearly record an astronomer Observation and calculation... Obviously this is the original function of the stone carving calendar, and it is impossible to have other uses⑨. What attracts me the most in the ancient city of Dihuanaco is the "Sun Gate" and the adjacent Karasasaya Square, because some astronomical and solar system phenomena we will discuss in the next chapter will enable us to roughly calculate the Date of construction of Saya Plaza.Based on this inference, we come to a controversial conclusion: it was built in 15,000 BC - about 17,000 years ago. Notes: ①Pedro Chiesa Di Leon's "Peru Chronicle", Part 1, Chapter 87. Pedro Cieza de Leon, Chronicle of Peru, Hakluyt Society, London, 1864, and 1883, Part I, Chapter 87. ②Harold Osborne, "Indians in the Andes: Aymara and Quechua", p. 64. Harold Osborne, Indians of the Andes: Aymparas and Quechuas, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1952, p. 64．See also Times—Life Series, The Art and Wisdom of the Ancients, p. 55. Feats and Wisdom Of the Ancients, TimeLife B00ks, Alexandria, VIrginia, 1990, p. 55． ③ "Review of the Inca Dynasty", Part 3, Chapter 1. ④ Bellamy and Allen, "Diwanaco's Calendar: The Measurement System of Humanity's Ancient Civilization", p. 16. H． S． Bellamy allan, The Calendr of Tiahuanaco: The Measuring System Of the oldest Civilization, Faber & Faber, London, 1956. p.16. ⑤ "Dihuanaco", Volume 2, pages 69-79, has a detailed introduction and analysis of the water diversion system of the Yakapana Pyramid. ⑥ Ibid., Vol. 1, p. 78. ⑦ "The Lost Kingdom", p. 215. ⑧ "Tihuanaco", Volume 2, pp. 44-105. ⑨ "The Calendar of Emperor Huanaco", pp. 17-18.