Chapter 13 Chapter 12 The End of Viracocha

We mentioned in Chapter 10 of this book that Tihuanaco City was originally built as a port city on the shore of Lake Titicaca. At that time, the lake was much wider than it is now, and the lake was more than 100 feet deeper than it is today.The vast port facilities, piers and embankments that still remain (and even the large amount of stone that was abandoned below the old lake shoreline) now prove that Ciudad de Huanaco was indeed a port.In fact, according to Professor Posnanski's bold estimate, Tihuanaco City was already a busy port as early as 15,000 BC, and according to his speculation, Karasasaya Square was built at that time of.For the next 5,000 years, the port continued to prosper; during this long period of time, its location on the shore of Lake Titicaca remained unchanged①.

During this period, Tihuanaco's main port facility was located a few hundred meters southwest of Kala Sasaya Square, at a place now known as "Puma Punku" (meaning "Puma Gate") .Professor Posnanski excavated two artificially dredged docks here, and in the middle is "a real, huge wharf... which can be loaded and unloaded by hundreds of ships at the same time"②. One of the stones used to build the pier, one of which remains nearby, is estimated to weigh 440 tons. Other stones weigh between 100 and 150 tons.It is worth noting that many of the boulders are strung together with I-shaped metal bolts.As far as I know, in all of South America, only Tihuanaco buildings use this masonry technique.The last time I visited the ruins of Elephantine in the Nile River in Upper Egypt, I also saw the I-shaped indentation caused by this metal check.

Also intriguing is the fact that the symbol of the cross appears on many stone tablets from the ancient port of Tihuanaco.This emblem appears again and again, especially on the road to the north of the Puma Gate, in exactly the same shape: a double cross with clean lines and well-proportioned composition, deeply carved in the hard gray stone.Even according to the calculations of orthodox historians, the history of these crosses is definitely not less than 1,500 years old.In other words, 1,000 years before the first Spanish missionaries arrived on the plateau of South America, the Indians had engraved the cross on the stone, and at that time, they had no idea that there was such a thing as "Christianity" in the world.

We can't help but wonder, where did Christians get their crosses?According to my guess, the source of this Christian emblem is not only the wooden cross on which Jesus Christ suffered, but also an even older source!For example, the ancient Egyptians used a hieroglyph that resembled a cross to symbolize life, the vitality of life, and even eternal life③.Did the symbol of the cross originate in Egypt?Does it have older roots? While thinking about these questions, I paced around the Puma Gate.The gate stands on a rectangular square hundreds of feet long, near a low pyramid-shaped hill covered with weeds.Piles of boulders strewn across the square like boxes of overturned matches.According to Professor Posnanski, this phenomenon was caused by a natural disaster that occurred around 10,000 BC.This terrible disaster destroyed the city of Tihuanaco:

This disaster caused by the earthquake caused the water of Lake Titicaca to skyrocket, and nearby volcanic eruptions caused the level of Lake Titicaca to temporarily rise. One of the reasons may be that it is located in the north and has a higher terrain. The lake, the breakwater burst suddenly... As a result, a large amount of lake water rushed down to Lake Titicaca④ like thousands of horses galloping. Professor Posnanski believes that what destroyed the city of Tihuanaco was a major flood.The evidence he cited included: In the alluvial deposits we find marsh plants (Paludestrina Culminea, etc.) mixed with the bone marrow of humans who apparently died in the Flood... Also we find the remains of an ancient fish (Orestias) Bones, buried with human remains in the alluvium...⑤

In addition, Professor Posnanski also found that human and animal bones are scattered in: Among the piles of stone carvings, utensils, tools and various utensils.After a violent shock, these things were all broken into a ball and piled together in a mess.As long as you dig a two-meter-deep trench here, you will find that the power of the flood is so terrible.It combines the power of the earthquake to send the bones of humans and various animals here, mixed with pottery, jewelry, tools and various utensils... Layers of alluvial soil cover the entire ruins, and the gravel is mixed with the stones Seashells from the lake.Decayed feldspar and volcanic ash piled up around the surrounding wall... ⑥

It was indeed a terrible natural disaster that destroyed the city of Dihuanaco.If Professor Posnanski's calculations are correct, the disaster should have occurred more than 12,000 years ago.Afterwards, although the flood gradually subsided, "the culture on the plateau no longer flourished and developed, but fell into a comprehensive and irreversible decline"⑦. comparable to modern farming techniques After the floods from the earthquake submerged Tihuanaco, a series of dramatic topographical changes in the area accelerated the port city's decline.Geological changes first caused the lake to swell, flooding the embankments, and then had the exact opposite effect: the water level of Lake Titicaca decreased day by day, and the mouth of the lake became smaller.Over the next many years, as Lake Titicaca dried up, the city of Tihuanaco became farther and farther away from the shores of the lake, lost its economic lifeline, and finally became a ruin in an isolated barren hill.

At the same time, there are signs that during this period, the climate in the Tihuanaco region also became colder, which was unfavorable for the growth of grains⑧.As a result of the continuous deterioration of the climate, today even the staple food of the Indians, maize, cannot grow normally, and even the potato is underdeveloped. Although the various factors involved in this complex chain of events are not easy to untangle, one thing seems certain: Soon after the flash flood caused by the earthquake submerged the city of Tihuanaco, the water began to recede and the area regained its "period of tranquility". peaceful".Then, slowly and inexorably, "the climate began to deteriorate and become extremely bitter. The Andean inhabitants could no longer bear it and began to migrate in large numbers, to places where life was easier". ⑨

The highly civilized inhabitants of Tihuanaco—the "Viracocha" in local indigenous lore—seem to have struggled before deciding to leave their homeland.of.The plateaus around Lake Titicaca are full of evidence that these people used advanced and scientific farming techniques, and carried out agricultural experiments with great patience and wisdom, trying to make up for the crop failure caused by climate deterioration.For example, the final study revealed that sophisticated chemical analyzes of toxin-containing upland plants and tubers have been carried out in ancient times in this region.This analysis, combined with the detoxification techniques invented by the locals, makes the nutritious but toxin-laden vegetables and fruits edible again.David Brow.man, an associate professor of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Washington, pointed out: "How this detoxification technology developed in the first place has not yet been satisfactorily answered.⑩

It is also worth noting that, in that ancient time, a certain group—whose identity has not yet been identified by scholars—expensively and expansively established a A row of wavy undulating farmland.It was not until the 1960s that scholars began to have a correct understanding of the functions of the field ridges, which fluctuate from height to height and from which ditches criss-cross.The local Indians called this kind of field "warnwaaru" (warnwaaru), and the relics are still faintly visible today.According to expert appraisal, these fields were originally part of a complex farming system, which was completed in prehistoric times, and its functions are "equal to modern farming techniques"⑾.

In recent years, archaeologists and agronomists have reconstructed some of the ridges here.These experimental fields produced up to three times more potatoes than the most productive conventional fields.One winter was particularly cold, but severe frost damage only caused "minor losses" to the experimental fields.The following year, the crops on the ridge survived another drought, followed by "another flood that submerged all the surrounding fields."In fact, this farming technique invented by a mysterious nation in ancient times seems simple, but it is very effective.Its experiments in rural areas of Bolivia were very successful, and it has attracted the attention of governments and international development organizations, and similar experiments have been launched in other parts of the world⑿ oldest language in the world The legacy of the Viracocha people in Tihuanaco may also include the language spoken today by the local Aymara Indians—the oldest language in the world, according to some experts.⒀ In the 1980s, Bolivian computer expert Ivan Guzmande Rojas accidentally discovered that Aymara is not only extremely ancient, but may also be a "man-made" language - a carefully designed, Deliberately created language.What is particularly noteworthy is that its syntax is very strict, its meaning is very clear, and there is no room for ambiguity; this is indeed an incredible phenomenon for ordinary "natural" languages⒁.This artificially synthesized and highly organized grammatical structure makes Aymara easy to transform into a computerized language for translating one language into another: "Aymara can be used as an intermediary language Use. Through computer algorithms, the language of a document can be translated first into Aymara and then into any other language."⒂ Is it a mere coincidence that an ostensibly man-made language with the kind of syntax computers prefer is only spoken today around Tihuanaco?Isn’t it possible that today’s Aymara language is the legacy of the legendary highly civilized Viracocha people?If the answer is yes, what legacy do they leave behind?On the plateau of South America, can we still find other sporadic wisdom left by this ancient and obliterated civilization?It is said that the people with these wisdoms established a series of colorful and rich cultures in this area 10,000 years before the Spanish invasion.Perhaps, it is because of these wisdom that the graphics on the Nazca Plateau can be drawn!Perhaps, this wisdom prompted the ancestors of the Incas to build "incredible" stone walls in the Machu Picchu castle and the Saxabiman Temple. North into Mexico I have always been haunted by the image of the Viracocha people who left their homeland "stepping" on the "water" of the Pacific Ocean, "miraculously disappearing" in the sea, as many legends repeatedly mention. Where did these people who fled overseas go?Why did they leave their homes?Why did they stay in Di Huanaco for so long, fighting against the harsh environment, before admitting defeat and flying away?What major goals do they want to achieve in Diwanaco? After several weeks of surveying on the plateau on the shores of Lake Titicaca, and several trips between La Paz and Tihuanaco, I have to admit that neither the mysterious ruins scattered in the wilderness nor the library in the capital La Paz can provide me with further answers. .At least in Bolivia, my research is already facing a bottleneck. I had to relocate and head north to Mexico, 2,000 miles away, to continue my quest. Notes: ① "Tihuanaco", Vol. 1, p. 39. ② Ibid., Vol. 2, p. 156. ③ "Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt" edited by Margaret Paulson, p. 23. Margaret Burson, ed, The Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, Facts on File, New York and Oxford, 1991, p. twenty three. ④ "Tihuanaco", Vol. 1, p. 55. ⑤ Ibid., Vol. 1, p. 39. ⑥ Same as above, Volume 3, pages 142-143. ⑦ Ibid., Vol. 1, p. 57. ⑧Ibid., Vol. 1, p. 56 and Vol. 2, p. 96. ⑨ Same as above.Vol. 3, p. 147. ⑩David Brauman, "The New Exploration of Dihuanaco City in the Andes", "American Scientist", Vol. 69, p. 410. David L． Browman, "New Light on Andean Tlahuana co," In American Scientlst, volume 69, 1981, p. 410． ⑾ "Skills and Wisdom of the Ancients", pp. 56-57. ⑿ Same as above. ⒀ Ivan Hardingham "Ode to the Mountain God", p. 34. EVan. Hadingham, Lines to the Mounsuin, Gods, Harrap, London, 1987, p.34. ⒁ See a report by the London Sunday Times on November 4, 1984. ⒂ Betts, "Ancient Languages ​​May Be the Key to the Translation System", "Computer World", Vol. 9, No. 8, p. 30. M． Betts, "Ancient Language May Prove Key to Translation System," Computer world, vol. Ix, No. 8, 25 February 1985, p. 30．