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H. S. Bellamy and P. Allan have given a closely reasoned interpretation of the symbols in their book The Great Idol of Tiahuanaco. They conclude that the symbols record an enormous body of astronomical knowledge and are based, as a matter of fact, on a round earth.
They conclude that the record fits perfectly Hoerbiger's Theory of Satellites published in 1927 five years before the idol was discovered. This theory postulates that a satellite was captured by the earth. As it was pulled towards the earth it slowed down the speed of the earth's revolutions. It finally disintegrated and was replaced by the moon.
The symbols on the idol exactly record the astronomical phenomena which would accompany this theory at a time when the satellite was making 425 revolutions round the earth in a year of 288 days. They were forced to conclude that the idol records the state of the heavens 27,000 years ago. They write 'Generally, the idol inscriptions give the impression ... that it has been devised also as a record for future generations.'
Here indeed is an object of great antiquity which demands a better explanation than 'an ancient god'. If this interpretation of the symbols can be substantiated we must ask was the astronomical knowledge really amassed by people who still had a great deal to learn about building or did it come from extra-terrestrial sources? In either case the existence of such a sophisticated body of knowledge, demonstrated on both the idol and the calendar is staggering.
The city of Tiahuanaco teems with secrets. The city lies at a height of over 13,000 ft, besides which it is miles from anywhere. Starting from Cuzco (Peru), you reach the city and the excavation sites after several days' travel by rail and boat. The plateau looks like the landscape of an unknown planet. Manual labour is a torture for anyone who is not a native. The atmospheric pressure is about half as low as it is at sea-level and the oxygen content of the air is correspondingly small. And yet an enormous city stood on this plateau.
There are no authentic traditions about Tiahuanaco. Perhaps we should be glad that in this case acceptable answers ca
Blocks of sandstone weighing 100 tons are topped with other 60-ton blocks for walls. Smooth surfaces with extremely accurate chamfers join enormous squared stones which are held together with copper clamps. In addition all the stone work is exceptionally neatly executed. Holes 8 ft long, whose purpose has not been explained so far, are found in blocks weighing 10 tons. Nor do the 16 1/2-ft-long, worn-down flagstones cut out of one piece contribute to the solution of the mystery that Tiahuanaco conceals. Stone water conduits, 6 ft long and 1 1/2 ft wide, are found scattered about on the ground like toys, obviously by a catastrophe of tremendous dimensions. These finds stagger us by their accurate workmanship. Had our forefathers at Tiahuanaco nothing better to do than spend years—without tools— fashioning water conduits of such precision that our modern concrete conduits seem the work of mere bunglers in comparison?
In a courtyard which has now been restored there is a jumble of stone heads which, on closer observation, appears to be made up of the most varied races, for some of the faces have narrow, and some swollen lips, some long and some hooked noses, some delicate and some thick ears, some soft and some angular features. Yes, and some of the heads wear strange helmets. Arc all these unfamiliar figures trying to convey a message that we ca
One of the great archaeological wonders of South America is the monolithic Gate of the Sun at Tiahuanaco— a gigantic sculpture, nearly 10 ft high and 16 1/2 ft wide, carved out of a single block. The estimated weight of this piece of masonry is over 10 tons. Forty-eight square figures in three rows flank a being who represents a flying god.
What does legend say about the mysterious city of Tiahuanaco?
It tells of a golden space-ship, that came from the stars; in it came a woman, whose name was Oryana, to fulfil the task of becoming the Great Mother of the earth. Oryana had only four fingers, which were webbed. Great Mother Oryana gave birth to seventy earth children, then she returned to the stars.
We do, in fact, find rock drawings of beings with four fingers at Tiahuanaco. Their age ca
What secret does this city conceal? What message from other worlds awaits its solution on the Bolivian plateau? There is no plausible explanation for the begi
Nor must we forget Sacsayhuaman! I am not referring here to the fantastic Inca defence works which lie a few feet above present-day Cuzco, nor to the monolithic blocks weighing more than 100 tons, nor to the terrace walls, over 1,500 ft long and 54 ft wide, in front of which tourists stand and take souvenir snapshots today. 1 am referring to the unknown Sacsayhuaman, which lies a mere half mile or so from the well-known Inca fortress.
Our imagination is unable to conceive what technical resources our forefathers used to extract a monolithic rock of more than 100 tons from a quarry, and then transport it and work it in a distant spot. But when we are confronted with a block with an estimated weight of 20,000 tons, our imagination, made rather blase by the technical achievements of today, is given its severest shock. On the way back from the fortifications of Sacsayhuaman, in a crater in the mountainside, a few hundred yards away, the visitor comes across a monstrosity. It is a single stone block the size of a four-storey house. It has been impeccably dressed in the most craftsmanlike way; it has steps and ramps and is adorned with spirals and holes. Surely the fashioning of this unprecedented stone block ca
What titantic forces were at work here?
And to what end?
Still flabbergasted by this stone monstrosity, the visitor finds, barely 900 yards away, rock vitrifications of a kind that ought only to be possible through the melting of stone at extremely high temperatures. The surprised visitor is promptly told that the rock was ground down by glaciers. This explanation is ridiculous. A glacier, like every flowing mass, would logically flow down to one side. This property of matter is hardly likely to have changed just at the time when the vitrifications took place. In any case, it can scarcely be assumed that the glacier flowed down in six different directions over an area of some 18,000 square yards'