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Pre-Inca Civilization

Tiahuanaco, was the capital of the Pre-Inca Civilization. It is also spelled .

The Inca Civilizations was an aboriginal American Indian culture that evolved in the Andean region (western ) prior to Spanish exploration and conquest in the 16th century. The pre-Columbian civilization was extraordinary in its developments of human society and culture, ranking with the early civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia.

There are several myths about Pre-Inca Civilizations. As with all ancient civilizations, legends and ancient stone carvings and monuments speak of creation by gods who came from the skies, yet no one is certain how any of these civilizations came into being. Many just seem to spring up as if out of no where.

There is a pre-Incan legend that speaks of Viracocha who is depicted in many forms. There is a duality about this , which is not unlike gods in other civilizations - the good god and the warrior side to his personality. We see him as he enlightened god in the white robes who brings knowledge and the warrior god with staves in his hands and a sun symbol around his head, not unlike the sun god in ancient Egypt. As we third dimension is a duality - all things have good and evil charactistics - including the gods of all myths. Viracocha - as duality is depicted as the sun god of creation [wearing a sun crown] and the moon god.

Viracocha, as the feathered serpent god, is one of the great mysteries of ancient American cultures. He was called by the Mayas, by the , Viracocha by the Incas, Gucumatz in , Votan in and Zamna in Izamal. Pre-Inca religions centered in Tiahuanaco which is where we first learn of a cult of a sky and thunder god named Viracocha. Gods with thunder bolts link with Zeus the main god of .

Viracocha was generally depicted as having staves in both of his hands and an aureole around his head. The aureole suggests the qualities of a sun god, represented on the bas-relief in the upper part of the famous Sun Gate in Tiahuanaco as well as on ceramic.

The staves, on the other hand, suggest Viracocha's distant ancestry from the nearly thousand years older Chaviacuten sky god in North Peru. His attendants were ranking in the shapes of , condor, falcon and snake. Viracocha was worshipped as the main god in Huari as well. There his characteristics were apparently more militant. A head of Tiahuanaco state functioned both as a king and the arch-priest and he was revered as Viracocha's embodiment on Earth.

Viracocha - and in some cases his 'men - was described as being a Caucasian, bearded man in some writings, with white skin, hair on the face and beautiful emerald eyes in others wearing long white robes and sandals, carrying a staff, with a cougar lying at his feet. He was a kind and peace- loving god.

The idea might refer to the Tiahuanaco's peaceful mission among the distant warrior cultures of Peru. According to the legend, however, evil people in short clothes came to the sacred lake and forced Viracocha to leave to north. On his departure they mocked and taunted him for his long robe and lenient disposition. Eventually, he had descended from the highlands to the coast and left over the ocean, promising to return some day.

Viracocha, as a good deity, came to the to restore civilization, culture and knowledge after the Flood. As with nearly all ancient peoples, Inca legend claims that the original people were flood survivors who by hiding in a hollow up on a very high mountain peak, were saved and repopulated the Earth.

Viracocha is depicted by a water symbol that of the serpent or snake. This is not unlike other myths which mention aquatic gods who came from the heavens, went into the seas, then moved forth from the seas and created civilizations.

Viracocha was said to use holy relics - four skulls of wisdom. When brought together in ceremonial rites, these four skulls delivered enlightenment to the worthy. The power of the skulls was also used to vanquish their enemies by bringing fire from the skies. This sounds a lot like crystal skulls many of which are found in south and central America - or Ancient Ancestors who visited planet Earth in huge spaceships and created civilizations

Legends of the Aymara Indians say that the Creator God Viracocha rose from Lake Titicaca during the time of darkness to bring forth light. Viracocha was a storm god and a sun god who was represented as wearing the sun for a crown, with thunderbolts in his hands, and tears descending from his eyes as rain. He wandered the earth disguised as a beggar and wept when he saw the plight of the creatures he had created, but knew that he must sustain them. Viracocha made the earth, the stars, the sky and mankind, but his first creation displeased him, so he destroyed it with a flood and made a new, better one, taking to his wanderings as a beggar, teaching his new creations the rudiments of civilization, as well as working numerous miracles. Viracocha eventually disappeared across the Pacific Ocean (by walking on the water), setting off near Manta , and never returned. It was thought that Viracocha would re-appear in times of trouble. References are also found of a group of men named the suncasapa or bearded ones - they were the mythic soldiers of Viracocha, aka the 'angelic warriors of Viracocha'. The famous carved figure on the decorated archway in the ancient (pre-Incan) city of Tiahuanaco, known as the "Gateway of the Sun," most likely represents Viracocha, flanked by 48 winged effigies, 32 with human faces and 16 with condor's heads. This huge monument is hewn from a single block of stone, and some believe that the strange symbols might represent a calendar, the oldest in the world. A huge monolithic figure, facing east in the direction of sunrise, stands as silent witness to an unknown civilization established around 2200 years ago.

Across from the ruins of in the Urubamba Valley stands a sacred mountain believed to have the profile of Viracocha, the Inca sun god, carved into the stone.

[I see not only the head of Viracocha, but long robes and a lamb at the bottom just above the trees [metaphor for Tree of Life.]

He also appears to be riding a horse - Revelation - Revolution - That which revolves in the Cycles of Time.

Metaphors carved in stone - The Lion and the Lamb - a time of revelation. Gods who went to sacred mountains for answers. Age of Leo - approximately 12,000 = years ago - Precession of the equinoxes. The Lion - Leo - Light - symbology found in ancient Egypt.

When the sun strikes this profile of Viracocha during the winter , the mineral content of the mountain reflects and refracts the rays. The Inca believed that this was a sign verifying the deity of Viracocha. The were sacred days for the Inca since so much of their culture was based on planting seasons.

The buildings to the right and to the left were constructed by the Inca to store corn as food for winters and as offerings to Viracocha.

While the Incas share similarities with the ancient Egyptians, there are also marked differences. The empire of the Incas was the largest state-level society in the New World prior to the arrival of the Europeans. Their civilization is also the most famous of the numerous pre-Columbian societies of the Andes, with sites like Machu Picchu and Cuzco drawing many thousands of tourists every year to see the impressive stone architecture the Incas erected among spectacular scenery. This too is not unlike ruins. left as monuments in time by ancient civilizations, in places like Mexico, Egypt, Greece and Italy. These are all major grid points of energy on the planet, and often visited by those seeking their ancient bloodlines and past life connection.

All myths and legends are filled with metaphors and have some basis in fact. One has only to read behind the symbolism of the creational story - then compare it to other creational myths to see how they are all similar in design. In almost all cases - creational gods - or those who represent them even - promise to return one day. that day is usually associated with the dawning of a Golden Age when humanity finds peace and moves to another level of consciousness. The Legend of Creation - 1- Myths about the Ayar brothers

Four pairs of brothers-sisters, created by Viracocha to rule the world, left the cave of Mountain Pacariqtambo. The whole world was living in an uncivilized and ignorant manner. The newcomers began by organizing the mankind and divided people into ten large communities.

Leading the tribes the brothers set off in search of enough fertile land to sustain themselves. They carried Sunturpaucar, a long staff adorned with colorful feathers, a cage with a sun-bird who could give good advice and other sacred objects in front of them.

Making shorter and longer stops they moved towards Cuzco. In the course of the long journey the group became smaller: the rivaling brothers confined one of their companions to a cave, two others wished to break away but were turned into stones. The only surviving brother, Ayar Manco, also known as Manco Capak, accompanied by his sister and wife and his brothers' wives, founded the city of World Pole in the name of Viracocha the Creator and the Sun God, and settled there with his people.

The Legend of Creation - 2 - Myth of Manco Capak and Mama Ocllo

A long time ago when the world was filled with savages, misery and poverty, a brother and a sister, who were also a married couple - Manco Capak and Mama Ocllo - left Lake Titicaca.

Inti, the sun god sent them to refine the surrounding peoples. Inti gave them a golden stick for testing the land for cultivation and then settling in a suitable place.

The journey took a long time. Eventually, in the Cuzco Valley the golden stick disappeared into the ground, and they could start with their mission.

Manco Capak taught his people the cultivation and of land and handicrafts. Mama Ocllo taught the women spinning, weaving and sewing. The tribe of Manco Capak was called Hanan Cuzco (Higher Cuzco). The relatives of Mama Ocllo were called Hurin Cuzco (Lower Cuzco).

[This is not unlike upper and lower Egypt - united by the early .]

The city and the state was founded in the name of Viracocha and Inti the sun god.

PRE-INCA PATHEON OF DEITIES

Viracocha

At the head of the Incan celestial table stood the all-mighty Viracocha. The supreme creator-god, he was the progenitor of the Incan pantheon and preserver of the Inca race. A mythological hero of epic proportions, he was accredited with saving the empire when it was threatened by the Chanca barbarians, with wandering the countryside instructing people on how to live prosperously, and with ascending to the heavens where he would father a race of protector gods. While he is revered as the most powerful deity in Incan lore, he was only worshipped by the priestly elites and the emperor. His very name was taboo for the masses.

Apu Inti (Sun God) Originally acknowledged by Manco Capac, the first Inca, Apu Inti became the keystone in the Incan pantheon of earth-oriented deities. He was the most magnificent creation of Viracocha and the mythological father of the royal Inca line (proposed by Manco Capac, one may surmise, to achieve a status of heavenly mandate). Honored in an array of temples spanning the empire, Apu Inti was worshipped with sacrifice (animal and human) and prayers to golden idols. Ceremonies were conducted in his praise at sunrise and sunset, with fear sweeping the empire during solar eclipses. The Incas, receiving his gift of light and life, referred to themselves as children of the sun.

Manco Capac is sometimes referred to in legend as the Mythical Father of the Incas. According to the most frequently told story, four brothers, Manco Capac, Ayar Anca, Ayar Cachi, and Ayar Uchu, and their four sisters, Mama Ocllo, Mama , Mama Cura (or Ipacura), and Mama Raua, lived at Paccari-Tampu [tavern of the dawn], several miles distant from Cuzco. They gathered together the tribes of their locality, marched on the Cuzco Valley, and conquered the tribes living there. Manco Capac had by his sister-wife, Mama Ocllo, a son called (or Cinchi Roca).

Authorities concede that the first Inca chief to be a historical figure was called Sinchi Roca (c.1105?c.1140). Thus the foundation for an empire was laid. Another legend relates that the Sun created a man and a woman on an island in Lake Titicaca. They were given a golden staff by the Sun, their father, who bade them settle permanently at whatever place the staff should sink into the earth. At a hill overlooking the present city of Cuzco the staff of disappeared into the earth. They gathered around them a great many people and founded the city of Cuzco and the Inca state.

Chiqui Illapa (Thunder God)

Second only to Apu Inti, Chiqui Illapa was a magnanimous figure in Incan lore. Hailing rain down from the celestial river (the ), Illapa fed the empire. Incan legend asserts that he would crack his sister's water jug with a slingshot, reverberating the echoes of thunder as aqueous elixir spilled forth from the sky, showering the parched lands below. He was associated with Keypachu, the upper kingdom of heaven, and was worshipped throughout the growing season. Interestingly, any male child born during a thunderstorm was declared a priest of Chiqui Illapa, an exalted position in Incan society and within the priestly class itself.

Mamaquilla (Mother Moon)

First acknowledged by Inca Yapanqui, successor of Manco Capac, Mamaquilla was wife of the sun and timekeeper of the heavens. As the Incan calendar revolved around the lunar month, she was critical to the maintenance of a calendrical system that would ensure proper adherence to planting and harvesting seasons. She was represented with idols of silver, complementing the gold of her luminary husband.

Yakumama (Mother Water)

Yakumama was believed to control subterranean and mountain streams, blessing the fields with nourishment and springing fresh water from the earth. The complement of Chiqui Illapa, she was associated with ukupacha, the lower kingdom of heaven.

Mamacocha (Mother Sea)

A regional deity, Mamacocha was important to ayllus of the Peruvian coast, where she maintained the fertility of the sea. She was honored with conch shells, which were more valuable in this region than gold or silver.

Pachakama (Earth Mother)

Pachakama was also a regional deity, important to the Andean highlanders. She was ascribed the role of ensuring the fertility of soil and seed in the harsh mountain climates.

Stars

In the tradition of celestial deities, stars were thought to possess spirits that breathed life into earthly beings. Several were also recognized as bearing agricultural import, such as the Pleiades, the "Seven Sisters" who preserved the seed, and the "Great Lizard", who appeared in the west during planting season and buried his head in the east at harvest time. Waca

Waca were the family gods, or, synonymously, the shrines in which the family gods were worshipped. They were honored with more regularity than any deity of the state-recognized pantheon, as they wielded direct control over the prosperity of the ayllu. Wacas took a variety of forms, the most common being mountains, streams, caves, trees, or roads. Idols appropriate to their form were worshipped on a daily basis to appease them and avert the evocation of manevolence. Curiously, oddities such as twins, abnormal plants, and disfigured animals were also considered Wacas. In addition to the Waca of the kin group, individuals also had a personal guarding spirit of similar significance.

The first great conquest of Andean space began some 10,000 years ago when the descendants of the original migrants who crossed the land bridge over what is now the Bering Straits between the Asian and American continents reached northern South America. Over the next several millennia, hunter-gatherers fanned out from their bridgehead at Panama to populate the whole of South America. By about 2500 B.C., small villages inhabited by farmers and fishermen began to spring up in the fertile river valleys of the north coast of Peru.

These ancient lived in simple adobe houses, cultivated potatoes and beans, fished in the nearby sea, and grew and wove for their clothing. The catalyst for the development of the more advanced civilizations that followed was the introduction of a staple annual crop-- (corn), and the development of irrigation, both dating from around the thirteenth century B.C. The stabilization of the food supply and ensuing surplus formed the foundation for the development of the great civilizations that rose and fell across the Andes for more than a thousand years prior to the arrival of the Europeans.

The Incas, were the most recent of these highly developed native American cultures to evolve in the Andes. The earliest central state to emerge in the northern highlands (that is, a state able to control both highland and coastal areas) was the Kingdom of Chavín, which emerged in the northern highlands and prospered for some 500 years between 950 B.C. and 450 B.C. Although it was originally thought by Julio C. Tello, the father of Peruvian , to have been "the womb of Andean civilization," it now appears to have had Amazonic roots that may have led back to

Over the course of 1400 years, pre-Inca cultures settled along the Peruvian coast and highlands. The power and influence of some civilizations was to hold sway over large swaths of territory, which during their decline, gave way to minor regional centers. Many of them stood out for their ritual , their ability to adapt and superb management of their natural resources; a vast knowledge from which later the was to draw.

The first Peruvian civilization settled in Huantar, Ancash in around 1000 BC. The power of the civilization, based on a theocracy, was centered in the Chavin de Huantar temple, whose walls and galleries were filled with sculptures of ferocious deities with feline features.

Chavín was probably more of a religious than political panAndean phenomenon. It seems to have been a center for the missionary diffusion of priests who transmitted a particular set of ideas, rituals, and art style throughout what is now north central Peru. The apparent headquarters for this religious cult in all likelihood was Chavín de Huantar in the Ancash highlands, whose elaborately carved stone masonry buildings are among the oldest and most beautiful in South America. The great, massive temple there, oriented to the cardinal points of the solstice, was perceived by the people of Chavín to be the center of the world, the most holy and revered place of the Chavín culture. This concept of God and his elite tied to a geographical location at the center of the cosmos--the idea of spatial mysticism--was fundamental to Inca and pre-Inca beliefs.

A after the decline of the Chavín culture around the beginning of the Christian millennium, a series of localized and specialized cultures rose and fell, both on the coast and in the highlands, during the next thousand years. On the coast, these included the Gallinazo, Mochica, Paracas, Nazca, and Chimú civilizations. Although each had their salient features, the Mochica and Chimú warrant special comment for their notable achievements.

The (700 BC) rose to power along the south coast, and was to craft superb skills in textile weaving.

The north coast was dominated by the Mochica civilization (100 AD). The culture was led by military authorities in the coastal valleys, such as the Lord of Sipan. The Moche pots which featured portraits, and their iconography in general were surprisingly detailed and showed great skill in design.

The Mochica occupied a 136-kilometer-long expanse of the coast from the Río Moche Valley and reached its apogee toward the end of the first millennium A.D. They built an impressive irrigation system that transformed kilometers of barren desert into fertile and abundant fields capable of sustaining a population of over 50,000. Without benefit of the wheel, the plough, or a developed , the Mochica nevertheless achieved a remarkable level of civilization, as witnessed by their highly sophisticated ceramic pottery, lofty pyramids, and clever metalwork.

In 1987 near Sipán, archaeologists unearthed an extraordinary cache of Mochica artifacts from the tomb of a great Mochica lord, including finely crafted gold and silver ornaments, large, gilded copper figurines, and wonderfully decorated ceramic pottery. Indeed, the Mochica artisans portrayed such a realistic and accurately detailed depiction of themselves and their environment that we have a remarkably authentic picture of their everyday life and work.

Whereas the Mochica were renowned for their realistic ceramic pottery, the Chimú were the great city-builders of pre-Inca civilization. As loose confederation of cities scattered along the coast of northern Peru and southern Ecuador, the Chimú flourished from about 1150 to 1450. Their capital was at outside of modern-day Trujillo. The largest pre-Hispanic city in South America at the time, Chan Chan had 100,000 inhabitants. Its twenty square kilometers of precisely symmetrical design was surrounded by a lush garden oasis intricately irrigated from the Río Moche several kilometers away. The Chimú civilization lasted a comparatively short period of time, however. Like other coastal states, its irrigation system, watered from sources in the high Andes, was apparently vulnerable to cutoff or diversion by expanding highland polities.

The highlands saw the rise of the Tiahuanaco culture (200 AD), based in the Collao region (which covered parts of modern-day and ). The Tiahuanaco were to bequeath a legacy of agricultural terracing and the management of a variety of ecological zones.

The (300 AD) were able to tame the coastal desert by bringing water through underground aqueducts. They carved out vast geometric and animal figures on the desert floor, a series of symbols believed to form part of an agricultural calendar which even today baffles researchers.

In the highlands, both the Tiwanaku (Tiahuanaco) culture, near Lake Titicaca in Bolivia, and the Wari (Huari) culture, near the present-day city of , developed large urban settlements and wide-ranging state systems between A.D. 500 and A.D. 1000. The (600 AD) introduced urban settlements in the Ayacucho area and expanded its influence across the Andes.

Each exhibited many of the aspects of the engineering ingenuity that later appeared with the Incas, such as extensive road systems, store houses, and architectural styles. Between A.D. 1000 and 1450, however, a period of fragmentation shattered the previous unity achieved by the Tiahuanaco-Wari stage. During this period, scores of different ethnic-based groups of varying sizes dotted the Andean landscape. In the central and southern Andes, for example, the Chupachos of Huánuco numbered some 10,000, while the on the west bank of Lake Titicaca comprised over 100,000.

The refined Chimu culture (700 AD) crafted gold and other metals into relics and built the mud-brick citadel of Chan Chan, near the northern coastal city of Trujillo.

The Chachapoyas culture (800 AD) made the best possible use of arable land and built their constructions on top of the highest mountains in the northern cloud forest. The vast fortress is a fine example of how they adapted to their environment.

TIAHUANACO AND THE DELUGE

By Helmut Zettl

Cradled in the basin of the Peruvian-Bolivian , the Titicaca region is currently densely populated by the Aymara Indians, who eke out an agricultural existence, subsisting primarily on maize, frozen potatoes, and , a fermented alcoholic beverage made of cornmeal. But there is evidence that such was not always the case. Just 12 miles southward of the southernmost tip of Lake Titicaca lie the remains of Tiahuanaco, the site of a technologically advanced culture considered by many archaeologists (romantic not orthodox) to be the oldest ruins in the world. Although some misguided scholars have attributed the buildings of Tiahuanaco to the Incas, it has now been established that the city was already in ruins when the first Incas came upon the scene.

In 1540 the Spanish chronicler, Pedro Cieza de Leon, visited the area and his description of the statues and monoliths compares very closely to what we see today.

The site is at an altitude of 13,300 feet, which places it some 800 feet above the present level of Lake Titicaca.

Most archaeologists agree that in the distant past Tiahuanaco was a flourishing port at the edge of the lake, which means that the water has receded almost 12 miles and has dropped about 800 feet since then. All concur that the lake is shrinking, due mainly to evaporation, since no rivers flow from it. The Tiahuanaco culture, as it is called, is unique in its sculpture and its style of stone construction.

The figures depicted in the statuary have a rather square head with some covering like a helmet; they have square eyes and a rectangular mouth.

The stone works at the ruins consist of such structures as the Gate of the Sun, a portal carved from a single block of stone weighing 15 tons. The stone steps of the Kalasasaya, each of which is a rectangular block of stone about 30 feet wide.

The so-called idols, which are giant about 23 feet tall representatives of unusual looking beings with typical Tiahuanaco head and trace, and the enormous monolithic stone blocks, many of which appear to have been cast rather than carved, are some of these unusual features. At the area called Puma Punku, which is about 1 mile distant from the principal part of the ruins, the gigantic stones are bluish-gray in color and appear to have been machined, and they have a metallic ring when tapped by a rock.

There is also a reddish rust or oxidation covering many of the stones. Many of these enormous stone blocks probably have not been moved since they fell thousands of years ago. Archaeologists however speculate that the stones were dressed, but never erected that the construction for which they were intended was interrupted.

It is equally valid, however, to assume that the buildings were completed and then toppled by some natural catastrophe, such as the eruption of the Andes mountain chain or a world-wide deluge. It is interesting to observe the archaeological excavation work, which is under way at the site. At this altitude of 13,300 feet some of the remains are found at a level 6 feet below the earth's surface. The mountain ranges which surround the area are not high enough to permit sufficient runoff of water or wind to have covered the ruins to such a depth.

This remains a mystery to this day.

Legends have persisted over the centuries that there are stone structures beneath the waters of Lake Titicaca, much the same kind as can be found on the lake's shore.

The Indians of that legion have frequently recounted this tradition, but until recently there has been no proof of such structures.

In 1968 Jacques Cousteau, the French underwater explorer, took his crew and equipment there to explore the lake and search for evidence of underwater construction.

Although severely hampered in their activities by the extreme altitude, the divers spent many days searching the lake bottom, in the vicinity of the islands of the Sun and Moon, but found nothing man-made. Cousteau concluded the legends were a myth.

In November 1980, however, the well known Bolivian author and scholar of pre-Columbian cultures, Hugo Boero Rojo, announced the finding of archaeological ruins beneath Lake Titicaca about 15 to 20 meters below the surface off the coast of Puerto Acosta, a Bolivian port village near the Peruvian frontier on the northeast edge of the lake.

Based upon information furnished by Elias Mamani. a native of the region who is over 100 years old, Boero Rojo and two Puerto Ricans cinematographers, Ivan and Alex Irrizarry, were able to locate the ruins after extensive exploration of the lake bottom in the area, while filming a documentary on the nearby Indians.

Rojo stated, "We can now say that the existence of pre-Columbian constructions under the waters of Lake Titicaca is no longer a mere supposition or science-fiction, but a real fact. The remnants found show the existence of old civilizations that greatly antecede the Spanish colonization. We have found temples built of huge blocks of stone, with stone roads leading to unknown places and flights of steps whose bases were lost in the depths of the lake amid a thick vegetation of algae. Boero Rojo described these monumental ruins as being of probable Tiahuanaco origin."

Polish-born Bolivian archaeologist Arturo Posnansky has concluded that the Tiahuanaco culture began in the region at about 1600 B.C. and flourished until at least 1200 A.D.

His disciple, Professor Hans Schindler-Bellamy, believed Tiahuanaco to have reached back 12,000 years before the present era, although a more conservative Peruvian archaeologist.

What happened to the advanced ancient culture, however, has not yet been determined.

Rojo's discovery nevertheless may prove to create more problems than it solves. If, over the past 3 or 4000 years Lake Titicaca has slowly receded, as appears to be the case-as all scientists agree, then how can we explain the existence of stone temples, stairways, and roads still under water'?

The only answer is that they were built before the lake materialized.

We must go back, then, to the remnants of Tiahuanaco and re-examine the more than 400 acres of ruins, only 10 percent of which have been excavated.

We have pointed out that dirt covers the ancient civilization to a depth of at least 6 feet.

The only explanation for this accumulation is water.

A large amount of water had to have inundated the city. When it receded it left the silt covering all evidence of an advanced civilization, leaving only the largest statues and monoliths still exposed.

It is logical to conclude, therefore, that Tiahuanaco was built before the lake was created, and not as a port on its shore. As the waters today continue to recede, we should be able to find more evidence of the city's remote peoples.

Scientists theorize that the area of Lake Titicaca was at one time at sea level, because of the profusion of fossilized marine life which can be found in the region.

The area then lifted with the Andean upheaval and a basin was created which filled in to form the lake. No one has suggested the marine life might have been brought to the altiplano by sea waters which were at flood stage.

Peruvian legends clearly relate a story of world-wide flood in the distant past.

Whether it was the biblical flood of Noah, or another one, we cannot say, but there is ample physical evidence of a universal inundation, with the world-wide deluge described in more than a hundred flood-myths.

Along with Noah's flood were the Babylonian Utnapischtim of the Gilgamesh epic, the Sumerian Ziusudra, the Persian Jima, the Indian Manu, the Maya Coxcox, the Colombian Bochica, the Algonkin's Nanabozu, the Crows' Coyote, the Greek Deukalion and Pyrrha, the Chinese Noah Kuen, and the Polynesian Tangaloa. It is evident there was a world-wide deluge 19,000 years ago.

(Global doomsdays are conspicuous in the Hopi Indian legends, the Finnish Kalevala epic, the Mayan Chilam Balam and Popol Vuh, and in the , the last of which predicts that our present civilization will be destroyed by " Olin" or "earth movement," that is, devastation by earthquake.

Due to Aztec cyclic theory this will become the fifth doomsday after the "death of the Jaguars," "the death of the Tempests," "the death of the Great Fire" (vulcanism), and the 'Great Deluge.'

If a flourishing advanced civilization existed on the Peruvian altiplano many thousands of years ago and was reached by the flood waters, many problems would be solved, such as the existence of Tiahuanaco's ruins under 6 feet of earth at an elevation of 13,300 feet.

The presence of stone structures still under the lake's waters and the existence of marine life at an impossible altitude would also make sense.

In my 1978 and 1984 trips to Peru I was impressed by agricultural terracing on the sides and very tops of the steep peaks.

These appear to be the oldest - and now unused-portions of the terracing. As you look down the mountains you see more and more terraces of more recent origin.

We are told that only the Inca (specifically the Sapai Inca, i.e. the ruler) could use the lower portions and the fertile valleys. The peons had to climb to the very peaks to cultivate the soil for their own subsistence.

This seems highly unlikely in what we know to have been a pure communistic-theocratic society.

Pondering the logistics involved, I see no problem with the spring planting.

It would not be difficult to carry a sack of seed to the mountain tops, scratch out some of the soil, and plant them.

But then, I wondered, it must have been very tough in the fall to carry the harvest 2 to 3000 feet down to the valley floor.

Then it struck me. If there really had been a world-wide deluge covering most of the earth's surface - leaving only mountain tops protruding in the sunlight - then the two remaining survivors of the deluge would naturally plant their seeds on mountain tops.

They had no problem getting produce down, because they lived at the top.

Also, they used boats to move from one peak to another.

As the flood waters receded the terracing began to creep down the mountain sides, as can be seen today, with the ones near the bottom being the freshest.

As Boero Rojo stated, "The discovery of Aymara structures under the waters of Lake Titicaca could pose entirely new theses on the disappearance of an entire civilization, which, for some unknown reason, became submerged.

The Tiahuanacans could have been victims of world-wide flood, their civilization all but wiped out when their homes and structures were covered with sea water.

Because of the basin-like geography of the area the flood waters that became Lake Titicaca could not run off and have only gradually evaporated over the centuries.

Professor Schindler-Bellamy as a disciple of Posnansky and Horbiger (who created the world famous Glacial-Cosmogony theory in the1930's - has worked dozens of years in the Tiahuanaco area and has written books on the subject.

According to him the large monolithic Sun Gate of Tiahuanaco was evidently originally the centerpiece of the most important part of the so-called Kalasasaya, the huge chief temple of Tiahuanaco. Its upper part is covered with a stupendously intricate sculpture in flat bas relief.

This has been described as a "calendar" almost as long as the monolithic gateway has been known to exist; thus the Sun Gate has also been called 'the Calendar Gate'.

This calendar sculpture, though it undoubtedly depicts a "solar year," cannot however be made to fit into the solar year as we divide it at present.

After many futile attempts had been made, by employing a Procrustean chopping off of toes or heels to make the calendar work, the sculpture - which indeed has a highly decorative aspect-was eventually declared generally to be nothing but an intricate piece of art.

Professor Schindler-Bellamy and the American astronomer Allen have nevertheless continued to insist the sculpture was a calendar, though one of a special kind, designed for special purpose, and, of course, for a special time.

Hence it must refer exclusively to the reckoning of that time, and to certain events occurring then. Consequently we cannot make the calendar "speak" in terms of our own time, but let it speak for itself - and listen to what it says and learn from it. When we do so we gain an immense insight into the world of the people of that era, into the manner of thinking of their intellectuals, and generally into the way their craftsmen and laborers lived and worked.

To describe these things in detail would make a long story; it took l) R. Allen and Professor Schindler-Bellamy and their helpers many years of hard work to puzzle out the Tiahuanaco system of notation and its symbology, and to make the necessary calculations (before the age of computers). The result was a book of over 400 pages, The Calendar of Tishuanaco,published in 1956.

Thorough analysis of the Sun (Sate sculpture revealed the astonishing fact that the calendar is not a mere list of days for the "man in the street" of the Tiahuanaco of that time, telling him the dates of market days or holy days; it is actually, and pre-eminently a unique depository of astronomical, mathematical, and scientific data- the quintessence of the knowledge of the bearers of Tiahuanacan culture.

The enormous amount of information the calendar has been made to contain-and to impart to anyone ready and able to read it is communicated in a way that is, once the system of notation has been grasped, singularly lucid and intelligible, "counting by units of pictorial or abstract form. The different forms of those units attribute special, very definite and important additional meanings to them, and make them do double or multiple duty. By means of that method "any number" can be expressed without employing definite "numerals" whose meaning might be difficult, if not impossible, to establish.

"It is only necessary to recognize the units and consider their forms, and find their groupings, count them out, and render the result in our own numerical notation.

Some of the results seem to be so unbelievable that superficial critics have rejected them as mere arrant nonsense. But they are too well dove-tailed and geared into the greater system (and in some cases supported by peculiar repetitions and cross-references) to be discarded in disgust; one has to accept them as correct.

Whoever rejects them, however, also accepts the onus of offering a better explanation, and Professor Schindler-Bellamy has the "advantage of doubt," at any rate.

The "solar year" of the calendar's time had very practically the same length as our own, but, as shown symbolically by the sculpture, the earth revolved more quickly then, making the Tiahuanacan year only 290 days, divided into 12 "twelfths" of 94 days each, plus 2 intercalary days.

Tilese groupings (290, 24, 12, 2) are clearly and unmistakably shown in the sculpture. The explanation of 290 versus 3651/4 days cannot be discussed here.

At the time Tiahuanaco flourished the present moon was not yet the companion ol our earth but was still an independent exterior planet.

There was another satellite moving around our earth then, rather close-5.9 terrestrial radii, center to center; our present moon being at 60 radii. Because of its closeness it moved around the earth more quickly than our planet rotated.

Therefore it rose in the west and set in the east (like Mars' satellite Phobos), and so caused a great number of solar eclipses, 37 in one "twelfth," or 447 in one "solar year " of course it caused an equal number of satellite eclipses. These groupings (37, 447) are shown in the sculpture, with many Corroborating cross-references. Different symbols show when these solar eclipses, which were of some duration, occurred: at sunrise, at noon, at sunset.

These are only a small sample of the exact astronomical information the calendar gives. It also gives the beginning of the year, the days of the equinoxes and solstices, the incidence of the two intercalary days, information on the obliquity of the elliptic (then about 16.5 degrees; now 23.5) and on Tiahuanaco's latitude (then about 10 degrees; now 16.27), and many other astronomical and geographical references from which interesting and important data may be calculated or inferred by us.

Tiahuanacan scientists certainly knew, for instance, that the earth was a globe which rotated on its axis (not that the sun moved over a flat earth), because they calculated exactly the times of eclipses not visible at Tiahuanaco but visible in the opposite hemisphere (One wonders whether they were actually able to travel around the world, and speculate in what sort of vessel ! )

A few more facts revealed in the calendar are both interesting and surprising As indicated by an arrangement of "geometrical" elements we can ascertain that the Tiahuanacans divided the circle factually astronomically, but certainly mathematically} into 264 degrees (rather than 360).

Also, they determined-ages before Archimedes and the Egyptians the ratio of pi, the most important ratio between the circumference of the circle and its diameter, as 22/7, or, in our notation, 3.14+. They could calculate squares (and hence, square roots).

They knew trigonometry and the measuring of angles (30, 60, 90 degrees) and their functions- They could calculate and indicate fractions, but do not seem to have known the decimal system nor did they apparently ever employ the duodecimal system though they were aware of it.

(For a still unknown reason, however, the number 11 and its multiples occur often.) They were able to draw absolutely straight lines and exact right angles, but no mathematical instruments have yet been found. We must take notice of the evident parallels with the markings of the Nazca Plain. We do not know the excellent tools they must have used for working the glass-hard andesine stone of their monuments, cutting, polishing, and incising.

They must have employed block and tackle for lifting and transporting great loads (up to 200 tons) over considerable distances and even over expanses of water from the quarries to the construction sites.

It is difficult to see how all the calculations, planning, and design work involved in producing the great city of Tiahuanaco could have been done without some form of writing, and without a system of notation different from the "unit" system of the calendar sculpture.

If they had such a system they must have used it only on perishable materials.

(One is Tempted to think all these Nasca markings had been constructed by Atlanteans who fled to the altiplano before or after the destruction of their island continent 12,000 years ago.)

I have so far dealt with some of the aspects of the Tiahuanacan world, namely those connected with the calendar as a monument of what Schindler- Bellamy describes as "fossilized science."

But the calendar science-sculpture, and similar slightly older ones also found at the site, must also be regarded and appreciated from an aesthetic point of view, a great artistic achievement in design and execution-and an absolute masterpiece of arrangement and layout.

The most tantalizing fact of all is that the Tiahuanaco culture has no roots in that area. It did not grow there from humbler beginnings, nor is any other place of origin known. It seems to have appeared practically full blown suddenly.

Only a few "older" monuments, as can be inferred from the "calendrical inscriptions" they bear, have been found, but the difference in time cannot have been very great.

The different-much lower cultures discovered at considerable distances from Tiahuanaco proper, addressed as "Decadent Tiahuacan" or as "Coastal Tiahuanaco," are only very indirectly related to the culture revealed by the Calendar Cate. Some of their painted symbols are somehow somewhat related to the calendar symbols, but they make no sense whatever; they are, if anything, purely ornamental.

Tiahuanaco apparently remained for only a very short period at its acme of perfection (evidenced by the Calendar Gate) and perished suddenly, perhaps through the cataclysmic happenings connected with the breakdown of the former "moon."

We have at present no means of determining when Tiahuanaco rose to supreme height. or when its culture was obliterated, and naturally, the calendar itself can tell us nothing about that.

It will certainly not have been in the historical past but well back in the prehistoric.

It must indeed have occurred before the planet Luna was captured as the earth's present moon, about 12,000 years ago.

The capture of the satellite and its later fall to the surface on our planet imposed great stresses on the earth. The gravitational pull caused floods and earthquakes until the moon settled into a stable orbit one-fifth of today's distance.

Hence the "moon" draws the oceans into a belt or bulge around the equator, drowning the equatorial region but leaving the polar lands high and dry.

When the satellite approached within a few thousand miles gravitational forces broke it up; according to the Roche formula each planetoid or asteroid disintegrates when approaching the critical distance of 50 to 60,000 kms.

The fragments shattered down on earth; the oceans, released from the satellite's gravity, flowed back toward the continents, exposing tropical lands and submerging polar territories. This is the simple explanation of the Horbiger theory, and it seems to me the most logical one.

Thus the approach of the "moon" caused a world-wide deluge, effecting changes of climate and provoking earthquakes accompanied by volcanic eruptions.

The "ring" left by the satellite after breaking into fragments caused a sudden drop in temperature of at least 20 degrees, which geologists recognize as its decline" in temperature. It is evident, for example, in the discovery of frozen mammoths in the Siberian tundra.

Possibly gravity-and therefore physical weight - was also changed on earth, and with it biological growth: this would explain the widespread construction of huge megalithic monuments as well as the presence of giants-man and animal-in fossil strata, tombs, and myths.

According to Horbiger four moons fell on earth, producing four Ice Ages; our present moon, the fifth one, will similarly be drawn into the critical configuration of one-fifth of its present distance (380,000 kms.) and will cause the fifth cataclysm. (Remember the Aztec calendar's prediction of doomsday by earthquake!)

The theory of a falling moon has recently been substantiated by Dr. John O'Keefe, a scientist at the Coddard Laboratory for in Maryland. Dr. O'Keefe claims that the fragments of a moon's collision formed a ring around our planet that could have kept the sun's rays from penetrating to earth, thus causing world-wide decline of temperatures.

After a while the fragments showered down on earth, breaking into smithereens known as tectites.

These tectites O'Keefe believes were fragments of the fallen moon, thus proving Horbiger 's World-lce-.

The Calendar Gate shows that a far-advanced culture made a substantial attempt to plant its society at Tiahuanaco, wanting to revitalize this region which had already been devastated by floods caused by a close satellite.

Their attempt eventually miscarried, because they had underestimated certain dangerous developments that ultimately happened contrary to all expectations and calculations.

Such world-wide cataclysms appear in myth:

● the Egyptian Papyrus Ipuwer ("The sun set where it rose") ● the tomb of Senmut (showing -Sirius painted in reverse position) ● the Finnish Kalevala ("the earth turned round like a potter's wheel"), ● the Popol Vuh (describing fire showering down from heaven)

This indicates that our planet more than once has suffered world-wide catastrophe.

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Inca Creation Myths

The Incan account of creation is known based on what was recorded by priests, from the iconography on Incan pottery and architecture, and the myths and legends which survived amongst the native peoples. According to these accounts, in the most ancient of times the earth was covered in darkness.

Then, out of a lake called Collasuyu (modern Titicaca), the god Con Tiqui Viracocha emerged, bringing some human beings with him. Then Con Tiqui created the sun (Inti), the moon and the stars to light the world. It is from Inti that the , emperor of Tawantin Suyu, is descended. Out of great rocks Con Tiqui fashioned more human beings, including women who were already pregnant.

Then he sent these people off into every corner of the world. He kept a male and female with him at Cusco, the "navel of the world."

Con, the Creator; was in the form of a man without bones. He filled the earth with good things to supply the needs of the first humans.

The people, however, forgot Con's goodness to them and rebelled. So he punished them by stopping the rainfall. The miserable people were forced to work hard, drawing what little water they could find from stinking, drying riverbeds.

Then a new god, , came and drove Con out, changing his people into monkeys. Pachacamac then took earth and made the ancestors of human beings.

The founder of the first dynasty of the kingdom of Cuzco was Manco Capac.

In one legend he was brought up from the depths of Lake Titicaca by the sun god Inti. In another he was the son of Tici Viracocha.

However commoners were not allowed to speak the name of Viracocha, which is possibly an explanation for the need for two foundation legends. In one myth Manco Capac was the brother of Pachacamac, both were sons of the sun god Inti who is also known as Apu Punchau.

Manco Capac himself was worshiped as a fire and sun god. According to the Inti legend, Manco Capac and his siblings were sent up to the earth by the sun god and emerged from the cave of Pacaritambo carrying a golden staff, called 'tapac-yauri'.

They were instructed to create a in the spot where the staff sank into the earth, they traveled to Cusco via underground caves, and built a temple in honor of the sun god Inti, their father. During the journey to Cuzco, one of Manco's brothers, and possibly one of his sisters, were turned to stone (huaca).

In another version of this legend, instead of emerging from a cave in Cuzco, the siblings instead emerged from the waters of Lake Titicaca.

In the Tici Virachocha legend, Manco Capac was the son of Tici Viracocha of Pacari-Tampu (today Pacaritambo, 25 km south of Cuzco). He and his brothers (Ayar Anca, Ayar Cachi and Ayar Uchu) and sisters (Mama Ocllo, Mama Huaco, Mama Raua and Mama Cura) lived near Cuzco at Paccari-Tampu, and united their people and ten ayllu they encountered in their travels to conquer the tribes of the Cuzco Valley.

This legend also incorporates the golden staff, which is thought to have been given to Manco Capac by his father. Accounts vary, but according to some versions of the legend, the young Manco jealously betrayed his older brothers, killed them, and became the sole ruler of Cuzco.

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TIAHUANACO AND THE DELUGE

By Helmut Zettl

Cradled in the basin of the Peruvian-Bolivian altiplano, the Titicaca region is currently densely populated by the Aymara Indians, who eke out an agricultural existence, subsisting primarily on maize, frozen potatoes, and chicha, a fermented alcoholic beverage made of cornmeal.

But there is evidence that such was not always the case. Just 12 miles southward of the southernmost tip of Lake Titicaca lie the remains of Tiahuanaco, the site of a technologically advanced culture considered by many archaeologists (romantic not orthodox) to be the oldest ruins in the world. Although some misguided scholars have attributed the buildings of Tiahuanaco to the Incas, it has now been established that the city was already in ruins when the first Incas came upon the scene.

In 1540 the Spanish chronicler, Pedro Cieza de Leon, visited the area and his description of the statues and monoliths compares very closely to what we see today.

The site is at an altitude of 13,300 feet, which places it some 800 feet above the present level of Lake Titicaca.

Most archaeologists agree that in the distant past Tiahuanaco was a flourishing port at the edge of the lake, which means that the water has receded almost 12 miles and has dropped about 800 feet since then. All concur that the lake is shrinking, due mainly to evaporation, since no rivers flow from it.

The Tiahuanaco culture, as it is called, is unique in its sculpture and its style of stone construction. The figures depicted in the statuary have a rather square head with some covering like a helmet; they have square eyes and a rectangular mouth.

The stone works at the ruins consist of such structures as the Gate of the Sun, a portal carved from a single block of stone weighing 15 tons.

The stone steps of the Kalasasaya, each of which is a rectangular block of stone about 30 feet wide. The so-called idols, which are giant about 23 feet tall representatives of unusual looking beings with typical Tiahuanaco head and trace, and the enormous monolithic stone blocks, many of which appear to have been cast rather than carved, are some of these unusual features. At the area called Puma Punku, which is about 1 mile distant from the principal part of the ruins, the gigantic stones are bluish-gray in color and appear to have been machined, and they have a metallic ring when tapped by a rock.

There is also a reddish rust or oxidation covering many of the stones. Many of these enormous stone blocks probably have not been moved since they fell thousands of years ago. Archaeologists however speculate that the stones were dressed, but never erected that the construction for which they were intended was interrupted.

It is equally valid, however, to assume that the buildings were completed and then toppled by some natural catastrophe, such as the eruption of the Andes mountain chain or a world-wide deluge. It is interesting to observe the archaeological excavation work, which is under way at the site. At this altitude of 13,300 feet some of the remains are found at a level 6 feet below the earth's surface. The mountain ranges which surround the area are not high enough to permit sufficient runoff of water or wind erosion to have covered the ruins to such a depth.

This remains a mystery to this day.

Legends have persisted over the centuries that there are stone structures beneath the waters of Lake Titicaca, much the same kind as can be found on the lake's shore.

The Indians of that legion have frequently recounted this tradition, but until recently there has been no proof of such structures.

In 1968 Jacques Cousteau, the French underwater explorer, took his crew and equipment there to explore the lake and search for evidence of underwater construction.

Although severely hampered in their activities by the extreme altitude, the divers spent many days searching the lake bottom, in the vicinity of the islands of the Sun and Moon, but found nothing man-made. Cousteau concluded the legends were a myth.

In November 1980, however, the well known Bolivian author and scholar of pre-Columbian cultures, Hugo Boero Rojo, announced the finding of archaeological ruins beneath Lake Titicaca about 15 to 20 meters below the surface off the coast of Puerto Acosta, a Bolivian port village near the Peruvian frontier on the northeast edge of the lake.

Based upon information furnished by Elias Mamani. a native of the region who is over 100 years old, Boero Rojo and two Puerto Ricans cinematographers, Ivan and Alex Irrizarry, were able to locate the ruins after extensive exploration of the lake bottom in the area, while filming a documentary on the nearby Indians.

Rojo stated, "We can now say that the existence of pre-Columbian constructions under the waters of Lake Titicaca is no longer a mere supposition or science-fiction, but a real fact. The remnants found show the existence of old civilizations that greatly antecede the Spanish colonization. We have found temples built of huge blocks of stone, with stone roads leading to unknown places and flights of steps whose bases were lost in the depths of the lake amid a thick vegetation of algae. Boero Rojo described these monumental ruins as being of probable Tiahuanaco origin."

Polish-born Bolivian archaeologist Arturo Posnansky has concluded that the Tiahuanaco culture began in the region at about 1600 B.C. and flourished until at least 1200 A.D.

His disciple, Professor Hans Schindler-Bellamy, believed Tiahuanaco to have reached back 12,000 years before the present era, although a more conservative Peruvian archaeologist.

What happened to the advanced ancient culture, however, has not yet been determined.

Rojo's discovery nevertheless may prove to create more problems than it solves. If, over the past 3 or 4000 years Lake Titicaca has slowly receded, as appears to be the case-as all scientists agree, then how can we explain the existence of stone temples, stairways, and roads still under water'?

The only answer is that they were built before the lake materialized.

We must go back, then, to the remnants of Tiahuanaco and re-examine the more than 400 acres of ruins, only 10 percent of which have been excavated.

We have pointed out that dirt covers the ancient civilization to a depth of at least 6 feet.

The only explanation for this accumulation is water.

A large amount of water had to have inundated the city. When it receded it left the silt covering all evidence of an advanced civilization, leaving only the largest statues and monoliths still exposed.

It is logical to conclude, therefore, that Tiahuanaco was built before the lake was created, and not as a port on its shore. As the waters today continue to recede, we should be able to find more evidence of the city's remote peoples.

Scientists theorize that the area of Lake Titicaca was at one time at sea level, because of the profusion of fossilized marine life which can be found in the region.

The area then lifted with the Andean upheaval and a basin was created which filled in to form the lake. No one has suggested the marine life might have been brought to the altiplano by sea waters which were at flood stage.

Peruvian legends clearly relate a story of world-wide flood in the distant past.

Whether it was the biblical flood of Noah, or another one, we cannot say, but there is ample physical evidence of a universal inundation, with the world-wide deluge described in more than a hundred flood-myths.

Along with Noah's flood were the Babylonian Utnapischtim of the Gilgamesh epic, the Sumerian Ziusudra, the Persian Jima, the Indian Manu, the Maya Coxcox, the Colombian Bochica, the Algonkin's Nanabozu, the Crows' Coyote, the Greek Deukalion and Pyrrha, the Chinese Noah Kuen, and the Polynesian Tangaloa. It is evident there was a world-wide deluge 19,000 years ago.

(Global doomsdays are conspicuous in the Hopi Indian legends, the Finnish Kalevala epic, the Mayan Chilam Balam and Popol Vuh, and in the Aztec calendar, the last of which predicts that our present civilization will be destroyed by "nahuatl Olin" or "earth movement," that is, devastation by earthquake.

Due to Aztec cyclic theory this will become the fifth doomsday after the "death of the Jaguars," "the death of the Tempests," "the death of the Great Fire" (vulcanism), and the 'Great Deluge.'

If a flourishing advanced civilization existed on the Peruvian altiplano many thousands of years ago and was reached by the flood waters, many problems would be solved, such as the existence of Tiahuanaco's ruins under 6 feet of earth at an elevation of 13,300 feet.

The presence of stone structures still under the lake's waters and the existence of marine life at an impossible altitude would also make sense.

In my 1978 and 1984 trips to Peru I was impressed by agricultural terracing on the sides and very tops of the steep peaks.

These appear to be the oldest - and now unused-portions of the terracing. As you look down the mountains you see more and more terraces of more recent origin.

We are told that only the Inca (specifically the Sapai Inca, i.e. the ruler) could use the lower portions and the fertile valleys. The peons had to climb to the very peaks to cultivate the soil for their own subsistence.

This seems highly unlikely in what we know to have been a pure communistic-theocratic society.

Pondering the logistics involved, I see no problem with the spring planting.

It would not be difficult to carry a sack of seed to the mountain tops, scratch out some of the soil, and plant them.

But then, I wondered, it must have been very tough in the fall to carry the harvest 2 to 3000 feet down to the valley floor.

Then it struck me. If there really had been a world-wide deluge covering most of the earth's surface - leaving only mountain tops protruding in the sunlight - then the two remaining survivors of the deluge would naturally plant their seeds on mountain tops.

They had no problem getting produce down, because they lived at the top.

Also, they used boats to move from one peak to another.

As the flood waters receded the terracing began to creep down the mountain sides, as can be seen today, with the ones near the bottom being the freshest.

As Boero Rojo stated, "The discovery of Aymara structures under the waters of Lake Titicaca could pose entirely new theses on the disappearance of an entire civilization, which, for some unknown reason, became submerged.

The Tiahuanacans could have been victims of world-wide flood, their civilization all but wiped out when their homes and structures were covered with sea water.

Because of the basin-like geography of the area the flood waters that became Lake Titicaca could not run off and have only gradually evaporated over the centuries.

Professor Schindler-Bellamy as a disciple of Posnansky and Horbiger (who created the world famous Glacial-Cosmogony theory in the1930's - has worked dozens of years in the Tiahuanaco area and has written books on the subject.

According to him the large monolithic Sun Gate of Tiahuanaco was evidently originally the centerpiece of the most important part of the so-called Kalasasaya, the huge chief temple of Tiahuanaco. Its upper part is covered with a stupendously intricate sculpture in flat bas relief.

This has been described as a "calendar" almost as long as the monolithic gateway has been known to exist; thus the Sun Gate has also been called 'the Calendar Gate'.

This calendar sculpture, though it undoubtedly depicts a "solar year," cannot however be made to fit into the solar year as we divide it at present.

After many futile attempts had been made, by employing a Procrustean chopping off of toes or heels to make the calendar work, the sculpture - which indeed has a highly decorative aspect-was eventually declared generally to be nothing but an intricate piece of art.

Professor Schindler-Bellamy and the American astronomer Allen have nevertheless continued to insist the sculpture was a calendar, though one of a special kind, designed for special purpose, and, of course, for a special time.

Hence it must refer exclusively to the reckoning of that time, and to certain events occurring then. Consequently we cannot make the calendar "speak" in terms of our own time, but let it speak for itself - and listen to what it says and learn from it. When we do so we gain an immense insight into the world of the people of that era, into the manner of thinking of their intellectuals, and generally into the way their craftsmen and laborers lived and worked.

To describe these things in detail would make a long story; it took l) R. Allen and Professor Schindler-Bellamy and their helpers many years of hard work to puzzle out the Tiahuanaco system of notation and its symbology, and to make the necessary calculations (before the age of computers). The result was a book of over 400 pages, The Calendar of Tishuanaco,published in 1956.

Thorough analysis of the Sun (Sate sculpture revealed the astonishing fact that the calendar is not a mere list of days for the "man in the street" of the Tiahuanaco of that time, telling him the dates of market days or holy days; it is actually, and pre-eminently a unique depository of astronomical, mathematical, and scientific data- the quintessence of the knowledge of the bearers of Tiahuanacan culture.

The enormous amount of information the calendar has been made to contain-and to impart to anyone ready and able to read it is communicated in a way that is, once the system of notation has been grasped, singularly lucid and intelligible, "counting by units of pictorial or abstract form. The different forms of those units attribute special, very definite and important additional meanings to them, and make them do double or multiple duty. By means of that method "any number" can be expressed without employing definite "numerals" whose meaning might be difficult, if not impossible, to establish.

"It is only necessary to recognize the units and consider their forms, and find their groupings, count them out, and render the result in our own numerical notation.

Some of the results seem to be so unbelievable that superficial critics have rejected them as mere arrant nonsense. But they are too well dove-tailed and geared into the greater system (and in some cases supported by peculiar repetitions and cross-references) to be discarded in disgust; one has to accept them as correct.

Whoever rejects them, however, also accepts the onus of offering a better explanation, and Professor Schindler-Bellamy has the "advantage of doubt," at any rate.

The "solar year" of the calendar's time had very practically the same length as our own, but, as shown symbolically by the sculpture, the earth revolved more quickly then, making the Tiahuanacan year only 290 days, divided into 12 "twelfths" of 94 days each, plus 2 intercalary days.

Tilese groupings (290, 24, 12, 2) are clearly and unmistakably shown in the sculpture. The explanation of 290 versus 3651/4 days cannot be discussed here.

At the time Tiahuanaco flourished the present moon was not yet the companion ol our earth but was still an independent exterior planet.

There was another satellite moving around our earth then, rather close-5.9 terrestrial radii, center to center; our present moon being at 60 radii. Because of its closeness it moved around the earth more quickly than our planet rotated.

Therefore it rose in the west and set in the east (like Mars' satellite Phobos), and so caused a great number of solar eclipses, 37 in one "twelfth," or 447 in one "solar year " of course it caused an equal number of satellite eclipses. These groupings (37, 447) are shown in the sculpture, with many Corroborating cross-references. Different symbols show when these solar eclipses, which were of some duration, occurred: at sunrise, at noon, at sunset.

These are only a small sample of the exact astronomical information the calendar gives. It also gives the beginning of the year, the days of the equinoxes and solstices, the incidence of the two intercalary days, information on the obliquity of the elliptic (then about 16.5 degrees; now 23.5) and on Tiahuanaco's latitude (then about 10 degrees; now 16.27), and many other astronomical and geographical references from which interesting and important data may be calculated or inferred by us.

Tiahuanacan scientists certainly knew, for instance, that the earth was a globe which rotated on its axis (not that the sun moved over a flat earth), because they calculated exactly the times of eclipses not visible at Tiahuanaco but visible in the opposite hemisphere (One wonders whether they were actually able to travel around the world, and speculate in what sort of vessel ! )

A few more facts revealed in the calendar are both interesting and surprising As indicated by an arrangement of "geometrical" elements we can ascertain that the Tiahuanacans divided the circle factually astronomically, but certainly mathematically} into 264 degrees (rather than 360).

Also, they determined-ages before Archimedes and the Egyptians the ratio of pi, the most important ratio between the circumference of the circle and its diameter, as 22/7, or, in our notation, 3.14+. They could calculate squares (and hence, square roots).

They knew trigonometry and the measuring of angles (30, 60, 90 degrees) and their functions- They could calculate and indicate fractions, but do not seem to have known the decimal system nor did they apparently ever employ the duodecimal system though they were aware of it.

(For a still unknown reason, however, the number 11 and its multiples occur often.) They were able to draw absolutely straight lines and exact right angles, but no mathematical instruments have yet been found. We must take notice of the evident parallels with the markings of the Nazca Plain. We do not know the excellent tools they must have used for working the glass-hard andesine stone of their monuments, cutting, polishing, and incising.

They must have employed block and tackle for lifting and transporting great loads (up to 200 tons) over considerable distances and even over expanses of water from the quarries to the construction sites.

It is difficult to see how all the calculations, planning, and design work involved in producing the great city of Tiahuanaco could have been done without some form of writing, and without a system of notation different from the "unit" system of the calendar sculpture.

If they had such a system they must have used it only on perishable materials.

(One is Tempted to think all these Nasca markings had been constructed by Atlanteans who fled to the altiplano before or after the destruction of their island continent 12,000 years ago.)

I have so far dealt with some of the aspects of the Tiahuanacan world, namely those connected with the calendar as a monument of what Schindler- Bellamy describes as "fossilized science."

But the calendar science-sculpture, and similar slightly older ones also found at the site, must also be regarded and appreciated from an aesthetic point of view, a great artistic achievement in design and execution-and an absolute masterpiece of arrangement and layout.

The most tantalizing fact of all is that the Tiahuanaco culture has no roots in that area. It did not grow there from humbler beginnings, nor is any other place of origin known. It seems to have appeared practically full blown suddenly.

Only a few "older" monuments, as can be inferred from the "calendrical inscriptions" they bear, have been found, but the difference in time cannot have been very great.

The different-much lower cultures discovered at considerable distances from Tiahuanaco proper, addressed as "Decadent Tiahuacan" or as "Coastal Tiahuanaco," are only very indirectly related to the culture revealed by the Calendar Cate. Some of their painted symbols are somehow somewhat related to the calendar symbols, but they make no sense whatever; they are, if anything, purely ornamental.

Tiahuanaco apparently remained for only a very short period at its acme of perfection (evidenced by the Calendar Gate) and perished suddenly, perhaps through the cataclysmic happenings connected with the breakdown of the former "moon."

We have at present no means of determining when Tiahuanaco rose to supreme height. or when its culture was obliterated, and naturally, the calendar itself can tell us nothing about that.

It will certainly not have been in the historical past but well back in the prehistoric.

It must indeed have occurred before the planet Luna was captured as the earth's present moon, about 12,000 years ago.

The capture of the satellite and its later fall to the surface on our planet imposed great stresses on the earth. The gravitational pull caused floods and earthquakes until the moon settled into a stable orbit one-fifth of today's distance.

Hence the "moon" draws the oceans into a belt or bulge around the equator, drowning the equatorial region but leaving the polar lands high and dry.

When the satellite approached within a few thousand miles gravitational forces broke it up; according to the Roche formula each planetoid or asteroid disintegrates when approaching the critical distance of 50 to 60,000 kms.

The fragments shattered down on earth; the oceans, released from the satellite's gravity, flowed back toward the continents, exposing tropical lands and submerging polar territories. This is the simple explanation of the Horbiger theory, and it seems to me the most logical one.

Thus the approach of the "moon" caused a world-wide deluge, effecting changes of climate and provoking earthquakes accompanied by volcanic eruptions.

The "ring" left by the satellite after breaking into fragments caused a sudden drop in temperature of at least 20 degrees, which geologists recognize as its decline" in temperature. It is evident, for example, in the discovery of frozen mammoths in the Siberian tundra.

Possibly gravity-and therefore physical weight - was also changed on earth, and with it biological growth: this would explain the widespread construction of huge megalithic monuments as well as the presence of giants-man and animal-in fossil strata, tombs, and myths.

According to Horbiger four moons fell on earth, producing four Ice Ages; our present moon, the fifth one, will similarly be drawn into the critical configuration of one-fifth of its present distance (380,000 kms.) and will cause the fifth cataclysm. (Remember the Aztec calendar's prediction of doomsday by earthquake!)

The theory of a falling moon has recently been substantiated by Dr. John O'Keefe, a scientist at the Coddard Laboratory for Astronomy in Maryland. Dr. O'Keefe claims that the fragments of a moon's collision formed a ring around our planet that could have kept the sun's rays from penetrating to earth, thus causing world-wide decline of temperatures.

After a while the fragments showered down on earth, breaking into smithereens known as tectites.

These tectites O'Keefe believes were fragments of the fallen moon, thus proving Horbiger 's World-lce-Cosmology.

The Calendar Gate shows that a far-advanced culture made a substantial attempt to plant its society at Tiahuanaco, wanting to revitalize this region which had already been devastated by floods caused by a close satellite.

Their attempt eventually miscarried, because they had underestimated certain dangerous developments that ultimately happened contrary to all expectations and calculations.

Such world-wide cataclysms appear in myth:

● the Egyptian Papyrus Ipuwer ("The sun set where it rose") ● the tomb of Senmut (showing Orion-Sirius painted in reverse position) ● the Finnish Kalevala ("the earth turned round like a potter's wheel"), ● the Popol Vuh (describing fire showering down from heaven)

This indicates that our planet more than once has suffered world-wide catastrophe.

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Inca Civilization

Inca can be spelled Inka and was known as Tiwantinsuya.

As ancient civilizations up across the planet thousands of years ago, so too the Inca civilization evolved. As with all ancient civilizations, its exact origins are unknown. Their historic record, as with all other tribes evolving on the planet at that time, would be recorded through oral tradition, stone, pottery, gold and silver jewelry, and woven in the tapestry of the people.

The Inca of Peru have long held a mystical fascination for people of the western world. Four hundred years ago the fabulous wealth in gold and silver possessed by these people was discovered, then systematically pillaged and plundered by Spanish . The booty they carried home altered the whole European economic system. And in their wake, they left a highly developed civilization in tatters. That a single government could control many diverse tribes, many of which were secreted in the most obscure of mountain hideaways, was simply remarkable.

No one really knows where the Incas came from that historic record left in stone for archaeologists to unravel through the centuries that followed.

The Inca Empire was quite short-lived. It lasted just shy of 100 years, from ca.1438 AD, when the Inca ruler and his army began conquering lands surrounding the Inca heartland of Cuzco, until the coming of the Spaniards in 1532. In 1438 the Inca set out from their base in Cuzco on a career of conquest that, during the next 50 years, brought under their control the area of present-day Peru, Bolivia, northern , Chile, and Ecuador. Within this area, the Inca established a totalitarian state that enabled the tribal ruler and a small minority of nobles to dominate the population.

Most of the accounts agree on thirteen emperors. The Inca emperors were known by various titles, including "Sapa Inca," "Capac Apu," and "Intip Cori." Often, an emperor was simply referred to as The Inca. The first seven were legendary, local, and of slight importance. During this period the Inca were a small tribe, one of many, whose domain did not extend many miles around their capital city, Cuzco. They were warriors, almost constantly at war with neighboring tribes. Ritual sacrifices were common, evidence of which is found by archaeologists to this very day.

Cusco was the center of the Inca Empire, with its advanced hydraulic engineering, agricultural techniques, marvelous architecture, textiles, ceramics and ironworks.

THE EMPORERS / KINGS

1. Manco Capac - Sun God

2. Sinchi Roca

3. Lloque Yupanqui

4. Maita Capac

5. Capac Yupanqui

6. Inca Roca

7. Yahuar Huacac

8. Inca Viracocha

9. Pachacuti-Inca-Yupanqui

10.

11.

12. Huascar

13. Atahuallpa

The incredibly rapid expansion of the Inca Empire began with Viracocha's son Pachacuti, who was one of the great conquerors, and one of the great men in the . With his accession in 1438 AD reliable history began, almost all the chroniclers being in practical agreement.

Pachacuti was called considered the greatest man that the aboriginal race of America has produced. He and his son Topa Inca were powerful rulers conquering many lands as they built ther kingdom.

Pachacuti was a great civic planner as well. Tradition ascribes to him the city plan of Cuzco as well as the erection of many of the massive masonry buildings that still awe visitors at this this ancient capital.

Plan of attack

The Aymara-speaking rivals in the region of Lake Titicaca, the Colla and , were defeated first, and then the Chanca to the west. The latter attacked and nearly captured Cuzco. After that, there was little effective resistance. First the peoples to the north were subjugated as far as , Ecuador, including the powerful and cultured kingdom of Chimú on the northern coast of Peru. Topa Inca then took over his father's role and turned southward, conquering all of northern Chile as far as the Maule River, the southernmost limit of the empire. His son, Huayna Capac, continued conquests in Ecuador to the Ancasmayo River, the present border between Ecuador and .

GEOGRAPHY

The Incans gave their empire the name, 'Land of the Four Quarters' or the Tahuantinsuyu Empire. It stretched north to south some 2,500 miles along the high mountainous Andean range from Colombia to Chile and reached west to east from the dry coastal desert called Atacama to the steamy Amazonian rain forest.

The Incas ruled the Andean Cordillera, second in height and harshness to the Himalayas. Daily life was spent at altitudes up to 15,000 feet and ritual life extended up to 22,057 feet to Llullaillaco in Chile, the highest Inca sacrificial site known today. Mountain roads and sacrificial platforms were built, which means a great amount of time was spent hauling loads of soil, rocks, and grass up to these inhospitable heights. Even with our advanced mountaineering clothing and equipment of today, it is hard for us to acclimatize and cope with the cold and dehydration experienced at the high altitudes frequented by the Inca. This ability of the sandal-clad Inca to thrive at extremely high elevations continues to perplex scientists today.

At the height of its existence the Inca Empire was the largest nation on Earth and remains the largest native state to have existed in the western hemisphere. The wealth and sophistication of the legendary Inca people lured many anthropologists and archaeologists to the Andean nations in a quest to understand the Inca's advanced ways and what led to their ultimate demise.

ROADS

The Incas had an incredible system of roads. One road ran almost the entire length of the South American Pacific coast! Since the Incas lived in the Andes Mountains, the roads took great engineering and architectural skill to build. On the coast, the roads were not surfaced and were marked only by tree trunks The Incas paved their highland roads with flat stones and built stone walls to prevent travelers from falling off cliffs.

Referred to as an 'all-weather highway system', the over 14,000 miles of Inca roads were an astonishing and reliable precursor to the advent of the automobile. Communication and transport was efficient and speedy, linking the mountain peoples and lowland desert dwellers with Cuzco. Building materials and ceremonial processions traveled thousands of miles along the roads that still exist in remarkably good condition today. They were built to last and to withstand the extreme natural forces of wind, floods, ice, and drought. This central nervous system of Inca transport and communication rivaled that of Rome. A high road crossed the higher regions of the Cordillera from north to south and another lower north-south road crossed the coastal plains. Shorter crossroads linked the two main highways together in several places.

The terrain, according to Ciezo de Leon, an early chronicler of Inca culture, was formidable. The road system ran through deep valleys and over mountains, through piles of snow, quagmires, living rock, along turbulent rivers; in some places it ran smooth and paved, carefully laid out; in others over sierras, cut through the rock, with walls skirting the rivers, and steps and rests through the snow; everywhere it was clean swept and kept free of rubbish, with lodgings, storehouses, temples to the sun, and posts along the way.

The Incas did not discover the wheel, so all travel was done on foot. To help travelers on their way, rest houses were built every few kilometers. In these rest houses, they could spend a night, cook a meal and feed their .

Their bridges were the only way to cross rivers on foot. If only one of their hundreds of bridges was damaged, a major road could not fully function; every time one broke, the locals would repair it as quickly as possible.

SOCIETY

Inca society was made up of ayllus, which were clans of families who lived and worked together. Each allyu was supervised by a curaca or chief. Families lived in thatched-roof houses built of stone and mud. Furnishings were unkown with families sitting and sleeping on the floor. Potatoes were a basic Inca food. The Imperial Incas clothed themselves in garments made from Alpaca and many of their religious ceremonies involved the animal. They wore sandals on their feet.

In Inca social structure, the ruler, Sapa Inca, and his wives, the Coyas, had supreme control over the empire. The High Priest and the Army Commander in Chief were next. Then came the Four Apus, the regional army commanders. Next were temple priests, architects, administrators and army generals. Next were artisans, musicians, army captains and the quipucamayoc, the Incan accountants. At the bottom were sorcerers, farmers, herding families and conscripts.

Inca society continued uninterrupted in this way for hundreds of years. The appearance of light-skinned strangers during the rule of Atahuallpa, however, was to forever change things for the Inca. Deadly plague would soon sweep through the Inca empire. Those that survived had to face the swords and cannons of the invading Spanish. After leading the Spanish to more gold than they had ever before seen, even Lord Atahuallpa was strangled by his Spanish captors.

Every style of hand-weaving was practiced by the Incas. They used this instead of writing in some cases. They also made very artistic pottery.

MUSIC

Music was part of ceremony. Incas knew how to smelt and cast metals so they made many different types of instruments such as trumpets and bells out of materials such as brass or stone.

POPULATION

At its peak, Ican society had more than six million people. As the tribe expanded and conquered other tribes, like the Paracas, the Incans began to consolidate their empire by integrating not only the ruling classes of each conquered tribe but also developing a universal language, calling it Quechua (pronounced KECH-WUN).

This ubiquitous integration encompassed the histories, myths and legends of each subject tribe; stories being intentionally combined, adopted or obliterated, or just accidentally confused. This practice was characteristic of the Incans quest for organization and structure. The Amautas, a special class of wise men who perpetuated traditions of the people, history and legend, redefined myths where and when necessary to establish miracles of faith or precedent or sanctions.

LANGUAGE - RELIGION

The Incan language was based on . All of the elements of which they depended, and even some they didn't were give a divine character. They believed that all deities were created by an ever-lasting, invisible, and all-powerful god named Wiraqocha, or Sun god. The King Incan was seen as Sapan Intiq Churin, or the Only Son of the Sun.

The Inca were a deeply religious people. They feared that evil would befall at any time. Sorcerors held high positions in society as protectors from the spirits. They also believed in reincarnation, saving their nail clippings, hair cuttings and teeth in case the returning spirit needed them.

The religious and societal center of Inca life was contained in the middle of the sprawling fortress known as Sacsahuaman. Here was located Cuzco, 'The Naval of the World' [we call it the Solar Plexus] - the home of the Inca Lord and site of the sacred Temple of the Sun. At such a place the immense wealth of the Inca was clearly evident with gold and silver decorating every edifice. The secret of Inca wealth was the mita. This was a labor program imposed upon every Inca by the Inca ruler. Since it only took about 65 days a year for a family to farm for its own needs, the rest of the time was devoted to working on Temple-owned fields, building bridges, roads, temples, and terraces, or extracting gold and silver from the mines. The work was controlled through chiefs of thousands, hundreds and tens.

The Incas worshipped the Earth goddess and the sun god, the Inti. The Inca sovereign, lord of the Tahuantinsuyo, the Inca empire, was held to be sacred and to be the descendant of the sun god. Thus, the legend of the origin of the Incas tells how the sun god sent his children Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo (and in another version the four Ayar brothers and their wives) to found Cuzco, the sacred city and capital of the Inca empire.

Inti Raymi, the feast of the sun The "" or "Sun Festivity" was the biggest, most important, spectacular and magnificent festivity carried out in Inca times. It was aimed to worship the "Apu Inti" (Sun God). It was performed every year on June 21, that is, in the of the Southern Hemisphere, in the great Cuzco Main Plaza.

In the Andean mythology it was considered that Incas were descendants of the Sun, therefore, they had to worship it annually with a sumptuous celebration. More over, the festivity was carried out by the end of the and maize harvest in order to thank the Sun for the abundant crops or otherwise in order to ask for better crops during the next season.

Besides, it is during the solstices when the Sun is located in the farthest point from the earth or vice versa, on this date the Quechuas (native people of the Andes who speak "quechua" language) had to perform diverse rituals in order to ask the Sun not to abandon its children.

Preparations had to be carried out in the Koricancha (), in the Aqllawasi (House of Chosen Women), and in the Haukaypata or Wakaypata that was the northeastern sector of the great Main Square. Some days before the ceremony, all the population had to practice fast and sexual abstinence. Before dawn on June 21st the Cusquenian nobility, presided over by the Inca and the Willaq Uma (High Priest), were located on the Haukaypata (the Plaza's ceremonial portion), the remaining noble population were placed on the Kusipata (southwestern portion). Prior to this the "Mallki" (mummies of noble ancestors) were brought and they were located in privileged sectors so that they could witness the ceremony.

At sunrise, the population had to greet the Sun God with the "much'ay" ("mocha" in its Spanish form) sending forth-resounding kisses offered symbolically with the fingertips. After all that, people sang in tune solemn canticles in a low voice that later were transformed into their "wakay taky" (weepy songs), arriving like this to an emotional and religious climax.

Subsequently, the Son of the Sun (the Inca king), used to take in his two hands two golden ceremonial tumblers called "akilla" containing "Aqha" (chicha = maize beer) made inside the Aqllawasi. The beverage of the tumbler in the right hand was offered to the Sun and then poured into a golden channel communicating the Plaza with the Sun Temple. The Inca drank a sip of chicha from the other tumbler, the remaining was then drank in sips by the noblemen close to him. Later, chicha was offered to every attendant.

Some historians suggest that this ceremony was started inside the in presence of the Sun representation that was made of very polished gold that at the sunrise was reflected with a blinding brilliance. Later the Inca, along with his retinue, went toward the great Plaza through the "Intik'iqllu" or "Street of the Sun" (present-day Loreto street) in order to witness the sacrifice.

During this most important religious ceremony in Incan times, the High Priest had to perform the llama sacrifice offering a completely black or white llama. With a sharp ceremonial golden knife called "Tumi" he had to open the animal's chest and with his hands pulled out its throbbing heart, lungs and viscera, so that observing those elements he could foretell the future. Later, the animal and its parts were completely incinerated. After the sacrifice, the High Priest had to produce the Sacred Fire. Staying in front of the Sun he had to get its rays in a concave gold medallion that contained some soft or oily material in order to produce the fire that had to be kept during next year in the Koricancha and Aqllawasi.

Subsequently the priests offered the Sanqhu that was something like "holy bread" prepared from maize flour and blood of the sacrificed llama; its consumption was entirely religious as a Christian host is.

Once that all ritual stages of the Inti Raymi were finished, all the attendants were located in the southwestern Plaza's sector named Kusipata (Cheer Secto" present-day Plaza del Regocijo) where after being nourished, people were entertained with music, dances and abundant chicha.

Nowadays, the Inti Raymi is staged annually in Saqsaywaman on June 24th with the participation of hundreds of actors wearing typical outfits. It's a great opportunity to imagine the life at the Incas time.

CITIES AND VILLAGES

Not many people lived in the Incan cities. People lived in the nearby villages and traveled into town for festivals or business.

The city was mainly used for the government. All the records for nearby villages were reported by their leaders and recorded in the city by the quipucamayoc. About the only people who lived in the city were the metalworkers, carpenters, weavers and other crafters who made artwork for the temples. These people lived in the artisans' quarters. Outside of the cities were the government storehouses and soldiers' barracks.

In every major Inca city, the Sapa Inca had a palace for use when he visited the city. On those grounds were the convents for the Sun Virgins and houses for servants. The buildings on the grounds were single storied edifices, built of stone with a thatched grass roof. Their only entrance was to the courtyard that they were on.

ECONOMY

Everyone worked except for the very young and the very old. Children worked by scaring away animals from the crops and helping in the home.

About 2/3 of a farmer's goods would be shared by a tax system, and the rest were for keeps. Some of the goods would be distributed to others, goods would be received in return, and the rest was stored in government storehouses or sacrificed to the gods.

Each ayllu - clans - had their own self-supporting farm community. Ayllu members worked the land cooperatively to produce food crops and cotton. All work was done by hand because the Incas lacked wheeled tools and draft animals. Their simple implements included a heavy wooden spade or foot plow called a taclla, a stone-tipped club to break up clods, a bronze-bladed hoe, and a digging stick.

The inhabitants of the Andean region developed more than half the agricultural products that the world eats today. Among these are more than 20 varieties of corn; 240 varieties of potato; as well as one or more varieties of squash, beans, peppers, , and (a starchy root); and quinoa, which is made into a cereal.

By far the most important of these was the potato. They grew over 20 varieties of corn and 240 varieties of potatoes.The Incas planted the potato, which is able to withstand heavy frosts, as high as 4600 m (15,000 ft). At these heights the Incas could use the freezing night temperatures and the heat of the day to alternately freeze and dry the potatoes until all the moisture had been removed. The Incas then reduced the potato to a light flour.

They cultivated corn up to an altitude of 4100 m (13,500 ft) and consumed it fresh, dried, and popped. They also made it into an alcoholic beverage known as saraiaka or chicha.

The Incas faced difficult conditions for . Mountainous terrain limited the land that could be used for agriculture, and water was sometimes scarce.

To compensate, the Incas adopted and improved upon the terracing methods invented by pre-Inca civilizations. They built stone walls to create raised, level fields. These fields formed steplike patterns along the sides of hills that were too steep to irrigate or plough in their natural state. Terraces created more arable land and kept the topsoil from washing away in heavy rains.

Although rain generally falls in the Andes between December and May, there are often years of drought. The Incas constructed complex canals to bring water to terraces and other patches of arable land.

They also made use of natural fertilizers. Guano, the nitrate-rich droppings of birds, was plentiful in coastal areas. In the highlands, farmers used the remains of slaughtered llamas as a fertilizer.

Camelids, such as llamas, alpacas, and vicu­as, were very important to the economy. In addition to carrying burdens, llamas and alpacas were raised as a source of coarse wool and of dung, which was used for fuel. The finest-quality wool came from the wild vicu­a, which was caught, sheared, and set free again.

The Inca also raised guinea pigs, ducks, and dogs, which were the main sources of meat protein.

GOLD - MONEY

The Incas are famous for their gold. They mined extensive deposits of gold and silver, but this wealth ultimately brought disaster in the 16th century, when Spanish soldiers came seeking riches for themselves and their king.

Gold, to the Incas, was the 'sweat of the sun' and Silver the 'tears of the moon.'

Money existed in the form of work. Each subject of the empire paid taxes by laboring on the myriad roads, crop terraces, irrigation canals, temples, or fortresses. In return, rulers paid their laborers in clothing and food. Silver and gold were abundant, but only used for aesthetics.

GOVERNMENT

The Incas had a highly organized government based in Cuzco. The emperor lived there and was regarded to as The Inca, the main supreme the ruler. Underneath him were the nobles.,They were talented and gifted and their skills provided for all of the Inca civilization.

Cuzco, which emerged as the richest city in the New World, was the center of Inca life, the home of its leaders. The riches that were gathered in the city of Cuzco alone, as capital and court of the Empire, were incredible, says an early account of Inca culture written 300 years ago by Jesuit priest Father Bernabe Cobo. Inca kings and nobles amassed stupendous riches which accompanied them, in death, in their tombs. But it was their great wealth that ultimately undid the Inca, for the Spaniards, upon reaching the New World, learned of the abundance of gold in Inca society and soon set out to conquer it at all costs. The plundering of Inca riches continues today with the pillaging of sacred sites and blasting of burial tombs by grave robbers in search of precious Inca gold.

CRIME

Because everyone had everything they needed, people rarely stole things. As a result, there were no prisons. The worst crimes in the Inca empire were murder, insulting the Sapa Inca and saying bad things about gods. The punishment, being thrown off of a cliff, was enough to keep most people from committing these crimes. Adultery with a Sun Virgin wasn't worth it. The couple was tied up by their hands and feet to a wall and left to starve to death. If one made love to one of the Inca's wives, they would be hung on a wall naked and left to starve. Smaller crimes were punished by the chopping off of the hands and feet or the gouging of the eyes.

COMMUNICATION

The main form of communication between cities was the chasqui. The chasqui were young men who relayed messages. Say the army general in Nazca needs to report a village uprising to the Sapa Inca in Cuzco. One chasqui runner would start from the chasqui post in Nazca and run about a kilometer to another chasqui, waiting outside another hut. The message would be relayed and the chain would be continued for hundreds of miles by hundreds of runners until the last runner reached the Sapa Inca and told the message, exact to the original word, because a severe punishment awaited a wrong message, which they knew since their training began in boyhood.

CALENDAR

Most historians agree that the Inca had a calendar based on the observation of both the Sun and the Moon, and their relationship to the stars. Names of 12 lunar months are recorded, as well as their association with festivities of the agricultural cycle.

There is no suggestion of the widespread use of a numerical system for counting time, although a quinary decimal system, with names of numbers at least up to 10,000, was used for other purposes. The organization of work on the basis of six weeks of nine days suggests the further possibility of a count by triads that could result in a formal month of 30 days.

A count of this sort was described by Alexander von Humboldt for a Chibcha tribe living outside of the Inca Empire, in the mountainous region of Colombia. The description is based on an earlier manuscript by a village priest, and one authority has dismissed it as holy imaginary, but this is not necessarily the case. The smallest unit of this calendar was a numerical count of three days, which, interacting with a similar count of 10 days, formed a standard 30-day month.

Every third year was made up of 13 moons, the others having 12. This formed a cycle of 37 moons, and 20 of these cycles made up a period of 60 years, which was subdivided into four parts and could be multiplied by 100. A period of 20 months is also mentioned. Although the account of the Chibcha system cannot be accepted at face value, if there is any truth in it at all it is suggestive of devices that may have been used also by the Inca.

In one account, it is said that the Inca Veracocha established a year of 12 months, each beginning with the New Moon, and that his successor, Pachacuti, finding confusion in regard to the year, built the sun towers in order to keep a check on the calendar. Since Pachacuti reigned less than a century before the conquest, it may be that the contradictions and the meagerness of information on the Inca calendar are due to the fact that the system was still in the process of being revised when the Spaniards first arrived.

Despite the uncertainties, further research has made it clear that at least at Cuzco, the capital city of the Inca, there was an official calendar of the sidereal-lunar type, based on the sidereal month of 27 1/3 days. It consisted of 328 nights (12X271/3) and began on June 8/9, coinciding with the heliacal rising (the rising just after sunset) of the Pleiades; it ended on the first Full Moon after the June solstice (the winter solstice for the Southern Hemisphere). This sidereal-lunar calendar fell short of the solar year by 37 days, which consequently were intercalated. This intercalation, and thus the place of the sidereal-lunar within the solar year, was fixed by following the cycle of the Sun as it strengthened to summer (December) solstice and weakened afterward, and by noting a similar cycle in the visibility of the Pleiades. Intihuatana, the hitching post of the sun, is possibly the last remaining seasonal sun dials in Peru. The rest were destroyed by the Spaniards, who as Catholics, found them to be paganistic.

CLOCK

The Ancient Geometric Measure of Time in Tiwanaku

Kepler's Kinetic law and the Proportional Clock Geometrizing of the Tiahuanacan Solar Cycle, may be a particularly useful line of enquiry into many other ancient prehistoric cultures. It may explain how informations on celestial calculations was recorded and complex astronomical knowledge was transmitted, by being inserted in the enormous architectonics and planimetric structures, still to be seen today in various parts of the world.

The scientific reliability of this research finds indirect confirmation on the clock dial, since all system of time measurement in fact refers to the solar cycle, that is to say to mathematical and geometrical parameters that describe the terrestrial orbit. Thus, by applying Kepler's second kinematic law to the hours circle, we arrive at a geometric system for the figurative representation of time known as the Proportional Dial.

The Proportional Clock derives in turn from this dial and incorporates a new figurative dimension of time in Architecture and Urban planning.

THE FALL OF THE INCAN CIVILIZATION

The demise of the Incan civilization, at the hands of the Spanish Conquistadors, occurred in the 1500's, after years of fighting left the already disarticulate anthology in more disarray. With the arrival from in 1532 of and his entourage of mercenaries or conquistadors, the Inca empire was seriously threatened for the first time. Duped into meeting with the conquistadors in a peaceful gathering, an Inca emperor, , was kidnapped and held for ransom. After paying over $50 million in gold by today's standards, Atahualpa, who was promised to be set free, was strangled to death by the Spaniards who then marched straight for Cuzco and its riches.

Ciezo de Leon, a himself, wrote of the astonishing surprise the Spaniards experienced upon reaching Cuzco. As eyewitnesses to the extravagant and meticulously constructed city of Cuzco, the conquistadors were dumbfounded to find such a testimony of superior metallurgy and finely tuned architecture. Temples, edifices, paved roads, and elaborate gardens all shimmered with gold.

By Ciezo de Leon's own observation the extreme riches and expert stone work of the Inca were beyond belief: "In one of (the) houses, which was the richest, there was the figure of the sun, very large and made of gold, very ingeniously worked, and enriched with many precious stones. They had also a garden, the clods of which were made of pieces of fine gold; and it was artificially sown with golden maize, the stalks, as well as the leaves and cobs, being of that metal.

Besides all this, they had more than twenty golden (llamas) with their lambs, and the shepherds with their slings and crooks to watch them, all made of the same metal. There was a great quantity of jars of gold and silver, set with emeralds; vases, pots, and all sorts of utensils, all of fine gold - it seems to me that I have said enough to show what a grand place it was; so I shall not treat further of the silver work of the chaquira (beads), of the plumes of gold and other things, which, if I wrote down, I should not be believed."

Much of the conquest was accomplished without battles or warfare as the initial contact Europeans made in the New World resulted in rampant disease. Old World infectious disease left its devastating mark on New World Indian cultures. In particular, smallpox spread quickly through Panama, eradicating entire populations. Once the disease crossed into the Andes its southward spread caused the single most devastating loss of life in the Americas. Lacking immunity, the New World peoples, including the Inca, were reduced by two-thirds. In the years following the conquest, the only chroniclers of the Incan culture lacked the objectivity and scientific interests needed for accurate accounts. In addition, they all held to a rigid belief in the literal truth of Biblical records. Thus, much of the myths and legends were held in revulsion, as either trivial or immoral, and failed to reach the annals of Incan civilization.

Those myths that did survive may have been distorted or diluted by those Incans who chose to adapt their stories for the Spanish Christian ears. No conclusion can be made about this mysterious myth other than that is an intriguing and complicated culture, whose form of communication, albeit surreptitious, is innately beautiful.

With the aid of disease and the success of his initial deceit of Atahualpa, Pizarro acquired vast amounts of Inca gold which brought him great fortune in Spain. Reinforcements for his troops came quickly and his conquest of a people soon moved into consolidation of an empire and its wealth. Spanish culture, religion, and language rapidly replaced Inca life and only a few traces of Inca ways remain in the native culture as it exists today.

What remains of the Inca legacy is limited, as the conquistadors plundered what they could of Inca treasures and in so doing, dismantled the many structures painstakingly built by Inca craftsmen to house the precious metals. Remarkably, a last bastion of the Inca empire remained unknown to the Spanish conquerors and was not found until explorer Hiram Bingham discovered it in 1911.

He had found Machu Picchu a citadel atop a mountainous jungle along the Urubamba River in Peru. Grand steps and terraces with fountains, lodgings, and shrines flank the jungle-clad pinnacle peaks surrounding the site. It was a place of worship to the sun god, the greatest deity in the Inca pantheon.

Manco Capac, was the name of the last of the Inca rulers, and the son of Huayna Capac. Manco Capac was supposedly crowned (1534) emperor by the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro but was tolerated only as a puppet. He escaped, levieda huge army, and in 1536 laid siege to Cuzco, the Inca capital. The defense was commanded by Hernando Pizarro. Although the Incans had by now learned some European tactics of war they were outclassed by technical advantages. Manco Capac could not prevent dismemberment of his army at harvest time. The heroic siege, which virtually destroyed the city, was abandoned after ten months, but during the ensuing eight years the Inca's name became a terror throughout Peru. Manco Capac fought a bloody guerrilla war against soldiers and settlers. He was treacherously murdered in 1544, after giving refuge to the defeated supporters of Diego de Almagro, who had rebelled against Pizarro.

In 1541 the Wheel of Fortune turned against Francisco Pizarro, and the conquistador reaped a bit of what he had sown. After the fall of Cuzco in 1533, Pizarro and his brother cut their rival, Diego de Almagro, out of much of the booty. By way of compensation, Francisco offered him Chile, and the Spaniard marched off in hopes of conquest and gold. He returned two years later, having found no fortune, and helped suppress Manco. His quarrel with the Pizarros led to a battle between their factions at Las Salinas on April 26, 1538. Captured, the defeated Almagro was garroted on Hernando's order. Francisco, now governor, later stripped Almagro's son, also named Diego, of lands leaving him bankrupt.

The embittered young Almagro and his associates plotted to assassinate Francisco after mass on June 16, 1541, but Pizarro got wind of their plan and stayed in the governor's palace. While Pizarro, his half-brother Francisco Martín de Alcántara, and about 20 others were having dinner, the conspirators invaded the palace. Most of Pizarro's guests fled, but a few fought the intruders, numbered variously between seven and 25. While Pizarro struggled to buckle on his breastplate, his defenders, including Alcántara, were killed. For his part Pizarro killed two attackers and ran through a third. While trying to pull out his sword, he was stabbed in the throat, then fell to the floor where he was stabbed many times.

Alcántara's wife buried Pizarro and Alcántara behind the cathedral. He was reburied under main altar in 1545, then moved into a special chapel in the cathedral on July 4, 1606. documents from the verification process for remains of St. Toribio in 1661, however, note a wooden box inside of which was a lead box inscribed in Spanish: Here is the skull of the Marquis Don Francisco Pizarro who discovered and won Peru and placed it under the crown of Castile.

In 1891, on the 350th anniversary of Pizarro's death, a scientific committee examined the desiccated remains that church officials had identified as Pizarro. In their account in American Anthropologist 7:1 (January 1894), they concluded that the skull conformed to cranial morphology then thought to be typical of criminals, a result seen as confirming identification. A glass, marble, and bronze sarcophagus was built to hold the , which was venerated by history buffs and churchgoers.

But in 1977, workers cleaning a crypt beneath the altar found two wooden boxes with human bones. One box held the remains of two children; an elderly female; an elderly male, complete; and an elderly male, headless; and some fragments of a sword. The other contained the lead box-- inscribed as had been recorded in 1661--in which was a skull that matched postcranial bones of the headless man in the first box. A Peruvian historian, anthropologist, two radiologists, and two American anthropologists studied the remains. The man was a white male at least 60 years old (Pizarro's exact age was unknown; he was said to be 63 or 65 by contemporary historians) and 5'5" to 5'9" in height. He had lost most of his upper molars and many lower incisors and molars, had arthritic lipping on his vertebrae, had fracture his right ulna while a child, and had suffered a broken nose.

Examination of the remains indicated that the assassins did a thorough job. There were four sword thrusts to neck, the sixth and twelfth thoracic vertebrae were nicked by sword thrusts, the arms and hands were wounded from warding off sword cuts (a cut on the right humerus and two on the left first metacarpal; the right fifth metacarpal was missing altogether), a sword blade had cut through the right zygomatic arch, a thrust penetrated the left eye socket, a rapier or dagger went through the neck into the base of skull, and a pair of thrusts had damage the left sphenoid. The savage overkill suggests revenge as a motive rather than simple murder or death in battle.

The scholars concluded that these were indeed the remains of Francisco Pizarro. The two children might be Pizarro's sons who died young, the elderly female is possibly the wife of Alcantara, and the other elderly male Alcántara. The dried out body long thought to be Pizarro exhibited no sign of trauma as would be expected if it was indeed the corpse of the conquistador. They decided that the interloper was possibly a church official, and replaced the body with the conquistador's bones in the glass sarcophagus.

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Incan Calendar

The Pre-Columbian people of Mesoamerica kept track of time with calendars which had ritual and religious meaning. While the Julian calendar came to the region when it was conquered by Spain in the 16th century, and the Gregorian calendar is now in general use, in a few communities some Native American of the area still use the ancient count of days as well.

All of the Mesoamerican cultures shared a 260 day ritual calendar, for example, the Tzolkin of the . In many Mesoamerican cultures people were given the name of the day in this cycle on which they were born (sometimes in addition to another name). This 260 day cycle ran concurrently with a 365 day vague solar year. These two calendars came together every 52 years.

This 52 year cycle, sometimes called a Calendar round, was very significant. Commonly elaborate rituals would be held at the end of each calendar round, with all fires extinguished, old pots broken, and a new fire kindled symbolizing a fresh start. There was a belief in cycles within time, for example that if a significant event happened on a certain day in the 52 year cycle, a similar or related event was likely to happen on the same day in the next 52 year cycle.

This 52 year cycle was by far the most important for most Mesoamericans, with the apparent exception of the Maya elite until the end of the Classic Era, who gave equal importance to the Maya Long Count Calendar. Other calendar cycles were also kept track of, such as a lunar calendar, as well as the cycles of other astronomical objects, most importanly Venus.

Wikipedia

Inca Calendar

So little is known about the calendar used by the Inca that one can hardly make a statement about it for which a contrary opinion cannot be found. Some workers in the field even assert that there was no formal calendar but only a simple count of lunations. Since no written language was used by the Inca, it is impossible to check contradictory statements made by early colonial chroniclers.

It is widely believed that the of the Inca contain calendrical notations, but no satisfactory demonstration of this is possible.

Quipu or khipu were recording devices used in the Inca Empire and its predecessor societies in the Andean region. A usually consists of colored spun and plied thread from llama or alpaca hair or cotton cords with numeric and other values encoded by knots in a base 10 positional system. Quipus may have just a few strands, but some have up to 2,000 strands.

Most historians agree that the Inca had a calendar based on the observation of both the Sun and the Moon, and their relationship to the stars.

Names of 12 lunar months are recorded, as well as their association with festivities of the agricultural cycle; but there is no suggestion of the widespread use of a numerical system for counting time, although a quinary decimal system, with names of numbers at least up to 10,000, was used for other purposes. The organization of work on the basis of six weeks of nine days suggests the further possibility of a count by triads that could result in a formal month of 30 days.

The smallest unit of this calendar was a numerical count of three days, which, interacting with a similar count of 10 days, formed a standard 30- day "month." Every third year was made up of 13 moons, the others having 12. This formed a cycle of 37 moons, and 20 of these cycles made up a period of 60 years, which was subdivided into four parts and could be multiplied by 100. A period of 20 months is also mentioned. Although the account of the Chibcha system cannot be accepted at face value, if there is any truth in it at all it is suggestive of devices that may have been used also by the Inca.

In one account, it is said that the Inca god Viracocha established a year of 12 months, each beginning with the New Moon, and that his successor, Pachacuti, finding confusion in regard to the year, built the sun towers in order to keep a check on the calendar. Since Pachacuti reigned less than a century before the conquest, it may be that the contradictions and the meagreness of information on the Inca calendar are due to the fact that the system was still in the process of being revised when the Spaniards first arrived. Despite the uncertainties, further research has made it clear that at least at Cuzco, the capital city of the Inca, there was an official calendar of the sidereal-lunar type, based on the sidereal month of 27 1/3 days. It consisted of 328 nights (12 27 1/3) and began on June 8/9, coinciding with the heliacal rising (the rising just after sunset) of the Pleiades; it ended on the first Full Moon after the June solstice (the winter solstice for the Southern Hemisphere).

This sidereal-lunar calendar fell short of the solar year by 37 days, which consequently were intercalated. This intercalation, and thus the place of the sidereal-lunar within the solar year, was fixed by following the cycle of the Sun as it "strengthened" to summer (December) solstice and "weakened" afterward, and by noting a similar cycle in the visibility of the Pleiades.

Reference: Encyclopedia Britannica

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Inca Ruins

Sacred Valley of the Incas

There is strong energy in this valley. From Pisaq to Ollantaytambo, this 26 mile long valley housed the royalty of the Incas and was considered sacred by them. This valley is very fertile and was said to produce the finest corn (maize) in Inca times. Ruins line this valley where the Vilcanoca (Sacred) River runs through it.

Ollantaytambo Mysterious Pre-Inca megalithic stonework at Ollantaytambo. Ollantaytambo is rare if not unique in Peru. The gigantic monoliths are part of what was to be a shrine or temple. At some time unknown, and for reasons unknown, work mysteriously stopped on this huge project. There are many other projects that were never completed.

At the northern end of the , Ollantaytambo has a special spirit about it. The legend goes that a white bearded God, Wiracocha, entered the town and blessed the people. They so honored him, that they carved his face in the mountainside, where you can see it today.

Pisac At the southern end of the Sacred Valley, Pisac's ruins form an enormous condor on the mountainside. Farmers still cultivate the terraces that lead up to the city at the top of the mountain. See the altar at the temple and walk through the rock tunnel.

Strange Stone Carvings

Steps that go nowhere - seats that are hard to get to - are to be found in astonishing abundance in the area around Cusco. They are carved so precisely, with their outside and inside corners so sharp and fine.

The Temple of the Sun - Coricancha

Cuzco, the capital of the Incan empire, was built out of stone and adorned with gold. The Coricancha is a fine example of how the fusion of Inca style and Colonial styles of architecture evolved into the Cusco of today. Originally the site was a ceremonial center featuring a number of stone rectangular buildings laid out as to be the convergence of ley lines connected to numerous 'huacas' or power spots.

On the Summer Solstice sun light from the opening in one of the rooms illuminates a specific niche in which sits the Inca chief. The rooms were adorned with elaborate gold ceremonial objects including a huge gold sun disk which was considered sacred. After the Spanish Conquest much of the structure was torn down and reassembled as the Church of Santa Domingo. A considerable amount of the original Inca structure was left intact and integrated into the church structure.

The Temple of the Sun was once the most important temple of the Incas. When the Spanish conquered the Inca Empire, they used the fine Inca stonework to form the base of the Church of Santo Domingo. Inside the church area are some of the buildings built by the Incas that were used by the conquerors for their private quarters. The temple also served as a tomb for several Incas, or kings. During Inca rule, the Coricancha, or Golden Courtyard, was covered with gold and silver sculptures representing llamas, corn, babies, and the sun.

When the Spaniards conquered Cuzco, the Inca capital, they set about stripping the gold from the temples and melting them down. Legend has it that it took three months to cart all of the gold from the Sun Temple.

Sacsayhuaman

Sacsayhuaman (satisfied falcon) - (pronounced like sexy woman) - is an Incan sacred and strategic site above the city, serves as the head of the puma. On the peak of a hill overlooking the city of Cusco lies the ancient fortress of Sacsayhuaman . Once the domain of Inca warriors, nobles and engineers it now stands in ruins but many visitors explore its maze of intricately constructed walls, stairways and structures. After the conquest of Cusco in 1536 most of the inner structures of Sacsayhuaman were dismantled and used to construct Spanish Cusco.

The carved stone walls fit so perfectly that no blade of grass or steel can slide between them. There is no mortar. They often join in complex and irregular surfaces that would appear to be a nightmare for the stonemason. There is usually neither adornment nor inscription. It reminds me of the stones of the Great . That too has no inscriptions. One has to wonder who created these great stone edifices with such precision in that timeline with such limited tools. Could they have been created by the same gods? aliens?

Most of these walls are found around Cuzco and the Urubamba River Valley in the Peruvian Andes. There are a few scattered examples elsewhere in the Andes, but almost nowhere else on Earth. Sacsahuaman was supposedly completed around 1508. It took approximately a crew of 20,000 to 30,000 men working for 60 years to complete it.

Chronicler Garcilaso de la Vega was born around 1530, and raised in the shadow of these walls. He wrote - "This fortress surpasses the constructions known as the seven wonders of the world. For in the case of a long broad wall like that of Babylon, or the colossus of Rhodes, or the pyramids of Egypt, or the other monuments, one can see clearly how they were executed. They did it by summoning an immense body of workers and accumulating more and more material day by day and year by year. They overcame all difficulties by employing human effort over a long period. But it is indeed beyond the power of imagination to understand now these Indians, unacquainted with devices, engines, and implements, could have cut, dressed, raised, and lowered great rocks, more like lumps of hills than building stones, and set them so exactly in their places. For this reason, and because the Indians were so familiar with demons, the work is attributed to enchantment."

Archaeologists tell us that the walls of Sacsahuaman rose ten feet higher than their remnants. That additional ten feet of stones supplied the building materials for the cathedrals and casas of the conquistadors. It is generally conceded that these stones were much smaller than those lithic monsters that remain. Perhaps the upper part of the walls, constructed of small, regularly-shaped stones was the only part of Sacsahuaman that was built by the Incas and finished in 1508. This could explain why no one at the time of the conquest seemed to know how those mighty walls were built.

Near Sacsayhuaman is (Zigzag), a carved limestone formation that served as a sacrificial site or temple. Across from the ruins of Ollantaytambo in the Urubamba Valley stands a sacred mountain believed to have the profile of Viracocha, the Inca sun god, carved into the stone.

[I see not only the head of Viracocha, but long robes and a lamb at the bottom just above the trees [metaphor for Tree of Life.]

He also appears to be riding a horse - Revelation - Revolution - That which revolves in the Cycles of Time.

Metaphors carved in stone - The Lion and the Lamb - a time of revelation. Gods who went to sacred mountains for answers. Age of Leo - approximately 13,000 = years ago - Precession of the Equinoxes. The Lion - Leo - Light - symbology found in ancient Egypt.

When the sun strikes this profile of Viracocha during the winter solstice, the mineral content of the mountain reflects and refracts the rays. The Inca believed that this was a sign verifying the deity of Viracocha. The solstices were sacred days for the Inca since so much of their culture was based on planting seasons.

The buildings to the right and to the left were constructed by the Inca to store corn as food for winters and as offerings to Viracocha. Mysterious giant stone sculpture of Aramu Muru, north of Chucuito, Peru

A huge mysterious door-like structure has been discovered in the Hayu Marca mountain region of Southern Peru. Hayu Marca, 35 kilometres from the city of Puno has long been revered by local Indians as the City of the Gods. It has never been fully explored because of the rugged mountain terrain.

Although no actual city has ever been discovered, many of the rock formations of the region resemble buildings and artificial structures. The door, or the Puerta de Hayu Marca (Gate of the gods/spirits) has been at some time in the distant past carved out of a natural rock face and in all measures exactly seven meters in height by seven meters in width with a smaller alcove in the center at the base, which measures in at just under two meters in height.

Jose Luis Delgado Mamani stumbled across the structure while trekking through the surrounding foothills trying to familiarize himself with the area as his job is as a guide for mountaineering tourists.

"I have dreamed of such a construction repeatedly over the years, but in the dream the path to the door was paved with pink marble, and with pink marble statues lining either side of the path. In the dream, I also saw that the smaller door was open and there was a brilliant blue light coming from what looked like a shimmering tunnel. I have commented to my family many times about these dreams, and so when I finally gazed upon the doorway, it was like a revelation from God."

A gateway to the lands of the gods - In that legend it was said that in times long past, great heroes had gone to join their gods and passed through the gate for a glorious new life of immortality, and on rare occasions those men returned for a short time with their gods to inspect all the lands in the kingdom through the gate.

Another legend tells of the time when the Spanish Conquistadors arrived in Peru, and looted gold and precious stones from the Inca tribes - and one Incan priest of the temple of the seven rays named Aramu Maru fled from his temple with a sacred golden disk known as The Key of the Gods of the Seven Rays.

He hid in the mountains of Hayu Marca. He eventually came upon the doorway which was being watched by shaman priests. He showed them the key of the gods and a ritual was performed with the conclusion of a magical occurrence initiated by the golden disk which opened the portal, and according to the legend blue light did emanate from a tunnel inside. The priest Aramu Maru handed the golden disk to the shaman and then passed through the portal never to be seen again.

Archeologists have observed a small hand sized circular depression on the right hand side of the small entranceway, and have theorized that this is where a small disk could be placed and held by the rock.

Not far from Cusco there is a hill they call the Temple of the Moon. The hill has several caves and many rock carvings. Some of the carvings here show extreme weathering. This most likely was used for ceremonial purposes. In the foreground was the city's quarry. Midfield are agricultural terraces, probably for the typical resident. In the background is the Inca Trail winding up the mountain for which the city is named. TERRACES

These unusual Incan terraces at were an experimental farm taking advantage of different microclimates created by the geometric shapes. REALITY AND MESSAGES LEFT IN STONE

This figure represents the reunion of soul - the male=the left side of your body and the female=right side of your body. These are aspects of who we are - the right/left side coming together [note the hands]. The spirals and small boxes are part of consciousness and how we become aware - see sacred geometry.

The face of the figure takes me to Africa - which links to ancient Egypt - the Middle East - and the story of creation.

All of creation is a repetition of stories that played out across the map of the planet - each evolving with a different cast of characters.

If you were to perceive reality as a virtual game - the matrix - the holodeck - then each ancient civilization - and those more current - not to mention those involving off-planet civilizations - are all programs in a computer that are running simultaneously. We are experiencing in more than the 3D planet Earth program - the problem is - we do not remember - we are not aware of what we are doing outside the box. We are coming into a time when we will remember all that we are and what our souls are doing beyond third dimension. You understand this best when you wonder what is beyond this reality - what is this 'mission feeling' I have - who am I and why am I here?

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The Chachapoyas

The Chachapoyas are a lost civilization in the upper Amazon of Peru. Discovered in a remote and rugged area of the Amazonian Andes in 1843, seventy years before Machu Picchu was brought to public attention, the colossal ruin known as was built by members of a regional culture or group of cultures known as the Chachapoya.

The Chachapoyas, also called the Warriors of the Clouds, were an Andean people living in the cloud forests of the Amazonas region of present- day Peru. The Incas conquered their civilization shortly before the arrival of the Spanish in Peru. When the Spanish arrived in Peru in the 16th century, the Chachapoyas were one of the many nations ruled by the Inca Empire. Their incorporation into the Inca Empire had not been easy, due to their constant resistance to the Inca troops.

Since the Incas and the Spanish conquistadors were the principal sources of information on the Chachapoyas, unbiased first-hand knowledge of the Chachapoyas remains scarce. Writings by the major chroniclers of the time, such as El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, were based on fragmentary second-hand accounts. Much of what we do know about the Chachapoyas culture is based on archaeological evidence from ruins, pottery, tombs and other artifacts.

Origin of the Chachapoyas -- Ever since early chroniclers reported the Chachapoyas to be a tall, fair-skinned race, there has been much popular speculation about their origins. Additionally, some claim that mummified remains of Chachapoyans resemble a Caucasoid-like physical type. A recent media report claimed that: "The Chachapoyas were a tall, fair-haired, light-skinned race that some researchers believe may have come from ." This contradicts standard theories of migration to the New World. If not an autapomorphy, (or an artifact of preservation conditions; see also the debate about the Tarim mummies), the Chachapoyas were a unique population. Accounts such as that of Cieza de León only indicate that they did have lighter skin than other Native Americans of the region, and as with other anomalous populations (such as the Guanche people of the Canary Islands), their origins and appearance are subject to speculation and exaggeration. According to the analysis of the Chachapoyas objects made by the Antisuyo expeditions of the Amazon Archaeology Institute, the Chachapoyas do not exhibit Amazon cultural tradition; rather their cultural goods have Andean roots. Given that the terrain faciliates peripatric speciation - as evidenced by the high biodiversity of the Andean region - the physical attributes of the Chachapoyas are most likely reflecting founder effects, assortative mating, or related phenomena in an initially small population sharing a relatively recent common ancestor with other Amerind groups.

The anthropomorphous sarcophagi resemble imitations of funeral bundles provided with wooden masks typical of the Horizonte Medio, a dominant culture on the coast and highlands, also known as the Tiahuanaco-Huari or Wari culture. The "mausoleums" may be modified forms of the or pucullo, elements of funeral architecture common throughout Peru and in Tiahuanaco-Huari.

The reason for an Andean people to inhabit the Amazonian Andes in particular seems to be the need to expand agrarian borders. The agricultural environments of both the Andes and the coastal region, characterized by its extensive desert areas and limited soil suitable for farming, became insufficient for sustaining a population like the ancestral Peruvians, which had grown for 3000 years. The conquest of the Chachapoyas by the Incas took place, according to Garcilaso, during the government of Tupac Inca Yupanqui in the second half of the 15th century. He recounts that the warlike actions began in the slope of Pias. If this is true, it was to the south-west of the Gran Pajáten, whence it is deduced that the area of Pias was already considered as a Chachapoyas territory. About the resistance that the Chachapoyas put up against the Inca's penetration in the times of Tupac Inca Yupanqui, there is abundant historical information, especially in the chronicle of Cieza.

During the sovereign Huayna Capac's government, the Chachapoyas rebelled: They had killed the Inca's governors and captains (...) and (...) soldiers (...) and many others were imprisoned, they had the intention to make them their slaves. As an answer, Huayna Capac, who was in the Ecuadorian cañaris land and while he was gathering his troops, sent messengers to negotiate peace. But again, the Chachapoyas "punished the messengers (...) and threatened them with death".

Then Huayna Capac ordered to attack them. He crossed the Marañon river over a bridge of wooden rafts that he ordered to be built probably in the surroundings of Balsas, next to Celendín. From here, the Inca's troops went to (Bolivar), with the intention of destroying this town that was "one of the principal towns" of the 'Chachapoyas. From Cajamarquilla, an embassy consisting of women came out to meet them. In front of them there was a matron, who was a former concubine of Tupac Inca Yupanqui. They were asking for mercy and forgiveness, which the Inca granted them. In memory of this event of peace consecration, the place where the negotiation had taken place was declared sacred and closed so from now on "(...) neither men nor animals, nor even birds, if it was possible, would put their feet in it." To assure the pacification of the Chachapoyas, the Incas installed garrisons in the region. They also arranged the transfer of groups of villagers under the system of mitmac, or change of territories of human groups: "(...) it gave them grounds to work and places for houses not much far from a hill that is next to the city (Cuzco) called Carmenga." Of the Inca presence in the territory of Chachapoyas remain the architectural rests of , placed in the outskirts of Utcubamba in the current district of Leimebamba.

The architectural model of the Chachapoyas is characterized by circular stone constructions as well as raised platforms constructed on slopes. Their walls were sometimes decorated with symbolic figures. Some structures such as the monumental fortress of Kuelap and the ruins of Cerro Olán are prime examples of this architectural style.

Chachapoyan constructions may date to the 9th or 10th century; this architectural tradition still thrived at the time of the arrival of the Spanish until the latter part of the 16th century. To be sure, the Incas introduced their own style after conquering the Chachapoyas, such as in the case of the ruins of Cochabamba in the district of Leimebamba.

The presence of two funeral patterns is also typical of the Chachapoyas culture. One is represented by sarcophagi, placed vertically and located in caves that were excavated at the highest point of precipices. The other funeral pattern was groups of mausoleums constructed like tiny houses located in caves worked into cliffs. Chachapoyan handmade ceramics did not reach the technological level of the Mochica or Nazca cultures. Their small pitchers are frequently decorated by cordoned motifs. As for textile art, clothes were generally colored in red. A monumental textile from the precincts of Pajáten had been painted with figures of birds. The Chachapoyas also used to paint their walls, as an extant sample in San Antonio, province of Luya, reveals. These walls represent stages of a ritual dance of couples holding hands.

History

Although there is archaeological evidence that people began settling this geographical area as early as 200 A.D. or before, the Chachapoyas culture is thought to have developed around 800 A.D. The major urban centers, such as Kuélap and Gran Pajáten, may have developed as a defensive measure against the Huari, a Middle culture that covered much of the coast and highlands.

In the fifteenth century, the Inca empire expanded to incorporate the Chachapoyas region. Although fortifications such as the citadel at Kuélap may have been an adequate defense against the invading Inca, it is possible that by this time the Chachapoyas settlements had become decentralized and fragmented after the threat of Huari invasion had dissipated. The Chachapoyas were conquered by Inca ruler Tupac Inca Yupanqui around 1475 A.D. The defeat of the Chachapoyas was fairly swift; however, smaller rebellions continued for many years. Using the mitmaq system of ethnic dispersion, the Inca attempted to quell these rebellions by forcing large numbers of Chachapoya people to resettle in remote locations of the empire.

When civil war broke out within the Inca empire, the Chachapoyas were located on middle ground between the northern capital at Quito, ruled by the Inca Atahualpa, and the southern capital at Cuzco, ruled by Atahualpa's brother Huascar. Many of the Chachapoyas were conscripted into Huascar's army, and heavy casualties ensued. After Atahualpa's eventual victory, many more of the Chachapoyas were executed or deported due to their former allegiance with Huascar.

It was due to the harsh treatment of the Chachapoyas during the years of subjugation that many of the Chachapoyas initially chose to side with the Spanish colonialists when they arrived in Peru. Guaman, a local ruler from Cochabamba, pledged his allegiance to the conquistador Francisco Pizarro after the capture of Atahualpa in . The Spanish moved in and occupied Cochabamba, extorting what riches they could find from the local inhabitants.

During Inca Manco Capac's rebellion against the Spanish, his emissaries enlisted the help of a group of Chachapoyas. However, Guaman's supporters remained loyal to the Spanish. By 1547, a large faction of Spanish soldiers arrived in the city of Chachapoyas, effectively ending the Chachapoyas independence. Residents were relocated to Spanish-style towns, often with members of several different ayllu occupying the same settlement. Disease, poverty, and attrition led to severe decreases in population; by some accounts the population of the Chachapoyas region decreased by 90% over the course of 200 years after the arrival of the Spanish.

Archaeological Sites

The Chachapoyas people built the great fortress of Kuélap, with more than four hundred buildings and massive exterior stone walls, possibly to defend against the Huari around 800 AD. Referred to as the 'Machu Picchu of the north,' Kuélap receives few visitors due to its remote location. Other archaeological sites in the region include the settlement of Gran Pajáten, Gran Saposoa, the tombs at , and the burial site at Laguna de los Condores (Lake of the Condors), among many others.

Chachapoyas Culture Wikipedia

Sarcophagi, Karajia Tombs

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Lake Titicaca

Lake Titicaca is the world's highest lake navigable to large vessels, lying at 12,500 feet (3,810 m) above sea level in the Andes Mountains of South America, astride the border between Peru to the west and Bolivia to the east. Titicaca is the second largest lake of South America (after Maracaibo). It covers some 3,200 square miles (8,300 square km) and extends in a northwest-to-southeast direction for a distance of 120 miles (190 km). It is 50 miles (80 km) across at its widest point. A narrow strait, Tiquina, separates the lake into two bodies of water.

The smaller, in the southeast, is called Lake Huinaymarca in Bolivia and Lake Pequeno in Peru; the larger, in the northwest, is called Lake Chucuito in Bolivia and Lake Grande in Peru.

The meaning of the name Titicaca is uncertain, but it has been variously translated as Rock of the Puma or Crag of Lead. Titicaca lies between Andean ranges in a vast basin (about 22,400 square miles [58,000 square km] in area) that comprises most of the Altiplano (High Plateau) of the northern Andes. In the snow-covered Cordillera Real on the northeastern (Bolivian) shore of the lake, some of the highest peaks in the Andes rise to heights of more than 21,000 feet (6,400 m).

The lake averages between 460 and 600 feet (140 and 180 m) in depth, but the bottom tilts sharply toward the Bolivian shore, reaching its greatest recorded depth of 920 feet (280 m) off Isla Soto in the lake's northeast corner.

More than 25 rivers empty their waters into Titicaca; the largest, the Ramis, draining about two-fifths of the entire Titicaca Basin, enters the northwestern corner of the lake. One small river, the Desaguadero, drains the lake at its southern end. This single outlet empties only 5 percent of the lake's excess water; the rest is lost by evaporation under the fierce sun and strong winds of the dry Altiplano.

Titicaca's level fluctuates seasonally and over a cycle of years. During the rainy season (summer, from December to March) the level of the lake rises, normally to recede during the dry winter months. It was formerly believed that Titicaca was slowly drying up, but modern studies have seemed to refute this, indicating a more or less regular cycle of rise and fall.

Titicaca's waters are limpid and only slightly brackish, with salinity ranging from 5.2 to 5.5 parts per 1,000. Surface temperatures average 56º F (14º C); from a thermocline at 66 feet (20 m) temperatures drop to 52º F (11º C) at the bottom. Analyses show measurable quantities of sodium chloride, sodium sulfate, calcium sulfate, and magnesium sulfate in the water.

Titicaca (Stone Puma) has lived a long life of millions of years. It contains the sum of all the ages that have molded and defined the works that humans have undertaken in the southern Americas. Over this span of time, that reaches back some two million years, its body of water has been much larger, and encompassed areas today covered in salt flats and wasteland.

Lake Titicaca's fish life consists principally of two species of killifish (Orestias)--a small fish, usually striped or barred with black--and a catfish (Trichomycterus). In 1939, and subsequently, trout were introduced into Titicaca. A large frog (Telmatobius), which may reach a length of nearly a foot, inhabits the shallower regions of the lake.

Forty-one islands, some of them densely populated, rise from Titicaca's waters. The largest, Titicaca Island (Spanish: Isla de Titicaca, also called Isla del Sol), lies just off the tip of the Copacabana Peninsula in Bolivia.

Ruins on the shore and on the islands attest to the previous existence of one of the oldest civilizations known in the Americas, antedating the Christian era. The chief site is at Tiahuanaco, Bolivia, at the southern end of the lake. On Titicaca Island ruins of a temple mark the spot where, according to the tradition of the Incas (a Quechuan people of Peru who established an empire about 1100), the legendary founders of the Inca dynasty, Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo, were sent down to Earth by the Sun.

In Inka mythology, Manco Capac and Mama 0cllo, children of the Sun, emerged from the depths of Lake Titicaca to found their empire. Like famous naturalist Jacques Cousteau, today's visitors to Titicaca will surely feel the same emotion that captivated the symbolic universe of the ancient Peruvians. With lofty snow-capped peaks along its far shores, the vast blue lake at 3,800m is one of the Andes' most enchanting scenes. This is an indigenous community of some 350 families which continues to live within the traditions of the 14th century, according to the principles of Inca life. Here, without noting the passing of time, the three golden rules of the Empire of the Sun have been kept: Ama suwa, Ama quella, Ama llulla (do not steal, don't be idle, and do not lie). The contact with other civilizations has not been able to destroy the profound identity of the Inca way.

The living in the Titicaca Basin still practice their ancient methods of agriculture on stepped terraces that predate Inca times. They grow barley, quinoa (a type of pigweed that produces a small grain), and the potato, which originated on the Altiplano. The highest cultivated plot in the world was found near Titicaca--a field of barley growing at a height of 15,420 feet (4,700 m) above sea level. At this height the grain never ripens, but the stalks furnish forage for llamas and alpacas, the American relatives of the camel that serve the Indians as beasts of burden and as a source of meat.

The remnants of an ancient people, the Uru, still live on floating mats of dried totora (a reedlike papyrus that grows in dense brakes in the marshy shallows). From the totora, the Uru and other lake dwellers make their famed balsas--boats fashioned of bundles of dried reeds lashed together that resemble the crescent-shaped papyrus craft pictured on ancient Egyptian monuments.

In 1862 the first steamer to ply the lake was prefabricated in and carried in pieces on muleback up to the lake. Today vessels make regular crossings from Puno, on the Peruvian shore, to the small Bolivian port of Guaqui. A narrow-gauge railway connects Guaqui with La Paz, capital of Bolivia. The world's second-highest railway runs from Puno down to Arequipa and the Pacific, completing for land-bound Bolivia, an important link with the sea.

Lake Titicaca and the House of the Golden Sun Disc By Joshua and Vera Shapiro

Peru is a land steeped in ancient prophecies and wisdom that is vital for our planet during these transitional times. Life in the Incan empire was measured by a thousand year cosmic cycle called an Inti, which means 'Sun'. This thousand year cycle was then divided into halves, each of which was referred to as a Pachakuti.

The Cosmo vision of the Andean world is the conception of duality that is in permanent opposition, but complementary, like the principle of ying/ yang that expresses this opposition between day/night, light/dark, man/woman, earth/sky, up/down. This same principle of duality applies to each Pachakuti. However, Pachakuti also is used to refer to the transitional time that divided each Pachakuti and this is characterized as a time of great changes.

During the five hundred years of the eighth Pachakuti, Pachacuteq, the greatest spiritual leader of the Incas and the builder of Machu Picchu ruled. This was a time of light when the Inca Empire flourished and there was expansion and good fortune.

The ninth Pachakuti, on the opposite side of the duality, brought with it the five hundred years of darkness when the Spanish invaders conquered the Inca and the Andes people lost their power. We are now entering the tenth Pachakuti, which the Andes people refer to as the returning of Pachacuteq, the returning of the Light. This is the time when the etheric crystal cities of the fourth dimension such as the lost golden city of Paititi and the eternal etheric city under lake Titicaca will again be available to us.

There is a legend that says at the time Lemuria was sinking, one of the seven Great Masters of Lemuria, Lord Aramu Muru, was given the mission to bring the sacred Golden Solar Disc from the Temple of Illumination to Lake Titicaca for safe keeping. During the time of the Incas, the Solar Disc was transferred to Cusco, and placed in the Qorikancha, the main Temple of the Sun, where it stayed until the coming of the Spanish. At that time, it was returned to Lake Titicaca and placed in the Eternal Etheric City inside the Lake. In the legend of their origin, this is the place from where the first Incas, M'anko Qapak and Mama Oqllo, entered the Earth.

M'anko Qapak and Mama Oqllo

The Solar Disc was used in the capacity of a cosmic computer that received light information directly from the Universal Mind Source, Wiracocha, at the center of the galaxy. By entering the Temple of Illumination and opening themselves, the Lemurians and later the Incas could access the sacred wisdom. It is during this time, the Age of Pachakuti, that the sacred Solar Disc is to be re-activated accessing the cosmic wisdom. Many of the world's spiritual leaders, as well as indigenous teachers, acknowledge that the energy of the planet shifted in 1987 from the masculine energies of Tibet to the feminine energies of Peru, and more particular, Lake Titicaca, Machu Picchu, and The Sacred Valley of the Incas. This area is the acknowledged portal through which the new feminine energies are entering Mother Earth ' Mama".

The Uros of today, still live as the original inhabitants did as they continue to use the totora reeds to build their huts and rafts. The Uros are singular people and even though they keep to themselves very quietly, they do allow people to visit with them.

The Urubamba Valley, also known as the Sacred Valley of the Incas, is one of the most fertile valleys on this planet. Everything that is planted here grows with such abnormal vigor - especially corn and potatoes. The corn here grows approximately three times the size of the corn grown in the U.S. and other parts of the world.

Inca terraces, Lake Titicaca, Peru

Click Image for another version of the story.

In the News ...

Backs to the Future PhysOrg - June 13, 2006

New analysis of the language and gesture of South America's indigenous Aymara people indicates they have a concept of time opposite to all the world's studied cultures -- so that the past is ahead of them and the future behind.

Tough life of Titicaca islanders BBC - June 26, 2005

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Machu Piccu

The legendary ' of Machu Picchu' is without a doubt the most important tourist attraction in Peru and one of the world's most impressive archaeological sites. Built by the Incas on the summit of "Machu Picchu" (Old Peak), overlooking the deep canyon of the Urubamba river in a semi-tropical area 120 Km. (75 miles) from the city of Cusco at 7,000 feet above sea level.

It sits on a mountain site of extraordinary beauty, in the middle of a tropical mountain forest, Machu Picchu was probably the most amazing urban creation of the Inca Empire at its height, with its giant walls, terraces and ramps, which appear as though they have been cut naturally in the continuous rock escarpments.

The natural setting on the eastern slope of the Andes encompasses the upper Amazon basin with its rich diversity of species.

The whole archaeological complex covers approximately 5 square kms. It is situated in the high jungle. Its climate is semi-tropical, warm and humid. TRANSPORTATION TO MACHU PICCHU

There are two routes leading to Machu Picchu:

By rail - the most rapid and comfortable - following the course of the Urubamba River

On foot - following the traditional and true route of entry, best known as the Inka Trail. A minimum of one whole day is needed to visit these ruins and upon arrival there, one should have approximately 2 hours to go over the main part and have lunch at the hotel on your return, before taking the mini-bus anew down to the Puente Ruinas Station (2.30 pm). The traveler who has more time to spare may stay overnight at the Machu Picchu Ruinas Hotel

The Citadel

Machu Picchu is also one of the Inca's best kept secrets, since they did not left written records and Spanish chronicles make no mention of the citadel, it remains a mystery. Discovered only in 1911 by the American Yale professor Hiram Bingham. The building style is "late imperial Inca" thought to have been a sanctuary or temple inhabited by high priests and the "Virgins of the Sun" (chosen women). Excavations revealed that of the 135 skeletons found,109 were women. No signs of post Conquest occupation were unearthed.

The original entrance to the complex is on the southwestern side of the citadel at the end of the Inca Trail, a short walk away from "Intipunko " (Sun Gate), the ancient final check point to Machu Picchu. The present entrance on the southeastern side leads to the agricultural section. The complex can be divided in three distinct sections: Agricultural, Urban, and Religious.

The agricultural area consists of a series of terraces and irrigation channels that serve dual purpose, as cultivation platforms making it self sustained, and as retention walls to avoid erosion. Some smaller buildings next to large terraces are part of this section and thought to have served as lookout posts. The urban section starts at the wall that separates it from the agricultural area, this group of buildings were constructed on the ridge that descends abruptly to the Urubamba valley. In the southern part of this section are found a series of niches carved on rock known as "the jail" with elements that include man size niches, stone rings would have served to hold the prisoner's arms, and underground dungeons. The group of refined structures next to "the jail" is known as the "intellectuals' quarters", with tall walls, nooks, and windows built with reddish stone are considered to have been accommodations for the Amautas (high ranked teachers). One of the buildings has several circular holes carved on the rock floor named the "mortar room" believed to have been used for preparation of dyes. The largest urban section in Machu Picchu located on the north western part, is reached by a 67 steps staircase and involves a group of buildings not as finely constructed as other parts of the complex. The central plaza that separates the religious from the urban section, has a great rock in the center. The religious section contains splendid architecture an masonry work, one of the most important and enigmatic is probably the Intihuatana shrine, this block of granite was presumably used to make astronomical observations. Descending the hill next to this site is the Great Central Temple, a three walled building with fine stonework and an attached smaller temple called the "Sacristy". Next to this structure is another three walled building, known as the 'Temple of the Three Windows', so called because of the trapezoidal openings on the east wall. Directly across is the Royal sector, with ample buildings typical of Inca royalty. A very important structure in this section is the "Temple of the Sun", a: circular tower with the best stonework of Machu Picchu. Its base forms a cavern known as the Royal Tomb. Recent studies show that the actual purpose was for astronomical observance.

Huayna Picchu, young peak, is as much a part of the site as the buildings of the citadel, the towering granite peak overlooks Machu Picchu to the North with a steep well preserved original Inca path, well worth the one hour climb for an astounding view of the citadel and the entire valley.

'The Temple of the Moon', located halfway down in an underground chamber on the north side of the , is a fairly recent discovery. The access to this site is rather difficult and diverges left from the main trail. It contains finely carved structures on large boulders. The climb to the top takes about three hours.

THE CITY AND ITS PEOPLE

Only from the nearby hilltop of Intipunku can you realize the full extent of Machu Picchu's colossal conception.

The citadel is a stupendous achievement- in urban planning, civil engineering, architecture and stonemasonry.

Who built this symphony in stone, this vast complex of buildings so well constructed that even five centuries in the inexorable grip of the Peruvian jungle has deprived them only of their thatch and reed roofs?

The architectural forms are unmistakably characteristic of the Incas but beyond that its origins are veiled in a mystery as thick as the early morning mist swirling around its craggy fastness. At any moment, it seems, a gold-encrusted and befeathered Inca warrior will materialize between the curiously sloping door jambs.

The enigmatic Incas knew neither the wheel nor any written language, but forged an empire stretching 3,680km (2,300mi) along the mighty Andean heights.

Machu Picchu was a complex of temples, palaces and and was the home of the Inca ruling classes. From here, high priests made observations and calculations enabling them to chart the heavens - a knowledge which gave them both religious authority and temporal power.

THE FALL OF MACHU PICCHU

Hiram Bingham found many objects of stone, bronze, ceramic and obsidian, but no gold or silver. There should have been fabulous riches of these metals comparable to those found at the 'Temple of the Sun' in Cuzco where even the garden contained life-size gold replicas of maize and other plants.

It is unlikely the Spaniards stole the gold and silver, for it seems they never found Machu Picchu. They always took great pains to visit every inhabited settlement in Peru and record it in detail before relieving it of everything worth taking. But there is not a single reference to Machu Picchu in the Spaniards' chronicles. The Peruvian scholar Dr Victor Angles Vargas thinks the city became depopulated toward the end of the 15th century before the Spaniards arrived. What brought this about is one of the deepest enigmas surrounding this sacred site.

Wars between rival Inca tribes were common and blood, often resulting in the annihilation of whole communities. When the Inca ruler, Wayna Capac, defeated the tribe of the Caranques, for example, he ordered the execution of all the remaining members. The citizens of Machu Picchu may well have suffered such a fate.

Another possibility is that a novice priest defiled one of the sacred Virgins of the Sun. Garcilaso de Vega, the son of a Spaniard and an Inca princess, wrote exhaustive commentaries on Inca customs. According to him, anyone found guilty of sexually violating an 'ajilla' was not only put to death himself, but servants, relatives and neighbors, inhabitants of the same town and their cattle were all killed. No one was left . . . The place was damned and excommunicated so that no one could find it, not even the animals! Was this, then, the fate of the inhabitants of Machu Picchu?

Also epidemics are common enough even in modern times - in the 1940s malaria decimated the population of an area near Machu Picchu. And the skeleton of a rich woman found by Hiram Bingham showed she had suffered from syphilis and was unlikely to have been alone in this. Perhaps the city was ravaged by a plague so terrible it was permanently quarantined by the authorities.

Theories show that it could have been a country estate of Pachacuti, proving its existence in mud 15th century. Some think that it was abandoned by the Incas before Spanish conquest, yet no one knows why. Overlooked by conquistadors, it was supposedly untouched until 1911.

EXTRATERRESTRIAL LINK

Machu Picchu's unusual patterns are best viewed from the sky. Some people believe it to be a landing strip for extraterrestrials, muc like Peru's .

Its celestial observatory depicts many patterns found on petroglyphs throughout the world.

NEWS ARTICLES

Peru Finds Inca Burial Site at Machu Picchu

October 2002 - Reuters News - , Peru

Peruvian archeologists have discovered the first full Inca burial site at Machu Picchu since the famous mountaintop citadel was discovered 90 years ago.

"It's important because nothing like this -- a burial site and all that goes with it -- has been found since the Bingham era," Machu Picchu's administrator, Fernando Astete, told Reuters, referring to the U.S. explorer Hiram Bingham who rediscovered the Inca citadel in 1911.

"The find is significant because of the funeral objects, such as stone and clay pots and five metal objects accompanying the remains of bones of a person, probably a woman," he added.

He said other excavations in recent years at the atmospheric gray stone site, perched at an altitude of 8,200 feet on top of a mountain near the edge of Peru's southern jungle, had yielded some bone fragments but not Inca graves.

"Studies will confirm the sex and determine the age of the person who was buried, but the objects that were found around the body point to it having been a young woman," he added.

Machu Picchu, which was built more than 500 years ago, is Peru's top tourist attraction and a U.N. World Heritage site, drawing some 500,000 foreign visitors a year.

"When the citadel of Machu Picchu was discovered in 1911, 172 tombs with human remains were found, but over the years only bones have been found. It's only now that a complete burial site has been uncovered," Astete said.

The Spanish conquerors of Peru never stumbled upon Machu Picchu, near the southern Andean city of Cusco, some 684 miles southeast of Lima, and the site was only discovered when Bingham and local guides came across the vegetation-covered ruins.

Cusco was capital of the Inca empire from the 13th to the 16th century. The Inca empire stretched from Colombia to Chile.

Astete said well-preserved ceramics, including a stone pan and clay pot, as well as bronze pins, a mirror and clasps, were found in the burial site.

The site was discovered a week ago in a sector of Machu Picchu that was used by the Incas as a viewing place. Archeologists have been excavating there for several months, and found the grave some 31.5 inches (80 cm) below the surface.

Astete said Machu Picchu had not yielded all its secrets yet. "Not everything has been discovered, there are parts which have not been investigated yet by archeologists," he said.

The burial find will be put on display where it was found to encourage tourism, he added. This cash-strapped Andean nation is betting on tourism as a big money spinner and most visitors to Peru make the trip to Machu Picchu.

Peru 'ignoring threat' to Inca site

June 23, 2001 - BBC

A leading archaeologist has accused the Peruvian Government of failing to act on a report that suggests the ancient Inca citadel of Machu Picchu is in danger of falling off its mountain perch.

Dr Frederico Kauffmann is calling on the National Cultural Institute of Peru to urgently set up an inquiry into a recent survey by Japanese geologists who found the earth beneath Machu Picchu is moving.

According to the Japanese, there are alarming signs that the mountainside beneath the 2,250-metre-high city could give way in a potentially catastrophic landslide within the next few years.

To study the geological activity in the mountain, the researchers from the Disaster Prevention Research Institute at the Kyoto University set up sensitive instruments buried in the steepest slopes around the citadel. The team found that the soils were moving at a rate of up to one centimeter a month.

The team later published an annex to their study which acknowledged that the movement was exaggerated by excessive rainfall and construction work at a hotel beneath the site in the months that they were there, but their concerns remain.

The Incas were master stone-masons, crafting walls out of massive blocks of granite so tight fitting that it is impossible to slip a piece of paper between them. But gaps have begun to appear in some of the constructions, hinting at movement beneath.

All around the spectacular razor-back ridge that the Incas built on, there are other warning signs: deep scars on the jungle-clad slopes left by landslides caused by natural erosion in the geologically young Andean mountains.

The mountain perch where the Incas established their homage to the gods of the Sun and the Moon is also split by no less than five geological faults.

The Incas were aware of just how unstable the region was when they started building 500 years ago. They were careful to protect the city when they built the foundations, and they did such a good job that there's very little damage to Machu Picchu until now.

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Nazca Lines and Culture

Stretching across the Nazca plains like a giant map or blueprint left by , lie the famous Nazca Lines of Peru. Peru is associated with the Incan Civilization who many link with alien visitors who still interact with local people to this day.

The Nazca Lines are an engima. No one has proof who built them or why. Since their discovery, the Nazca Lines have inspired fantastic explanations from ancient gods, a landing strip for returning aliens, a celestial calendar created by the ancient Nazca civilization -- putting the creation of the lines between 200 BC and 600 AD, used for rituals probably related to astronomy, to confirm the ayllus or clans who made up the population and to determine through ritual their economic functions held up by reciprocity and redistribution, or a map of underground water supplies.

There are also huge in Egypt, Malta, United States (Mississippi and California), Chile, Bolivia and in other countries. But the Nazca geoglyphs, because of their numbers, characteristics, dimensions and cultural continuity, as they were made and remade through out the whole prehispanic period, form the most impressive, as well as enigmatic, archeological group.

Location

The Nazca Lines are located in the Nazca Desert, a high arid plateau that stretches between the towns of Nazca and Palpa on the pampa (a large flat area of southern Peru). The desolate plain of the Peruvian coast which comprises the Pampas of San Jose (Jumana), Socos, El Ingenio and others in the province of Nasca, is 400 Km. South of Lima, covers an area of approximately 450 km2, of sandy desert as well as the slopes of the contours of the Andes. They cover nearly 400 square miles of desert. Etched in the surface of the desert pampa sand about 300 hundred figures made of straight lines, geometric shapes most clearly visible from the air.

Nazca Plain

The Nazca plain is virtually unique for its ability to preserve the markings upon it, due to the combination of the climate (one of the driest on Earth, with only twenty minutes of rainfall per year) and the flat, stony ground which minimises the effect of the wind at ground level. With no dust or sand to cover the plain, and little rain or wind to erode it, lines drawn here tend to stay drawn. These factors, combined with the existence of a lighter-coloured subsoil beneath the desert crust, provide a vast writing pad that is ideally suited to the artist who wants to leave his mark for eternity.

The pebbles which cover the surface of the desert contain ferrous oxide. The exposure of centuries has given them a dark patina. When the gravel is removed, they contrast with the color underneath. In this way the lines were drawn as furrows of a lighter color, even though in some cases they became prints. In other cases, the stones defining the lines and drawings form small lateral humps of different sizes. Some drawings, especially the early ones, were made by removing the stones and gravel from their contours and in this way the figures stood out in high relief. The concentration and juxtaposition of the lines and drawings leave no doubt that they required intensive long-term labor as is demonstrated by the stylistic continuity of the designs, which clearly correspond to the different stages of cultural changes.

Designs, Myths and Metaphors

There appear to be various designs consisting of figures of animals, flowers and plants, objects, and anthropomorphic figures of colossal proportions made with well-defined lines. An example of this is the drawing of a weird being with two enormous hands, one normal and the other with only four fingers.

Gray Alien hand vs. Human Hand?

Also represented are drawings of man-made objects such as yarn, looms and "tupus" (ornamental clasps). All these figures have well-defined entrances which could be used as paths or to allow people to line together along the conformations of the drawings.

The anthropomorphic figures are relatively few and are situated on the slopes. The most well-known being is The Astronaut at 32m length discovered by Eduardo Herran in 1982.

Ancient Astronaut?

The lines are many kilometers long and crisscross sectors of the pampas in all directions. Many of the lines form geometric figures: angles, triangles, bunches, spirals, rectangles, wavy lines, concentric circles.

X - Hourglass? Programmed in Time?

Satellite Image NASA

Spiral of consciousness? Sacred Geometry?

The Monkey has a Spiraling Tail The creation/evolution of the human biogentic experiment?

A Dog? Creatures with 4 legs?

Amphibious Gods -- Creation from the Sea?

The winged image of Zoroaster, above, takes us to ...

Gods With Water Buckets

Headless Bird -- Sumerian Gods -- Top of Rod resembles Zoroaster Image

Mayan Sun God -- Mayan Calendar - 2012? -- Quetzalcoatl who is Zoroaster

Bird Headed Beings

Six-petal Flower of Life?

Sacred Flame? 3=third dimension?

Trapezoidal designs - Pyramid design pointing above?

Map

1. Killer Whale 2. Wing 3. Baby Condor 4. Bird 5. Animal 6. Spiral 7. Lizard 8. Tree 9. Hands 10. Spiral 11. Spider 12. Flower 13. Dog 14. Astronaut 15. Triangle 16. Whale 17. Trapazoids 18. Star 19. Pelican 20. Bird 21. Trapazoid 22. 23. Trapezoid 24. Monkey 25. Llama 26. Trapezoids

Composition

The Lines were allegedly made by removing the iron-oxide coated pebbles which cover the surface of the desert. When the gravel is removed, they contrast with the light color underneath. In this way the lines were drawn as furrows of a lighter color. Off the Pampa, south of the Nazca Lines, archaeologists have now uncovered the lost city of the line-builders, . It was built nearly 2,000 years ago and mysteriously abandoned 500 years later.

Discovering the Nazca Lines by Outsiders

The Nazca Lines were first spotted when commercial airlines began flying across the Peruvian desert in the 1920's. Passengers reported seeing 'primitive landing strips' on the ground below. Today people sometimes fly in hot air balloons to view the splendors of the Nazca Lines, their eneries awakening something within their souls.

Theories

Toribio Mejia Xespe, a Peruvian doctor and anthropologist was the first scientist, in 1927, to show interest in what he called "great Incan ceremonial artifacts".

Maria Reiche was a German mathematician and archaeologist who was famous for researching the Nazca Lines. She believed the lines were an Astronomical Calendar indicating the direction of the rising of important stars and planetary events like sun solstices. Formations like the spider and the monkey could show star constellations like Orion and Ursa Mayor. The problem with all astronomical theories is the unknowing of the age. The direction of stars changes within centuries, explained by the precession of the equinoxes.

Reiche led a determined effort to discredit theories of extraterrestrial visitors. She argued that the Nazca Indians constructed the Lines some time between 300 BC and AD 800. In support of this possibility, some scientists have put forward ingenious ideas on how the geoglyphs could theoretically have been designed from the ground. The more important evidence, however, is that which attempts to link the Lines definitively to the Nazcan culture. Here, neither of the two key pieces of evidence survive close scrutiny.

The first piece of evidence is a series of radiocarbon dates, based on ceramic and wood remains which were left at the Lines by the Nazcan people. It is claimed that this proves that the Nazcans constructed the Lines. On the contrary, the dating of these materials tells us only that the Nazcans lived in the area of the Nazca Lines. Since the Lines themselves cannot be radiocarbon dated, the possibility remains that they already existed when the Nazcan culture emerged.

The second piece of evidence is the alleged resemblance of the Nazca geoglyphs to certain features found on Nazcan pottery. This is an important issue because it potentially offers proof that the Nazcans had either designed the images or at least viewed them from the air.

Maria Reiche died in 1998 at the age of 95. She is buried in the arid valley she loved so well.

Professor and his group went to Nazca to prove the astronomical Theory of Maria Reiche but was unsuccessful. In 1968, a study by the National Geographic Society determined that, while some of the Nazca lines did point to the positions of the Sun, Moon and certain stars two thousand years ago, it was no more than could be expected by mere chance. In 1973, Dr Gerald Hawkins studied 186 lines with a computer program and found that only 20 per cent had any astronomical orientation - again no more than by pure chance.

In 1980 Georg Petersen pointed out that Reiche's theory did not explain the different lengths and widths of the lines.

More recently, has noted that the surrounding mountains provided a ready-made and much more effective mechanism for the Nazcans to use as a solar calendar; the lines would thus have been quite superfluous to them.

Simone Waisbard stated that the drawing of Nazca are a giant astronomical calendar. Further the Nazca-line-system was used to measure the precipitation value. Figures, especially seabirds, have a connection to the meteorological prophecy system of the Nazca-Culture. Her ideas for the trapezoid formations: places for holy animals before sacrifice them, or field claims connected with filter galleries, observatories or places for ritual ceremonies of the different clans.

Swiss writer Erich von Daniken suggested, in his 1968 book, Chariots of the Gods, that the lines were built by ancient astronauts as a landing strip. But the soft clay soil and layer of brown and black rocks in the Nazca desert would seem an unsuitable site for landing and were blown away by the power of rocket propulsion. The aliens left - never to return - leaving the people confused. Like in the modern cargo cults they tried to call the Gods back by drawing lines, figures and trapezes.

Alan F. Alford concluded that the Nazca-Lines was made by Negroid Slaves of the Tihuanaco Culture. After a revolution the Negroid population destroyed some figure, this is the explanation for overdrawn zigzag-formations. Later this people went in northern direction and founded Chavin and the Olmec culture.

Robert Bast linked the lines to the Flood Stories in his book A Memory of the Deluge. The animal, plant and human-shaped figures are lying together on the ground as a memorial place of the big flood.

Gilbert de Jong wrote A Nazcan Zodiac. He traveled to Nazca and measured the GGF by GPS. He obtained a length of the square side of about 54,7 Meter. In the formation he recognized a Zodiac.

Robin Edgar beieved that the Nazca Figures were inspired by, and intended to be seen by, the (so-called) Eye of God that is manifested during total solar eclipses. An extraordinary series of solar eclipses coincided with the construction of the Nasca lines. Some Lines are aligned with the winter solstice, a less spectacular but more regular, death and rebirth of the Sun God.

Nazca Lines and the Eye in the Sky Eclipse

Michael Coe believes the Nazca Lines are sacred paths to walk by specific rites. The primary lines were an offering for elders, heaven, and mountain deities who gave them water for their fields.

Siegfried Waxmann recognized a culture atlas of the in the Nazca-line-system.

Archaeologist Frederico Kauffmann-Doig believes that the Nazca Lines are magic lines which originate from the cat cult in Chavin de Huantar.

Markus Reindel's Dwsing Theory says that the Nazca Figures are markers for a subterranean waterflow. Trapezoides show the broadness of the waterstream, zigzaglines show where they end, lines show into direction of the puquitos. He explain the nature of the figures by rod-dowsing (to find the subterranean water) and shamanstic flights (to overview the figures).

The Code of Carl Munck - The Ancient Geomatria of Numbers --The Nazca Line ground markings locate themselves on The Code Matrix system. Nazca Lines and Archaeocryptography The ancient sites around the world are very precisely positioned on a global coordinate system in relation to the position of the Great Pyramid at Giza. The positions of the sites are given in the geometry of their construction. A very ancient system of numbers was used in the system, which we will call Gematria. Gematrian numbers are found in ancient myths and religions, including the Bible. Gematrian numbers were used in systems of weights and measures by ancient peoples, including the Greeks, the Egyptians, the Persians, the Babylonians and the Romans. The Code system uses mathematical constants, such as pi and the radian. The system also uses conventions that are still in use, such as the 360 degree circle, 60 minute degree, 60 second minute, the base-ten numbering system, the 12-inch foot, and the 5280- foot mile. The ancient Mayans used Gematrian numbers in their very accurate timekeeping.

Professor Helmut Tributsch states that important cult places like , the Pyramids and the Nazca Lines were built in power areas where often the Fata Morgana Phenomena occurs.

Thomas Wick is a private researcher of ancient mysteries. In his book A Plan of a Cathedral he writes that when he saw the figure of the GGF, he recognized the ground principals of a cathedral.

Henri Stierlin wrote that the Nazca Indians used the line-system as looms using strings. They sometimes organized hundreds of men who held the strings -- their positions defined by the Nazca Lines.

Prof. Helaine Siverman says that the figures are clan signs of different Indian clans in the region of Nazca. Ellie's Theories -- The Nazca Lines will remain an enigma. I do not see them as a landing strip for returning space ships and creator gods. Some patterns are by human design but not all. The major Nazca Lines follow the same universal archetypes found all over the world extending throughout the universe. As human consciousnes is going through a process of evolution - the lines are one of many reminders and triggers of who we are and where we are going. Creation is part of a geometric blueprint that repeats in cycles of time created by the same consciousness. Stone markers are placed in power points around the planet - as they are places humans are drawn to explore on their quest for the truth about their creation and purpose for being here. The key is scared geometry and understand the holographic nature of our reality and how the Nazca Lines are an insert in the program.

Nazca People - Cahuachi

On the pampa, south of the Nazca Lines, archaeologists have now uncovered the lost city of the line-builders, Cahuachi. It was built nearly two thousand years ago and was mysteriously abandoned 500 years later. New discoveries at Cahuachi are at last beginning to give us insight into the Nazca people and to unravel the mystery of the Nasca Lines.

In general, Nazca culture is considered to consist of three stages; Early, Middle, and Late stages, and also the Classic Nazca (approximately A.D. 250-750). One of the most famous and distinctive features of the Nazca culture is the polychrome pottery which has attracted attention because of its technological refinement and the exciting symbolism of its motifs. This pottery culture spreads in the area of the valleys of Chincha, Pisco, Ica, Nazca and Acari.

In the Early stage, these wares did not have much color, but Middle and Late Nazca polychromes are buff or red and are painted in three to eight colors. The most popular choices of color were red, black, white, brown, yellow, gray and violet with an outline in black. Bowls and beakers were common forms, but double-spout and head-and-spout jars are also found. Birds, fish or were commonly drawn on the pottery, and Nazca's religious or mythological features were also used in its design.

Nazca Figurine depicting Solar Eclipse and the Eye of Creation.

Cahuachi was a major ceremonial center of the Nazca culture and overlooked some of the Nazca lines from 1 CE to about 500 CE. Italian archaeologist Giuseppe Orefici has been excavating the site for the past few decades, bringing a team down every year. The site contains over 40 topped with adobe structures.

The permanent population was quite small, but it was apparently a pilgrimage center that grew greatly in population for major ceremonial events. These events probably involved the Nazca lines and the giant sand dune of Nazca. Support for the pilgrimage theory comes from archaeological evidence of sparse population at Cahuachi and from the Nazca lines themselves which show creatures such as killer whales and monkeys which were not present in the Nazca region. Trade or travel may explain the images. Due to the dry climate the finds are quite rich and include even such ephemeral material as clothing. Looting is the greatest problem facing the site today.

Weaving

Burial Sites

Most of the burial sites surrounding Cahuachi were not known until recently and so present a very tempting target for archaeologists. Their ancient technique of weaving, that the Nazca people developed, has given an insight into how the lines may have been made, and what they might have been used for more than 1,500 years ago.

Mummies

Most exciting is the discovery of human remains.

Stunningly preserved in the dry soil of the Peruvian desert are the mummified bodies of the Nazcan people themselves.

Nazca Skulls with Enlarged cranium

Incan Skulls

Originally believed to have been a military stronghold, Cahuachi is now reckoned to be a place of ritual and ceremony, and Orefici's stunning new evidence confirms this idea. Cahuachi is now revealed to have been abandoned after a series of natural disasters destroyed the city. But before they left it, the Nazcan people covered the city in the arid pampa sand where, until recently, it has remained a barely visible in the desert.

Preserving the Nazca Lines

It is difficult to keep the Nazca Lines free from outside intervention. As with all ancient ruins, such as Machu Piccu, weather by wind and rain, and human tampering will take their toll on these ancient Lines.

In recent years the Nazca Lines have suffered gradual destruction, as tomb raiders seeking pre-Inca artifacts scar the terrain with hundreds of burrows, garbage, among other waste material. A boom in copper and gold mining - including a mine built in 1997 a few feet from a 2,000-year- old, two-mile-long trapezoid -- is defacing parts of the Nazca Lines with tracks from truck traffic.

Over the past decade, advertisers and political campaigns have carved huge messages in the rock and sand between the ancient designs in this region 250 miles south of Lima.

In 1998, floods and mudslides from the El Nino weather pattern seriously eroded several figures.

As electricity reaches the growing local population, utility companies are running power cables over and around the site.

The damage to the Lines underscores Peru's desperate struggle to preserve its national patrimony. Archaeologists say they are watching helplessly as the quest for scholarship and conservation in a country viewed as the cradle of New World civilization is losing out to commercial interests, bleak poverty and the growing popularity of heritage sites as tourist attractions. Articles in the News

Japanese researchers find new giant picture on Peru's Nazca Plateau

MSN - April 21, 2006

A new giant picture on the Nazca Plateau in Peru, which is famous for giant patterns that can be seen from the air, has been discovered by a team of Japanese researchers.

The image is 65 meters long, and appears to be an animal with horns. It is thought to have been drawn as a symbol of hopes for good crops, but there are no similar patterns elsewhere, and the type of the animal remains unclear.

The discovery marks the first time since the 1980s that a picture other than a geometrical pattern has been found on the Nazca Plateau.The picture was found by a team of researchers including Masato Sakai, an associate professor at Yamagata University, after they analyzed images from a U.S. commercial satellite.

They confirmed it was a previously undiscovered picture in a local survey in March this year. It is located south of the Nazca Plateau, and apparently went undiscovered since few tourist planes pass over the area.

Two parts of the picture, that appear to be horns, bear close resemblance to those that appear on earthenware dating from 100 B.C. to A.D. 600, during the time when the Nazca kingdom flourished, and it is thought that they relate to fertility rites.

The research team will use images from the advanced land-observing satellite "Daichi," which was launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency in January this year, to create a distribution map of images on the earth that can be seen from the air. There is evidence that vehicles had driven in the area, and part of the picture is destroyed. "We want to identify all the images, and work to preserve earth pictures that are gradually being destroyed," Sakai said.

Giant Figures in Peru Desert Pre-date Nazca Lines

Nazca Fisherman

The Epoch Times, May 24, 2005

A group of about 50 drawings of giant figures recently discovered in the hills of Peru's southern coastal desert near the city of Palpa has been said to predate the famous Nazca lines nearby.

Mr. Johny Isla, director of the Andean Institute of Archaeological Studies, said the '' figures appear to have been created by the Paracas communities between 500 and 400 BC, whereas the Nazca culture developed after 50 BC.

Mr. Isla and his partner Dr. Markus Reindel from the Dutch Institute of Archaeology discovered the Paracas figures using aerial photography and land-based surveys. The figures of humans, birds, monkeys and cats vary in size from 10m to 50m across, and are also grouped together in areas up to 60 m to 90 m across.

The Paracas figures were created by removing dark stones in order to expose the lighter surface underneath. Some areas were cleared and others built up with rock, creating figures in high and low relief. With the Nazca lines though, the geoglyphs were only made by clearing low-relief areas. Until recently scientists believed that the figures in the Palpa and Nazca regions were only from the Nazca culture. Mr. Isla says cultural dating and style of the newly found Paracas figures sets them apart.

Mr. Isla told The Epoch Times, "Most of these geoglyphs belong to the Nazca culture but our recent studies demonstrated that there are at least 50 geoglyphs pertaining to the Paracas culture. These new figures are definitely different and older than those of the Nazca culture.

● First, the Paracas figures were drawn on the slopes of the hills, while the Nazca images were drawn in level areas. ● Second, the Paracas figures are smaller and were made in a naturalistic style, while the Nazca figures are bigger and stylized. ● Third, the Paracas figures are mostly arranged in groups, while the Nazca figures are arranged individually. ● Finally, it is important to note that not one of the Paracas figures were repeated in the Nazca iconography."

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Pyramids in Peru

Ancient pyramids in Peru had the same functions as Pyramids found in other ancient civilizations around the world. Most were used as places to worship their Gods and Goddesses - rituals (at various equinoxes and solstices) - ceremonial rites of various kinds. They were generally built major planetary and energetic grid points

Huallamarca Pyramid

This imposing monument has remained impervious to the ravages of time, and modern civilisation and stands surrounded by the asphalt jungle. The two-story construction is made of adobe with a steep ramp leading to the upper level. Archaeological excavations have unearthed mummies on display with ancient objects inside the on-site museum.

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Tucume Rumors of a vast hoard of gold prompted famous Norwegian scientist and explorer to investigate the area around Tucume in northern Peru. The result was the archaeological discovery of 26 pyramids. Forty tombs pre-dating the arrival of the Spaniards were opened, and enough Inca and Chimu artifacts unearthed to justify the building of a museum at Tucume. Four burial chambers in the 600 meter long Huaca Larga pyramid were excavated. Inside the burial chambers the bodies of 16 female weavers sacrificed to the gods. The area near Tucume consists of 26 massive pyramids which suggest a civilization that flourished in the now endless desert for perhaps more than 1,500 years.

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Pachacamac Pyramid Project

Ichimay Culture; had a Magic-Religious function of adobe brick. Theories about the Pyramids in Peru place their creation at the same time the Nazca Lines were created. The pyramids had flat tops looking much like those in Mexico. Photo Gallery

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Tiahuanaco, Bolivia

Tiahuanaco - also Tiwanaku - is in the Bolivian Andes lying 12,500 feet (over 2 miles) above sea-level. It is located some 15 miles from the shores of Lake Titicaca. Some have hypothesized that its modern name is a corruption of the Aymara term "taypikala", meaning "stone in the center".

As with many other sacred sites on the planet it remains an enigma allowing reseachers to speculate on its origins and purpose - then paralleling their conclusions with other ancient civilizations - on other major grids points of the planet - left behind by unknown beings - surviving in time - with great stone markers which bear clues to humanity's creational story. Gods, temples, idols, metaphors - all clues in a puzzle humanity is unraveling at this time of conscious awakening. Much of the construction is unfinished.

Tiahuanaco is believed to be the capital of the Pre-Inca Civilization. The city is believed by some to have been built by the Aymara - the Native South Americans inhabiting the Lake Titicaca basin in Peru and Bolivia.

Some believe this is the oldest city in the world. Others believe it was built by an extraterrestrial race who also created the Nazca Lines.

Building was begun at some time before A.D. 500, and there is evidence of additional construction (c.1100­1300). About 1000, Tiahuanaco culture spread to E Bolivia, N Chile, and Peru; the culture flourished for about 200 years. Built of massive blocks weighing up to 100 tons and brought from several miles away, the structures of Tiahuanaco are superb examples of masonry. The stones, fitted together without mortar, were cut, squared, dressed, and notched with a precision equaled in no other aboriginal South American civilization, not even the Inca. Construction is largely of the platform or monolithic type decorated by conventional incised carving or heads in low relief. The creators of Tiahuanaco also excelled at ceramics; Tiahuanaco painted pottery is one of the great achievements of pre-Columbian art. Tiahuanaco was the center of a powerful, self-sustaining empire. The roots of the Tiahuanaco capital can be found in the early village underlying the 1.5-square-mile civic-ceremonial core. The city was settled by 400 B. C. on the Tiahuanaco River, which empties into Lake Titicaca 9.3 miles to the north. The small farming village evolved into a regal city of multi-terraced platform pyramids, courts and urban areas, covering a total 2.31 square miles

Traditionally it is thought to have been built by the predecessors of the Inca Civilization over 2,000 years ago. It is a mysterious ruined city of extremely ancient origins. Some of the massive structures at this site, like the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx in Egypt and Baalbek in Lebanon, date from pre-flood times, as long ago as 10,500 BC.

Around the turn of the 20th century Bolivian scholar Arthur Broznansky began a fifty year study of the ruins of Tiahuanaco. Using astronomical information, he concluded that the city was constructed more than 17,000 years ago long before any civilization was supposed to have existed. He considered Tiahuanaco to be the ''.

While restoring the city, huge staples were found between the stones. A groove was carve in the edge and molton liquids were poured within, which hardened, forming this staple.

Tiahuanaco society was self-sustaining, for its agricultural, herding, and fishing resource base was more than sufficient to support the complex state administrative apparatus and the population under its control. The Tiahuanaco Empire collapsed between 1000 and 1100 A. D. It was a magnificent royal city that was calculated to inspire awe in the commoners. The walls of the temples and the stone monolithic statues and gateways are now shorn of their gold, textiles, and painted surfaces, which for centuries had shimmered from afar in the bright sunlight.

Little is known of the 30,000 to 60,000 urban dwellers or of the city's crafts or administrative functions. We also know little about the storage system that was required for the bounty of surplus foods from the agricultural fields, the vast llama herds on the Poona, and the abundant fish caught in the lake. The core of this imperial capital was surrounded by a moat that restricted access to the temples and areas frequented by royalty.

Tiahuanaco fell from prominence after Lake Titicaca's water level lowered and the shoreline receded from the city. Today the waters are many miles away.

TIAUANACO SUN GATE

The 10 ton Gateway of the Sun is monolithic, carved from a single block of Andesite granite, and is broken right down the center. Its upper portion is deeply carved with beautiful and intricate designs, including a human figure, condors, toxodons, elephants and some symbols. Directly in the center of the gate is the so-called "Sun-god," Viracocha, with rays shooting from his face in all directions. He is holding a stylized staff in each hand which may represent thunder and lightning. He is sometimes referred to as the "weeping god" because tears are on his cheeks. The figures flanking the centerpiece are themselves unfinished, leading investigators to wonder what could have interrupted the craftsmen working on the gate that it was left unfinished. This monolith, when first discovered, was broken in half, and was lying askew deep in silt until restored to its proper position in 1908. The Sun Gate now stands in the northwest corner of the Kalasasaya temple.

Legends of the Aymara Indians say that the Creator God Viracocha rose from Lake Titicaca during the time of darkness to bring forth light. Viracocha was a storm god and a sun god who was represented as wearing the sun for a crown, with thunderbolts in his hands, and tears descending from his eyes as rain. He wandered the earth disguised as a beggar and wept when he saw the plight of the creatures he had created, but knew that he must sustain them.

Viracocha made the earth, the stars, the sky and mankind, but his first creation displeased him, so he destroyed it with a flood and made a new, better one, taking to his wanderings as a beggar, teaching his new creations the rudiments of civilisation, as well as working numerous miracles. Viracocha eventually disappeared across the Pacific Ocean (by walking on the water), setting off near Manta Ecuador, and never returned. It was thought that Viracocha would re-appear in times of trouble. References are also found of a group of men named the suncasapa or bearded ones - they were the mythic soldiers of Viracocha, aka the 'angelic warriors of Viracocha'.

The famous carved figure on the decorated archway in the ancient (pre-Incan) city of Tiahuanaco, known as the "Gateway of the Sun," most likely represents Viracocha, flanked by 48 winged effigies, 32 with human faces and 16 with condor's heads. This huge monument is hewn from a single block of stone, and some believe that the strange symbols might represent a calendar, the oldest in the world. A huge monolithic figure, facing east in the direction of sunrise, stands as silent witness to an unknown civilization established around 2200 years ago.

The entrance side of the Portal of the Sun atop the Kalasaya mound. The entire upper panel is intricately carved with a repeating pattern of the images seen in the view above. The monolith has broken and was found partially downfallen in modern times. It has been restored to its original position. The fissure is visible above the right corner of the doorway. The megalithic entrance to the Kalasaya mound is here seen from the Sunken Courtyard viewing west. The Kalasaya stairway is a well-worn megalith, a single block of carved sandstone. Like the Kalasaya mound, the Sunken Courtyard is walled by standing stones and masonry infill. In this case the stones are smaller and sculptured heads are inset in the walls. Several stelae are placed in the center of the 30 m square courtyard.

Map of the ceremonial center of Tiahuanacu The largest terraced step pyramid of the city, the Akapana, was once believed to be a modified hill, and has proven to be a massive human construction with a base 656 feet square and a height of 55.8 feet. It is aligned perfectly with the cardinal directions. Its base is formed of beautifully cut and joined facing stone blocks. Within the cut- stone retaining walls are six T- shaped terraces with vertical stone pillars, an architectural technique that is also used in most of the other Tiahuanaco monuments. It originally had a covering of smooth Andesite stone, but 90% of that has disappeared due to weathering. The ruinous state of the pyramid is due to its being used as a stone quarry for later buildings at La Paz. Its interior is honeycombed with shafts in a complicated grid pattern, which incorporates a system of weirs used to direct water from a tank on top, going through a series of levels,and finally ending up in a stone canal surrounding the pyramid. On the summit of the Akapana there was a sunken court with an area 164 feet square serviced by a subterranean drainage system that remains unexplained. Associated with the Akapana are four temples: the Semi-subterranean, the Kalasasaya, the Putuni, and the Kheri Kala. The first of these, the Semi- subterranean Temple, was studded with sculptured stone heads set into cut-stone facing walls and in the middle of the court was located a now- famous monolithic stela. Named for archaeologist Wendell C. Bennett who conducted the first archaeological research at Tiahuanaco in the 1930's, the Bennett Stela represents a human figure wearing elaborate clothes and a crown. The ancient Tiahuanaco heartland is estimated to have been about 365,000, of whom 115,000 lived in the capital and satellite cities, with the remaining 250,000 engaged in farming, herding, and fishing.

This megatlithic doorway is all that remains of the walls of a building on a small mound near the Kalasaya. Much of the readily accessible masonry at the ruin was used to construct the in the village. A nearby railroad bridge also has Tiahuanaco stone.

Adjacent to the sunken court, residences of the elite were revealed, while under the patio the remains of a number of seated individuals, believed to have been priests, faced a man with a ceramic vessel that displayed a puma-an animal sacred to the Tiahuanaco. Ritual offerings of llamas and ceramics, as well as high-status goods made of copper, silver and obsidian were also encountered in this elite residential area. The cut-stone building foundations supported walls of adobe brick, which have been eroded away by the yearly torrential rains over the centuries.

THE STATUES OF TIAHUANACU

In 1934 the Peruvianist Wendell C. Bennett carried out several excavations at Tiahuanacu. Excavating in the Subterranean Temple he found two large stone images. One was a bearded statue. Depicted are large round eyes, a straight narrow nose and oval mouth. Rays of lightning are carved on the forehead. Strange animals are carved up around the head. It stands over 7 feet tall with arms crossed over an ankle- length tunic, which is decorated with pumas around the hem. Serpents ascend the figure on each side, reminding one of the Feathered Serpent culture-hero known as Quetzalcoatl in Central America.

Beside the bearded statue was a much larger statue called in Bennett's report "the large monolithic statue". It is the largest - over 24 feet tall - and probably the most interesting. It was sculpted out of red sandstone, and is generally covered with carved images of various kinds. He holds objects in each hand which are totally unidentifiable, although numerous interpretations have been suggested. It has been removed from the site and now stands in a plaza in La Paz.

What is most interesting is the lower half of its body, which is covered with fish-scales (which upon close inspection are actually fish-heads). Immediately one recalls the Mesopotamian deity called Oannes, the man-fish amphibious being who conveyed special knowledge to ancient mankind.

In truth all of these gods - no matter what civilization you are reafing about - were the same person / soul - creating realities based on Sacred Geometry - the same characters playing different roles in different places.

This monolithic piece of work has a number of designs scattered over its surface, many of which resemble the running winged-figures found on the Gate of the Sun, only with curled-up tails. Also the "Weeping god" is depicted on the sides of the head of the statue. This is in addition to the tears already depicted on the cheeks of the monoliths face. The Weeping god seems to be a major theme at Tiahuanacu. One wonders what made their deities so sad. Other designs, although very artistic, are rather hard to describe.

There are numerous other statues which have been found at Tiahuanacu, several of which have found their way into various museums. Most have the incomprehensible stiff designs scattered about on their surfaces in the typical Tiahuanacu style. Some are rather large, and others are small. Depictions of toxodons and several other extinct creatures are plentiful at Tiahuanacu. The images of these extinct animals are understandable on pottery and textiles - they could be copied by anyone from the stone monuments dotting the area.

THE KALASASAYA TEMPLE

The most important edifice for dating purposes is the Kalasasaya ("Place of the Vertical Stones"). It is built like a stockade with 12 foot high columns jutting upward at intervals, each of these being carved into human figures.

In the northwest corner stands the Gateway of the Sun, and in the southwest corner is "the idol".

The Idol

This is one of two large anthropomorphic figures standings in the southwest corner of the Kalasasaya Temple. This one faces the entrance and is placed on the central axis. The andesite stone used at the ruins was transported from 100 kilometers distance. The sandstone was quarried about 10 miles from the site. With the exception of the Sun Gate, it is the most picturesque of the sculptures at Tiahuanacu, since its 7-foot height is almost covered with hieroglyphic-like carvings. No one knows if these carvings represent a form of writing or are merely decorative. Should these carvings prove to be aform of symbolic writing, what a story they might tell! The statue popularly known as El Fraile is almost devoid of carvings.

It looks much like the figures on Easter Island

The stone weighing 150 tons. Some researchers have concluded that the ancients constructed the site with astronomical alignments in mind called Celestial Observatories.

As the sun rises each day it moves along the horizon and it rises in a different spot. To measure this movement they built the temple itself as a giant clock to tell them how the progression of the sun was proceeding. We can use those same astronomical alignments to date the site.

On the first day of spring the sun rose exactly through the center of the archway of the temple. Based on the layout of the temple he deduced that on the first day of winter and the first day of summer the sun should rise over each of the huge cornerstones. But this is not the case. The position of the sun was, for some reason slightly outside the corner markers. The solstice markers are not misaligned. Polish-born Bolivian archaeologist Arturo Posnansky has concluded that the Tiahuanaco culture began in the region at about 1600 B.C. and flourished until at least 1200 A.D. He studying the thin layer of lime deposits in the stone indicating that they had been underwater for a considerable period of time. Also, certain parts of the ruins were deeply buried in sediments, which indicated that a stupendous wave of water had washed over the entire area. Posnansky suggested the Biblical Flood may have been the reason for these deposits.

Peruvian legends clearly relate a story of world-wide flood in the distant past. Whether it was the biblical flood of Noah, or another one, we cannot say, but there is ample physical evidence of a universal inundation, with the world-wide deluge described in more than a hundred flood-myths. Along with Noah's flood were the Babylonian Utnapischtim of the Gilgamesh epic, the Sumerian Ziusudra, the Persian Jima, the Indian Manu, the Maya Coxcox, the Colombian Bochica, the Algonkin's Nanabozu, the Crows' Coyote, the Greek Deukalion and Pyrrha, the Chinese Noah Kuen, and the Polynesian Tangaloa. It is evident there was a world-wide deluge 19,000 years ago.

(Global doomsdays are conspicuous in the Hopi Indian legends, the Finnish Kalevala epic, the Mayan Chilam Balam and Popol Vuh, and in the Aztec calendar, the last of which predicts that our present civilization will be destroyed by "nahuatl Olin" or "earth movement," that is, devastation by earthquake. Due to Aztec cyclic theory this will become the fifth doomsday after the "death of the Jaguars," "the death of the Tempests," "the death of the Great Fire" (vulcanism), and "the Great Deluge."

If a flourishing advanced civilization existed on the Peruvian altiplano many thousands of years ago and was reached by the flood waters, many problems would be solved, such as the existence of Tiahuanaco's ruins under 6 feet of earth at an elevation of 13,300 feet. The presence of stone structures still under the lake's waters and the existence of marine life at an impossible altitude would also make sense.

In addition, the depiction of extinct Pleistocene animals, the traces of an ancient shoreline, and finally, the paradox of a seaport existing at an altitude of 12,500 feet above sea level, lead Posnansky to look for other indications that these ruins might be extremely old. He discovered alignments with the sun which were slightly "out of true," but which lined up perfectly once the skycharts were moved back in time, and this lead intensive astronomical studies.

Prof. Posnansky summed up his 50 year study in a 4 volume work entitled Tiahuanacu, The Cradle of American Man first published in 1945. He explains his theories, which are rooted in archeoastronomy, as follows. Since Earth is tilted on its axis in respect to the plane of the solar system, the resulting angle is known as the "obliqueness of the ecliptic".

One should not confuse this with another astronomical phenomenon known as Precession of the Equinoxes, as critics of Posnansky have done. If viewed from the Earth, the planets of our solar system travel across the sky in a line called the plane of the ecliptic. At present our Earth is tilted to cause this angle to be around 23 degrees and 27 minutes, but this is not constant. The Earth's axis oscillates slowly between 22 degrees and 1 minute to an extreme of 24 degrees and 5 minutes. This cycle (repeating itself from one extreme to the other and back) takes roughly 41,000 years to complete. The alignments at the Kalasasaya temple depicts a tilt of the Earth's axis amounting to 23 degrees, 8 minutes, 48 seconds, indicating a date of 15,000 B.C.

Between 1927 and 1930 Prof. Posnansky's conclusions were studied intensively by a number of authorities. Dr. Hans Ludendorff (Director of the Astronomical Observatory of Potsdam), Friedrich Becker of the Specula Vaticana, Prof. Arnold Kohlschutter (astronomer at Bonn University), and Rolf Muller (astronomer of the Institute of Astrophysics at Potsdam) verified the accuracy of Posnansky's calculations and vouched for the reliability of his conclusions.

There is one solution that can satisfy all of the above mysteries regarding the ruins of Tiahuanacu. This is none other than the geological cataclysm that inaugurated the Pleistocene Extinction, which effected the entire globe geologically and climatically. Thus, if Tiahuanacu was built before the Pleistocene Extinction, which occurred at the end of the last ice age around 12,000 years ago, then the astronomical alignments built into the Kalasasaya harmonize with the apparent age of the city, and Prof. Posnansky's conclusions seem to be correct. Tiahuanacu was most likely built close to the date of 15,000 B.C

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Search crystalinks.com Search web The Ica Stones of Peru

Dr. Javier Cabrera has a private museum in the village of Ica, located north of the famous pampa of Nazca. There he has a massive collection of ancient carved Stones which he calls 'Gliptoliths'. The doctor believes the stones are a carved history of an advanced civilization which lived on this planet a very long time ago.

Included in his collection are carvings of medical transplants, blood transfusions, men dominating dinosaurs, and advanced technology such as telescopes. Several images show Earth as it may have looked from space over 13,000,000 years ago.

Dr. Cabrera believes the stones are a sophisticated library left behind by a vanished civilization and has spent the past 30 years endeavoring to decode the data.

The doctor came into possession of his first stone when a friend gave him one as a paper-weight for his birthday. He recalls his father having a small, oddly carved stone, which his family found in their field in the l930's, but which has long since disappeared. Early Spanish chronicles report similar stones found in ancient tombs which were subsequently sent back to Spain, dating the discovery to the time of the conquest.

Cabrera's collection numbers upward of 11,000 stones, with more than l5,000 known in existance. The huge cache of stones were unearthed when the Ica river overflowed its banks a number of years ago destroying a nearby mountain, and exposing an unknown cave. An illiterate farmer claimed to have found the cave which housed the carved stones, but would not reveal it's location.

News of the stones caught the interest of researchers, and the eyes of the world turned toward Ica. The BBC produced a documentary on the enigmatic discovery bringing an extraordinary amount of focus on the Peruvian goverment.

Under pressure to police the countries Antiquity Law, the Government arrested the farmer for selling the stones. Facing years of incarceration, the farmer recanted his story, and claimed he had carved all l5,000 of the stones himself! He was subsequently released. The stones were labeled a HOAX, and the government considered the embarrasing matter closed. Life in Ica returned to normal.

The stone library is organized by subject matter including the races of the planet, ancient animals and lost continents, and knowledge of a tremendous cataclysm. The highly advanced civilization, which Cabrera refers to as Gliptolithic Man, possessed a technology of advanced medical procedures such as brain transplant, and methods of overcoming rejection of organs which are just now are being used in modern medicine.

Shown are the isolation and extraction of cellular material in a pregnant woman's placenta and the reintroduction into the transplant patient to eliminate the possibility of organ rejection. There are descriptions of Cesarean section with acupuncture as a form of anesthesia.

Shown are the isolation and extraction of cellular material in a pregnant woman's placenta and the reintroduction into the transplant patient to eliminate the possibility of organ rejection. There are descriptions of Cesarean section with acupuncture as a form of anesthesia.

Four stones show the hemispheres of Earth pointing to the existence of unknown continents believed to be , Mu, and Lemuria, which today remain a part of our collective myth. Plato spoke of the lost continent of Atlantis, as did ancient Tibetan text, and other recovered records from the East.

Only recently have scientists agreed on the continental shift theory that the Americas, Asia, and Africa were all configured radically different than today.

These stones, buried for centuries, depict exactly how our world would have looked millions of years ago.

Researcher and author, James Churchward, found a sacred Tibetan tablet showing "two unknown continents" on either side of present day America supporting the ancient continents theory.

A petroglyph in the Mexican Yucatan was later discovered by William Niven, depicting an unexplained configuration of land masses in both the Atlantic, and the Pacific oceans. With the aid of geologists Cabrera has endeavored to interpret the maps. Based on current computer projections, he has confirmed the land mass shapes are indeed accurate for planet Earth as it was geologically constructed thirteen million years ago.

Cabrera believes that Gliptolithic man knew of existing life in distant stars and nebulas, and had technical devices, and machines, that traveled in space without consuming fuel as we know it.

Several stones show figures drawn on the plains of Nazca which Cabrera interprets as an ancient "spaceport" based on the harness of electromagnetic energy for propulsion of space faring vehicles. He suggests that the earth at that time was vastly different then it is now with 80% land mass and very little water. The planetary situation suffered due to an increase in the level of the heating of the atmosphere, and from the fact that solar energy could not escape the vapor mist which blocked the outward radiation. Gliptolithic man attempted to manipulate the biological cycles of nature but eventually cataclysm resulted in tectonic shifts, massive floods, and the movement of the continents.

As the ancient civilization prepared to depart Earth they chose as their destination a planet in a system belonging to the star cluster Pleiades, which they knew well. It was their original homeland.

A large stone in Cabrara's library shows the hemispheres of that planet having intelligent life who were capable of space travel.

One extraordinary stone depicts a man staring at the heavens through a telescope projecting his "cognitive energy" into the cosmos in order to capture a great quantity of energy (symbolize by diagrams of pyramids) which were used for storage, accumulation, and distribution of force which could be released outwards to the cosmos influencing celestial events.

This stone is carved in four plates depicting a series of galactic proportion - a fantastic comet following an unusual trajectory (which produced catastrophic disturbances), a ringshape eclipse of the sun, the planet Jupiter, Venus, the horsehead Nebula, and thirteen constellations including the Pleiades. Cabrera believe the energy provided by the comet was utilized to "hitch a ride" (via their craft), for the homeland which was in the trajectory of the comet.

In l973 comet Kohoutek was reported in our sky. Science magazines reported that it was an event never to be seen again, "a comet of unusual trajectory which would be visible during a solar eclipse on December 24, l973 wherein the planets of Venus and Jupiter would be clearly visible during the day." Cabrera postulates that Kohoutek may be the same comet of Gliptolithic man. The departure from Earth took place at the Nazca port - the ancient chalkboard known as the "pampa." This area is replete with hundreds of lines reminiscent of runways which can only be appreciated from the air. According to Cabrera, the lines are representative of an energy matrix and electrical field shown symbolically on the landscape, much like modern day crop circles. This area is made up of huge iron ore deposits which concentrate magnetic energy creating an electromagnetic field of extraordinary strength.

The doctor believes the pampa was engineered as a field of "magnetic deflection," a phenomena whereby a moving object with an electrical charge will bounce off a surface of identical charge. This field, which permeated the pampa, was designed to deflect craft outward to space. One glyph in particular resembles a solenoid whose purpose the doctor believes "was to intensify the force of the current" creating a powerful "lift-off" effect.

Cabrera postulates the lines of the Pampa were originally made on a lower sub-surface layer, below the present surface. What we see today is actually a "shadow effect" of the original template. He further theorizes that the symbols of the pampa were magnetically "stamped" into the surface creating a force which could conserve, and protect them from natural disaster. This magnetic puzzle would continue to function forever attracting odds and ends of ferrous surface materials into the design, holding the surface layer as a shadow of it's former self.

The etchings on the Ica Stones show ships "suspended in an electromagnetic cushion" whose energetic field is controlled by both the surface itself, and the craft!

With over 15,000 stones known to exist and theories of extra-terrestrial intelligence, controversy continues to surround the Ica Stones. The enigma is so completely outside our accepted paradigm that the doctor has great difficulty being taken seriously. As far as the Peruvian govenment is concerned the issue is closed. The local farmers continue to prosper in the trade of carved stone from the Peruvian dessert, which never cease in abundance.

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Incan Skulls

These skulls were photographed by Robert Connolly on his trip around the world during which he was collecting materials about ancient civilizations. The discovery of unusual skulls was thus an unintended "spinoff" of his efforts.

The data about the skulls is incomplete, and that makes the correct assessment of their age, context with other hominids, as well as placement of their origin extremely difficult. Some of the skulls are very distinct, as if they belong to entirely different species, remotely similar to genus Homo. The first thing that attracts attention is the size and shape of the cranium in all the specimens. There are 4 different groups represented in the pictures. As a matter of convenience, I labeled them "conehead", "jack-o-lantern" or "J" and "M" based on the shape of the skull, except the first and possibly earliest type of skull, which I call "premodern".

When some of these pictures (the first two) were posted on CompuServe more than year ago, the majority of people assumed that they represented an example of binding of the head, well known to be in fashion in ancient Nubia, Egypt and other cultures. The problem with this theory is that the inside of the cranium of the mentioned skulls, although elongated and with a back sloping, flattened forehead, have the same capacity as normal human skulls; the only difference is the shape achieved by frontal and side deformations. They are actually more similar to the first type of skull (premodern) with the rounded back, than the conehead type. The cone-shaped types of skull are not found amongst the usual skull-binding samples.

The first skull presents problems of its own. The frontal part of the skull seems to belong to an individual of the pre-Neanderthal family, but the lower jaw, though more robust than modern human type, has a modern shape and characteristics. The shape of the cranium does not have any comparison with the Erectus, Neanderthal types, nor the modern human type. Some minor Neanderthal characteristics are present, as is the occipital ridge on the bottom back of the skull and the flattened bottom of the cranium, other characteristics point more tovards Homo Erectus. The angle of the cranial bottom is, though, unusual. We cannot exclude the possibility of a deformed individual in this case, but it is highly unlikely that the angle of the frontal part would require a modification of the lower jaw in the process of growing to resemble modern human types with their projected chin rim. The answer seems to be that the skull belongs to a representantive of an unknown premodern human or humanoid type.

As is obvious from the comparison with a modern human skull, the cranial capacity lies within the modern human range. This is not surprising, since the late Neanderthals and early modern humans (Cro-Magnon) had larger cranial capacities (both roughly 1600 ccm to 1750 ccm) than modern humans (av. 1450 ccm). The decrease of the cranial capacity (sudden at that -- the specimens of modern humans after about 10500 BCE have smaller craniums) is a puzzling matter, but that's another story.

No less puzzling is what a representative of a premodern human type is doing on the South American continent. According to the orthodox anthropology, this skull simply does not exist, because it cannot be. Textbooks' oldest date of appearance of humans in is about 35000 BCE and much later for South America, based on the diffusion theory assumptions. The only accepted human types entering the continent are of the modern anatomy. There are some other sources that place all types of human genus in both Americas at much earlier dates based on numerous anomalous finds, but the academe sticks to its preconceived notions, no matter what. It's safer.

Premodern The "premodern" skull and the following three specimens were found in the Paracas region of Perú. It does not necessarily mean that they are related. There is some possibility that the "premodern" is in fact a precursor of the "conehead" type, but since we do not have any dating analysis at hand, we may only speculate in this regard.

The "conehead" type is very unusual because of the cranial shape. Here we have three specimens, which exclude the possibility of random or artificial deformation (the already mentioned Nubian deformations had quite a number of individual variations). They have individual characteristics within the range of overall morphology. There is no doubt that they are closely related and possibly represent quite a distinct branch of the genus Homo, if not an entirely different species.

The comparison of the C1 with a modern human skull has slight inaccuracies, caused by a degree of distortion when rotating the skull shape into position. As is obvious from C2 and C3, the angle of the bottom part of the cranium does not deviate from normal. However, the general proportions are correct.

The enormity of the cranial vault is obvious from all three pictures. By interpolation, we can estimate the minimum cranial capacity at 2200 ccm, but the value can be as high as 2500 ccm. The shape of the skull may be a biological response--a survival of the species mechanism--to increase the brain mass without the danger of relegating the species to extinction and keeping a viable biological reproduction intact. However, since we do not see the representatives of the "conehead" type in modern population, something prevented the type becoming as widespread as it is in the case of present-day moderns. The "J" type of skull presents different sets of problems. It is an equivalent of the modern type of skull in all respects, with only several factors out of proportion. Less significant is the size of eye sockets which are about 15% larger than in modern populations. More significant is the enormity of the cranial vault. The estimated cranial capacity ranges between minimum of 2600 ccm to 3200 ccm.

Archeologists discover strange elongated skulls in different parts of the world Pravda News - October 6, 2005

Russian media outlets have recently covered a story about yet another mystery of the ancient period of human civilization, when archaeologists discovered plates with drawings in South America. The plates or the so-called Iki stones are about 70 million years old. The drawings show people with disproportionately large heads. There are skulls of the same shape in the local museums. But archeologists find the elongated skulls in Russia too, in the North Caucasus. The Pyatigorsk museum of regional studies has them on display. Do those skulls have anything in common? And who started "the fashion?"

A hole in the crown of the head

"The Pyatigorsk skull was found at the excavation site of the Khasaot burial ground in the vicinity of Kislovodsk," says Doctor of Historical Sciences Vladimir Kuznetsov, the author of numerous studies of history of the North Caucasus. "The skull is part of culture of the ancient Alani. Approximately, it dates back to the 3rd - 5th centuries A.D. These strange skulls appeared at the same time when the Sarmatian and Alani hordes came around. Some of the nomads moved for the North Caucasus in 15th century."

"Researchers have repeatedly proved that the skulls had been deformed on purpose," says Mr. Kuznetsov. "Ropes or special blocks were tied tightly round the heads of infants, over the temples. The custom went out of fashion by 17th century. The reason behind the deformation phenomenon is still unknown. It is hard to say whether the methods worked effectively or not since nobody ever conducted scientific experiments regarding the binding of the infants' heads.

But "aliens" are not likely to be involved in this case," says the researcher.

Still, it is very strange that the deformed skulls are found in European countries including Norway and France. They are also found in Central Asia, in Central and South America. Taking into account huge distances and oceans separating different nations, how could people pass around the weird fashion?

"The skull exhibited here used to belong to a young woman in her twenties," says senior researcher of the Pyatigorsk museum of regional studies Mikhail Semendyaev. "Its volume is quite regular, about 1.5 liters. By the way, archeologists normally find 2-3 deformed skulls like this one in every hundred of skulls discovered during the excavation," adds Mr. Semendyaev.

Specialists have no explanation for a particular feature of the elongated skulls. If you take a closer look at the skull, you will see a tiny hole on the crown. The edges of the hole are extremely neat and even. Only elongated skulls have tidy holes. Could it be that the holes were used for picking information from space or from the egg-headed colleagues scattered around the world?

They wanted to look like aliens

"I did research on one of those skulls found near the town of Chihuahua in Mexico in the 1930s," says the well-known archeologist Lloyd Pye, the author of the book Everything You Know is Wrong. When the appearance of the "owner" was restored using Professor Gerasimov"s method, it became obvious that the guy resembled aliens the way they are portrayed by eyewitnesses. I ran a DNA test of his bones in two laboratories. His DNA links in some sections differed from the human ones. The skull should have contained around 2 liter of brain. The skull of present-day man can hold only 1.5 liters of brain," says Mr. Pye.

"Some specimens indicate that the "fashion" for elongated skulls is al least 20 thousand years old. It could have originated earlier on. I can not tell you exactly when. I can only assume that ancient people wanted to imitate somebody else. Maybe they wanted to look like those beings who were more perfect in terms of evolution. They could also imitate the aliens whose skulls probably had different dimensions," says Mr. Pye.

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MUMMIFICATION

EGYPTIAN MUMMIES

Many ancient civilizations believed in life after death. We identify mumification with ancient Egypt. The ancient Egyptians - during the time of the dynasties - believed that mummification would guarantee the soul passage into the next life.

Some believed that the dead lived on in the tomb. While others thought of the dead as having gone to a blessed afterworld in some far-distant place. That being the case they provided for both worlds. In no other civilization have such elaborate preparations for the afterlife been made in the preservation of the dead.

In addition to his ba (body) and his ka (spirit guide) - an Egyptian had a soul, which flew away at death. Mant cults believed that the soul was a human-headed bird with the face of the deceased. During life the soul had resided within the body - probably in the belly or in the heart--but after death it flew freely about the world, taking refuge in the tomb at night, when evil spirits might be about. But in order to find the right tomb, it was necessary that the soul be able to recognize the body from which it had come. Hence the body of the deceased was preserved in the best possible way. It was mummified.

The word 'mummy' is not of Egyptian origin, but is derived from the Arabic 'mumiyah,' which means 'body preserved by wax or bitumen'; This term was used because of an Arab misconception of the methods used by the Egyptians in preserving their dead.

The actual process of embalming as practiced in ancient Egypt was governed by definite religious ritual. A period of seventy days was required for the preparation of the mummy, and each step in the procedure was co-ordinated with relevant priestly ceremonies. The embalmers' shop might be a fixed place, as in the case of those connected with the larger temples. Often, however, it was a movable tent - which could be set up near the home of the deceased.

Removal of those parts most subject to putrefaction was the initial step in preparing a corpse for mummification. The embalmers placed the body on a narrow, table-like stand and proceeded to their task. The brain was removed through the nostrils by means of various metal probes and hooks. Such a method necessarily reduced the brain to a fragmentary state, and, as no remains of it are associated with mummies, we may assume that it was discarded. An incision was then made in the left flank of the body to permit removal of the viscera, with the exception of the heart, which was left in the body.

The liver, the lungs, the stomach, and the intestines were each placed in a separate jar, the Canopic Jars , and consigned to the protection of a particular divinity.

Next came the preservation of the body itself. This was accomplished in a manner somewhat similar to that of drying fish. But instead of common salt, natron, a mixture of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate, with sodium chloride (common salt) and sodium sulphate as impurities, was used. Natron occurs in Egypt in a few places. Water containing natron in solution comes to the surface and is evaporated, leaving the natron as surface deposits.

Small parcels of natron wrapped in linen were placed inside the body. The outside was covered with loose natron or packages of linen-wrapped natron. The dry atmosphere of Egypt accelerated the desiccation process. After the body moisture had been absorbed by the natron, the packs were removed and the corpse was given a sponge bath with water. The skin was anointed with coniferous resins, and the body cavity was packed with wads of linen soaked in the same material. The body was then ready to be bound into that compact bundle we know as a mummy. Only linen was used in the wrapping. To give a more natural appearance, linen pads were placed in the hollows caused by the drying. The arms and legs, sometimes even the fingers and toes, were bandaged separately. Then some twenty or more layers of alternating shrouds and bandages were wrapped around the entire body. Between every few layers of linen a coating of resin was applied as a binding agent. The proper wrapping of a mummy required several hundred square yards of linen. The shrouds were sheets six to nine feet square, and the bandages--strips torn from other sheets were from two to eight inches wide and three to twenty feet long. The linen used in wrapping mummies was for the most part not made especially for shrouds but was old household linen saved for this purpose. Often the linen is marked with the name of the former owner, faded from repeated washings. Occasionally bandages bear short religious texts written in ink.

When the wrapping had been completed, the shop was cleaned, and all the embalming materials that had come in contact with the mummy were placed in jars for storage in the tomb. This was a fortunate practice, as Egyptian embalmers were none too careful, and any stray toe or ear which may have become detached or mislaid during the long embalming process was usually swept up with the spilled salt and scraps of linen and included in the storage jars.

But the making of a corpse into a mummy was not all that took place during the seventy days. The artisans who were engaged meanwhile in all the activities essential to proper burial might number in the hundreds. The construction and decoration of the tomb, if not already completed by the deceased during his lifetime, presented an enormous task. Woodworkers were constructing the coffin-or a series of coffins, each to fit within another - tailored to measure.

Artists were busy decorating the coffins. The fine painting on the coffins was rarely done directly on the wood, but rather on a smooth plaster coating of whiting and glue over linen glued to the wood. The beautiful colors on many cases are pigments from minerals found in Egypt, often covered with a clear varnish.

Countless other helpers were engaged in constructing and assembling the numerous articles to be deposited with the mummy when it was laid to rest in the tomb.

An extremely important task also undertaken during the seventy days of mummification was the preparation by priests or scribes of magical texts to be placed in the tomb. These texts, now known as the 'Book of the Dead' were written on papyrus rolls varying in length from a few sheets to many sheets, some rolls approaching a length of one hundred feet. Often they were exquisitely illustrated in color. The chapters forming the Book of the Dead contained information necessary to the deceased in overcoming obstacles on his journey and in gaining admittance to the afterworld. An elaborate funeral procession of priests, relatives, friends, servants, and professional mourners accompanied the mummy to the tomb. Attended by priests, the mummy, in its magnificent coffin, was carried on a great sledge pulled by oxen. The mourners followed behind the sledge. In the procession, too, were porters bearing gifts to be placed in the tomb. These mortuary accouterments believed essential for a happy afterlife might be furniture, weapons, jewelry, food, linens - any or all of those things that had made for comfort and happiness in the earthly life.

The final ceremony at the tomb was the opening of the mouth. Through this ceremony the mummy was thought to regain ability to move, to talk, and to eat. In order to fulfill his destiny in the afterworld. It was necessary that the priests perform this last rite which would restore to him the functions of a living person.

The mummy was then carried into the tomb and sealed in the outer coffin or sarcophagus. The Book of the Dead was placed near him, mortuary gifts were piled about, and priests in the guise of gods made sure no evil spirits lurked in the tomb.

According to Egyptian belief, interment of the mummy did not automatically insure entrance into the afterworld. The deceased had first to appear before a group of forty-two spiritual assessors and convince them that he had led a righteous life on earth. Then in a final trial before Osiris, king of the nether world, the heart of the deceased was placed on the Great Scales and balanced against a feather, symbol of righteous truth. Anubis, the jackal-headed god who presided over embalming, did the weighing, while Thoth, the ibis-headed scribe of the gods, recorded the result on a tablet. If the heart of the deceased passed this test, he was admitted into heaven. If not, his soul was doomed to roam the earth forever.

The Pre-Dynastic Egyptian (before 3000 n.e.) was buried in the sand and was surrounded with pottery jars containing food. He was placed on his side in a contracted position, and was occasionally wrapped in reed matting or animal hide. Later, the dead were placed in crudely made baskets, boxes, or pottery coffins, which were buried in the sand or deposited in small natural caves at the base of the cliffs in the Nile Valley. By 3000 b.c. men of importance had small chambers cut for themselves in the rock, often with a shallow pit or niche to receive the coffin. From these beginnings evolved the typical Egyptian tomb consisting of two essential parts: the burial chamber and a room in which offerings to the dead were placed.

Most impressive of all Egyptian tombs are those of the Pyramid Age (2800-2250 B.C.). Those colossal tombs that are as famous as Egypt herself developed from a less elaborate form now called "mastaba" (from the Arabic word mastabah, meaning "bench," which describes the form of the superstructure of the tomb). The mastaba tombs are low, rectangular structures of brick and stone built on bedrock. The building houses an offering chamber, or a series of them, and a secret room containing a statue of the deceased.

A vertical shaft in the superstructure leads down into the bedrock to the tomb chamber some twenty to eighty feet below. The limestone walls in the offering chambers of the mastaba tombs are covered with sculptured scenes done in low relief. They were originally painted, and some of the color still remains. It is from these skilfully executed scenes depicting contemporary Egyptian life that we derive much of our knowledge of the period. The mastaba tombs are for the most part those of nobles, the pharaohs preferring the more monumental pyramids. The great pyramids at Giza, tombs of the Fourth Dynasty kings, are by far the most imposing of the pyramid tombs.

The Egyptians were mummifying their dead even in the days of the pyramids. Indeed, there are mummies that antedate the pyramids. These ancient mummies are wrapped in the contracted position characteristic of Pre-Dynastic burials, whereas the mummy of the Pyramid Age lies full length on its back, enclosed in a box-type coffin decorated to resemble a house.

In the early days of mummification only the kings were definitely conceded the opportunity to attain an exalted afterlife. Religious texts to aid the dead kings in gaining entrance into heaven were carved on the stone walls of the mortuary chambers of some of the pyramids. These are now known as the Pyramid Texts. It is on the walls of the pyramids of the Fifth and Sixth Dynasty kings at -smaller and less imposing pyramids than those at Giza - that these oldest collections of Egyptian religious texts are found. Although nobles of the Pyramid Age were also accorded sumptuous burial, no texts are found in their tombs.

By the time of the Middle Kingdom (2100-1780 b.c.), after the period of the mastabas and pyramids, tombs and their accessory chambers were usually hewn out of solid rock in the sides of the hills along the Nile. Occasionally, however, tombs were enclosed by or built under mortuary buildings erected on the plain.

These buildings served as chapels or offering chambers. The mummy of the Middle Kingdom was placed on its left side in a rectangular wooden coffin on which was painted religious texts. These Coffin Texts were excerpts from the older Pyramid Texts, with the addition of new thoughts and symbols. Some mummies had a cartonnage mask over the upper portion of the body. These cartonnage coverings--layers of linen or papyrus soaked in plaster - were shaped in human form and painted. Sometimes the entire mummy was enclosed in such a covering, a practice which quickly led to the making of coffins themselves in mummy form. A person of rank or wealth (and these went hand in hand), would have a series of two or three coffins, each case fitting inside the other, with the inner one the most elaborate. Often the outer coffin would be carved from stone in mummy form, or would consist of a huge stone sarcophagus. It was late in this period, when liberalization of religious concepts extended the privilege of an afterlife to those in less fortunate circumstances than kings and nobles, that beards appeared on mummy cases. The beard, heretofore worn only by divinities and kings, indicated presumption on the part of the deceased that he would be accepted into their immortal presence.

During the time of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Dynasties the rock-cut tombs reached their zenith in the famous Tombs of the Kings in the valleys at Thebes. These tombs consist of corridors, chambers, and halls descending into the solid rock of the hillsides a distance of several hundred feet. The walls are covered with religious texts and scenes, and with inscriptions and pictures portraying every phase in the life of the deceased, all beautifully painted.

Mummification practices, too, varied with the passing centuries. The use of the Canopic Jars as repositories was discontinued during the Twenty- first Dynasty (1085-945 BC), and the viscera were henceforth wrapped in packages and replaced in the body or bound with it. Hollows in the desiccated body were cleverly filled out by placing pads of linen underneath the skin. From this period on, the art of making good mummies went into a gradual decline, even though mummification continued to be practiced for another fifteen hundred years. Less attention came to be paid to the condition of the body itself, and more to the external appearance of the wrappings.

In Roman times (after 30 BC) a garish type of coffin came into use. Showy cartonnage coverings were formed and painted in fanciful likeness of the deceased. At the same time, coffin-makers were building coffins of simple board boxes. On the cover there might be a life-sized plaster face modeled after that of the dead. Sometimes a painted portrait of the deceased was placed inside the coffin over the face of the mummy.

Quite naturally, wealth was always a dominant actor in the mummification and burial accorded an individual. Although actual Egyptian records of the cost of mummi~cation are lacking, Diodorus Siculus, a Greek historian who traveled in Egypt, touches on burial costs in his writings. According to Diodorus, at the time he journeyed in Egypt (60-57 b.c.) there were three grades of burial. One was expensive, costing sixty-six pounds of silver (one talent), another cost a third as much (twenty minas), and the lowest grade of burial cost much less.

Tombs for the common people had no chambers. The coffins were placed in walled recesses in the side of a rock or in shallow holes gouged out of the rocky plain. Mummies of the poor were placed in common repositories, either with or without coffins. The bodies of those with no money at all were given a perfunctory ceremonial cleansing, were sometimes covered with a cloth, and were buried in the sand.

The Egyptians believed that a god incarnate assumed the form of an animal. Nearly every deity was associated in their minds with a certain bird or beast. So it is not surprising that we find near the sites of ancient cities large cemeteries devoted to the burial of animals. Usually only one kind of animal was buried in a given cemetery. Adjacent to each such cemetery was a temple devoted to the cult of the god identified with the specific kind of animal buried at that place.

The animals were mummified, but not always too carefully. Chief stress was laid on the bandaging, the object having been that the package should clearly indicate the kind of animal enclosed. Often these animal mummies were placed in theriomorphic coffins. There are mummies of jackals, cats, ibises, snakes, lizards, gazelles, hawks, bulls, sheep, baboons, crocodiles--in fact, almost every conceivable kind of animal known to Egypt.

At some places animal tombs such as those of the Apis bulls at Memphis are found. The tombs of the Apis bulls, which date from the Eighteenth Dynasty and later, consist of subterranean passages and vaults hewn in the rock an aggregate length of some twelve hundred feet. Many of the bulls were placed in huge stone sarcophagi.

The ambition of every Egyptian was to have a well mummified body and a perpetually cared-for tomb. The children of the deceased were charged with the maintenance of this home on earth and the observation of all attendant ceremonies. In the case of a favored government official a portion of the state revenue might be assigned as an endowment for the care of the tomb.

As the number of deceased ancestors and officials multiplied, however, and the consequent cost of tomb maintenance became excessive, the tendency was to neglect those of the remote past and to concentrate attention on those of the more recently deceased. Thus the living inhabitant of ancient Egypt, with all the faith he placed in the preservation of his own mummy, was constantly faced with the anomaly of neglected and despoiled tombs -for tomb robbers were at work even during the days of mummification.

We have Egyptian papyri recording the robbery of royal tombs and the capture and punishment of the despoilers. An archaeologist rarely finds a tomb that has not been plundered. 'Mummy dust' was sometimes stolen from the Sarcophagi and sold.

There are about 500 Egyptian mummies in the US. Most are in museums. Some are privately owned.

Reference: Anthony's Egyptology Page

Mummy Wikipedia

Ancient Egyptian Beliefs in the Afterlife

Bahariya Mummies of Ancient Egypt

Ramses II 19th Dynasty

MUMMIES FROM OTHER COUNTRIES

Chinchorro - Mummy from Chile

November 29, 1999 - BBC

Many mummies have been discovered in Northern Chile. Ancient inhabitants of the Andean mountains were infected with the same virus as modern-day Japanese people, suggesting travellers from Asia colonized South America thousands of years ago. This unusual form of archaeology was carried out by analysing DNA samples taken from the bone marrow of 104 mummies found in Northern Chile.

The mummies are believed to be over 1,000 years old and could be as much as 1,500 years old. Two virus samples, from San Pedro de Atacama, provided useful DNA fragments up to 159 base pairs in length. Kazuo Tajima and his colleagues from the Aichi Cancer Centre Research Institute in Nagoya, Japan, found that fragments were very similar to virus samples taken from living Chilean and Japanese people. This evidence, published in Nature Medicine, adds weight to existing theories that Mongoloid people invaded South America 20,000 years ago, long before the Spanish invaders brought a variety of different infectious diseases to the region.

It also discounts the possibility that the virus was introduced during the European colonization, 500 years ago. The virus is associated with adult T- cell leukaemia and other diseases which are today clustered mainly in southwestern Japan and in South America. The new work provides an explanation for the select distribution of the virus but has yet to explain why there is a small population in the which also carries it. The researchers write: "Analysis of these ancient viral sequences could be a useful tool for studying the history of human retroviral infection, as well as human prehistoric migration."

Juanita - Mummy from Peru Incan Civilization

Lindow Man - Mummy from England

Lindow Man, or Lindow II, was the second body recovered from Lindow Moss (his predecessor--the head which helped induce Peter Reyn-Bardt's murder confession). He was discovered lying between two different layers of peat, suggesting that at the time of deposition the area had been a reasonably deep pool. His arms had badly deteriorated at a much earlier date, probably immediately after his death.

The other parts of his body which were discovered in 1984 include his head, torso and right foot. Then, in 1988, a body originally labeled Lindow IV was found, consisting of the skin of the buttocks, part of the left leg, and both the right thigh and femur of a man; scientists now generally consider this to be just more of Lindow Man, as the pieces from both finds combine to form a single body. Using radiocarbon dating techniques, researchers have placed the body in a date range of 2 BC-AD 119 (Turner, 1995).

Lindow Man, along with the other Lindow bodies, has succeeded in capturing the public's attention through several outstanding physical characteristics which raise implications about his death. He was probably a man of status, judging from evidence of neatly trimmed hair, beard and nails, as well as possible evidence of body paint (although this last item has been hotly debated). It is impossible to tell whether or not he died by drowning since his lungs are no longer intact. All of the damage on his body could possibly (if not probably) have been caused through time by natural elements; however, many people interpret him as a victim of ritual sacrifice. One of the most common Celtic religious symbols is "triplism;" with Lindow Man, much has been made of his apparent triple death:

1. He seems to have been viciously strangled and garroted-his throat split from one end to the other;

2. His head bears evidence that he was bludgeoned by something like the blunt side of an ax blade;

3. His neck and torso reveal other marks, such as stab wounds, that can be explained by violent events. On top of this, his stomach contents include grains of mistletoe pollen mixed with the remnants of a simple grain cake. This has been taken as a possible Druid link. However, simply too much time has passed to be able to state absolutely under what circumstances Lindow Man met his end.

All of these curiosities have contributed to Lindow Man's enduring celebrity status. Once again, R. C. Turner keenly analyzes the staying power of this bog body's popularity. He comments: "The sense of wonder [bog bodies] conjure up is combined with the feeling that they have in some way cheated death, to live again. The forces behind the violent and often complex deaths they suffered are beyond mere scientific enquiry to convey." (Turner, 1995)

Oetzi The Iceman Mummy from the Italian Alps

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Inca Articles in the News ...

Pre-Incan Metallurgy Discovered Live Science - April 19, 2007

Towers point to ancient Sun cult BBC - March 1, 2007

Pre-Inca Observatory Is Oldest in Americas, Study Says National Geographic - March 1, 2007

Peruvian citadel is site of earliest ancient solar observatory in the Americas PhysOrg - March 1, 2007 The fortified stone temple, ceremonial complex, at Chankillo. Archeologists is 2,300 years old

Vast "Cloud Warrior" Ruin Found in Amazon National Geographic - January 20, 2007

An unusual archeological site discovered in Peru's mountains may hold clues to the history of the Chachapoya people, known as "cloud warriors," who fought the Inca Empire before the Spanish conquest.

Tombs of Pre-Inca Elite Discovered Under Peru Pyramid National Geographic - November 28, 2006

Tomb find reveals pre-Inca city BBC - November 22, 2006

The complex contains at least 20 tombs, and dates from the pre-Inca Sican era.

Mummies of 'cloud warriors' tribe found in Peruvian cave Independent - October 7, 2006

Archaeologists in Peru have discovered an underground burial vault that could unlock the mystery of a pre-Colombian tribe known as the "warriors of the clouds". The Chachapoyas commanded a vast kingdom stretching across the Andes to the fringe of Peru's northern Amazon jungle until they were conquered by the Incas in the 15th century. The Incan empire was itself overrun soon after by the Spanish, and details of the Chachapoyas and their way of life were lost or destroyed in the widespread pillaging that followed. Now a team of archaeologists, working on a tip-off from a local farmer, have uncovered a burial site in a 820ft-deep cave. The researchers have so far found five mummies, two of which are intact with skin and hair, as well as ceramics, textiles and wall paintings, the expedition's leader, Herman Corbera, told Reuters. "This is a discovery of transcendental importance. We have found these five mummies but there could be many more," Mr Corbera said. "We think this is the first time any kind of underground burial site this size has been found belonging to Chachapoyas or other cultures in the region."

The tribe's own name is unknown. The word Chachapoyas is thought to come from the Quechua for "cloud people", and is the name by which they were known to the Incas, because of the cloud forests they inhabited in what is now northern Peru. A white-skinned people who were famed as ferocious fighters, the Chachapoyas held out against the Incans, who ruled an empire stretching from southern Chile to northern Ecuador until their conquest by the Spanish.

Today, the Cloud People are best known for their stone citadel, Kuelap, with more than 400 buildings and massive exterior stone walls, which is often referred to as the Machu Picchu of the north. Mr Corbera said the walls in the limestone cave near the mummies were covered with paintings of faces and warrior-like figures which may have been drawn to ward off intruders and evil spirits. "The remote site for this cemetery tells us that the Chachapoyas had enormous respect for their ancestors because they hid them away for protection," Mr Corbera said. "Locals call the cave Iyacyecuj, or Enchanted Water in Quechua, because of its spiritual importance and its underground rivers. "The idea now is to turn this cave into a museum, but we've got a huge amount of research to do first and protecting the site is a big issue."

Backs to the Future PhysOrg - June 13, 2006

New analysis of the language and gesture of South America's indigenous Aymara people indicates they have a concept of time opposite to all the world's studied cultures -- so that the past is ahead of them and the future behind.

Ancient Calendar Unearthed in Peru Discovery - June 5, 2006

Archaeologists have discovered an enormous prehistoric calendar, formed by sculptures arranged in a circle, at the Temple of the Fox in Buena Vista, Peru. The calendar, which dates to 2200 B.C., is the oldest known structure of its kind found in the Americas.

Similar monuments erected by the Mayans of Mexico have also been found, but those have dated to approximately 2,000 years ago. There have been European versions too. "Early solstice markers are known in Ireland with dates earlier than Buena Vista, but not, to my knowledge, with multiple instruments," said Robert Benfer, who oversaw the project and is a professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Missouri-Columbia. "The most famous would be the case of (Egyptian ruler) Amenhotep, who at 1,500 B.C. had statues erected to gaze at the solstice when the Nile was about to flood".

The Peruvian calendar would have been a dramatic sight for onlookers 4,000 years ago. Its towering sculptures - made of mud plaster mixed with grass and covered with clay - were painted bright yellow and red. Benfer told Discovery News the temple and its sculptures seem linked to astronomical alignments that would have guided practitioners of flood plain agriculture, which persists in the region.

Major celestial events, such as the rising and setting of the sun during equinoxes and solstices, would have drawn lines connecting points at the temple's entrance, sculptures, surrounding ridges and chambers. One chamber creates a line aimed toward the rising sun on Dec. 21, which marks the season when floodwaters begin to rise. On March 21, when these waters recede, the same line points towards the Andean of the fox. Field director Neil Duncan, who worked with Peruvian archaeologist Bernardino Ojeda, told Discovery News the chambers contained remnants of offerings primarily consist of plant remains: cotton and cotton seeds, fruits such as lucuma and guava, squash and gourds, beans and grass. He added that a sunken pit in the center of the temple also contained shellfish, crab and mussel shells, and anchovy-sized fish bones. The researchers found no evidence of , but they did discover a cotton- shrouded mummy of a woman in the fetal position. Perhaps the most striking object found at the temple was a large personified disk that frowns at the sunset on June 21, the traditional start of the harvest. The ancients may have enjoyed a bit of dry humor, given all of the upcoming work. The frowning face represents Pacha Mama, an Earth mother goddess who became sad when the sun set.

Tattooed Mummy With Jewelry Found in Peru Pyramid National Geographic - May 16, 2006

Ancient Canals in Andes Reveal Early Agriculture National Geographic - December 6, 2005

Brewery Was Burned After Ancient Peru Drinking Ritual National Geographic - November 17, 2005

Experts 'decipher' knotted Inca strings BBC - August 12, 2005

Experts say one bunch of knots appears to identify a city, marking the first intelligible word from the extinct South American civilization. The mystery surrounding a cryptic string-based communication system used by ancient Incan administrators may at last be unravelling, thanks to computer analysis of hundreds of different knotted bundles.

Peruvian writing system goes back 5,000 years MSNBC - July 20, 2005

Ancient culture used knots and strings to convey information

Archaeologists in Peru have found a 'quipu' on the site of the oldest city in the Americas, indicating that the device, a sophisticated arrangement of knots and strings used to convey detailed information, was in use thousands of years earlier than previously believed. Previously the oldest known quipus, often associated with the Incas whose vast South American empire was conquered by the Spanish in the 16th century, dated from about A.D. 650. But Ruth Shady, an archaeologist leading investigations into the Peruvian coastal city of , said quipus were among a treasure trove of articles discovered at the site, which is about 5,000 years old. "This is the oldest quipu, and it shows us that this society ... also had a system of Œwriting¹ (which) would continue down the ages until the Inca empire and would last some 4,500 years," Shady said. She was speaking before the opening in Lima Tuesday of an exhibition of the artifacts which shed light on Caral, which she called one of the world¹s oldest civilizations.

The quipu, with its well-preserved, brown cotton strings wound around thin sticks, was found with a series of offerings including mysterious fiber balls of different sizes wrapped in ²nets² and pristine reed baskets. "We are sure it corresponds to the period of Caral because it was found in a public building, It was an offering placed on a stairway when they decided to bury this and put down a floor to build another structure on top."

Pyramid-shaped public buildings were being built at Caral, a planned coastal city 115 miles (185 kilometers) north of Lima, at the same time that the Saqqara pyramid, the oldest in Egypt, was going up. They were were already being revamped when Egypt's Great Pyramid of Cheops (or Khufu) was under construction, Man only began living in an organized way 5,000 years ago in five points of the globe - Mesopotamia (roughly comprising modern Iraq and part of Syria), Egypt, India, China and Peru, Caral was 3,200 years older than cities of another ancient American civilization, the Maya," she added.

Shady said no equivalent of the Rosetta Stone that deciphered the hieroglyphs of ancient Egypt had yet been found to fully unlock the language of the quipus, but said their existence pointed to a sophisticated, organized society where such information as production, taxes and debts were recorded. They came up with their own system becausem unlike cities in the Old World which had contact with each other and exchanged knowledge and experiences, this (city) in Peru was isolated in the Americas, and advanced alone. Caral's arid location at an altitude of 11,500 feet (3,500 meters) has helped preserve its treasures, such as piles of raw cotton - still uncombed and containing seeds, though turned a dirty brown by the ages - and a ball of cotton thread. Nobles wore their hair in two long ponytails each side of the face, with a fringe at the front and the hair on the top of the head cropped close to the skull.

Inca tax man collected child sacrifices News in Science - May 30, 2005

Giant Figures in Peru Desert Pre-date Nazca Lines Epoch Times - May 24, 2005

A group of about 50 drawings of giant figures recently discovered in the hills of Peru's southern coastal desert near the city of Palpa has been said to predate the famous Nazca lines nearby. Mr. Johny Isla, director of the Andean Institute of Archaeological Studies, said the 'geoglyph' figures appear to have been created by the Paracas communities between 500 and 400BC, whereas the Nazca culture developed after 50 BC. Mr. Isla and his partner Dr. Markus Reindel from the Dutch Institute of Archaeology discovered the Paracas figures using aerial photography and land-based surveys. The figures of humans, birds, monkeys and cats vary in size from 10m to 50m across, and are also grouped together in areas up to 60 m to 90 m across.

The Paracas figures were created by removing dark stones in order to expose the lighter surface underneath. Some areas were cleared and others built up with rock, creating figures in high and low relief. With the Nazca lines though, the geoglyphs were only made by clearing low-relief areas. Until recently scientists believed that the figures in the Palpa and Nazca regions were only from the Nazca culture. Mr. Isla says cultural dating and style of the newly found Paracas figures sets them apart. "Most of these geoglyphs belong to the Nazca culture but our recent studies demonstrated that there are at least 50 geoglyphs pertaining to the Paracas culture. These new figures are definitely different and older than those of the Nazca culture. "First, the Paracas figures were drawn on the slopes of the hills, while the Nazca images were drawn in level areas. Second, the Paracas figures are smaller and were made in a naturalistic style, while the Nazca figures are bigger and stylised. Third, the Paracas figures are mostly arranged in groups, while the Nazca figures are arranged individually. Finally, it is important to note that not one of the Paracas figures were repeated in the Nazca iconography," Mr, Isla added.

Although the existence of some of the Paracas figures was previously known, most were undiscovered due to their remote location, and their visibility is highly affected by the position of the sun. One set of figures is known as the ³Temple of Fertility² as one image represents a man, another a woman and the center image seems to represent a divine figure with a head from which emanates a series of rays that end in human heads. Mr. Isla said, "The principal idea is that together the three figures represent the reproduction of the human species, the continuity of life.² ³According to results obtained from our studies of the Nazca geoglyphs, we can suggest that the Paracas geoglyphs were made also in the context of a religious culture related to water. The Palpa and Nazca valleys are in the middle of one of the most arid deserts of the world, where the surface water is a vital resource to develop life," said Mr. Isla. Further studies may tell more about the Paracas people, their ways of life and early history of the area.

Giant figures older than Nazca lines unearthed in Peru -- CNN - March 12, 2005

About 50 giant figures were etched into the earth over an area of roughly 90 square miles (145 square kilometers) near the city of Palpa. Archeologists have discovered a group of figures scraped into the hills of Peru's southern coastal desert that are believed to predate the country's famous Nazca lines. About 50 giant figures were etched into the earth over an area of roughly 90 square miles (233 square kilometers) near the city of Palpa, El Comercio newspaper reported. The drawings - which include human figures as well as animals such as birds, monkeys, and felines - are believed to have been created by members of the Paracas Culture sometime between 600 and 100 B.C., Johny Islas, the director of the Andean Institute of Archaeological Studies, told the newspaper. One prominent figure appears to represent the main deity of the Paracas Culture that is commonly depicted on textiles and ceramics that date from the period, Islas said. The recently discovered designs predate the country's famous Nazca lines that cover a 35-mile (56-kilometer) stretch of desert and have mystified scientists. They were added to the United Nations' Cultural Heritage list in 1994. The Nazca culture flourished between 50 B.C. and 600 A.D., Islas said. The lines - which also include pictographs of various animals - are one of Peru's top tourist attractions. About 80,000 tourists fly over the site every year.

First Andes civilization explored BBC - December 2004 A Peruvian site previously reported as the oldest city in the Americas is a much larger complex of as many as 20 cities with enormous pyramids and sunken circular plazas sprawled over three river valleys.

Pre-Inca Ruins Emerging From Peru's Cloud National Geographic - September 2004

Remains of the world's largest lava flow found MSNBC - September 2004

1,300 year old city found in remote Peru jungle MSNBC - August 2004 Walled complex may have been home to 10,000 people

An American-led expedition has discovered five new districts in what its leader describes as a massive metropolitan complex spread along a river valley through thick mountainous jungle on the eastern slope of the Peruvian Andes. It is the oldest Chachapoyan find that we know of to date.

Scores of Inca Mummies Unearthed in Peru National Geographic - March 2004

Dozens of exquisitely preserved Inca mummies are being recovered from a barren hillside on the outskirts of Peru's bustling capitol city Lima.

Incan Counting System Decoded? Discovery - February 2004

The Inca invented a powerful counting system that could be used to make complex calculations without the tiniest mistake, according to an Italian engineer who claims to have cracked the mathematics of this still mysterious ancient population. Begun in the Andean highlands in about 1200, the Inca ruled the largest empire on Earth by the time their last emperor, Atahualpa, was garroted by Spanish conquistadors in 1533 Long been considered the only major Bronze Age civilization without a written language, they left mysterious objects that, according to the latest research, would have been used to store units of information.

Recent studies are investigating the hypothesis that elaborated knotted strings known as khipu contain a hidden written language stored following a seven-bit binary code. Nobody, however, had been able to explain the meaning of these geometrical tablets known as yupana. Different in size and shape, the yupana had been often interpreted as a stylized fortress model. Some scholars also interpreted it as a counting board, but how the abacus would have worked remained a mystery. "It took me about 40 minutes to solve the riddle. I am not an expert on pre-Columbian civilizations. I simply decoded a 16th century drawing from a book on mathematical enigmas I received as a Christmas present," engineer Nicolino De Pasquale said.

The drawing was found in a 1,179 page letter by the Peruvian Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala to the King of Spain. A simple array of cells consisting of five rows and four columns, the drawing showed one circle in the right cell on the bottom row, two circles in the next cell, three circles in the other one and five circles in the last cell of the row. The same pattern applied to the above rows.

According to De Pasquale, the circles in the cells are nothing but the first numbers of the Fibonacci series, in which each number is a sum of two previous: 1, 2, 3, 5. The abacus would then work on a base 40 numbering system."Instead, all scholars based their calculations according to a base 10 counting system. But calculations made to base 40 are quicker, and can be easily reconverted to base 10," Antonio Aimi, curator of the exhibition "Peru, 3,000 Years of Masterpieces" running in Florence, told Discovery News. "Since we lack definitive archaeological evidence, we tested this claim on 16 yupana from museums across the world. De Pasquale's system works on all of them," Antonio Aimi, curator of the exhibition

The Inca's calculating system (see an example of how it works in the slide show) does not take into consideration the number zero. Moreover, numbers do not exist as graphic representations.According to Aimi, in most cases the Inca made their calculations by simply drawing rows and columns on the ground. The unusual counting way is described in an account by the Spanish priest Jose de Acosta, who lived among the Inca from 1571 to 1586. "To see them use another kind of calculator, with maize kernels, is a perfect joy... . They place one kernel here, three somewhere else and eight, I do not know where. They move one kernel here and there and the fact is that they are able to complete their computation without making the smallest mistake," Acosta wrote in his book "Historia Natural Moral de las Indias. "The claim has sparked a dispute among scholars.Gary Urton, professor of Precolumbian studies at Harvard University, an authority on khipu research, told Discovery News: "The fact that an explanation can be constructed for one or even several yupana that conforms to this theory of a base 40 numbering system amongst the Incas is of some modest interest. "How would one explain the many statements in the Spanish chronicles, both those written by Spaniards and by literate Andeans, who stated quite straightforwardly that the Inca used a base 10 counting system? This system is also attested in a mountain of early colonial documents that describe how the Inca organized their administrative system according to a base 10 counting system." As Aimi concedes, the claim has the limits of any interpretative system that isn't proven with definitive historical evidence. "We would need to find a Rosetta yupana, something similar to the deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphics from the Rosetta stone. Since we can't have it, I would consider a strong evidence the fact that the system works on all yupana examined," he said.

Peruvian farmers learn from history BBC - May 2003

Agricultural techniques perfected by Inca farmers 500 years ago are beginning to have a dramatic effect on the incomes of today's farmers in Pampachiri, one of the poorest areas of Peru.

First City in the New World? - July 2002 - Smithsonian

Peru's Caral suggests civilization emerged in the Americas 1,000 years earlier than experts believed

Thousands of Inca mummies were found in a shanty town close to Peruvian capital, Lima in April 2002

Peru Ruins Trace Anthropological Riddle in Sand

Peruvian archaeologists excavate what they believe to be the oldest city in the Americas, the sacred ruins of Caral, which lie some 120 miles north of Lima in a coastal desert between the Andes and the waters of the Pacific, in this photo taken May 11, 2001. The ruins, which have been carbon dated to some 100 years before the Great Pyramid at Giza, could provide anthropologists with a glimpse of the birth of modern society in the Americas.

May 30, 2001 - Caral, Peru -- On a scarp overlooking a lush valley carved through Peru's dusty Andean foothills, archeologists have unearthed what they believe is the oldest city in the Americas - the sacred ruins of Caral. A team from Peru's San Marcos University has painstakingly excavated the arid hillocks above the River Supe north of Lima to reveal six ancient pyramids, an amphitheater and residential complex that they have dated to as early as 2627 BC. "In these structures of stone, mud and tree trunks we find the cradle of American civilization,'' said Ruth Shady, who is leading the excavations.

The discovery is already being hailed as the most exciting find in Peru since 1911, when Yale archeologist Hiram Bingham stumbled on the ruined Inca citadel of Machu Picchu hidden in the clouds of the craggy Andean highlands.

Anthropologists working at Caral believe the windswept ruins 14 miles from the Pacific will provide a glimpse of the birth of urban society in the Americas and may challenge theories that the earliest civilizations settled by the sea.

They say a priestly society built the stone structures here without the aid of wheels or metal tools almost a century before the Egyptians erected the Great Pyramid at Giza. The remains, some 120 miles north of Lima in a coastal desert between the Andes and the Pacific, predate Machu Picchu by three millennia and are some 1,100 years older than Olmec in Mexico, the oldest city in the Americas outside Peru. Up to 10,000 people may once have inhabited the 160-acre site at Caral, archeologists believe, and its construction suggests a regional capital with urban planning, centralized decision making and a structured labor force.

Now Andean Indians -- including women with braids, black hats and traditional colored skirts - carve out a livelihood tending goats and growing corn beside the dirt track that connects Caral to the nearest town an hour's drive away.Despite the hardships of working in the blazing sun and living in an isolated farmhouse with no electricity or running water, the sunburned, bearded Peralta brims with enthusiasm.

For a nation subjugated by 16th century Spanish conquistadors, who ransacked its rich indigenous culture in a frenzied lust for gold, such discoveries testify to the long heritage of what Europeans dubbed the ``New World.'' The once-in-a-lifetime find has sparked acrimony in the international academic community. Shady accuses U.S. anthropologist Jonathan Haas of 's Field Museum of trying to steal the credit for seven years of her hard work.

Subsequent civilizations never occupied the site but apparently revered it, leaving gold and silver offerings at its perimeters. South America's most advanced pre-conquest civilization, the Incas, built temples on its outskirts. Inhabitants of Caral also apparently believed the buildings were divine, dotting their homes and temples with tiny alcoves filled with dried-mud figurines and small sacred bonfires. Excavations have also exhumed a skeleton from the walls of one home, which was buried there rather than sacrificed.

As with the Mayans who ruled Mexico, Guatemalaand Honduras around AD 300, the construction of religious pyramids suggest the existence of a theocracy, but the inhabitants of Caral differed by living in their ceremonial centers, Peralta said. There are also signs Caral had the earliest known system of crop irrigation in the Americas. Coastal artifacts, including 32 pipes made of pelican bones and copious anchovy and sardine bones, suggest the residents may have traded their cotton and crops with fishing communities in return for food.

Now the Ancient Ways Are Less Mysterious -- February 2, 2000 - AP

Each June for at least the last four centuries, farmers in 12 mountain villages in Peru and Bolivia follow a ritual that Westerners might think odd, if not crazy. Late each night for about a week, the farmers observe the stars in the Pleiades constellation, which is low on the horizon to the northeast. If they appear big and bright, the farmers know to plant their potato crop at the usual time four months later. But if the stars are dim, the usual planting will be delayed for several weeks.

Now Western researchers have applied the scientific method to this seeming madness. Poring over reams of satellite data on cloud cover and water vapor, Professor Benjamin Orlove, an anthropologist at the University of California at Davis, and colleagues have discovered that these star-gazing farmers are accurate long-range weather forecasters. High wisps of cirrus clouds dim the stars in El Nino years, which brings reduced rainfall to that part of the Andes. In such drought conditions, it makes sense to plant potatoes as late as possible.

Orlove's work, which was reported in January in the British journal Nature, is just the latest example of indigenous or traditional knowledge that has been found to have a sound scientific basis. In agriculture, nutrition, medicine and other fields, modern research is showing why people maintain their traditions.

Take the Masai of East Africa, who are famous for the kind of high-fat diet, rich in meat and milk, that would make a cardiologist swoon. Timothy Johns, a professor at McGill University in Montreal and director of the Center for Indigenous Peoples' Nutrition and Environment, has long studied the Masai to determine how they stay healthy. The Masai add the roots and barks of certain plants, including a species of acacia high in antioxidants, Johns said. They also chew a natural gum, related to myrrh, that helps to break down fats. "It's not a magic bullet protecting the Masai against heart disease," he said. "But there is a benefit from what they are doing."

In a 1998 study, two Cornell University researchers analyzed the used in 36 countries and found a correlation between average temperature and cooking with spices like cumin, turmeric, ginger and chili peppers, all of which have antimicrobial properties. The hotter the climate, the hotter the food -- in part, at least, to keep it from spoiling. Sometimes, however, the benefits of traditional knowledge are not so obvious to those outside the culture. In Bali in the 1970s, the Indonesian government, persuaded by international advocates of the "green revolution," forced farmers adopt new growing schemes. Among other things, the farmers were made to stop their centuries-old ritual of meeting in small groups at a series of water temples set at the forks of rivers, to negotiate seasonal schedules for flooding their paddies.

The new techniques resulted in disaster. Farmers were pressured to plant as often as possible. With little coordination of irrigation, water shortages and pest infestation were the norm. At about this time, J. Stephen Lansing, an American anthropologist, began to study the water temples. What he found, which was supported later by computer modeling, was that the old system was quite sophisticated and efficient, encouraging cooperation among thousands of farmers. Water was shared and controlled through a process involving reciprocal altruism.

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Kathleen's Inspirational Journey to Cusco, 2005

From Kathleen Fimmel in Cusco - November 11, 2005 - 11/11

I recently met Ellie through Crystalinks, and had a reading with her, at which time she suggested I write the article below as an inspiration for her clients going through great shifts and changes at this time.

I was a very busy psychotherapist in the Washington, D.C. area, and had felt a deep dissatisfaction with my "successful" life for some time. When my little cat Halley (named after the comet) died in June of 2004, which now I know was the time of a powerful Venus transit, I experienced a grief as I had never before, and I have never been one to shy away from going through such times.

It was as if a door blew open, thanks to my sweet cat's death, which I now see as a gift from God through her. That door stayed "open" for weeks, as I experienced a sort of death and the life review that goes with it. When I heard a voice say, "You are going to be moving," I wanted to know when and where, and all the details, right away. But I had to wait and keep my heart and mind open.

I soon began to realize that the grief was about my life itself, and all the unlived dreams, one of which was to write a book that could help to awaken as many people as possible. I knew it had to do with Courage and Compassion, and I had to have both to pull myself away from the trance of affluence and success I had been living in. I knew I needed to wake myself up first.

It is not that my life was miserable, and I certainly was helping many people in my work. I had raised 3 incredible children, now in their 20's, and was healthy and had many wonderful friends. Yet deep inside I knew there was a better way for me to fulfill my purpose on Earth at this tiime, and began to surrender to that process.

I soon began to know it was not just a move across town, but that it would require giving up my practice, house, and all the rest. I kept surrendering, using the power of Compassion and my good friends to help me through it all. I began listening to my inner voice as never before. Compassion is the code of the language between our Human and Higher Selves. It is an interdimensional language of co-creation that catalyzes true power. I was living what I knew I needed to write about.

The long and short of it, is that when my friend mentioned the name Cusco to me, I knew that was where I needed to go, even though I was not sure what country it was in! And so, I have been here since February 2005, in the "Navel of the World," high up in the Andes. It is a third world country, and I am fortunate to have internet so that I can share these things with you now. This is a picture of me not long after I arrived in Cusco. I was walking back from my first ceremony to the Apus (dieties of the mountains), and passing through one of the most sacred sites in Peru, called Sacsaywaman. I met these who are always eager to have a photo taken for a couple of soles.

Sacsaywaman Gate

At this time, I was still reeling from the culture shift, and going through my own personal cleasing on every level. I had responded to a voice that I heard one night after coming home from seeing many clients, my usual day.

Here is my cat Tipi on the roof off the balcony next to my office. Yes, those are the Andes in the background. I am on the third floor of a great place now, after having lived in some real rough places at first. As I sit now and write this, I have a view of the city and mountains that makes my heart open every day. It is Spring her now, often quite beautiful and sunny during the day, but cold at night. There is no heat in the houses here, and I only get water part of the day. I cannot remember the last time I saw a movie. I have no TV, but keep up on the news through my computer. Very few distractions really, unless I want to mingle with the many tourists who come here looking for some mystical expience.

What I have found is that much of the mystical lure here is hype, and set up for tourism. But on a deeper level, if you look past all the commercialism, which creates income the people need to survive, there is a beauty and mystery here which can connect you to your deeper soul self. It certainly has been the "right" place for me to come to write about Compassion and Courage.

Here I am with the two friends I had hiked with for 4 days to reach Ausangate, the majestic mountain in the background.

We met Nazario there, a beautiful Quechua man,

a pacu or sort of shaman, who lives with his family at Ausangate.

We are standing next to Nazario's father's altar, which is a very sacred place he wanted to share with us. He made an offering there to the Apus. These people combine their indigenous ways with Catholicism, which makes for an expression of spirituality that has taken some time for me to understand. They have never abandoned the idea that God is in the mountains, in the lakes, in the animals, the sun, and everywhere. This is what I mean about the deeper layers of spirituality, vs. the more overt displays of mystical tourism.

We were up about 17,000 feet, surrounded by glaciers and herds of alpacas and llamas, which is still the main source of living for the simple people up there. Ausangate is longer, tougher and more remote than the much more famous Inca Trail. It is a sacred mountain to these herders who believe this is where llamas and alpacas originated.

Here is a recent photo of me with Nazario, when he came to vistit me in Cusco. We are standing in front of my first painting in 30 years. Yes, I have rediscovered that part of myself at last. It is of a photo I took at my friend's hacienda, and is of in the Sacred Valley. There is a story about the hummingbird and the condor. The hummingbird said he could get through the wind tunnel faster than the condor, and the condor laughed, saying he was far stronger.

When the time came for the race, hummingbird was nowhere to be found. The condor laughed and declared himself the sure winner to all the other animals. The puma sounded the gun and off went the condor. Just as he was about to enter the wind tunnel, hummingbird came out from beneath condor's feathers to easily win the race.

So you see, there is more to sheer strength in life to get where you are going -- and yet, hummingbird could not have done it without condor. I am very attracted to an easier way of being than the stress of the fast train I had been on!

This is me trying to kiss a llama at Machu Picchu.

I have a thing for llamas and alpacas!

Here is a picture of a woman I pass each day.

If I do not put money in her hat, she sometimes wacks me with a stick.

The poverty here is indescribable. I think every American should give themselves the gift of living in a third world country for a little while. It "cures" a lot of what ails people.

My journey to Cusco ends when I return to the United States, for Christmas, next month.

For any who would like to get in touch, please feel free to send me an Email.

Namaste,

Kathleen

Cusco, the Puma City Cave Art, History

Cusco, the sacred city, center of pilgrimages and worship, had to be a city worthy of its importance. Therefore, Pachakuteq the transformer, decided to reconstruct it and to place in her great splendor.

The city's architects created Cusco in the image of a crouching feline, a puma.

The astronomers planned a complex system of sanctuaries carefully aligned with the stars, to correspond to a gigantic calendar, that would also have functions of social and festive organization. The hill was transformed and molded. The higher part corresponded to the great head of the puma, became Saqsaywaman, a multifunctional fortification that was at the same time, a temple, refuge, observatory, and center for great and massive reunions. The spine of puma was delineated by the street of Pumakurko. In that way, as the spine, flowed the Life of the Empire conducting the orders from the head to the different parts of the body.

The plaza, a palpitating heart of the city was where feelings and the beating of civil life resided. The two rivers that bordered the city unite in Pumaqchupan (the tail of the puma).

There Qorikancha, which shined in splendor, its temples of stone and gold contained a garden of gold where the plants, animals and other offerings were made of gold, silver and precious stones. It was thus a city of fable. But more than its wealth or its architectural wonder in the city of Cusco, its overflowing sacred value, and its political importance, because from here, was governed a great territory as big as the Roman Empire, and from her palaces and streets a society was developed with balance and justice.

Saqsaywaman

Saqsaywaman Gate

The ruins of Saqsaywaman or 'sexy woman'

The enormous walls are comprised of massive granite monoliths that measure up to 16 feet high and wide and weight up to 130 tons. It is a testimony to the engineering genius of the Incas that they were able to cut, move, and place these stones with the kind of precision that remains. There are a number of theories regarding the purpose of the site -- was it a castle? a fortress? a fortified temple and city? or a complex suburb of Cusco?

As with other stone structures built by ancient architects, it allows one to wonder about its construction, purposes, and along with enigmatic Nazca Lines of Peru, perhaps hidden messages.

There are those who believe that aliens - ancient astronauts - visited the land called Peru, and still return to this day, their ships seen by local residents. About 5 years ago, I read a man who came from Cusco, and was staying in NYC for one year. He told me about a cave which contains pink crystals that glow in the dark and pulsate light. He said he was guided to the cave, which is in a remote area. He, too, has seen UFO's going in and out of the water near the cave. Did I doubt him? Anything goes in the illusion of our reality!! Stories like this inspire the imagination about aliens and their return here one day. We want more. We seek higher connection. We seek knowledge embedded in our soul memory - DNA - that stirs us to be reactived and remembered.

Cusco Terraces Long and wide agricultural terraces, below the temple of Ollantaytambo, apparently, transformed the foothill slope into a truncated pyramid.

Cusco Cathedral in the Sacred Valley

There are reminders of the Incas throughout the city of Cusco. When the Spanish arrived in 1533 it was a city as modern as most any in the world. Within a few brief years, churches were built from (and on) Inca walls and temples in a concentrated effort to destroy the old gods and create a Spanish colonial town on the ruins of the Inca capital. The Cathedral of Cusco faces the Plaza de Armas in the center of the city. In 1983 it was, along with Machu Picchu, the first of ten locations in Peru to be declared a World Heritage Site.

Ancient Incan skulls that had brain surgery

Incan Skulls Crystalinks

A legend has it that 13 ancient Crystal Skulls will be brought together

in the year 2012 to help bring on a new Golden Age 12 Around 1

Inca prophecies state that now, in this age, when the eagle of the North

and the condor of the South fly together, the Earth will awaken.

Cusco, the Old Inca Capitol Wikipedia

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Incan Prophecies

Prophecies of the Q'ero Incan Shamans

The light of idealism gleamed in his eyes as Dr. Alberto Villoldo described how an earthquake in 1949 underneath a monastery near Cuzco, Peru, had rent the ground asunder, exposing an ancient Incan temple of gold. This fulfilled a sign that the prophecies of Mosoq, the "time to come," were now to be shared with the modern world.

Dr. Villoldo, a psychologist and medicinal anthropologist, has lived among and trained with the Q'ero shamans and has played a key role in bringing their ritual and prophecy to the awareness of the modern world.

The Q'ero are the last of the Incas - a tribe of 600 who sought refuge at altitudes above 14,000 feet in order to escape the conquering conquistadors.

For 500 years the Q'ero elders have preserved a sacred prophecy of a great change, or "pachacuti," in which the world would be turned right-side- up, harmony and order would be restored, and chaos and disorder ended.

The Q'ero had lived in their villages high in the Andes in virtual solitude from the world until their "discovery" in 1949.

In that year, Oscar Nunez del Prado, an anthropologist, was at a festival in Paucartambo, in southern Peru, when he met two Indians speaking fluent Quecha, the language of the Incas. The first Western expedition to the Q'ero villages then occurred in 1955.

Four years later, at the annual Feast of The Return of the Pleiades taking place in the Andes, the gathering of 70,000 pilgrims from South America were awed, and the crowd parted to let the Q'ero, unannounced and wearing the Incan emblem of the sun, make their way forward to the mountain top to make known that the time of the prophecies was at hand. They were welcomed by theassembly and were told, "We've been waiting for you for 500 years."

Recently, Q'ero elders journeyed to North America in fulfillment of their prophecies.

In November 1996, a small group of Q'ero, including the tribal leader and the head shaman, visited several cities in the US, including New York, where they performed a private ceremony at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

The shamanic ritual had not been performed for 500 years. But in thevery home of those who symbolized the former conquerors of their Incan ancestors they shared their ritual and knowledge, not only with interested Westerners who were learning their ways, but also with the Dean of the great cathedral, thereby symbolically and spiritually linking the two continents of North and South America.

According to ancient prophecy, this is the time of the great gathering called the "mastay" and reintegration of the peoples of the four directions.

The Q'ero are releasing their teachings to the West, in preparation for the day the Eagle of the North and the Condor of the South (the Americas) fly together again.

They believe that "munay," love and compassion, will be the guiding force of this great gathering of the peoples.

The new caretakers of the Earth will come from the West, and those that have made the greatest impact on Mother Earth now have the moral responsibility to remake their relationship with Her, after remaking themselves," said Don Antonio Morales, a master Q'ero shaman.

The prophecy holds that North America will supply the physical strength, or body; Europe will supply the mental aspect, or head; and the heart will be supplied by South America. When the Spanish conquered the Incas 500 years ago, the last pachacuti, or great change, occurred.

The Q'ero have been waiting ever since for the next pachacuti, when order would emerge out of chaos.

For the past five centuries they preserved their s acred knowledge, and finally, in recent years, the signs were fulfilled that the great time of change was at hand: the high mountain lagoons have dried, the condor is nearly extinct and the discovery of the Golden Temple has occurred, following the earthquake in 1949 which represented the wrath of the sun.

The prophecies are optimistic. They refer to the end of time as we know it -- the death of a way of thinking and a way of being, the end of a way of relating to nature and to the earth.

In the coming years, the Incas expect us to emerge into a golden age, a golden millennium of peace.

The prophecies also speak of tumultuous changes happening in the earth, and in our psyche, redefining our relationships and spirituality.

The next pachacuti, or great change, has already begun, and it promises the emergence of a new human after this period of turmoil.

The chaos and upheaval characteristic of this period will last another four years, according to the Q'ero.

The paradigm of European civilization will continue to collapse, and the way of the Earth people will return. Even more importantly, the shamanic elders speak about a tear in the fabric of time itself.

This presents an opportunity for us to describe ourselves not as who we have been in the past but as who we are becoming.

Pachacuti also refers to a great Incan leader who lived in the late 1300s.

He is said to have built Machu Picchu and was the architect of an empire the size of the US.

For the Incas, Pachacuti is a spiritual prototype -- a Master, a luminous one who stepped outside of time.

He was a messiah, but not in the Christian sense of the only son of God, beyond the reach of humanity.

Rather he is viewed as a symbol and promise of who we all might become.

He embodies the essence of the prophecies of the pachacuti, as Pacha means "earth" or "time," and cuti means "to set things right." His name also means "transformer of the earth."

The prophecies of the pachacuti are known throughout the Andes. There are those who believe the prophecies refer to the return of the leader Pachacuti to defeat those who took the Incas' land.

But according to Dr. Villoldo, the return of Pachacuti is taking place on the collective level. "It's not the return of a single individual who embodies what we're becoming, but a process of emergence available to all peoples."

The Q'ero have served as the caretakers of the rites and prophecies of their Inca ancestors.

The prophecies are of no use unless one has the keys, the rites of passage. The Star Rites, or "Mosoq Karpay" (The Rites of the Time to Come), are crucial to the practical growth described in the prophecies.

Following the "despachos" (ritualistic offerings of mesa, or medicine bundles) at the ceremony in New York City, the shamans administered the Mosoq Karpay to the individuals present, transmitting the energies originating with the ancestors of their lineage.

The transmission of the Mosoq Karpay is the ceremony representing the end of one's relationship to time.

It is a process of the heart.

This process of Becoming is considered more important than the prophecies themselves.

The Karpay (rites) plant the seed of knowledge, the seed of Pachacuti, in the luminous body of the recipient.

It is up to each person to water and tend the seed so that it can grow and blossom.

The rites are a transmission of potential; one must then make oneself available to destiny.

The Karpays connect the person to an ancient lineage of knowledge and power that cannot be accessed by the individual. It can only be summoned by a tribe.

Ultimately, this power can provide the impetus for one to leap into the body of an Inca, a Luminous One. That person is connected directly to the stars, the Incan Sun of cosmology.

The Q'ero believe that the doorways between the worlds are opening again.

Holes in time that we can step through and beyond, where we can explore our human capabilities. Regaining our luminous nature is a possibility today for all who dare to take the leap.

The Andean shamans say, "Follow your own footsteps. Learn from the rivers, the trees and the rocks. Honor the Christ, the Buddha, your brothers and sisters. Honor the Earth Mother and the Great Spirit. Honor yourself and all of creation."

"Look with the eyes of your soul and engage the essential," is the teaching of the Q'ero.

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Search crystalinks.com Search web Secret Subterranean Cities of Old South America

1485: Express to Pellucidar (Scroll Down)

Tales of tunnels under the Andes are very old... and quite commonplace..in Ecuador. And one of these tales dates back to before the Spanish conquest and involves Huayna Capac, the ninth Inca emperor.

In 1485, then-prince Huayna Capac was given command of the army and ordered by his father, Inca Tupac Yupanqui, to extend the borders of Tawatinsuyu (the Incas' name for their South American empire--J.T.) northward from Quito.

After much campaigning, Huayna Capac laid siege to Otavallu (modern Otavalo, Ecuador, 100 kilometers north of Quito).

"The war lasted for two years. It was a very modern war, in duration, and none got the upper hand."

Otavallu, you see, was a fairly advanced civilization, like the Incas. The city was already thousands of years old when Manco Capac and his sister- wife, Mama Ocllo Huallpa, left their home in Bolivia to wander the Andes, eventually founding the Inca capital of Cuzco around 900 A.D.

The city was ruled by a young and beautiful woman named Quillago. She was a heichera-colla (Quechua for sorceress-queen--J.T.) and, in addition to her queenly duties, presided with the high priestess over a religion devoted to a goddess of the moon, whose name, unfortunately, is lost to history.

"At last the queen was captured. The Inca sought to gain her over with rich presents, which she would not accept. Then he ordered her to be liberated."

Returning to Otavallu, Quilloga plotted with the elderly high priestess, Pichamba, to assassinate the Inca prince. She told Pichamba to hide a knife in the temple's subterranean chamber and then invited the Incas to a feast at her palace.

During the feast, Quilloga invited Huayna Capac to the temple to see their magical cenote (sacred well), which was supposed to lead to Uru Ticsi, the world below. The catch was, only the three of them could visit the subterranean chamber--the Inca prince, Quilloga and her high priestess.

Huayna Capac was no fool. He had Quilloga and Pachimba searched by Inca "chosen women," just as the queen knew he would, and when they were found to be unarmed, he agreed to accompany them to the temple.

"Hand in hand, Inca and Amazon queen descended the stairway to the inner chamber where the snare was all set."

There was something strange and eerie about the dank, stone-rimmed cenote. Strange hieroglyphics marked the well. At Quilloga's invitation, Huayna Capac leaned over and peered into the well. And surprisingly, a soft perfumed wind blew into his face. He couldn't believe it. A wind? This far below the ground?

The circular well seemed to fall away into infinity. At the bottom was a queer glimmer. Almost like a pinprick of daylight. As he looked into the well, the Inca felt disoriented. He later told his friends that he felt as if he were at the bottom of the well, looking upward towards a tiny spot of sunshine.

He struggled against a surge of vertigo. Seeing her chance, Quilloga glanced at the priestess. Pichamba's gaze darted to a nearby stone altar. The queen went directly to the spot, lifted a chahuar (alpaca shawl) and found the knife.

Maybe it was ESP or fate, or maybe it was just dumb luck, that saved the Inca. Closing his eyes, Huayna Capac stepped away from the cenote, then turned just in time to see Quilloga coming at him with the knife. He "caught the lintel of the door, with his left hand, and fixing his feet strongly against the top of the well, heaved his body against the Amazon queen and caused her to stumble and pitch headlong," screaming, into the cenote. "A shouting virago," Pichamba, "came at him with tooth and nail, but she, too, he siezed around the waist and sent her to join the queen at the bottom of the well."

The women's screams lasted for minutes, faded to whispers, and then there was silence. Hayna Capac listened carefully, but he never heard them hit the bottom. He also had no further desire to peer into Quilloga's magic well.

Instead, he marched out of the temple and took possession of Otavallu for the Inca empire.

Reference: Secret Cities of Old South America by Harold T. Wilkins, 1952, reprinted 1998 by Adventures Unlimited Press, pages 151 and 152.

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UFO's over Peru . . . March 1999

UFO Roundup

The UFO flap in Peru intensified last week with more sightings and more videos taken in Lima and elsewhere in this ancient South American land.

On Wednesday, March 3, 1999, for forty minutes, five glowing silver discs flew over Lima, the capital city. Two OVNIs (Spanish acronym for UFOs) flew off by themselves and performed maneuvers while the remaining three darted away to the east. Home videos taken of the overflight were broadcasted on Canal (Channel) 2, Television Frequencia Latina following the incident.

In Lindera, a small town 440 kilometers (264 miles) south of Arequipa, near Peru's border with Chile, local residents were astonished to find several crop circles in a wheat field. The crop circles were described as "tripods," i.e. three circles joined by straight lines. "There are sections of the circles where the grain was squashed flat but not broken."

The strangest report came from Chilca, however, a small town 64 kilometers (40 miles) south of Lima. Residents of Chilca claim that aliens altered the mud flats in town, giving them miraculous healing powers.

"A lot of ailing Peruvians are turning up in Chilca, a dusty desert town on the Pacific coast 40 miles southeast of Lima. They came to wallow in the mud of three small ponds thought to have healing powers."

"Mayor Ruma Nueda says, ' Lots of people claim to have seen UFOs and strange lights in the night sky over Chilca. People here believe in UFOs." "Locals say that space ships come to harvest an unknown material from the (ocean) area off Chilca's beach. The UFOs supposedly leave behind substances that leach into the ponds and give them curative powers."

"Townspeople cite an abundance of twins in Chilca-- more than 100 pairs in this town of 10,000, Nueda says, as proof of the power of the 'Twin Maker' pond."

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AFRICA ANCIENT EGYPT 160 FILES DOGON - NOMMO - SIRIUS NUBIA 3 FILES

ALASKA ESKIMOS INUIT

AMAZON TRIBES 8 FILES

AMERICAS 2 FILES CLOVIS PEOPLE

ANCIENT CHINA 34 FILES

ANCIENT INDIA 26 FILES

ANCIENT JAPAN 21 FILES

AUSTRALIA 20 FILES

EASTER ISLAND RAPA NUI - MOAI - RONGO RONGO TABLETS - CANNIBALISM

NEW ZEALAND THE MAORI

EUROPE BARBARIANS BYZANTINE EMPIRE CELTS FRANCE - MEROVINGIAN DYNASTY GREECE 147 FILES OTTOMAN EMPIRE - TURKEY - SULEYMAN ROMA PEOPLE - GYPSIES ROME 122 FILES VIKINGS

KOREA

MESOAMERICA AZTEC CIVILIZATION 10 FILES INCA CIVILIZATION 24 FILES MAYA CIVILIZATION 16 FILES OLMEC CIVILIZATION 2 FILES 1 FILE PYRAMIDS OF MES0AMERICA

MESOPOTAMIA - MIDDLE EAST 43 + FILES SUMER 31 FILES PERSIA 6 FILES

MYTHOLOGICAL PLACES ATLANTIS 25 FILES LEMURIA - MU PHANTOM ISLANDS

NATIVE AMERICANS 50 + FILES

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ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF ALL FILES

CRYSTALINKS MAIN PAGE

Web www.crystalinks.com Crystalinks Alphabetical Index A-E

11:11 ENCODED DIGITAL MESSAGES 12 AROUND 1 GEOMETRY OF CREATION 12 DAYS OF MAGIC 12 FIBONACCI GODDESSES 12 PYRAMIDS OF THOTH 12 STRAND DNA 12 TABLETS - LUNAR JOURNEY THE LOST TABLETS 2000 - ELLIE'S TRIP TO EGYPT 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY - THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA 2012 - RETURN TO 12 STRAND DNA 3, 2, 1, COUNTDOWN: SEQUENTIAL DIGITAL TRIGGERS 36 AROUND 1 414 440 444 555/A> 666 MARK OF THE BEAST 90 DEGREES OF SEPARATION 9/11/01

ABORIGINAL PEOPLE ACUPRESSURE ACUPUNCTURE ADD & ADHD AFFIRMATIONS - THINKING POSITIVELY AGARTHA - HOLLOW EARTH AGRICULTURE AKASHIC RECORDS AKHNATON AKKADIA

ALCHEMY INDEX ABOUT ALCHEMY ALCHEMISTS ALCHEMY & METAPHYSICS THE EMERALD TABLET THE EMERALD TABLETS OF THOTH MYSTERY SCHOOL TEACHINGS PHILOSOPHER'S STONE

ALDEBARAN ALECTRYOMANCY - BIRDS ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE ALIEN (ET) ABDUCTIONS ALIEN EYES AND IMPLANTS - A COMPUTER PROGRAM ALIENS ALL SEEING EYE AMAHUACA AMAZON - TRIBES AMERICAS - DISCOVERING THE AMERICAS AMORITES AMPHIBIOUS GODS AMULETS IN STONE ANASAZI INDIANS ANCIENT AIRCRAFT - VIMANAS ANCIENT ASTRONAUTS ANCIENT AND LOST CIVILIZATIONS

ANCIENT MEDICINE ANCIENTS ANDROMEDA Astronomy, News, Mythology, Metaphysics ANGEL HAIR - SUPERSTRING THEORY ANGELS ANGEL SCROLL

ANIMALS 10 FILES

ANTARCTICA ANTHROPOLOGY ANTHROPOSOPHY - RELIGION ANTIKYTHERA MECHANISM ANTIOCH APACHE NATION Six Regional Groups - Warriors include Geronimo and Cochise APPARITIONS APPORT APRIL FOOL'S DAY AQUARIUS - RETURN TO THE FEMININE ENERGIES AQUINES, THOMAS

ARCHAEOLOGY ON LAND IN SPACE UNDER WATER

ARCHETYPES ARCHIMEDES ARCHIVES AND ADVENTURES - BY ELLIE ARCTIC - NORTH POLE ARCTURUS AREA 51 - DREAMLAND - GROOM LAKE ARISTOTLE ARITHMANCY - NUMBERS ARK OF THE COVENANT AROMATHERAPY ASCENDED MASTERS ASCENSION ASIA MINOR ASSYRIA

ASTEROIDS - ASTEROID BELT ASTEROID PROPHECIES

ASTRAL PROJECTION ASTROBIOLOGY ASTROLOGY ASTRONOMY ATLANTIS AURA AURORA BOREALIS AUSTRALIA AUTISM AUTOMATIC WRITING AUTUMNAL EQUINOX - SEPTEMBER 23 AVATARS AVEBURY AVIATION AYMARA TRIBE AYURVEDA HEALING AZTEC CIVILIZATION

BABYLONIA BACH FLOWER REMEDIES BAHARIYA MUMMIES BAILY'S BEADS - ECLIPSE BALANCING - MERGING - TWINS BALANCE PARTNERS BALL LIGHTNING BAPHOMET BARBARIAN CIVILIZATION BAST - BASTE - EGYPTIAN GODDESS BATTLE CREEK STONE BEARS - CLANS - SYMBOLOGY - RELATED FILES BECOMING A PSYCHIC READER BELOMANCY BENT PYRAMID BENU BERMUDA TRIANGLE - DEVIL'S SEA BETHLEHEM - STAR OF BETHELEM - MAGI BIBLIOMANCY BIG BANG THEORY BIG FOOT Florida Skunk Ape, Mapinguari, Sasquatch, Yeti, Yowie, Other Apemen Creatures BILDERBERG GROUP BILLETS BILLY MEIER ET CONTACTS BIOFEEDBACK BIOGENETIC ENGINEERING - THE LABS BIOLOGY 21 FILES BRAIN BIORHYTHMS

BIRD HEADED BEINGS BIRDS IN ALCHEMY

BIRTH AND REBIRTH - FEMININE ENERGIES BLACKFOOT NATION BLACK HELICOPTERS BLACK HOLES BLACK ISIS BLACK PEARL Matter and Antiimatter BLACK SUN Eclipse, Eye, Alchemy, Galaxies, Dreams BLACK STONE BLAVATSKY, MADAME HELENA BLOODLINES & DNA BLUE CRYSTALS - BLUE RAY BLUE MOONS BLUEPRINTS

BODY ENHANCEMENTS HAIR HENNA PIERCING TATTOO

BODY SCANNING BOHMEN, JACOB BOHR, NIELS BORN WITH A VEIL/CAUL

BOTANY ELLIE'S FLOWERS AND PLANTS SPIRIT AND THE POINSETTIA PLANTS

BOXGROVE MAN BOYLE, ROBERT BRAIN BUBBLE EFFECT BUDDHA BUSINESS AFFAIRS - AFFAIRS AT THE WORK PLACE BUTTERFLY EFFECT BYZANTINE EMPIRE

CADUCEUS CALENDARS CALL OF THE WILD SYNDROME CANDLES CANDY KISS EFFECT Matter and Anti-matter CANNIBALISM CARTHAGE CARTOUCHE CAESAREA CAPERNAUM CARTOPEDY CASSPIOPEIA CAT HEADED BEINGS - Bastet - Sekhmet CATTLE MUTILATIONS CAVE OF FIRE Article and Initiation CAYCE, EDGAR CELESTIAL BODIES CELESTIAL OBSERVATORIES CELTS CEROSCOPY - WAX CHAKRAS CHALDEA CHALICE HILL CHANNELED ART CHANNELING CHAOS THEORIES CHARISMATIC HEALING CHEMTRAILS - CONTRAILS CHEMISTRY

CHEROKEE NATION John Ross, Sequoyah, Grandmother Spider, Prophecy TRAIL OF TEARS CHEROKEE PROPHECIES

CHEYENNE Indian Wars, Sand Creek Massacre, Battle of Little Big Horn, Custer's Last Stand CHILDREN CHINA 34 FILES CHIPPEWA PROPHECIES CHIROPRACTIC CHUPACABRAS CLAIRAUDIENCE CLAIRGUSTANCE CLAIRSENTIENCE CLAIRVOYANCE CLOCKS CLONING

CLOUD FILES SCIENCE LENTICULAR CLOUDS CLOUD FORMATIONS CLOUD FORESTS CONTRAILS SPACE CLOUDS

SCRYING CLOUD SCRYING CLOUD ANGELS - MARY CLOUDS - FEATHERS - DOVES

INTERESTING CLOUD PHOTOS RAINBOWS AND CLOUDS STRANGE CLOUD AND ORB - VERRAZANO BRIDGE - JUNE 2005 ALBERTA, CANADA - 2005

CLOVIS PEOPLE CODE OF HAMMURABI CODE TALKERS Native Americans WW II COLOR THERAPY COLOSSUS OF RHODES COMANCHE Quanah Parker, Comancheria COMETS COMMUNIGRAPH CONE FUNNEL HORN EFFECT CONFUCIANISM CONFUCIOUS - FAMOUS SAYINGS CONICAL HATS - OSIRIS CONNECTING WITH YOUR SOUL GROUP CONSPIRACIES CONSPIRACY GAMES - WHO SHOULD CONTROL THEM? CONTACT EXPERIENCES CONTINENTAL DRIFT CONTRAILS COPERNICUS, NICHOLAS CORAL CASTLE CORINTH COUNTRY AND WESTERN MUSIC COURT JESTER AND THE FLEUR DE LIS CRADLE OF LIFE CRATERS - IMPACT CREATING ABUNDANCE CREATING YOUR OWN CARDS FOR READINGS CREATION CREATIONISM

CREATION MYTHS - BY NATION AFRICA - DOGON THEORY - NOMMOS AUSTRALIA DREAMTIME BABYLONIAN - ENUMA ELISH CELTIC CHINA EGYPT GREECE HUNGARY INDIA - VEDIC JAPAN JUDEO-CHRISTIAN MESOAMERICA NATIVE AMERICAN MYTHS HOPI CREATION BY WOMEN NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBAL MYTHS NEW ZEALAND - MAORI SCANDINAVIAN

CREE NATION Woodland, Plains, Lubicon, Nisichawayasihk CROP CIRCLES CROW NATION CROWLEY, ALEISTER CRUSTAL DISPLACEMENT THEORY CRYONICS CRYPTOZOOLOGY CRYSTALINKS E-ZINE

CRYSTALS CRYSTAL BALLS - READINGS CRYSTAL HEALING CRYSTALS WITH HOLOGRAMS CRYSTAL PYRAMID CRYSTAL SINGING BOWLS CRYSTAL SCRYING CRYSTAL SKULLS CRYSTAL SKULL - BLUE STAR MAIDEN

CUNEIFORM SCRIPT CUNEIFORM TABLETS

CUREODITIES CURIE, MARIE CURSES CYMATICS

DACTYLOMANCY - RINGS DAKINI ENERGIES DAMASCUS DANCE DARWIN, CHARLES DA VINCI, LEONARDO DEAD SEA SCROLLS

DEATH OF A CHILD SPIRIT OF MARCUS SPIRIT OF CARL MICHELE'S STORY

DECALOGUE DEE, JOHN DEEKSHA DEPRESSION DEROS DERVENI SCROLL - PAPYRUS - ANCIENT BOOK DESCARTES, RENE DESERTS DEVAS DILMUN - REPTILIANS - CREATION DIMENSIONS DINOSAURS DISINCARNATE SPIRITS DIVINATION INDEX 70 FILES DOGON PEOPLE DOGON THEORY OF CREATION DOLPHINS DOMINO EFFECT DONUT EFFECT DOPPELGANGER DORJE DOUBLE-FEATHERED CROWNS DOWSING DOYLE, SIR ARTHUR CONAN'S PROPHECIES DRACO - DILMUN DRAGONS DRAGONSFLIES DRAGONFLY DRONES, GLYPHS, ET ORIGINS? DREAMS DREAMCATCHER DROPAS - TIBET STONE DISCS DRUIDISM DUNHUANG CAVE MANUSCRIPTS DUST DEVILS

EAR CONING

EARTH EARTH CHANGES EARTH'S CORE CRYSTAL EARTH'S HISTORY - VISUAL RECORDS EARTHQUAKES EARTH'S MAGNETIC FIELD

EASTER ISLAND: RAPA NUI Maoi - Rongo Rongo Tablets ECLIPSE Prophecy ECOLOGY EDISON, TH0MAS ALVA EFFECTS

EGYPT 160 FILES

EINSTEIN, ALBERT ELECTRONIC VOICE PHENOMENA - EVP ELEMENTALS - NATURE SPIRITS

ELLIE'S COLUMNS ARCHIVED STORIES AND ARTICLES Many topics on personal growth ELLIE'S ARCHIVES INDEX ELLIE'S ARCHIVES 2001 ELLIE'S ARCHIVES 2002 ELLIE'S ARCHIVES 2003 ELLIE'S ARCHIVES 2004 ELLIE'S ARCHIVES 2005 ELLIE'S ARCHIVES 2006 ELLIE'S ARCHIVES 2007 ELLIE'S BIOGRAPHY ELLIE'S WORLD - DAILY BLOG

EL NINOS

THE EMERALD TABLET EMERALD TABLETS OF THOTH - HERMES TRISMEGISTUS

EMPATHY ENOCH ENUMA ELISH ENVIRONMENT EPHESUS ESCHATOLOGY END TIMES - VARIOUS CULTURES ESKIMOS ESKIMO WOMAN PROPHECIES ESPERNAZA, MARIE ESSENES ETRUSCANS EVIL EYE EVOLUTION EXCALIBUR Sword in the Stone EXTRASOLAR PLANETS EXTRATERRESTRIAL FILES

EYES - VISION EYE SYMBOLOGY All Seeing Eye EVIL EYE

EZINE - DAILY COLUMN

ALPHABETICAL DIRECTORY F - O

ALPHABETICAL DIRECTORY P - Z

CRYSTALINKS MAILING LIST, NEWSLETTER, UPDATES

Ellie's Biography Ellie's World - Daily Blog Crystalinks Ezine - Daily Updates Ellie's Archives, Articles, and Adventures

Alphabetical Index - All Files Ancient and Lost Civilizations Astronomy & Related Mythology Audio Classes, Meditations, Initiations Conspiracies & Mystery Schools Creation - Various Theories Crystals Extraterrestrials & UFO's Healing & Energy Health & Research Interviews Meditations With Music Physical Sciences - Alchemy Planet Earth Prophets & Prophecies Psychic & Spiritual Development Sacred Places & Teachings Social Sciences The Other Side

2012