Puma Punku

• Address: Tiwanaku, Bolivia
• Phone: + 591 6666 6666
• Approximate date of construction: 530-560 years. AD

Puma Punku is a mysterious landmark of Bolivia . This megalithic complex at an altitude of more than 4 thousand meters, located near the lake Titicaca and another similar complex, Tiwanaku . The name "Puma Punku" is translated as "Puma's Gate".

Age of construction: hypotheses and disputes

Based on the results of radiocarbon analysis, scientists date the construction of 530-560 years of our era, but not all archaeologists agree with this, especially considering the similarity of the Tiwanaku complex, which dates back to the 15th century BC. e.

It casts doubt on the "legal age" of the building and the fact that the historical written sources mentioning the complex were not preserved. This fact also gives rise to great controversy about what exactly Puma Punk was and what role he played in the culture of the tribes inhabiting it.

Not confirmed by such a young age of the complex and the archaeological find that was made here - Fuente Magna. This is a large vessel of ceramics, the walls of which are decorated with drawings reminiscent of early Sumerian cuneiform. Fuente Magna is referred to inappropriate artifacts - objects that are impossible in terms of the official chronology of evolution. Today Fuente Magna is stored in La Paz, in the Museum of Precious Metals, and the inscription on the bowl is deciphered.

What is a complex?

Puma Punku is an embankment made mostly of clay (along the edges, river sand is interspersed with cobblestones) and lined with perfectly processed megalithic blocks. From north to south it stretches almost 168 m, from east to west - at 117. At the corners - in the northeast and southeast - additional rectangular structures are made. The mound surrounds the courtyard of a rectangular shape.

Initially, the Puma Punk, according to the reconstruction carried out, was a group of structures in the form of the letter "T" on a hill surrounded by a clutch of relatively small stones, up to hundreds of kilograms. The "leg" of the letter "T" is somewhat thickened. Up to now, the complex has come in a badly damaged state - the building is believed to have been destroyed by an extremely powerful earthquake, and stone blocks were already used in the 20th century for crushed stone production.

But - not all, the sizes of some did not allow them to use. For example, on the Litice Platform - a terrace on the eastern edge of the complex - there is a monolithic slab 7 m 81 cm long, 5 m 17 cm wide and 1 m 07 cm thick. Approximate weight of this plate is 131 tons. This is the largest (but not the heaviest) block found not only in Puma Punku, but also in Tiaunako. Other plates are somewhat smaller, but their weight is from 20 tons or more. They are made of diorite, red sandstone and andesite.

Riddles of the Puma-Punku

The method of delivery of stones is one of the mysteries that sets the city of Puma-Punk to its researchers. The deposit, in which scientists believe sandstone could be extracted, is more than 17 km away, and the terrain between the complex and the deposit is crossed, and there is not only a road, but a hint that it was once there . And the deposit of andesite is located even further, about 90 km from Puma Punku.

However, this mystery is not the only one, there are many other incomprehensible things here:

1. Many of the surviving blocks have traces of processing that are possible for materials of such hardness only with the use of the latest technologies, and some methods of processing are impossible now. For example, here there are blocks of various complex shapes, some of them have a printed (or engraved) arrow, perfectly round holes of different diameters, grooves of various shapes are drilled. It is simply not possible to say that such processing was possible with primitive methods available to Indian tribes residing on this territory. By the way, the Indians themselves deny their involvement in the construction of Puma Punk. Local legends say that the Puma Punk was built by the gods, who then destroyed their structure "by raising, turning and throwing down."
2. During the construction, interchangeable standard blocks were used - if it were not for a stone, especially so hard, it would be possible to say that such blocks were manufactured by stamping. Blocks are very tightly adjacent to each other - in the gap often does not even include a razor blade.
3. In some places, special fastenings made of metals such as bronze (very rare for Bolivia!), Arsenic and nickel (which are not found here at all) were used to connect the blocks to each other.

The main mystery: what was the appointment of Puma-Punku?

The Indians themselves called Puma Punku "a place of rest for the gods". But what did this structure actually look like?

There are several main versions, each of which has its own evidence and its "weak spots":

1. About 100 years ago, Bolivian archaeologist of Polish origin Arthur Poznansky put forward a version that Puma Punk was a port - when Lake Titicaca, now located 30 km from the complex, was more full. This version to date does not stand up to any criticism - the study of the bottom of the lake, which resulted in the discovery of the ruins of ancient buildings on its day, indicate that it did not become shallow, but, on the contrary, became deeper.
2. The complex was investigated with the help of seismic prospecting, magnetometry and other methods, which showed that within a kilometer radius under it are the remains of buildings and water supply. This indirectly indicates that Puma Punk is still a ruined city .
3. Some scientists, despite the results of these studies, argue that Puma Punku is a gigantic machine , for example, a converter or generator of torsion fields. The basis for this statement is the fact that some of the stone blocks are most like the details of some complicated mechanism. The conjugation of some stone "details" from the Puma Punk is clearly visible in the photo. However, for the details of the mechanism, many of them are too fancifully decorated ...

To date, an adequate version of who exactly was the builder of Puma Punk, when the complex was created and, most importantly, what it was used for - does not exist.

How to get to Puma Punku?

You can get to the complex from La Paz by road number 1. The path can take from one and a half to two hours (depending on the traffic jams), you will have to drive a little less than 75 km.