4. Mysteries of South America

This chapter shows how the South America is a continent with a remarkable number of unanswered questions. Difficult to date pre-Columbian civilisations, strange representations of heavy-bearded figures, mythological connections with Mesopotamia and so on suggest that there is still much to discover.

South America is a continent with a wide number of surprises and mysteries. Spanish invaders were astonished by the huge quantity of gold they found in the Inca cities and they fully stuffed their ships. At the same time the plundering of valuable objects was followed by the destruction of local myths and traditions, which had been declared heretic by Catholic priests.  

After a short time, anyway, it was observed that many local tales had some close relationship to Biblical facts. Thus priests begun to save the cultural heritage of local populations since it could be read also under a Christian perspective. These similarities were firstly explained thinking at the possible emigration Israelite ten tribes there after their banishment. Anyway there were lot of parallel tales with the Mid East earliest civilisations, especially concerning the book of Genesis. 

So the first mystery of South America is the presence of typical Mid East legends. Accredited theories say the first populations of Americas came from Asia. They could reach Americas 15,000 years ago through Beiring Strait for sure and perhaps even by ship across the Pacific Ocean. The question the is if such migrations could lead to cultural influence. Remember that civilisations from Indo where quite similar to Sumerians in terms of mythology and they ruled for first Asian populations. We do not know whether the first civilisation flourished next to Indo or between Tigris and Euphrates. There is not full coherence in the ideas if historians but a slightly preference is still for the Sumerian civilisation. It seems, from certain Mesopotamian tales the seed of Indo civilisation was put by their own kings.

But when did the cultural influence in America took place? During the span of time of the first migrations (15,000 BC) there weren’t evolved Asian civilisations. Is it possible they brought oral traditions ? Migrations after 3,000 BC from Asia are still possible but perhaps not in such continuos way in order to guarantee the colonisation of America.

So if we accept the evidence of cultural relationship between India and Mesopotamia and the fact that the first American populations came from Asia it is easier to understand why in America there are myths very similar to Noè and the Great Deluge. The pantheon of Gods of Andes and Mesoamerican civilisation is also very close to the one of Egyptians. In Egypt Thot is the mighty one who taught scientific knowledge and such figure is called Viracocha from Incas and Quetzalcoatl from Aztecs. They are all represented at the same manner like humans. Viracocha is the god of creation for South America populations: he was white skinned, grey beard and hairs, wearing some kind of mantle (like Quetzalcoatl). He had deep knowledge and he was followed and supported by other people who the local populations refers to as somewhat half gods. He preached pace and love and used to plug his ears when speaking of war. In an ancient bolivian legend he is called Thunapa and, like Osiris (other name in substitution of Thot), was buried in some kind of coffer and sent in a Sea (Poopò Lake) through a river (the Desaguadero). In the Sea, according to other legend he broke the land into concentric canals of water (Atlantis). The middle point of Viracocha movements was near Lake Titicaca, in the ancient city of Tiahauanacu. A noticeable fact, confirming the shadow of semitic civilisations, concerns the representation of such gods. Their somatic features don’t belong to the original kind of America. There are sculptures of bearded men (beard didn’t grow in native Americans) and of giant heads (1) of afro black skinned people. These heads are work of the semi-unknown Olmec civilisation, located in Mid America two thousand years BC. Rapa Nui features more black skinned people’s head sculptures, the so-called moai. Then in this island there is the existence of a carved writing like in India really suggests someone could navigate the Pacific Ocean in early times. Natives remember invasion of strangers from the sea (also depicted with black and white). They suddenly became rulers of the island and they were seen as some kind of giants. So it really seems there have been contacts between the Old and New World far before Columbus.

Some very old maps look like a testimoniance of this earlier contact. The Piri R’eis, which is a copy of one amongst many belonging to Columbus, clearly shows the South America profile with Rio river and other geographical details placed with great precision. The map dates back 1513 BC and many of the details it shows weren’t officially discovered yet. More surprisingly the map of Hadji Ahmed (1559) draws exactly the entire profile of North America (before complete exploration by Europeans), merged to Asia through Beiring Strait like before ice melting. Arabians had such map in their archives before beginning their explorations. The early stage of the communications between American continents and Mediterranean populations is also testified by the sensational presence of tobacco and coca in the bandages and organs of pharaoh Ramses II body. We know that tobacco was typical of South America and that it wasn’t really known in the Old World. Most of academic historians refused the scientific analysis of Ramses’ body but all their motivations never had a point. In fact there were also triturated leaves of coca and even in other embalmed bodies the same clues were verified with different tests in different scientific labs around the world. Even toxicologists, who trace back clues of drug assumptions, confirmed the presence of substances like tobacco, coca and nicotine in ancient Egypt. Curiously enough, and this can hardly be a coincidence, the same substances were employed in the Peruvian mummies burial. These extraordinary facts are supported by a complete scientific analysis and as usual suggest a pre – Columbus relationship between America and other continents.

So the fact that Egypt could hold a record of an American civilisation (Atlantis presumably) is no more a surprise and instead is one more piece to the puzzle of the earlier communications between the continents. Mesopotamian representation of Gilgamesh (2) subduing two lions occurs even in tables of Northern Andes with a great resemblance. Of course we can’t explain that speaking of coincidences.

Astronomical calendars and the plan to orient the sacred buildings for worship in accordance to astronomical alignments is a feature common to both civilisations of Mid/ South America and Mediterranean ones.

Hispanics, during their invasion, at the beginning didn’t find any kind of hostility by Aztecs, since these one identified them with the bearded white skinned god Quetzalcoatl and his assistants. In fact they invaded Central America in 1519 AD, exactly at the end of a span of time lasting 52 years, which Aztecs believed was the moment when their gods would have returned. Montezuma hailed them with precious presents, and gold, considered by them exclusive property of their gods.

Even more interesting is the existence of the population of Uru in the small islands of Titicaca. They are considered by other inhabitants the earliest residents located in that region. Their names have a radix of semitic origin and they state they’ve been there before the sun hided itself (probably an astronomical event, recorded in the Bible when Giosues says “Please Sun, stop!”). Local languages, Quechua and Aymara, have many common words with original Assyrian an Sumerian ones. What could we say then about the steps shaped pyramids of Maya? Aren’t they very similar to Sumerian Ziggurats? Why did the city of Cuzco have walls adorned by gold plates like Sumerian Uruk? Are people from Uru an heritage of visitors from Sumerian cities like Ur and Uruk? Why do they have a technique to build ships identical to those used by Sumerians?  

Not only the shadow of Mesopotamiam civilisations surrounds South America. Little far from Brazil coasts some Roman amphorae were discovered, but their analysis has been hold up for politic reasons. Cabral has always been considered the discoverer of Brazil and so he’s an honoured figure in Brazilian folklore which can’t be removed so easily just because someone was there before him. In Central America Phoenician coins were found. Historians usually explain that some Phoenician ships could have been forced to join those coasts owing to storms and strong winds and so that there was not a continuous trade from one side to the other of the Atlantic Ocean. It is likely to be so. 

The big metallic staples used to connect stone blocks at Tiahauanacu are very close, if not the same, to those found in some Egyptian buildings. The same technique of jigsaw block walls is common to civilisations facing to the Atlantic Ocean. 

Beyond all these similarities South America has also its own strangeness. First of all the mysterious cities of Amazonian forest, big  stone ruins inaccessible and visible only by aircraft. Also Nazca lines are visible by aircraft: monkeys, birds, men and other figures up to 100 meters long engage an area of several squared kilometres. They are placed in a confusing way, there is no rule to their position. Some drawings have themes completely abstract and many others are just straight lines up to several kilometres long. People of the Nazca plateau consider the father ship of such drawings belonging to viracochas, gods who came there in a early, unmemorable, stage. A note regarding the monkey: it never existed in South America for what we know about its history. Was it imported by Afro people? Did the monkey get extinct in South America 12,000 years ago? If so, Do Nazca lines date back 12,000 years ago? It is a difficult riddle. Furthermore it’s amazing that all these clues of early American civilisations, the lines as the lost cities, are located in places which nowadays offer poor hospitality for mankind. The Amazonian Forest is an infinite source of danger (many explorers lost their lives) whilst Nazca plateau is as dry as a punch of dust during all the year. Is it possible there were some civlisations when the climate was better (perhaps before ice melting?)?  

Even forgotten cities of Central America rise up the shadow of suspect. First of all Teotiahauacan, ancient capital of Toltecs, with its peculiar Pyramids of Sun and Moon. The ratio between the perimeter and the height is a multiple of π, as well as the Cheope’s pyramid in Egypt. Their functionality is a mystery too. They can have been places for worship. But, thinking at the great number of canals beneath them, the functionality was probably more complex. 

Few kilometres far from Cuzco is the rock fort of Sacsahuaman. It is surrounded by a wall composed of huge jigsaw blocks (3). Some of them weight at least 100 tons and they’re more than 4 meters height. Like in Cuzco it is hard to insert a paper between a block and another since they’re tied perfectly. Who did build Sacsahuaman? An Incan chronicle tells how they tried to fortify the walls transporting a block of the same titanic dimensions. This attempt had a tragic epilogue since they lost control of the block that, falling down, killed many workers. Originally these blocks, not only were lifted and crafted perfectly, but they also came from a mine from Sacsahuaman. They weren’t clearly work of Incas but of a more skilled civilisation.

Anyway the most mysterious city is Tiahauanacu, near Lake Titicaca. It is placet in a dry area, surrounded by snowy cliffs and probably was face to face to Titicaca when the latter featured a different water level. The most assiduous researcher in this area has benn Arthur Posnansky. He was an European engineer who, after settling to Bolivia, spent much time visiting the ruins which he dated back 15,000 years ago by archaeo-astronomical arguments. In the city of Tiahauanacu not very much stuff was found since during centuries it was repeatedly plundered.

It is extended in an area of 1,5x3 kilometres and much was also lost thanks to Catholic inquisitors and to build churches or other buildings by European invaders. The architectonic structures remained of Tiahauanacu are very impressive. Still we have the presence of huge blocks, weighting up to 100 tons. They were too big to be robbed by plunderers. Their surface was meticulously crafted with tools which had no usage in other Andean places and again they were connected each other with bronze staples. Bronze is an alloy of tin and copper (abundant in the area) which demands a certain skill in manipulating metals. Also a small axe of an alloy composed by copper and gold was found.

There are only legends about the origin of this ancient place. They all say theta the city was built in just one day and one night thanks to the work of more skilled outlanders. Perhaps it is a way the natives use to explain something they don’t know at all. Regarding the surrounding area, the Altiplano, they is also another interesting legend. It is about the flood of a proud city corrupted by its prosperity. It is told that priests warned the inhabitants of an upcoming catastrophe, but they didn’t want to believe and didn’t look for refuge. So at last they were wiped out by the imminent catastrophe. Only priests were able to get safe hiding in the highest mountains near the city.

Undoubtedly it is an event very similar to the happenings of Atlantis’ fall but more noticeable is the fact that geologic analysis performed by Arthur Posnansky clearly show (in an irrefutable manner) that the site of Titicaca experimented floods repeatedly. Moreover, there was one more catastrophe in those places, so that Posnansky divided the history of Tiahauanacu in three parts split by these two major events. The aforementioned flood was not local but involved the whole Altiplano through its two big lakes Titicaca and Poopò, which are connected by the Desaguadero river.

Among the actual structures of Tiahauanacu “The Gateway to the Sun” is the most celebrated. It is a huge monolith measuring 3x6 meters weighting more than ten tons. Beyond the huge dimensions  the images and patterns carved out in its surface are as meaningful as well. An idol, representing most likely the god Viracocha, is on the middle and it has tears and it grabs weapons. Below there is a succession of 11 symbols that Posnansky deciphered as months. In his opinion it was the representation of a calendar: 11 months of 30 days and 1 months of 35 days, represented by Viracocha. The calendar began to count months from the equinox in Spring when day and night last the same. He didn’t notice that Sumerian adopted a calendar which was exactly the same. The figure of the tearing god is also present in other objects of the place like amphorae and allows researchers to understand the limits of the extension of Tiahauancu cultural dominance.

It is remarkable that the “Gateway to the Sun” is also carved out with the shapes of some animals that got extinct in the last ice age. Once again it could be a proof that it was built really in unmemorable and unrecorded times. One of these animals is the toxtodon (also painted in some jars and represented in three dimensional sculptures). Then there are also some kind of elephants and horses, which got extinct too in South America and that were in Atlantis. The fascinating mystery of this place still goes any further as we notice that some figures are dressed with unusual costumes, differently from other Andean locations. Posnansky at last worked out an interpretation of the whole site. The “Gateway to the sun” is placed on the North Eastern corner of a squared area, which has 11 columns in the Western side and, probably, one time also a step-like pyramid in the centre. Posnansky, looking at this configuration, stated that the entire area was a calendar able to count months. He then noticed that it worked very well considering an inclination of Earth axis equal to the one dating back 15,000 years ago!      

Later also some important astronomers got interested in this interpretation and found enough proof to validate it. They also told that 9,300 B.C. could also be a possible date. At last it was told that this date may be included between 10,400 and 4,000 B.C. Organic samples with C14 revealed something dating back 1,538 B.C. So, at least during that time the place was inhabited. However most of the historians insist to date back its foundation many centuries A.D.  

Among the old statues some of them were representations of white skinned men wearing clothes featuring scales-like patterns in a way very similar to Sumerian ones. Also the symbol of the Greek cross is a common mark of the two civilisations.                             

One more noticeable feature of the city is the presence of an artificial hill lined up to cardinal points, 36 meters height and with a perimeter of 210 meters. It is called Akapana and beneath it there are  multilevel canals like in the city of Teotiahauacan. The usage of such canals isn’t clear. Perhaps a system to refine metals or distribute water.

Anyway, in conclusion, this is a site where any other old civilisation never knew anything.