At Puma Punku or “The Door of the Puma” as the Aymara people call it, we find incredible evidence of precision cuts, precise engineering, and evidence of high level of geometry and mathematics. It is a treasure for anyone who has knowledge in Mathematics, geology, engineering and astronomy.
Surveys done, using ground-penetrating radar, magnetometry, induced electrical conductivity, and magnetic susceptibility reveal the presence of numerous man-made structures such as wall foundations of buildings and compounds, water conduits, pool-like features, revetments, terraces, residential compounds, and widespread gravel pavements all of which now lie buried and hidden beneath the modern ground’s surface and all that within a kilometer between Pumapunku and Kalasasaya — another incredible archaeological structure.
Perhaps the biggest mystery involving Puma Punku is, how did ancient mankind manage to transport these huge blocks of stone from quarries within 10 to 100 km. How did they manage to achieve this type of precision cuts and how did they place the blocks in such a perfect manner. Engineers and constructors around the world today cannot answer nor replicate these achievements done by ancient mankind thousands of years ago.
Archaeologists cannot come to a conclusion and answer how were these amazing blocks of stone transported. Some of them believe that it was accomplished by the large labor force of ancient Tiwanaku. Several theories have been proposed as to how this labor force transported the stones from the quarries to Puma Punku but these theories remain speculative. It is believed that the builders of Puma Punku used llama skin ropes and ramps and inclined planes to move these incredible blocks to the site. But this explanation is not accepted widely, at least in our opinion it takes more than llama skin rope and ramps to move stones of block that weigh over 100 metric tons through distances of 10 – 100 kilometers.
Among the largest stone blocks found at Puma Punku we can find one with the following characteristics: 7.81 meters long, 5.17 meters wide, averages 1.07 meters thick, and is estimated to weigh about 131 metric tons. Incredible right? And this was done with ropes and ramps? OK, right. The second largest stone block found within the Puma Punku is 7.90 meters long, 2.50 meters wide, and averages 1.86 meters thick. Its weight has been estimated to be 85.21 metric tons. Researches believe that these two blocks of stone were quarried near Lake Titicaca approx. 10 km from Puma Punku. Other stone blocks found at Puma Punku have been quarried near the Copacabana Peninsula about 90 km away from and across Lake Titicaca. So perhaps this is one of the biggest mysteries at Puma Punku. How did Ancient man do this?
Another puzzling mystery at Puma Punku is
the assembly of the walls. Each stone was finely cut to interlock with
the surrounding stones and the blocks fit together like a
puzzle, forming load-bearing joints without the use of mortar. The
precision challenges today’s engineering abilities. A common engineering
technique is to cut the top of the lower stone at a certain angle and
placing another stone on top of it which was cut at the same angle. What
baffles scientists, engineers and archaeologists is the precision with
which this was achieved. The precision with which these angles have been
utilized to create flush joints is indicative of a highly sophisticated
knowledge of stone-cutting and a thorough understanding of descriptive
geometry.
Some of the joins we find at Puma Punku are so well placed,
and so precisely locked into place that you wouldn’t be able to fit a
paper in between them. The level of masonry we find at Puma Punku is
just amazing. These stones look like as if they were cut with a “laser”.
They are so precise and so smooth that you cannot come up with a
logical explanation on how ancient man could have achieved this without
the use of modern day equipment. It is a mystery.
Ancient Engineers at Puma Punku
and Tiwanaku should be considered masterminds. Their knowledge in
mathematics, geometry and geology is something that most of today’s
engineers lack. These Ancient Engineers were truly great, they
developed complex civic infrastructure, they invented waterproof sewage
lines, hydraulic mechanisms and functional irrigation systems.
