Pumapunku: Pumapunku or Puma Punku (Aymara and Quechua Puma "Cougar
Pumapunku: Pumapunku or Puma Punku (Aymara and Quechua Puma "Cougar
Pumapunku: Pumapunku or Puma Punku (Aymara and Quechua Puma "Cougar
Pumapunku
Pumapunku or Puma Punku (Aymara and Quechua puma "cougar, Pumapunku
puma," punku "door"; Hispanicized Puma Puncu) is part of a large
temple complex or monument group that is part of the Tiwanaku Site
near Tiwanaku, in western Bolivia. It is believed to date to AD 536
and later.
At its peak, Pumapunku is thought to have been "unimaginably Type Part of a large
wondrous,"[3] adorned with polished metal plaques, brightly colored temple complex
ceramic and fabric ornamentation, and visited by costumed citizens, Part of Tiwanaku Site
elaborately dressed priests, and elites decked in exotic jewelry.
Length 116.7 metres
Current understanding of this complex is limited due to its age, the
lack of a written record, and the current deteriorated state of the Width 167.36 metres
structures due to treasure hunting, looting, stone mining for building History
stone and railroad ballast, and natural weathering.[2][3][5]
Material Earth, blocks
Founded 536–600
The other stonework and facing of the Pumapunku consists of a mixture of andesite and red sandstone.
Pumapunku's core consists of clay, while the fill underlying selected parts of its edge consists of river sand
and cobbles instead of clay. Excavations have documented "three major building epochs, in addition to small
repairs and remodeling".[2][3][4][5][6]
The area within the kilometer separating the Pumapunku and Kalasasaya complexes has been surveyed
using ground-penetrating radar, magnetometry, induced electrical conductivity, and magnetic susceptibility.
The geophysical data collected from these surveys and excavations have revealed the presence of numerous
man-made structures in the area between the Pumapunku and Kalasasaya complexes. These structures
include the 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.[7][8]
Age
Researchers have worked to determine the age of the Pumapunku complex since the discovery of the
Tiwanaku site. As noted by Andean specialist, W. H. Isbell, professor at Binghamton University,[2] a
radiocarbon date was obtained by Vranich[3] from organic material from the lowermost and oldest layer of
mound-fill forming the Pumapunku. This layer was deposited during the first of three construction epochs
and dates the initial construction of the Pumapunku to AD 536–600 (1510 ±25 B.P. C14, calibrated date).
Since the radiocarbon date came from the lowermost and oldest layer of mound-fill underlying the andesite
and sandstone stonework, the stonework must have been constructed sometime after AD 536–600. The
excavation trenches of Vranich show that the clay, sand, and gravel fill of the Pumapunku complex lie
directly on the sterile middle Pleistocene sediments. These excavation trenches also demonstrated the lack
of any pre-Andean Middle Horizon cultural deposits within the area of the Tiwanaku Site adjacent to the
Pumapunku complex.[3]
Engineering
The largest of Pumapunku's stone blocks is 7.81 meters long, 5.17 meters wide, averages 1.07 meters thick,
and is estimated to weigh about 131 tonnes. The second largest stone block found within the complex is 7.90
metres (25.9 feet) long, 2.50 metres (8 feet 2 inches) wide, and averages 1.86 metres (6 feet 1 inch) thick. Its
weight has been estimated to be 85.21 tonnes. Both of these stone blocks are part of the Plataforma Lítica
and composed of red sandstone.[5] Based upon detailed petrographic and chemical analyses of samples from
both individual stones and known quarry sites, archaeologists concluded that these and other red sandstone
blocks were transported up a steep incline from a quarry near Lake Titicaca roughly 10 kilometres (6.2
miles) away. Smaller andesite blocks that were used for stone facing and carvings came from quarries within
the Copacabana Peninsula about 90 kilometres (56 miles) away from and across Lake Titicaca from the
Pumapunku and the rest of the Tiwanaku Site.[3][5]
Archaeologists argue that the transport of these stones was accomplished by the large labor force of ancient
Tiwanaku. Several theories have been proposed as to how this labor force transported the stones, although
these theories remain speculative. Two of the more common proposals involve the use of llama skin ropes
and the use of ramps and inclined planes.[9]
In assembling the walls of
Pumapunku, each stone was
finely cut to interlock with the
surrounding stones. The blocks
were fit together like a puzzle,
forming load-bearing joints
without the use of mortar. One
common engineering technique
involves cutting the top of the
lower stone at a certain angle, An example of high-precision small
and placing another stone on holes
top of it which was cut at the
same angle.[4] The precision
with which these angles have
been used to create flush joints
is indicative of a highly
Detail of stone with precisely cut
sophisticated knowledge of
straight line and tooled holes
within the line
stone-cutting and a thorough
understanding of descriptive
geometry.[6] Many of the joints
are so precise that not even a razor blade will fit between the
stones.[10] Much of the masonry is characterized by accurately cut
rectilinear blocks of such uniformity that they could be interchanged Stone block with a set of blind holes
for one another while maintaining a level surface and even joints. of complex shape
However, the blocks do not have the same dimensions, although
they are close.[9] The blocks were so precisely cut as to suggest the
possibility of prefabrication and mass production, technologies far in advance of the Tiwanaku’s Inca
successors hundreds of years later.[9] Some of the stones are in an unfinished state, showing some of the
techniques used to shape them. They were initially pounded by stone hammers, which can still be found in
numbers on local andesite quarries, creating depressions, and then slowly ground and polished with flat
stones and sand.[9]
Tiwanaku engineers were also adept at developing a civic infrastructure at this complex, constructing
functional irrigation systems, hydraulic mechanisms, and waterproof sewage lines.
Architecture
Pumapunku was a large earthen
platform mound with three levels
of stone retaining walls.[11] Its
layout is thought to have resembled
Demonstration of the building
a square.[11] To sustain the weight
block technique
of these massive structures,
Tiwanaku architects were
meticulous in creating foundations,
Demonstration of the building
often fitting stones directly to bedrock or digging precise trenches and block technique
carefully filling them with layered sedimentary stones to support large
stone blocks.[9] Modern day engineers argue that the base of the
Pumapunku temple was constructed using a technique called layering and depositing. By alternating layers
of sand from the interior and layers of composite from the exterior, the fills would overlap each other at the
joints, essentially grading the contact points to create a sturdy base.[4][9]
Notable features at Pumapunku are I-shaped architectural cramps, which are composed of a unique copper-
arsenic-nickel bronze alloy. These I-shaped cramps were also used on a section of canal found at the base of
the Akapana pyramid at Tiwanaku. These cramps were used to hold the blocks comprising the walls and
bottom of stone-lined canals that drain sunken courts. I-cramps of unknown composition were used to hold
together the massive slabs that formed Pumapunku's four large platforms. In the south canal of the
Pumapunku, the I-shaped cramps were cast in place. In sharp contrast, the cramps used at the Akapana
canal were fashioned by the cold hammering of copper-arsenic-nickel bronze ingots.[9][12] The unique
copper-arsenic-nickel bronze alloy is also found in metal artifacts within the region between Tiwanaku and
San Pedro de Atacama during the late Middle Horizon around 600–900.[13]
As was characteristic of civilizations around this time and place, the Tiwanaku actively incorporated human
sacrifice into their culture. The remains of dismembered bodies have been found throughout the area.
Ceramic artifacts depict imagery of warriors, masked with puma skulls, decapitating their enemies and
holding trophy skulls, and adorned with belts of human heads with their tongues torn out.[14] It is believed
that, because of certain markings on stones found at Puma Punku, the Gate of the Sun was originally part of
Puma Punku.[16]
This culture seems to have dissolved rather abruptly some time around AD 1000, and researchers are still
seeking answers as to why. A likely scenario involves rapid environmental change, possibly involving an
extended drought. Unable to produce the massive crop yields necessary for their large population, the
Tiwanaku are argued to have scattered into the local mountain ranges, only to disappear shortly
thereafter.[17][18] Puma Punku is thought to have been abandoned before it was finished.[19]
References
1. Birx, H. James (2006). Encyclopedia of Anthropology (http://knowledge.sagepub.com/view/ant
hropology/n873.xml?rskey=7cf0RS&row=1). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
2. Isbell, William H. (2004), "Palaces and Politics in the Andean Middle Horizon" (http://www.doak
s.org/resources/publications/doaks-online-publications/pre-columbian-studies/palaces-of-the-a
ncient-new-world/isbn-0-88402-300-1.pdf/view), in Evans, Susan Toby; Pillsbury, Joanne
(eds.), Palaces of the Ancient New World, Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research
Library and Collection, pp. 191–246, ISBN 0-88402-300-1, retrieved 2010-04-26
3. Vranich, A., 1999, Interpreting the Meaning of Ritual Spaces: The Temple Complex of
Pumapunku, Tiwanaku, Bolivia. (http://repository.upenn.edu/dissertations/AAI9926211/)
Doctoral Dissertation, The University of Pennsylvania.
4. Vranich, A., 2006, "The Construction and Reconstruction of Ritual Space at Tiwanaku, Bolivia:
A.D. 500-1000. ," Journal of Field Archaeology 31(2): 121–136.
5. Ponce Sanginés, C. and G. M. Terrazas, 1970, Acerca De La Procedencia Del Material Lítico
De Los Monumentos De Tiwanaku. Publication no. 21. Academia Nacional de Ciencias de
Bolivia.
6. Protzen, J.-P., and S.E.. Nair, 2000, "On Reconstructing Tiwanaku Architecture:" The Journal
of the Society of Architectural Historians. vol. 59, no. 3, pp. 358-371.
7. Ernenweini, E. G., and M. L. Konns, 2007, Subsurface Imaging in Tiwanaku’s Monumental
Core. Technology and Archaeology Workshop. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and
Collection, Washington, D.C.
8. Williams, P. R., N. C. Couture and D. Blom, 2007 Urban Structure at Tiwanaku: Geophysical
Investigations in the Andean Altiplano. In J. Wiseman and F. El-Baz, eds., pp. 423-441.
Remote Sensing in Archaeology. Springer, New York.
9. Protzen, Jean-Pierre; Stella Nair, 1997, Who Taught the Inca Stonemasons Their Skills? A
Comparison of Tiahuanaco and Inca Cut-Stone Masonry: The Journal of the Society of
Architectural Historians. vol. 56, no. 2, pp. 146-167.
10. Robinson, Eugene (1990). 'In Bolivia, Great Excavations; Tiwanaku Digs Unearthing New
History of the New World', The Washington Post. Dec 11, 1990: d.01.
11. Young-Sánchez, Margaret (2004). . Tiwanaku: Ancestors of the Inca. Denver, CO: Denver Art
Museum.
12. Lechtman, H.N., 1998, 'Architectural cramps at Tiwanaku: copper-arsenic-nickel bronze.' In
Metallurgica Andina: In Honour of Hans-Gert Bachmann and Robert Maddin, edited by T.
Rehren, A. Hauptmann, and J. D. Muhly, pp. 77-92. Deutsches Bergbau-Museum, Bochum,
Germany.
13. Lechtman, H.N., 1997, El bronce arsenical y el Horizonte Medio. En Arqueología, antropología
e historia en los Andes. in Homenaje a María Rostworowski, edited by R. Varón and J. Flores,
pp. 153-186. Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, Lima.
14. Morell, Virginia (2002). Empires Across the Andes National Geographic. Vol. 201, Iss. 6: 106
15. Choi, Charles Q. "Drugs Found in Hair of Ancient Andean Mummies" (http://news.nationalgeog
raphic.com/news/2008/10/081022-drug-mummies.html), National Geographic News, Oct. 22,
2008. Accessed Nov. 4, 2011.
16. Young-Sanchez, Margaret (2004). . Tiwanaku: Ancestors of the Inca (http://westminster.worldc
at.org/title/tiwanaku-ancestors-of-the-inca/oclc/55679655&referer=brief_results). Denver, CO:
Denver Art Museum.
17. Kolata, A.L. (1993) The Tiwanaku: Portrait of an Andean Civilization. Wiley-Blackwell, New
York, New York. 256 pp. ISBN 978-1-55786-183-2
18. Janusek, J.W. (2008). Ancient Tiwanaku, Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, United
Kingdom. 362 pp. ISBN 978-0-521-01662-9
19. Young-Sánchez, Margaret (2004). Tiwanaku: Ancestors of the Inca. Denver, CO: Denver Art
Museum.
External links
Interactive Archaeological Investigation at Pumapunku Temple (http://www.archaeology.org/int
eractive/tiwanaku/project/pumapunku1.html) - Archaeological Institute of America
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