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00:02Join me as I explore the mysterious ancient ruin known as the Stonehenge of the Americas.
00:08Nearly 13,000 feet above sea level, scattered across the barren plains of Bolivia, with giant
00:14stone monoliths and archways aligned with the movement of the sun, Tiwanaku has long been
00:20compared to Stonehenge in England. But is there a real connection? To find out, I'll take to the
00:26skies to survey the Bolivian highlands, transport stone blocks across the frigid waters of Lake
00:31Titicaca, and take part in a local Indian ceremony, celebrating the rising sun. We're digging for
00:39the truth, and we're going to extremes to do it. Just like Stonehenge, only different.
01:02In 2005, I explored England's famous megalithic monument, Stonehenge. I learned these concentric
01:10stone circles and archways might have served as both a temple and a solar observatory.
01:17Constructed nearly 5,000 years ago, Stonehenge has a connection to the sun that's still celebrated
01:24to this day. But it's not unique.
01:27Over 6,000 miles away, on the other side of the Atlantic, is an archaeological site that's
01:33been compared with England's monument to the sun.
01:35Hi, I'm Josh Bernstein. I've come here to the highlands of Bolivia to explore the stone
01:41ruins called Tiwanaku, and to discover if this site really is the Stonehenge of the Americas.
01:47High in the Andes Mountains of Bolivia, between Lake Titicaca, 10 miles to the northwest, and
01:53La Paz, over 30 miles to the east, the ancient ruin, Tiwanaku, is centered within an elevated
01:59plateau or altiplano. At almost 13,000 feet above sea level, Tiwanaku covers nearly two square
02:08miles. The site contains a sunken temple adorned with unique wall sculptures. Hand-carved
02:17monoliths and massive arches etched from single blocks of stone.
02:23When 16th century explorers first discovered Tiwanaku, they assumed they had found a lost
02:29Inca ruin. Later, archaeologists determined the core structures at the site were already
02:34built by 600 A.D., five centuries before the Inca emerged in South America. The presence
02:42of monoliths and stone archways inspired comparisons with England's Stonehenge. The Bolivian site
02:50became known as the Stonehenge of the Americas. But could there be any connection between these
02:58two sites separated by thousands of miles and constructed thousands of years apart? To
03:05help me find out, Tiwanaku archaeologist Dr. Juan Elberacine Jordan joins me at a man-made
03:12pyramid called Akapana. And we examine a row of monoliths at its peak.
03:18These are great. And so there were smaller stones between these?
03:23Yes, that's right. These are components of a larger building here on top.
03:27And what are these stones made of?
03:29These are made out of andesite. It's a volcanic rock.
03:32Yeah. So harder than sandstone, but softer than granite.
03:36Yes, definitely. That's right. And it's the monoliths like this that
03:40gave this place the name the Stonehenge of the Americas.
03:42Some of the early explorers in Tiwanaku made that analogy based on the larger stones that
03:49they found here. Juan tells me archaeologists have determined
03:53Tiwanaku, unlike Stonehenge, wasn't simply a ritual center. Tiwanaku was a thriving city.
04:01Scholars believe the Akapana pyramid sits at the heart of the city's ceremonial core,
04:06connected with a series of sunken courtyards and temples.
04:11Along the perimeter of the site, nearly one mile from the city center,
04:15are living quarters and housing complexes. Juan says that at its height,
04:20Tiwanaku had a population that might have reached 100,000 people,
04:24and covered an area of nearly two square miles.
04:29The builders of Tiwanaku left us no written records.
04:33But archaeologists believe they designed the city and its freestanding arches
04:37with a connection to the heavens.
04:40We can see this in Tiwanaku's most famous monolith, the Gateway of the Sun,
04:45thought to have been constructed nearly 1,500 years ago.
04:48Look at that. One stone. One solid piece of andesite?
04:53One solid piece of andesite, that's right.
04:55On the exterior frieze is a series of decorative inscriptions,
04:58illustrating winged creatures with human faces, and a sun god at the center.
05:03So do we know what the inscriptions mean?
05:05They're different interpretations. The most classic is that this represents a calendar,
05:12either lunar or solar calendar, depending on how you count these things.
05:15So these will be the month here? That's right. You will have the small heads.
05:19Fifteen? Fourteen? You will have fifteen. Fifteen.
05:22Fifteen heads, right. If this interpretation is correct,
05:25the Gateway of the Sun could be one of the oldest surviving stone calendars in South America.
05:30Amazingly, the arch is hewn from a single piece of andesite.
05:33Do we know how much this weighs? Oh, I'll guess this is approximately ten tons.
05:37But it's not the biggest piece. There are other andesite blocks that probably weigh more than this.
05:43Over a hundred tons. Over a hundred tons, right.
05:47Juan explains that the andesite stone needed to construct Tiwanaku was transported from a quarry
05:52along the edge of Lake Titicaca across 60 miles of lake and land.
05:58Like the builders of Stonehenge, these Andean peoples had to move all these massive stones to the Altiplano by hand.
06:05So not only were they craftsmen who could turn stone into artwork,
06:08they actually were engineers capable of moving megaliths like this across this landscape.
06:13They have that capacity, yes. I would love to have seen how they did that.
06:19Juan tells me that 40 miles as the crow flies from Tiwanaku,
06:23on the other side of Lake Titicaca is a rocky outcropping called the Copacabana Peninsula.
06:30Many archaeologists believe the andesite stone used to build Tiwanaku came from Copacabana
06:36and was first floated to the shoreline nearest to Tiwanaku.
06:40To learn how this feat might have been accomplished, I'm heading to a small town called Huatahata.
06:46Here, local women have gathered to make yarn for knitting.
06:52And men are practicing one of their traditional crafts,
06:55making a boat from reeds that grow along the water's edge.
07:00I've come to meet a man who believes reed boats were sturdy enough
07:04to move andesite stone across Lake Titicaca to Tiwanaku.
07:09His name is Paul Harmon.
07:11Hey, Paul.
07:12Hey, Josh.
07:12How are you?
07:13Great. How are you doing?
07:14Doing well.
07:15Good to see you.
07:15Quite the operation going on over here.
07:16We do.
07:18This is all green Totoro.
07:20We just cut it this morning.
07:21Okay.
07:22Before we can use this, it has to dry for three weeks in the sun.
07:25Okay.
07:25This piece is already dried.
07:27It's dried for about three weeks.
07:29Totoro reeds grow in the shallow waters around Lake Titicaca's edge.
07:34And local people discovered long ago that once dried,
07:37they're ideal for making boats and rafts.
07:41And as far as making the boats, this technique,
07:43has it changed much over the years?
07:44No.
07:45They're doing the same thing here around the Lake Titicaca Basin
07:48for thousands of years.
07:49Can you show me how it's done?
07:50Yeah.
07:50Absolutely.
07:51Let's go.
07:51All right.
07:52For more than five years, Paul Harmon has been learning
07:55the reed boat building process from some of the few remaining masters.
08:01Paul and his team have tied three groups of Totoro reeds into bundles.
08:05In modern times, synthetic ropes have replaced rope made from local grasses.
08:11But either way, the process is the same.
08:15By tying these bundles together, you'll make the core of our boat.
08:19We're going to try to take over what they're doing.
08:21Okay.
08:23So we've got to shift everything back.
08:27All right.
08:28The body of the boat is tightened by pounding on the reeds with a smooth stone
08:32and pulling the ropes with a curved wooden tool called obakala.
08:37So this is the tool we use to tighten?
08:38This is the tool that we lever with.
08:42We separate reeds.
08:43I mean, this is the tool.
08:44Grab a line, pull out the slack.
08:47It's going to start biting into the reeds, and it's going to hold that position.
08:50Yeah.
08:51So we're really going to start cinching this down.
08:53So how long do you have to tighten it?
08:54You could make the body in a day.
08:56Then you'll spend the next four days just tightening it down.
08:59You make it so tight that it, I mean, it truly becomes rock solid.
09:03It took just about five days to complete this reed boat, a 13-footer.
09:08Here.
09:09We made these rolls just like we did everything else.
09:12For thousands of years, these boats were built using only dried reeds, grass for rope,
09:17and a single wooden tool.
09:19Even today, local peoples like the Aymara Indians use reed boats to move goods
09:24and travel across the largest freshwater lake in South America.
09:28Travel the lake Tiwanaku style.
09:31Paul and I paddle out onto Lake Titicaca.
09:35The question that remains is whether boats made like this could really move stone across
09:40this frigid body of water.
09:45High in the Andes, an ancient civilization built a mysterious city nearly 13,000 feet above sea level.
09:53Tiwanaku has been called the Stonehenge of the Americas.
09:57But does that name really fit?
09:59I've seen the Gateway of the Sun, a megalithic arch that weighs close to 10 tons.
10:05And I've learned to build a boat using dried reeds from Lake Titicaca.
10:09Could these boats really move huge stones to Tiwanaku?
10:15Directly 40 miles from the ancient site on the other side of the lake is an outcropping called the Copacabana
10:22Peninsula.
10:23Paul and I paddle along the coast littered with volcanic rock.
10:28The very stone Paul believes was used to build Tiwanaku.
10:32Straight in there?
10:32Right in there.
10:33I say this is where the stones came from, the andesite stones that built Tiwanaku.
10:36So all of this is andesite?
10:38All of this is andesite.
10:39I mean, look, it's an andesite supermarket.
10:41And there's no other place like this anywhere around the lake, on Bolivia or Peru.
10:46So you think the people from Tiwanaku came here and this was their quarry?
10:50I do. I do. I believe so.
10:52Not only does the Copacabana Peninsula make sense practically as the source of Tiwanaku's stone,
10:57but it turns out this place also has a mythical significance,
11:01dating back to the early days of human settlement in this region.
11:05According to Incan mythology, the god Vitacocha, represented by this stone carving,
11:10created a race of giants here in the Titicaca Basin, who would go on to build Tiwanaku.
11:16They took the stones from this location and built Tiwanaku.
11:20Vitacocha was not happy with the giants, created a flood, wiped out the giants,
11:24which is, Titicaca is the result of the flood.
11:27Then Vitacocha went to Tiwanaku, created humankind.
11:30By the time the Inca arrived, they saw this magnificent city,
11:35and that's where they learned the stone work that they took to Machu Picchu,
11:39to Cusco, and other places.
11:41I want to experiment with moving these stones.
11:45But first, a local Aymara shaman and his followers have come to join us.
11:50This site is still considered sacred today,
11:53and it's important to them that such an experiment begins with proper blessings.
11:58Buenas tardes, buenas tardes.
12:00Justino brought some of his friends to help us move the stones
12:04and help us load the stones on the boat.
12:06Okay.
12:07But before we do that, we have to do a ceremony to Pachamama, Mother Earth.
12:12Okay.
12:15The Aymara priest begins his blessing over the rock we've selected to move.
12:24He gives thanks for the group, for this project, and for Mother Earth.
12:31Next, we're asked to join in the ceremony.
12:34First, the shaman hands us coca, the sacred plant of the Andes.
12:38This is the leaf, the leaf of coca.
12:40It gives you the strength and stamina you need, certainly in this case, to move hard rocks,
12:44which is why, ceremonially, everyone here is now chewing coca.
12:48And he keeps reinforcing strength.
12:50Strength.
12:51Strength.
12:51Strength.
12:52The coca is basically your spirit guide helping you move through the process.
12:56The leaf is not a drug.
12:57Coca is not a drug.
12:59Cocaine as a drug has unfortunately clouded people's perceptions
13:02of how sacred this plant is in South American culture.
13:05With each new substance, a portion is first donated to Pachamama, Mother Earth.
13:12And a portion is shared with each participant.
13:16Along with coca, our shaman has brought alcohol.
13:22And tobacco, now purchased in pre-rolled cigarette form.
13:27I'm instructed to blow the smoke to the north, south, east, and west.
13:32And down and up.
13:35This is my first and probably last cigarette.
13:40He's asking Mother Earth to keep us safe during this process and allow the stone to move freely for us.
13:47Today, we've used the sacred plants of the Andes to bless us and our project.
13:54Now, our rock-moving experiment can begin.
13:58Ah.
13:59Perfecto.
14:00So now we can walk, I guess the point is we can walk freely.
14:03Here.
14:03Yeah.
14:04First, we build a small loading dock to give us a dry place to stand.
14:09Could help.
14:09Then, we fashion a simple bridge to load the stone onto our boat.
14:16Moment of truth.
14:17Moment of truth.
14:18Now we move the stone.
14:19Lifting rock at nearly 13,000 feet poses real dangers for Paul and me.
14:24At this elevation, the air is thin and lacks oxygen.
14:28The locals are adapted for work at this altitude.
14:30But for us, moving these huge blocks of andesite is more taxing.
14:35That weighs more than the two of us combined.
14:38I'm thinking this boat can hold over 700 pounds.
14:41Okay.
14:41So we're well under it.
14:42But let's see how it performs with this kind of weight.
14:46Momentito.
14:47Si.
14:49Okay.
14:49Whoa, whoa, whoa.
14:50Momentito.
14:51Paul says this stone weighs about 350 pounds.
14:55Add my weight and the boat tips the scale at 540 pounds.
14:59Now it's time to test this reed craft and see if it can transport the cargo.
15:05If I start sinking...
15:06I'm thinking that thing's ready to roll your way.
15:09Really?
15:09Hold on a second.
15:11How do I get myself into these issues?
15:14Okay.
15:15All right, so...
15:17After one false start, I get my balance.
15:20Nice!
15:21You're doing it!
15:24Oh, yeah!
15:25It's not stable, but it floats.
15:28I've made an important discovery.
15:30All right, you got it.
15:31Moving andesite stone with reed boats is possible.
15:35But Paul wants to test the capacity of this vessel.
15:37So?
15:38I say let's go around 200...
15:40More.
15:41More.
15:42Okay.
15:42Let's do more.
15:43I mean, I want to push it to its limits.
15:45Okay.
15:45Let's go find a stone.
15:46Okay.
15:48No boat this size or shape could ever move the biggest stones to Tiwanaku,
15:52some weighing in at 100 tons.
15:57But this experiment does prove that boats made from reeds could do the job.
16:02Okay.
16:03This is experimental archaeology at its best.
16:05Okay.
16:06Oh, oh, oh, oh!
16:07Look at me.
16:07I'm taking on water.
16:16My titty cock is cold.
16:18Let me tell you...
16:18Let me tell you that.
16:21It's so waterlogged.
16:26I think in this case, we are trying to put huge payload in the Volkswagen model.
16:33So, roughly the limits weight-wise, 750 pounds, maybe a little more.
16:38But you got to have a different shape to handle it from a balance perspective.
16:44Tutorial carry per cubic foot, about 25 pounds.
16:48So, if we needed to carry tons and tons, we'd just do the math and make it wide enough
16:53and long enough.
16:54But is it possible to actually make a boat that big?
16:58The answer is yes.
17:01In 2002, Paul and a local team built a reed boat 47 feet long.
17:07With it, he easily floated a nine-ton stone back across the lake to the shores near Tiwanaku,
17:14proving that moving stone with reed boats was possible in ancient times.
17:18But how did the people of Tiwanaku, with a population that may have reached 100,000, thrive in the high
17:25plains of the Andes?
17:29I'm exploring Tiwanaku, a place that's been called the Stonehenge of the Americas.
17:35Are there parallels between this site and the megalithic monument, Stonehenge?
17:40In England, a stone circle.
17:43Here in Bolivia, a sprawling complex.
17:46Both cultures moved immense stones across miles of rough landscape.
17:51Both built magnificent monuments to the sun.
17:54And both became the power centers of their regions.
18:00Stonehenge sits at the center of what archaeologists call the Stonehenge landscape.
18:04And its influence can be seen across all of what's now southern England.
18:08Here in Bolivia, the story's very much the same.
18:10Tiwanaku extended far beyond the stone walls of this ceremonial center.
18:16This is great up here.
18:18On top of Tiwanaku's Acapana pyramid, nearly 13,000 feet above sea level,
18:23I meet up with Bolivian archaeologist Dr. Claudio Rivera.
18:28We've come to survey the now barren landscape that once was home to a sprawling city.
18:34So, Claudio, in terms of the scope of Tiwanaku,
18:37and trying to understand the extent, the range of this culture,
18:40what tools are archaeologists looking at?
18:42What we do is to look for the distribution of materials on surface.
18:47The most common materials for us are the ceramics.
18:51Claudia is an expert on the ceramics of Andean cultures.
18:54She's been collecting evidence on site to help determine
18:57how big an area was settled here,
18:59and how large the ancient population might have been.
19:02Let's say I pick up, you know, like these, right?
19:05Can you look at these and tell me about Tiwanaku culture from the ceramics?
19:09Yes, from the ceramics we can learn about function, daily life, ritual life,
19:14chronology, ethnic affiliation, different groups that were living at Tiwanaku
19:19in different neighborhoods had a specific ethnic affiliation.
19:24So that pottery found on the eastern side is different from pottery found on the western side?
19:29Yes, yes.
19:29Today, the local population makes pottery with the same tools used in ancient Tiwanaku.
19:35Claudia introduces me to Papi, an Aymara potter.
19:39He shows me how Bolivian ceramics have been made over the centuries.
19:43So at the beginning, you need to start doing a...
19:46Making a ball.
19:47A ball?
19:48Si. Si. Harvest it.
19:49Throughout the Tiwanaku Altiplano, Claudia has recorded similar stylistic patterns
19:54between the pottery of the past and the present.
19:59Claudia, the tools that he has here, bone, stones, each one has a specific use?
20:06Yes.
20:06This one is a smoother or scraper.
20:09Okay.
20:10And you use this for smoothing the surface.
20:13The bones, they are retouching instruments for creating designs in the fresh clay.
20:22Do they have something for burnishing or for polishing the outside?
20:25We have the cobblestones, small ones, that you can use to get a deep luster on the ceramic vessels.
20:33Oh, look what he's doing.
20:34It's nice.
20:34That's very nice.
20:35Yeah.
20:36He's done this before.
20:37Yeah.
20:38Artisans at Tiwanaku fired their wares across the open plains.
20:42Yes.
20:43And baked them until they were hardened vessels.
20:48Just a stone's throw away from Poppy's workshop and less than a mile from Tiwanaku's Akapana pyramid,
20:55ancient evidence of this pottery production can be found in incredible abundance.
21:00You have pottery everywhere.
21:01We find pieces in huge numbers, literally every few feet.
21:06It's even possible to discover where these potters did their work.
21:12That's a thick piece there.
21:13Look at that.
21:14Wow.
21:14That's pottery?
21:15No.
21:16Claudia explains that this stone was an ancient potter's tool, evidence that this site may have been a ceramic center.
21:23So am I seeing this much pottery here because there's this much pottery everywhere or this is an unusual spot?
21:29You can find things like this all over the place, but here there is a higher concentration of ceramics because
21:36it was a ceramic workshop.
21:39Ceramic neighborhood.
21:40Yes.
21:41So 1,300 years ago we would have seen people making pottery.
21:45Yes.
21:45Basically all around here.
21:47Yes.
21:48And this is like the periphery of the urban center.
21:52So the city was built until this place.
21:56After this and far away, it's empty.
21:58It's just the countryside.
21:59Claudia believes the ruins of this 1,300-year-old ceramic workshop marked the perimeter of Tiwanaku's urban center.
22:06Nice pile.
22:07Yes.
22:09Satellite sites like these have helped determine the approximate size of the ancient city, nearly two square miles.
22:18Here on this Salty Plano, the people of Tiwanaku were densely packed.
22:22Again, according to the pottery on the ground.
22:26So Claudia, is there a way to use the quantity of pottery to determine the size of the population here?
22:32Yes.
22:33Archaeologists have been working with that and they are calculating population from the density.
22:39Okay.
22:39So how many people do you think used to live here?
22:41Between 25,000 and 100,000.
22:44I think something in the middle, like 40,000, 50,000.
22:48But even if it's just 40,000 to 50,000, that's still a lot of people at Tiwanaku.
22:52Incredibly, up to 100,000 people may have lived here at Tiwanaku.
22:57With such a large ancient population, you might think this region would still support a thriving community.
23:04But today, this Salty Plano is virtually empty, with few jobs or natural resources.
23:10The high plain has a harsh climate, often destroying the region's highest yielding crop, the potato.
23:18So how did the people of Tiwanaku create a prosperous city at nearly 13,000 feet above sea level?
23:26To find out, I'm meeting archaeologist Oswaldo Rivera.
23:31Oswaldo thinks he knows the secret behind Tiwanaku's success.
23:35In the late 1970s, he teamed up with archaeologists from the University of Chicago and made a fantastic discovery.
23:44Oswaldo tells me the evidence of Tiwanaku's growth can best be seen from the air.
23:48Flying above the city's perimeter, we see strange marks across the landscape.
23:54Neat rows of straight lines through the earth.
23:57Does Bolivia have its own Nazca lines?
24:00Well, not exactly.
24:03Oswaldo says that these mysterious patterns in the landscape led him to discover how the people of Tiwanaku were able
24:09to thrive on the Altiplano.
24:11We traveled to an area over seven miles north of Tiwanaku called Kuanipampa.
24:17Oswaldo explains the strange lines we saw from the plain covered thousands of acres around Tiwanaku.
24:23By the end of the 20th century, these lines had all but disappeared.
24:27But after extensive field research, he confirmed strange color variations existed in the soil.
24:33So you came out of here 30 years ago because of the difference in colors.
24:36Yeah, yeah, yeah.
24:36You have the dark areas, the light area.
24:38Yeah, yeah.
24:39So you suspected that this is where agriculture took place?
24:41Could be.
24:41Yes.
24:42We're standing on dry land here, and then right here.
24:46With mud.
24:47Yeah.
24:47It's wet, but then over here it's dry again.
24:51Yes.
24:52And then wet again, and then dry again.
24:5430 years ago, Oswaldo discovered these patterns and believed he'd found evidence of a lost method of farming at Tiwanaku.
25:01We made the reconstruction of these fields like in ancient times.
25:06Using, using, in the modern day.
25:08Yes, using the same techniques.
25:11Where did you do that?
25:12Uh, we have near.
25:13Just there.
25:14Yes.
25:14Right here.
25:15Let's go take a look.
25:16Yeah, okay.
25:18After a series of excavations, Oswaldo enlisted the help of local farmers to recreate the agricultural fields of Tiwanaku.
25:27Rows for planting, about ten feet wide, separated by channels of water, about two and a half feet deep.
25:33Is that important, the depth?
25:35Yes, sure.
25:36It's very important because we have to create this, uh, naturally, this fog.
25:42How does the water depth create fog?
25:44It creates a condensation protecting the plants from the frost.
25:51Oswaldo has found that with the system he's recreated, water around his crops heats up in the daytime sun.
25:58At night, when the air is cold, this water stays warm.
26:01The difference in temperature creates condensation.
26:05And a layer of fog covers the crops.
26:08This protects them from frost, the number one plant killer at this altitude.
26:14It has to absorb the solar energy during the daytime.
26:17The temperature, yes.
26:18Along with protecting crops from frost, the Tiwanaku farming system creates a swampy compost.
26:25This plant life that's on top.
26:27This is another, yes, because we have the creation of, uh, rich moths.
26:34This soil.
26:36Yeah.
26:37Black.
26:37Ah, yeah.
26:38This is the result of the decomposing plant material.
26:41Yes, yes.
26:41So this system actually generates its own fertilizer.
26:44Yeah.
26:45Do we know how effective this technique was?
26:48Here in the Altiplano, we have crops of two to five tons by hectare.
26:55So in the highlands, they can grow two and a half to five tons of potatoes per hectare.
27:00Yeah.
27:01And here?
27:02We have 42.5 tons by hectare.
27:052.5 to five there in 42.5 years.
27:08That's incredible.
27:09This is the key of the growth of Tiwanaku.
27:15Tiwanaku farmers planted thousands of acres of crops in this fashion, creating an effective
27:21and efficient food source for their growing city.
27:24Since its rediscovery, this technique continues to outshine modern agriculture.
27:29And as a result, these ancient farming methods are reemerging across the Altiplano.
27:38Should Tiwanaku really be called the Stonehenge of the Americas?
27:43Though the English and Bolivian sites were built more than 2,000 years and 6,000 miles apart,
27:50both cultures moved giant stones across vast distances to their ritual centers.
27:55Both created ceremonial architecture celebrating the sun.
27:59And today, archaeologists speculate both cultures emerged from early neighboring communities.
28:05In the past, archaeologists believe that due to the rough landscape here, Andean peoples evolved independently within their own regions.
28:13However, as more discoveries have been made, we've learned that Tiwanaku was part of a much larger Andean culture.
28:22Fifteen miles from Tiwanaku, back on the shores of Lake Titicaca, I team up with archaeologist Andy Roddick,
28:28who tells me if you look carefully, there's evidence across this plain that Tiwanaku was part of a planned tradition.
28:36What's this place?
28:38This is the Turaco Peninsula, one of the denser occupied regions prior to Tiwanaku.
28:44In fact, you can actually see in the fields, scattering this whole area, vast amounts of pottery that all are
28:49predating the Tiwanaku occupation of the region.
28:53Andy explains that these pottery sherds date back several hundred years earlier than the ones I examined at Tiwanaku.
29:00Now, what you're actually seeing and you're actually walking right into now is a sunken depression,
29:04a ceremonial site that's yet to be excavated.
29:07With a monolith.
29:09With a monolith, exactly.
29:10Andy believes this ground depression, unexcavated and unprotected, was once an ancient temple, now located in a farmer's field.
29:19This temple site also has a ceremonial monolith, like the ones I've seen at Tiwanaku.
29:24Down at the bottom here, you have a cat figure.
29:27So this is the tail here.
29:29Yeah.
29:29This is the body.
29:30Uh-huh.
29:30And this is the head.
29:31Yeah.
29:32Facing out.
29:33The head is facing out.
29:34How does Tiwanaku fit into this picture?
29:35What we're looking at is a development of one of the earliest states, as you probably know, the site of
29:39Tiwanaku.
29:40Tiwanaku, in some ways, is perhaps sort of the winner, I would say, in some ways, of the political expansion
29:46we're seeing in sites like this one.
29:48Andy says that in the period leading up to Tiwanaku, between 1500 BC and 200 AD, several Andean cities dotted
29:57this landscape.
29:58You want to check it out?
29:59Sure, let's go.
29:59And just down the road is another one, an archaeological site called Chiripa.
30:05Here, a Bolivian team is excavating one of Chiripa's oldest sunken temples, dating back to 400 BC.
30:12In an effort to completely restore this site, they're raising an ancient monolith, back to its original position.
30:19Andy and I join a large group of local volunteers moving this giant stone.
30:33Ludwig Cayo Kiesbert is leading the reconstruction of this temple, and he's got a big team supporting him.
30:43There must be over 50 people working here, using only rope, a few logs, muscle, and teamwork.
30:52It's really heavy.
30:53You know, look at this thing.
30:54We're estimating our stone weighs a good six tons.
30:57It's a huge weight, and can only be moved one small bit at a time.
31:02Moved.
31:04It went back, which is good, and then it went sideways, which was not as good.
31:08I think we need a little bit more leverage.
31:11Uno, dos, tres, dos, chale!
31:15Chale, chale, chale, chale, chale!
31:17Chale, chale, chale, chale!
31:24Okay, gracias.
31:27Okay, so this is as high as it'll go today.
31:31It'll take another day's work to put this massive stone into place, but there's another monolith in the middle of
31:38this enclosure that Ludwig wants to show me.
31:40In ancient stone, he's coated with a thick layer of protective dirt.
31:44There's something under the dirt that's been preserved under this.
31:49Oh, look at that.
31:50Okay, so this is the head of a snake.
31:51First, I see the faint outline of a snake.
31:57Then, a spider.
31:58This is the head here.
32:03And finally, a frog.
32:08Stone carvings of these animals and human forms in a similar style have been found in early settlements across the
32:15Titicaca basin.
32:17Chiripa is one of the first examples of this tradition.
32:21Tiwanaku, one of the last.
32:24So do you see specific influence from Chiripa into Tiwanaku?
32:29Certainly.
32:30And one is this whole enclosure of ceremonial architecture we're talking about.
32:34Like this?
32:35Like this, as well as earlier that we found here at the site.
32:37These temple structures, these ceremonial buildings, go back well back in time.
32:42In fact, Chiripa has the earliest that we know of in the region.
32:45One of the things that may have been happening in these big sunken enclosures is politicking, is religious activities, is
32:51feasting.
32:52So we think there may have been similar kind of activities happening within them, public meetings.
32:56Inside this sunken temple, and in others across the region, evidence of similar religious ceremonies has been found.
33:05And back at Tiwanaku, archaeologists believe the tradition of temple ceremonies continued.
33:11But on a far grander scale.
33:14Here, Dr. Juan Alberacine Jordan tells me that recent discoveries about this ceremonial life have been made.
33:22Thanks in part to a solitary statue illustrating a priest.
33:26It's known as the Ponce Monolith.
33:28If you look at the elements that he's holding with his hands.
33:34He's holding these like this?
33:36Yes.
33:36Very, very, very interesting things.
33:38Now, archaeologists have two interpretations of this.
33:42You can see here what some archaeologists interpret as being a kero.
33:48What's a kero?
33:49This is a ceramic vessel, a vase, you know, a cup.
33:52With his right hand, he will be holding a ceremonial knife.
33:57Clutched in this priest's carved hands are what some archaeologists believe to be representations of a cup and a knife.
34:05These items suggest one theory of ceremonies at Tiwanaku involving sacrifice to the gods.
34:13The knife would be used to cut a victim and the cup to hold alcohol or blood.
34:21And a second interpretation would be that the monolith is holding a snuff tablet here with the left hand.
34:28And with his right hand, he'll be holding a spatula.
34:31So he will use the spatula to mix the substance on the snuff tablet.
34:38And then he will snuff the substance.
34:40Were they hallucinogenic substances?
34:41Yes, yes.
34:42Most likely they were part of the ritual paraphernalia that these priests used.
34:47A second interpretation of this priest's possession suggests the ritual consumption of hallucinogens.
34:55Juan tells me these hallucinogens weren't derived from the coca plant,
34:59but from the seeds of a local tree called anadinanthera.
35:02When consumed, the snuff was known to have a trance-like effect.
35:06The seeds were ground into a powder and then inhaled through the nose,
35:11producing feelings of ecstasy, heightened physical sensations, and powerful visual hallucinations.
35:18So whether it's a carol and a knife or a snuff tablet and a spatula, both are ceremonial.
35:24Yes.
35:24And related to this priest's function.
35:26That's right.
35:26And we know that these items existed at Tiwanaku because we found them here?
35:30Yes.
35:31We can find these two things at the museum.
35:34Let's go take a look.
35:35Let's go.
35:38At the Tiwanaku Museum, Juan directs me to a showcase of artifacts.
35:43Inside the glass case are ritual elements recovered on site, each represented on the ponce monolith.
35:49Look at this.
35:50That's one of the snuff tablets that we've seen one of the monoliths holding in one of his hands.
35:55Oh, in a little tray.
35:56Yes.
35:56You can see this puma-like figure up on top.
36:00They're beautifully carved.
36:01Yes, and even you can see some of this spatula.
36:04Intricately carved tablets and spatulas for serving the snuff have been recovered,
36:08along with tubes for inhaling the fine powder.
36:13Karo cups, neatly painted in a uniform style, were also found.
36:18Shall you tell me what these are?
36:19You can see in this karo that has this raised band in the third portion.
36:25Yeah, I saw that.
36:26The priest was holding it.
36:27And it's a very similar rite.
36:29While no knives have been recovered to suggest blood sacrifice, Juan tells me there was a mass grave excavated in
36:351989.
36:3721 sets of human remains were found in a pit on the Acapana pyramid, mixed with llama bones and smashed
36:45karo cups.
36:46The human bones were found with evidence of deep cuts.
36:53I've come to the highlands of Bolivia to investigate Tiwanaku, known to some as the Stonehenge of the Americas.
37:01At Stonehenge and Tiwanaku, I've seen artifacts and architecture that confirm both sites were centers of great ritual ceremonies.
37:10But recent evidence I've seen at Tiwanaku suggests that ancient priests performed these ceremonies under the influence of hallucinogenic plants
37:18and alcohol,
37:20and may have conducted human sacrifices.
37:23We can see where these things were actually ritually used.
37:27Yeah, let's go check it out.
37:28Okay, great.
37:29Dr. Juan Aberacine Jordan and I leave the Tiwanaku Museum and head to the northwest corner of the Acapana pyramid.
37:36It was here, he says, that the blood rituals may have taken place.
37:40Juan believes the Tiwanaku priests led a display of conspicuous consumption, public feasting, drinking, and human sacrifice.
37:47So where we just walked, everything underneath us had bones?
37:50We had bones and had some other ritual offerings, you know, composed of ceramics and probably llama bones as well.
37:55These are part of a larger offering to the pyramid and probably to the gods.
38:01And we know it was sacrificed and not just dead and buried.
38:03That's right.
38:04The evidence, the analysis of the bones, shows those cut marks.
38:07These people weren't dying naturally.
38:09They were cut after death.
38:11They died someplace else and they came here and they spread the bodies.
38:14And then you'll have also evidence that perhaps these people were alive and then were being sacrificed.
38:18So there's two theories.
38:20That's right.
38:20One, people were killed or died and from elsewhere were dismembered and brought here.
38:27That's right.
38:27And the second is they were actually brought here alive.
38:29That's right.
38:30And killed.
38:30And sacrificed.
38:31And sacrificed here.
38:31So you have, what, bones and pottery mixed together?
38:34Yes, exactly.
38:35The bones were intermingled.
38:37They were mixed with keros message and as well with other types of vessels.
38:43At the Akapana pyramid, it appears that the people of Tiwanaku participated in group ceremonies of conspicuous consumption and human
38:51sacrifice.
38:57According to the archaeological record, many victims were killed.
39:01And the ceremonial kero cups were then smashed into the mass grave of human and llama remains.
39:10When this grave was found in 1989, it astonished the archaeologists who discovered it.
39:16Do we have a context for these sacrifices?
39:19Do we know what the purpose was?
39:21Most likely this took place at the terminal phases of Tiwanaku when things began to fail.
39:27Juan explains that around 900 A.D. an extended drought had spread across this plain.
39:32And Tiwanaku's central authority had weakened.
39:36And they were desperate.
39:37And people were probably desperate.
39:38That's right.
39:39He believes the Tiwanaku priests conducted this blood ritual, appealing to the gods to save their dying civilization.
39:46Were these ceremonies found throughout Tiwanaku's region?
39:50Well, this is one of the important features of Tiwanaku, is that human sacrifice is found only at this site.
39:57Why here?
39:57Well, I think this is a connection with the sacred mountain and the sacred mountain being connected with the gods.
40:04And this is why you are asking the supernatural to change things when things start to fail.
40:10But the priests' appeals at the Akapana pyramid apparently weren't heard.
40:15And the blood sacrifices seemed to be in vain.
40:19By around 1,000 A.D., Tiwanaku was abandoned.
40:23Juan believes that political infighting led to the city's demise.
40:26But the drought may have accelerated the collapse of this once great civilization.
40:33Today, over 1,000 years later, the sun continues to rise over the ruins of Tiwanaku.
40:40And this place remains deeply sacred in the hearts of local people.
40:47Native Aymara Indians now perform their own ceremony here, at first light on the shortest day of the year.
40:55Today, they've invited me to witness such a celebration, an offering to the sunrise at Tiwanaku.
41:04Good morning.
41:05It's a few minutes after sunrise.
41:07Some people from the local community of Tiwanaku, the Aymara, have come here to honor the sunrise,
41:12to give us a sense of the sacredness of this place.
41:15So let's approach and see what it's all about.
41:23Buen dia.
41:29So in the fire are sweets, candies, as well as a llama fetus,
41:36which is a traditional part of Andean ceremonies.
41:39On top of that, he sprinkled some corn flour.
41:43And over there, you can see coca and tobacco leaves.
41:47That, plus the alcohol, completes the traditional elements of Aymara offerings.
41:56The Aymara priest offers thanks and tribute to the gods of the mountain, Mother Earth, and most importantly, the sun.
42:04Here in the Andes, just as in Stonehenge, sunlight is life.
42:09And the Aymara have come to honor the earth, to honor the stars, the sky, the mountains, and the sun.
42:17Today's Aymara blessing at Tiwanaku is a private display of a larger ceremony that takes place on the winter solstice
42:24morning.
42:26The sacred sunrise is June 21st, at a time of year when it's the middle of winter, and the days
42:33will start getting longer, and the crops will soon be planted.
42:36At Stonehenge, the June solstice has become a cult event.
42:40In 2005, I attended with thousands of others, to celebrate the site, and the solar cycle was built to observe.
42:53On the opposite side of the globe, at Tiwanaku, a similar event takes place.
42:59Just like at Stonehenge, it has gained a massive audience.
43:05Amazingly, on the very same morning, people at both sites gather together, to honor these places, and those who came
43:13before them.
43:14And to wait for the sunrise to appear.
43:20Despite the similarities between Stonehenge and Tiwanaku, the Bolivian site has a rich history all its own.
43:28A pre-Incan society emerged on this Altiplano, created ingenious farming systems, and paid tribute to the gods through ritual
43:37and blood sacrifice.
43:39This great city of stone, called Tiwanaku, stands as a monument to one of the greatest civilizations in all the
43:47Americas.
43:57This is a movement and the future.
43:59This is always a great to be made.
44:00A great idea to be LAUGHTER and a good shadow, that's a very different map.
44:03This is a great idea of the weakness of the brick system.
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