The Mystery of Tiwanaku

Andy Roddick'sSection 120

Tiwanaku

● In the Bolivian altiplano on the southern side of Lake Titicaca, 13000 feet above sea level.

● The Inca found Tiwanaku in the 15th century; believed that they were the descendants of the creators of Tiwanaku

● Intricate, architecturally impressive stonework● No written records● Pseudoscientific theories abound to explain the

rise and fall of Tiwanaku

Pseudoscience

Why Pseudoscience?

● Money● Fame● Nationalism● Romanticizing the Past● Mental instability

Atlantis

Atlantis

● Jim Allen's interpretation of Plato's Atlantis● “The continent of Atlantis didn't sink – South

America”● Graham Hancock also supported Atlantis idea● Faulty interpretation of symbols - “ancient

elephants”● Distribution of such evidence influences

people's ideas about Tiwanaku.

Ancient Astronaut Theory

Ancient Astronaut Theory

● Structures were created by aliens or with alien help.

● Depictions of gods were actually of aliens● Ancient technology was not advanced enough

to construct places like Tiwanaku● Critics point out that technology was sufficient;

that aliens could not have been a “mother race” due to biological differences; and that Daniken fabricated evidence for the theory.

Racism and Ethnocentrism

“Either this data is to be explained by assuming these primitive idiots did this themselves or we must accept that the more plausible notion that they got helped from other planets where such technologies as anti-gravity devices had been invented.”

Erich von Daniken

“[There were] two primogenital races from which the population of North and South America was formed...”

Arthur Posnansky

Racism and Ethnocentrism

● Daniken argued that the “less advanced” Native Americans were incapable of creating Tiwanaku without alien help

● Posnansky argued that the “primitive troglodytes” descended from the true builders of Tiwanaku

● He viewed Tiwanaku as the cradle of civilization for all of the Americas

Entertainment

QuickTime™ and aDV/DVCPRO - NTSC decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Entertainment

● Archaeology is made more interesting to audiences by embellishing details and selecting more striking facts.

● Some entertainment leaps outside of the facts, while the audience mistakes it for real archaeology.

● Sites are presented as magical, mystical, and mysterious.

Conclusion

Bibliography● Albarracin-Jordan, Juan. The Archaeology of Tiwanaku: The Myths, History and Science of an Ancient

Andean Civilization. Bolivia, 1999.

● Aldenderfer, Mark S., Charles Stanish, and Amanda B. Cohen, eds. Advances in Titicaca Basin

Archaeology - 1. Los Angeles: Costen Institute of Archaeology At UCLA, 2005.

● “Atlantis Uncovered and Atlantis Reborn”. BBC Horizon. 28 Oct. 1999. 3 Apr. 2007

<http://www.grahamhancock.com/horizon/horizon_script_2.htm>.

● Blom, Deborah E. “Embodying borders: human body modification and diversity in Tiwanaku

Society”. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Volume 24, Issue 1, March

2005, pp 1-24.

Bibliography● Carroll, Robert Todd. “Ancient Astronauts.” “The Skeptic’s Dictionary”. 2005. 12 Apr. 2007 Ancient

Astronauts <http://skepdic.com/vondanik.html>.

● Colavito, Jason. "Dusting for Fingerprints." 2001-2002. Lost Civilizations

Uncovered. 13 April 2007. <http://jcolavito.tripod.com/lostcivilizations/id2.html>

● Daniken, Erich von, Chariots of the Gods? G.P. Putman's Sons, New York, 1969.

● Feder, Kenneth L. Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology.

Mayfield Publishing Company, Mountain View, CA. 1990.

● Higueras, Alvaro. Archaeological Research on the Tiwanaku polity in Peru

and Bolivia. 1999. 11 Apr. 2007. <http://www.tiwanakuarcheo.net/1_main/papers.html>

● Kojan, David, and Dante Angelo. "Dominant Narratives, Social Violence and the Practice of Bolivian Archaeology." Journal of Social Archaeology 5 (2005): 383-407. 4 2007 <

http://jsa.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/5/3/383>.

● Posnansky, Arthur. Tihuanacu, the Cradle of American Man. Vol. I. New York: J.J. Augustin, 1945.

1-62.

● Stanish, Charles, and Brian S. Bauer, eds. Archaeological Research on the Islands of the Sun and

Moon, Lake Titcaca, Bolivia. Los Angeles, CA: Costen Institute of Archaeology At UCLA, 2004.

● Swartley, Lynn. Inventing Indigenous Knowledge. New York: Routledge, 2002.

● Thomas, Davis H., and Robert L. Kelly. Archaeology: Down to Earth. 3rd ed. Belmont, CA:

Thomson Wadsworth, 2007. 24-32.

Bibliography

● "Tiwanaku." Encyclopedia Britannica. 2007. EncyclopÊdia Britannica Online. 12 Apr. 2007 <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9072374>.

● Vranich, Alexei. "Revealing Ancient Bolivia." Archaeology's Interactive Dig. 2004. Archaeological

Institute of America. 2 Apr. 2007 <http://www.archaeology.org/interactive/tiwanaku/>.

Bibliography