Pumapunku

[2][3][4] At its peak, Pumapunku is thought to have been "unimaginably wondrous,"[3] adorned with polished metal plaques, brightly colored ceramic and fabric ornamentation, and visited by costumed citizens, elaborately dressed priests, and elites decked in exotic jewelry.

On the northeast and southeast corners of the Pumapunku, it has 20-metre (66-foot) wide projections extending 27.6 metres (91 feet) north and south from the rectangular mound.

Based on the specific gravity of the red sandstone from which it was carved, this stone slab is estimated to weigh 131 tonnes (144 short tons).

[2][3][4][5][8] The area within the kilometer separating the Pumapunku and Kalasasaya complexes was surveyed using ground-penetrating radar, magnetometry, induced electrical conductivity, and magnetic susceptibility.

The geophysical data collected from these surveys and excavations indicate the presence of numerous man-made structures in the area between the Pumapunku and Kalasasaya complexes.

[11] Noted by Andean specialist, W. H. Isbell, professor at Binghamton University,[2] a radiocarbon date was obtained by Alexei Vranich[3] from organic material from the deepest and oldest layer of mound-fill forming the Pumapunku.

The excavation trenches of Vranich show the clay, sand, and gravel fill of the Pumapunku complex were laid 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.

Smaller andesite blocks 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.

Jean-Pierre Protzen and Stella Nair identified a 1 to 1.5 millimeters thick thin coat of whiteish material covering some of the stones as a possible layer of mortar.

[4] The precision with which these angles create flush joints is indicative of sophisticated knowledge of stone-cutting and a thorough understanding of descriptive geometry.

[8][13] Much of the masonry is characterized by accurately cut rectilinear blocks of such uniformity, they could be interchanged for one another while maintaining a level surface and even joints.

The architectural historians Jean-Pierre and Stella Nair who conducted the first professional field study on the stones of Tiwanaku/Pumapunku conclude: […] to obtain the smooth finishes, the perfectly planar faces and exact interior and exterior right angles on the finely dressed stones, they resorted to techniques unknown to the Incas and to us at this time.

[14] According to the art historian Jessica Joyce Christie, the experiments of Jean-Pierre Protzen and Stella Nair showed that the Tiwanaku artisans may have possessed additional tools other than hammerstones which facilitated the creation of exact geometric cuts and forms and of which archeology has no record.

[15] Nair subsequently experimented with replicating a small section of a carving using a variety of possible stone tools, including blades, flakes and thin chisels made of stones including flint, agate, jasper, obsidian, hydrated obsidian, greywacke, quartzite, and hematite.

[16] Tiwanaku engineers also developed a civic infrastructure at this complex, constructing functional irrigation systems, hydraulic mechanisms, and leak-proof sewage lines.

[12][19] 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.

[23] The architectural historian Jean-Pierre Protzen from University of California, Berkeley states that in the past it often has been argued that among the buildings at Ollantaytambo the monumental structures (e. g. the Wall of the six monoliths) were the work of the earlier Tiwanaku culture and have been reused by the Incas: An argument persists that the Wall of the six monoliths and the vanished structures from which the blocks have been recycled predate the Incas and were work of the earlier Tiahuanaco culture.

Support for the argument is found in the step motif carved on the fourth monolith and the T-shape sockets cut into several blocks, both believed to be hallmarks of Tiahuanaco-style architecture.

For example it has been shown that the much-admired carved block known as the "Escritorio del Inca" is an accurate and reduced-scale model of full-scale architecture.

These sculptures show fearsome traits of predatory animals, they crouch or kneel while clutching a human head in one hand and an axe in the other.

According to some theories, the Pumapunku complex and surrounding monumental structures like Akapana, Kalasasaya, Putuni, and Kerikala functioned as spiritual and ritual centers for the Tiwanaku.

[45] The Tiwanaku civilization and the use of these enclosures and platform mounds appears to peak from AD 700 to 1000, by which point, the city core and surrounding area could house 10,000 to 20,000 residents.

[46] An extensive infrastructure was developed, including a complex irrigation system extending more than 30 square miles (80 km2) to support cultivation of potatoes, quinoa, corn, and other various crops.

Unable to produce the massive crop yields necessary for their large population, the Tiwanaku apparently scattered into the local mountain ranges, then disappeared shortly thereafter.

Card notes that Pumapunku is a fixture of books and television programs on alternative archeology and especially ancient aliens.

According to Card, Atlantis and aliens enthusiasts point to the fine-cut masonry and the location of Pumapunku in the high Altiplano as mysteries.

[53] Vranich notes that generations of amateur, fringe and pseudo-archeologist claimed that the "apparent geometric perfection of Tiwanaku architecture" is a result of extraterrestrial intervention or a lost super civilization instead attributing the ruins to the inhabitants of the Titicaca basin.

[54] In the 2019 issue of Public Archaeology, Franco D. Rossi of Johns Hopkins University criticizes that ancient alien theorists have called the Aymara "stone age people" who could not have built Pumapunku.

Stone blocks at Pumapunku
Detail of stone with precisely cut straight line and tooled holes within the line
An example of high-precision small holes
Unfinished (upside down) block of andesite with blind holes . On finished blocks, each blind hole houses a tiny T-shaped cramp socket, proving that the blocks should be mated with others.
Demonstration of the building block technique
Wall of the six monoliths at Ollantaytambo.
Some of the so-called "H-blocks" which were interconnected (or intended to interconnect) with other andesite blocks forming blind miniature gateways. [ 28 ] What the gateways looked like is depicted in the monolith called "Escritorio del Inca", which is an accurate and reduced-scale model of a full-scale architectural form. [ 29 ]
The front-facing figure of the gateway of the sun; most experts believe that the gateway of the sun once was integrated in the monumental structure of Pumapunku
On the left tiny fragment of a large Totora-reed stone at Pumapunku
Virtual reconstruction of one of the four buildings of the Pumapunku monumental structure by Alexei Vranich. The reconstruction revealed that these kind of buildings are elaborate versions of buildings that were excavated by Christine Hastorf at the Chiripa site (550 BC–AD 100).