http://saturniancosmology.org/moses.php
The suggestion that Lake Titicaca was lifted to its present elevation of 12,500 feet through some unspecified catastrophy was made by Velikovsky in "Earth in Upheaval" (1955). The archaeological record would have suggested that this would have happened in historic time, after Tiahuanaco was already built. But the archaeology of this site (built after 800 BC), the conditions of local agriculture (abondened terraces at the snow line, sterile conditions, "maize will not ripen"), or geological details (raised beaches, slanted strand lines, marine crustacians), cannot sustain this. It seems more reasonable to suggest that the Alto Plano and the Andes mountains were raised maybe 3000 or 4000 feet by the intrusion of magna below the established Cordilleras
What is more convincing is the occupation of the site at about 1400 BC and and a thorough exploitation of the available agricultural conditions...
Warning, graphics-heavy:
A selection of satellite images, some of them of almost art-like quality, which show the extent of canalisation and abandoned cultivations on the Bolivian Altiplano around ORURO.
If you Google Earth Lake Titicaca, you will find huge areas of agricultural activities - now underwater:
The suggestion that Lake Titicaca was lifted to its present elevation of 12,500 feet through some unspecified catastrophy was made by Velikovsky in "Earth in Upheaval" (1955). The archaeological record would have suggested that this would have happened in historic time, after Tiahuanaco was already built. But the archaeology of this site (built after 800 BC), the conditions of local agriculture (abondened terraces at the snow line, sterile conditions, "maize will not ripen"), or geological details (raised beaches, slanted strand lines, marine crustacians), cannot sustain this. It seems more reasonable to suggest that the Alto Plano and the Andes mountains were raised maybe 3000 or 4000 feet by the intrusion of magna below the established Cordilleras Maybe it's jut me, but that statement seems to contradict itself -- unless the author assumes V's assertion(?) that the area was raised from roughly sea level???
I recall doing the Google Earth thing around this area several months back, for what reasons I can't recall; maybe an earlier FR thread. Was awestruck by it then; still am. Fascinating place. The parallel lines running sortof helter-skelter in some places is a puzzle though.
Thanks for all the links.