Strangely, Tiahuanacu appears to be a seaport (Posnansky, 1945), although the nearest body of water is Lake Titicaca, some 12-15 miles away (the distance depends on the level of the lake). There are several theories about how this happens to be. We will consider only one here.
On the rock cliffs near the piers and warfs of the port area are yellow-white calcareous deposits forming long, straight lines indicating pre-historic water levels. These ancient shorelines are strangely tilted, although they must have once been level. The surrounding area is covered with millions of fossilized sea-shells. It appears, from the tilting of the ancient shoreline striations and the abundant presence of fossilized oceanic flora and fauna, that a tremendous uplift of land has taken place sometime in the ancient past. Geologists estimate that this happened roughly around 100 million years ago; but the data gathered from archeological and astronomical investigations indicate a different story.
Oceanic creatures live to this day in abundance in the salty waters of the lake, indicating that it was once a part of the ocean, although it is now over 2 miles above sea-level. What appears to be the original seashore is strangely tilted, as if a tremendous geological upheaval has taken place.
Huge building blocks thrown about in all directions at the ruins of Puma Punku. (Photo by Holly Ahlberg)
The port of Tiahuanacu, called Puma Punku or "Door of the Puma," is an area filled with enormous stone blocks scattered hither and yon like matchsticks, yet weighing between 100 and 150 tons! One block still in place weighs an estimated 440 tons! One wonders, how these blocks were quarried, how they were transported from the quarries to the building site, and how the builders managed to place such huge blocks so skillfully to form this massive complex of megalithic buildings? And above all, what tremendous forces could have tumbled these gigantic stones over one another as if they were light as driftwood? Archeologists have no answers.
The blocks, many of them weighing upwards of 200 tons, are in some cases held together by large metalic, I-shaped couplers, rather than enterlocking shapes as at Sacsahuaman or at Cuzco. Others were held together by silver rivets. The system used here is reminiscent of that used in the Egyptian ruins on Elephantine Island on the Nile. Most researchers believe that the metal was actually poured into I-shaped slots carved into the rock.
Some of the docks and piers in this area are so large that hundreds of ships could dock comfortably; yet there is nothing "oceanic" near these docks except a prehistoric coastline indicated by chalky deposits of ancient salt water fossils. Lake Titicaca, languishing miles away, is nearly 100 feet lower than the ruined docks. What tremendous geological upheaval has occurred in the last thousand years that could have tumbled these huge stones while heaving the entire altiplano region 2 miles into the sky? None at that recent date. But could a sudden, violent tilt of the axis of the earth occuring some 12,000 years ago have been responsible?