Posted on 04/29/2023 8:20:48 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
A trio of archaeologists from the National Scientific and Technical Research Council, Argentina, the French National Center for Scientific Research and the Institute of Research for Development, France, has found more than 100 pre-Hispanic religious sites that they believe are linked to ancient Andean cults in Bolivia. In their paper published in the journal Antiquity, Pablo Cruz, Richard Joffre and Jean Vacher, describe the sites they found and highlight one in particular that stood out from the rest.
In this new effort, the researchers were studying hilltops in the Carangas region of Highland Bolivia, which was once home to pre-Hispanic people. By studying images captured by satellites and also examining multiple sites on the ground, the researchers learned more about the sites and to make some guesses regarding their nature and use.
The sites were concentric circles of walls created on hilltops using mostly local material. Most sites featured multiple circles. In all, the research team was able to identify 135 such hilltop sites—all were dated to between AD 1250 and 1600... Prior research has shown that the people of the region conducted rites known as wak'a, which could have been related to the rings on the hilltops.
The group also found one site, Waskiri, that stood out from the others due to both its size and intricacy. It was 140 meters in diameter and was made using two circled walls, one inside the other, the second somewhat smaller. The two rings were connected by adjoining enclosures and contained many ceramic fragments. Also, there was what the researchers describe as a plaza at the center of the ring structure, which also featured ceramic fragments. According to the researchers, the design of the circles suggests they may have had an Incan influence...
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
Photographs of the walled concentric sites in the Rio Lauca area of Carangas. More information: Pablo Cruz et al, A pre-Hispanic religious landscape on the arid Andean altiplano of Bolivia, Antiquity (2023). DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2023.44Credit: P. Cruz; from GoogleEarth images.
I thought the headline was referring to websites. Oops.
Thank God for the Conquistadors.
Are the Native Americans who inhabited mesoamerica prior to the 15th century now referred to as “pre-Hispanic?” Does that mean that because I’m Hispanic, I no longer have Native American ancestors from mesoamerica, despite the DNA evidence that says I do?
It means that the sites were built before Spanish presence and/or rule of the areas. Could be pre- or post-Pizarro.
Nope-they were just as vicious and bloody as the Native Americans-slaughter, slavery, torture, rape and pillage, Spanish Inquisition, etc. I’m of Spanish ancestry with a bit of Native American thrown in, like most Hispanics-neither group of ancestors were nice people...
Thanks-I like the term pre-Columbian better...
Well, Precolumbian would be pre-1492, some of these sites are as late as 1600, per the article — but all are pre-Hispanic.
As I have written many times, “The Europeans didn’t do anything that the native Americans didn’t do to each other for a thousand years.”.................
Some people are still shocked when they read about druids roasting people over a fire in cages, or evidence that some civilization practiced cannibalism in the far past, etc. We were all savages at some point-civilization is pretty much a veneer, even now-scratch deep enough and the savage re-emerges...
Just watched ‘The Wicker Tree’ on cable over the weekend...............
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wicker_Tree
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.