Views of the Palaspata temple: A) an aerial mosaic created from recent drone images, and B) a filtered image showing color differences, overlaid with a grid to outline the temple's structure.Cambridge University Press
Posted on 06/30/2025 7:06:10 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
A vast stone temple built 1,000 years ago by one of South America's most powerful civilizations has been uncovered in the Andes.
Archaeologists discovered the temple, known as Palaspata, atop a ridge in the remote highlands southeast of Lake Titicaca, near the small community of Ocotavi in western Bolivia.
The large structure was the craftsmanship of the Tiwanaku civilization, which left a mark on the world with impressive stone structures, advanced irrigation systems, and unique art and pottery before vanishing around 1000AD.
Covering an area roughly the size of a city block, the site measures approximately 410 feet long by 476 feet wide.
It features 15 rectangular enclosures arranged around a central courtyard, which appears to align with the solar equinox, a time when the sun rises directly over the equator and is often marked by key ritual dates in ancient cultures.
The team believes more than 20,000 people may have lived here, as some buildings were constructed with stones weighing over 100 tons, showing highly organized labor and planning...
Carbon dating revealed the site was most active between AD 630 and 950, during the period when the Tiwanaku civilization expanded its influence into the eastern valleys...
The temple's surface was scattered with fragments of keru cups, used for drinking chicha, a traditional maize beer, during agricultural feasts and celebrations, indicating its role as a key trade hub, according to Capriles...
Nearby, at a smaller archaeological site called Ocotavi 1, researchers uncovered homes, tools, animal bones and human burials with skull shaping, a sign of high status in Andean culture.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Views of the Palaspata temple: A) an aerial mosaic created from recent drone images, and B) a filtered image showing color differences, overlaid with a grid to outline the temple's structure.Cambridge University Press
Located in the Province of Florida, Department of Santa Cruz, the archaeological site of Fuerte de Samaipata consists of two clearly identified parts: the hill with its many carvings, believed to have been the Ceremonial Centre and area to the south of the hill, which formed the administrative and residential district and the political administration. The site is known to have been occupied and used as a ritual and residential centre by people belonging to the Mojocoyas culture as early as AD 300, and it was at this time that work began on the shaping of this great rock. It was occupied in the 14th century by the Inca, who made it a provincial capital. This is confirmed by the features that have been discovered by excavation - a large central plaza with monumental public buildings around it and terracing of the neighbouring hillsides for agriculture - which are characteristic of this type of Inca settlement. It formed a bulwark against the incursions of the warlike Chiriguanos of the Chaco region in the 1520s. The strategic location of the site, which had attracted the Inca to it, was also recognized by the Spaniards. The silver mines of the Cerro Rico at Potosí began to be worked in 1545 and the colonial settlement of Samaipata became an important staging post on the highway from Asunción and Santa Cruz to the colonial centres in the High Andes such as La Plata (modern Sucre), Cochabamba and Potosí. With the establishment of the new town of Samaipata in the Valle de la Purificación, the ancient settlement had no further military importance and was abandoned.World Heritage Site, Fuerte de SamaipataThe archaeological site of Samaipata consists of two parts: the hill with its many carvings, believed to have been the ceremonial centre of the old town (14th–16th centuries), and the area to the south of the hill, which formed the administrative and residential district. The huge sculptured rock, dominating the town below, is a unique testimony to pre-Hispanic traditions and beliefs, and has no parallel anywhere in the Americas.
atop a ridge in the remote highlands southeast of Lake Titicaca,
Waiting....
Thanks for the link!
I may as well get it over with...Is such a thing even possible? Yes, it is.
Oh goody. A world heritage site. Meaning that ‘unesco’ is actually in charge of the location.
“...The temple’s surface was scattered with fragments of keru cups....”
Dang K-Cups everywhere!................
It wasn’t remote at all until it was... I am going to claim again that the population was substantially higher than what they think or claim.
One is reminded of Unwin's thesis.
LIDAR is going to reveal tons of cities in the Amazon.
I am constantly surprised at the people who are surprised that the earth changes over thousands of years. I can only imagine what is under the Antarctic ice cap or the Sahara.
Everything old is gonna be new again.
You think they believed men could become women?
“vanished” is a pretty dramatic word. Numerous seismic, volcanic, atmospheric events affected South America over the time period with some apparent written records and many more oral traditions of bad mojo. Quakes would play hell with stone, masonry structures. Maybe when the food dries up, the leaders pay the price and the civilization disperses to where the food (any food) is found.
Lost temple found in mountains reveals... keru cups, used for drinking chicha, a traditional maize beer
Oh K, yeah it looks like they really corn-ered the market on drinking games.
...near the small community of Ocotavi
They must have been really high! ♫
It was fount near the lake titi caca
Just saying.
“Lost temple found”
Dang it- now the mystery is dead.
“......near the small community of Ocotavi...”
Which is right down the road, a fur piece, from Rikki-Tikki-Tavi..................
That’s in the sidebar, not site in the topic post.
Looks like an early strip mall with an out lot fast food joint in the center.
I don't think it was a Temple like they always claim. These folks actually had more important priorities like eating to survive. I think it was a grain open threshing platform, processing, and storage facility. And if so it processed and stored a lot of grain for a lot of people...
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