Posted on 10/23/2004 4:03:27 PM PDT by blam
Finnish find sheds new light on prehistoric Andean culture
HELSINKI (AFP) - Ceramic artifacts found by Finnish archeologists during a dig in Bolivia have shed new light on the prehistoric Tiwanaku people, of whom little is known, Helsinki University officials said.
"The discovery demonstrates that the Tiwanakus made the highest quality ceramics in the Andean region, with very naturalistic portraits, and thanks to this we now know what they looked like," Martti Paerssinen, a professor from Helsinki University who led the excavations, told AFP.
The Tiwanaku people settled on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca in the Andean mountains around 400 BC. They built their administrative centre, the city of Tiwanaku, around 300-500 AD, and their influence in the region continued to grow for several centuries.
Knowledge about the Tiwanakus is however limited as they left no writings and their culture died out in the 11th century.
Today, the Tiwanaku's former capital, some 75 kilometers (45 miles) west of La Paz, is Bolivia's most important archeological site.
The Finnish university has carried out excavations in the area around Lake Titicaca, which is shared between Peru and Bolivia, together with Bolivian archeologists for some 15 years.
During surveys on the island of Pariti in the lake this summer, the team of archeologists found a Tiwanaku burial site containing more than 300 kilograms (660 pounds) of ceramic artifacts, which have been dated to between 850 and 1050 AD.
"The ceramics also tell a lot about their costumes and jewelry, which we knew little about before since the textiles from this period have almost all disappeared," Paerssinen noted.
Well?
GGG Ping.
Finnish? Does that mean they're done?
I'll bet they didn't have red hair.
They wore baggy pants and a hat akin to a baseball cap worn backwards.
"Lake Titicaca"
I have flown over this lake a few times. Great name.
read later
Up in Wyoming, near Yellowstone, there are some little "hills" affectionately called the Grand Tetons.
Even better name. I love pointhing this out on a map to Spanish speakers. They go "No!" I go "Yes!"
When they're this vague, I become suspicious...PC and all.
This guy, Jim Allen, thinks, Historic Atlantis In Bolivia
He said "Tetons," snigger, snigger.
That's my home country and you might be surprised at some of the other place names the early French trappers and mountain men left behind them. Bitch Creek flows near the Tetons and that's just a mild sample. Of course the Political Correctness people are scurrying around trying to change all the names to make them "sensitive" and gender-neutral. The New Puritans.
BTTT
My Mom's family helped homestead and found Riverton, way back when. We had a family reunion there several years ago and my wife and children and I ended up with an extra day after all the out of staters left. We decided to drive up to Dubois from Riverton so that our kids could see the Rockys. Once we got there (with a stop at The Sinks) we looked at the map and said "well, the Grand Tetons are only 75 miles more."
After visiting the lake at the Grand Tetons and taking in the view we looked at the map and said "well, Yellowstone is only 75 miles more."
We arrived at the main area at Yellowstone, parked the car, got out and walked up to Old Faithfull. Five minutes later it went off. We said, "Oh Cool" and went on our way. We went out the East Gate and went through Cody (I like that town) and then headed back down toward Cheyene for our overnight stay, waiting for our flight out. Total of 500 miles in the day. In Wyoming thats apparently no big deal.
My folks have had the opportunity to go Salmon fishing with Dick and Lynn Cheney and think the world of them. Having family from Wyoming I "get" him. My uncle, who lived out most of his life in Riverton, was killed a few years ago while riding his motorcycle. He was 86!
Dick Cheney's sense of humor (VERY dry) is so typical of the folks I know from Wyoming that it's almost a shock that so many folks don't get it, as I do. I wish they did. They're missing a lot by not understanding him. His "Thankyou" to Edwards after he brought up his "lesbian" daughter was devastating. Too bad most folks are too dense to get it.
I've often said I'd love to live in Wyoming, so long as I knew I didn't HAVE to live in Wyoming. Winters there can be very long and can strain the best soul.
When PCness took over Latin American public schools...
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
Lake Titicaca... is that Spanish for Lake Shittyboobs?
Wasn't that the Boxite Age?
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