Sillustani Ruins
32 kms form Puno are the Chullpas (pre-Columbian funeral towers) of Sillustani, beautifully set on a peninsula in Lake Umayo surrounded by stark altiplano.
The Chullpas were built by the Aymara-speaking Collas - a tribe that dominated the Titicaca region before the Incas. Each tower contained the remains of Colla nobility accompanied by their riches. Grave robbers have since removed their contents, although the towers are well preserved and well worth seeing. The engineering involved in their construction is more complex than anything the Incas built. Two of the towers are unfinished: one with a ramp still in place to raise blocks; the other with cut stones ready to go on a very ambitions dome.
The architecture of the site is often considered more complex than typical Incan architecture. In contrast with the Inca, who used stones of varying shapes, the Colla used even rectangular edges.[4] While chullpas are not unique to Sillustani and are found across the Altiplano, the site is considered the best and most preserved example of them.
What are your thoughts?
I think their work was interupted; there are blocks that may have been ready for their next project:
I think the Kollas/Collas were part of or related to the peoples of Tiwanako or may have been survivors after Tiwanaco was destroyed. They shared stone technology...both appear to have known how to make concrete.
example from Punopuncu - which was once on the shore of Lake Titicaca:
And now you must be wishing you hadn't asked, lol!
