History of Tiahuanaco and the Deluge - Part II
As Boero Rojo stated, “the discovery of Aymara structures under the waters of Lake Titicaca could pose entirely new theses on the disappearance of an entire civilization, which, for some unknown reason, became submerged. The Tiahuanacans could have been victims of world-wide flood, their civilization all but wiped out when their homes and structures were covered with sea water. Because of the basin-like geography of the area the flood waters that became Lake Titicaca could not run off and have only gradually evaporated over the centuries.
Professor Schindler-Bellamy as a disciple of Posnansky and Horbiger (who created the world famous (Glacial-Cosmogony theory in the 1930’s) has worked dozens of years in the Tiahuanaco area and has written books on the subject.
According to him the large monolithic Sun Gate of Tiahuanaco was evidently originally the centerpiece of the most important part of the so-called Kalasasaya, the huge chief temple of Tiahuanaco. Its upper part
is covered with a stupendously intricate sculpture in flat bas relief. This has been described as a “calendar” almost as long as the monolithic gateway has been known to exist; thus the Sun Gate has also been called
“the Calendar Gate. This calendar sculpture, though it undoubtedly depicts a “solar year,” cannot however be made to fit into the solar year as we divide it at present. After many futile attempts had been made, by employing a Procrustean chopping off of toes or heels to make the calendar work, the sculpture-which indeed has a highly decorative aspect-was eventually declared generally to be nothing but an intricate piece of art.
Professor Schindler-Bellamy and the American astronomer Allen have nevertheless continued to insist the sculpture was a calendar, though one of a special kind, designed for special purpose, and, of course, for a special time. Hence it must refer exclusively to the reckoning of that time, and to certain events occurring then. Consequently we cannot make the calendar “speak” in terms of our own time, but let it speak for itself�and listen to what it says and learn from it. When we do so we gain an immense insight into the world of the people of that era, into the manner of thinking of their intellectuals, and generally into the way their craftsmen and laborers lived and worked.
To describe these things in detail would make a long story; it took l)r. Allen and Professor Schindler-Bellamy and their helpers many years of hard work to puzzle out the Tiahuanaco system of notation and its symbology, and to make the necessary calculations (before the age of computers). The result was a book of over 400 pages, The Calendar of Tishuanaco, published in 1956.
Thorough analysis of the Sun (Sate sculpture revealed the astonishing fact that the calendar is not a mere list of days for the “man in the street” of the Tiahuanaco of that time, telling him the dates of market
days or holy days; it is actually, and pre-eminently a unique depository of astronomical, mathematical, and scientific data- the quintessence of the knowledge of the bearers of Tiahuanacan culture. The enormous amount of information the calendar has been made to contain-and to impart to anyone ready and able to read it is communicated in a way that is, once the system of notation has been grasped, singularly
lucid and intelligible, “counting by units of pictorial or abstract form. The different forms of those units attribute special, very definite and important additional meanings to them, and make them do double or multiple duty. By means of that method “any number” can be expressed without employing definite “numerals” whose meaning might be difficult, if not impossible, to establish. It is only necessary to recognize the units and consider their forms, and find their groupings, count them out, and render the result in our own numerical notation.
Some of the results seem to be so unbelievable that superficial critics have rejected them as mere arrant nonsense. But they are too well dove-tailed and geared into the greater system (and in some cases supported by peculiar repetitions and cross-references) to be discarded in disgust; one has to accept them as correct. Whoever rejects them, however, also accepts the onus of offering a better explanation, and Professor Schindler-Bellamy has the “advantage of doubt,” at any rate.
The “solar year” of the calendar’s time had very practically the same length as our own, but, as shown symbolically by the sculpture, the earth revolved more quickly then, making the Tiahuanacan year only 290 days, divided into 12 “twelfths” of 94 days each, plus 2 intercalary days. Tilese groupings (290, 24, 12, 2) are clearly and unmistakably shown in the sculpture. The explanation of 290 versus 3651/4 days cannot be discussed here.
At the time Tiahuanaco flourished the present moon was not yet the companion ol our earth but was still an independent exterior planet. There was another satellite moving around our earth then, rather close-5.9
terrestrial radii, center to center; our present moon being at 60 radii. Because of its closeness it moved around the earth more quickly than our planet rotated. Therefore it rose in the west and set in the east (like Mars’ satellite Phobos), and so caused a great number of solar eclipses, 37 in one “twelfth,” or 447 in one “solar year ” of course it caused an equal number of satellite eclipses. These groupings (37, 447) are shown in the sculpture, with many Corroborating cross-references. Different symbols show when these solar eclipses, which were of some duration, occurred: at sunrise, at noon, at sunset.
These are only a small sample of the exact astronomical information the calendar gives. It also gives the beginning of the year, the days of the equinoxes and solstices, the incidence of the two intercalary days,
information on the obliquity of the eliptic (then about 16.5 degrees; now 23.5) and on Tiahuanaco’s latitude (then about 10 degrees; now 16.27), and many other astronomical and geographical references from which interesting and important data may be calculated or inferred by us. Tiahuanacan scientists certainly knew, for instance, that the earth was a globe which rotated on its axis (not that the sun moved over a flat earth), because they calculated exactly the times of eclipses not visible at Tiahuanaco but visible in the opposite hemisphere (One wonders whether they were actually able to travel around the world, and speculate in what sort of vessel ! )
A few more facts revealed in the calendar are both interesting and surprising As indicated by an arrangement of “geometrical” elements we can ascertain that the Tiahuanacans divided the circle factually astronomically, but certainly mathematically} into 264 degrees (rather than 360). Also, they determined-ages before Archimedes and the Egyptians the ratio of pi, the most important ratio between the circumference of the circle and its diameter, as 22/7, or, in our notation, 3.14+. They could calculate squares (and hence, square roots). They knew trigonometry and the measuring of angles (30, 60, 90 degrees) and their functions- They could calculate and indicate fractions, but do not seem to have known the decimal system nor did they apparently ever employ the duodecimal system though they were aware of it. (For a still unknown reason, however, the number 11 and its multiples occur often.) They were able to draw absolutely straight lines and exact right angles, but no mathematical instruments have yet been found.
We must take notice of the evident parallels with the markings of the Nasca Plain. We do not know the excellent tools they must have used for working the glass-hard andesite stone of their monuments, cutting, polishing, and incising. They must have employed block and tackle for lifting and transporting great loads (up to 200 tons) over considerable distances and even over expanses of water from the quarries to the construction sites.
It is difficult to see how all the calculations, planning, and designwork involved in producing the great city of Tiahuanaco could have been done without some form of writing, and without a system of notation
different from the “unit” system of the calendar sculpture. If they had such a system they must have used it only on perishable materials. (One is Lempted to think all these Nasca markings had been constructed by Atlanteans who fled to the altiplano before or after the destruction of their island continent 12,000 years ago.)
The Tiahuanaco culture has no roots in that area. It did not grow there from humbler beginnings, nor is any other place of origin known. It seems to have appeared practically full blown suddenly. Only a few “older” monuments, as can be inferred from the “calendrical inscriptions” they bear, have been found, but the difference in time cannot have been very great. The different-much lower cultures discovered at considerable distances from Tiahuanaco proper, addressed as “Decadent Tiahuacan” or as “Coastal Tiahuanaco,” are only very indirectly related to the culture revealed by the Calendar Cate. Some of their painted symbols are somehow somewhat related to the calendar symbols, but they make no sense whatever; they are, if anything, purely ornamental Tiahuanaco apparently remained for only a very short period at its acme of perfection (evidenced by the Calendar Gate) and perished suddenly, perhaps through the cataclysmic happenings connected with the breakdown of the former “moon.” We have at present no means of determining when Tiahuanaco rose to supreme height. or when its culture was obliterated, asn naturally, the calendar itself can tell us nothing about that. It will certainly not have been in the historical past but well back in the prehistoric. It must indeed have occurred before the planet Luna was captured as the earth’s present moon, about 12,000 years ago.
The capture of the satellite and its later fall to the surface on our planet imposed great stresses on the earth. The gravitational pull caused floods and earthquakes until the moon settled into a stable orbit
one-fift}l of today’s distance. Hence the “moon” draws the oceans into a belt or bulge around the equator, drowning the equatorial region but leaving the polar lands high and dry. When the satellite approached within a few thousand miles gravitational forces broke it up; according to the Roche formula each planetoid or asteroid disintegrates when approaching the critical distance of 50 to 60,000 kms. The fragments shattered down on earth; the oceans, released from the satellite’s gravity, flowed back toward the continents, exposing tropical lands and submerging polar territories. This is the simple explanation of the Horbiger theory, and it seems to me the most logical one.
Thus the approach of the “moon” caused a world-wide deluge, effecting changes of climate and provoking earthquakes accompanied by volcanic eruptions. The “ring” left by the satellite after breaking into fragments caused a sudden drop in temperature of at least 20 degrees, which geologists recognize as iia decline” in temperature. It is evident, for example, in the discovery of frozen mammoths in the Siberian tundra. Possibly gravity-and therefore physical weight�was also changed on earth, and with it biological growth: this would explain the widespread construction of huge megalithic monuments as well as the presence of giants-man and animal-in fossil strata, tombs, and myths. According to Horbiger four moons fell on earth, producing four Ice Ages; our present moon, the fifth one, will similarly be drawn into the critical configuration of one-fifth of its present distance (380,000 kms.) and will cause the fifth cataclysm. (Remember the Aztec calendar’s prediction of doomsday by earthquake!)
The theory of a falling moon has recently been substantiated by Dr. John O’Keefe, a scientist at the Coddard Laboratory for Astronomy in Maryland. Dr. O’Keefe claims that the fragments of a moon’s collision
formed a ring around our planet that could have kept the sun’s rays from penetrating to earth, thus causing world-wide decline of temperatures. After a while the fragments showered down on earth, breaking into
smithereens known as tectites. These tectites O’Keefe believes were fragments of the fallen moon, thus proving Horbiger ’s “World-lce-Cosmology.”
The record nevertheless shows that a far-advanced culture made a substantial attempt to plant its society at Tiahuanaco, wanting to revitalize this region which had already been devastated by floods caused by the close satellite. Their attempt eventually miscarried, because they had nderestimated certain dangerous developments that ultimately happened contrary to all expectations and calculations. Such world-wide cataclysms appear in myth, in the Egyptian Papyrus Ipuwer (”The sun set where it rose”) or the tomb of Senmut (showing Orion-Sirius painted in reverse position), or in the Finnish Kalevala (”the earth turned round like a potter’s wheel”), or the Popol Vuh (describing fire showering down from heaven)�all of which indicate that our planet more than once has suffered world-wide catastrophe. — www.thule.org