Gold, sacrifices and rituals: the signs of the incredible discovery of Lake Titicaca

New discoveries in Lake Titicaca have surprised a research team: an old city he made ritual offerings to the deities supernatural near Isla del Sol on Lake Titicaca, Bolivia, some 500 years before the Incas, in the 10th century.

Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Penn State, José Capriles, explained that the results suggest that organized religion He appeared much earlier in the region than previously thought.

"Our research shows that people from Tiwanaku, which developed on Lake Titicaca between 500 and 1100 AD, were the first to offer valuables to the religious deities of the region, "he said.

"People often badociate the island of the sun with the Incas because it was an important place of pilgrimage for them and because they left behind many buildings and ceremonial offerings in and around this island, "he said, pointing out that this indigenous civilization does not had reached the Lake Titicaca region only around the fifteenth century.

In turn, he added, this emergence of organized religion probably led to the consolidation of groups of people living around the lake and the emergence of the state of Tiwanaku, characterized by political hierarchy.

Underwater archaeological excavations

A team led by Christophe Delaere, postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Maritime Archeology of the University of Oxford and Associate Researcher at the Université libre de Bruxelles, underwater archaeological excavations on the Khoa Reef near Isla del Sol.

archaeologists they used sonar (technique that uses sound propagation under water) and three-dimensional underwater photogrammetry to scan and map the reef. They also used a dredge to search the sediments and measured and weighed all the archaeological material found.

In particular, the team ritual offers found which consisted of fired ceramic burners for incense; offspring of sacrificed lamas; and ornaments gold and stones.

"The results, and especially incense burners The ceramic cougars are important because they help us better understand the ritual behavior and religion of the state Tiwanaku, a society that preceded the Incas several hundred years, "said Delaere.

The cougar was an important religious symbol for the Tiwanaku, added the specialist.