The Flood That Destroyed Tiwanaku – Part III

Continuing with the so-called flood that destroyed Tiwanaku and Puma Punku as the Andes shot upward 12,000 feet in an eyelash during the Crucifixion and became the mountains “whose height is great” that Samuel the Lamanite prophesied about (Helaman 14:23).

One of the important things to keep in mind regarding Tiwanaku is the fact that its development gives us another clue that it, at one time, was much lower in elevation, for had the climate always been that of a city at 12,500 feet, it never would have developed the way it did. This is because had it been at an elevation above sea level like that found today, it would have had an inclement climate and one unsuitable for human life, as is seen in that of the present time, with its atmospheric phenomena so injurious to the development of agriculture and cattle raising. Under such circumstances it would never have attained the extremely dense population that it had in past epochs.
    At Tiwanaku, the climatical zone has changed from the period of its highest development of this civilization to the present time. The northern part rose and the southern part suffered a great fall.
    Another point to consider is that while Tiwanaku suffered extreme toppling of huge monolithic stones put in place with anti-earthquake connectors as has been found elsewhere in the Andea area of Peru, while other cities and sites remain intact, such as Cuzco and Sacsayhuaman, Tiwanaku fell like child’s toys being scattered out of hand. This can be the result of the rise among the Andes to a great height, where other locations may well have had a much lesser rise, or little rise at all, that is, entire chunks of land rose up as opposed to isolated peaks.

Top: Sacsahuaman and (Bottom) Machu Picchu, neither central site show any effect of cataclysm events like that which fell the southern location of Tiwanaku

    Compare the solid, intact ruins above with those of Tiwanaku below that were found strewn across the land before archaeologists began trying to rebuild Tiwanaku.

Some early photos showing the original displacement of many of the large monolithic stones that have now been replaced in a semblance of walls and foundations

    The fact that Tiwanaku was once associated with the ocean with its wharfs and ship dockings, suggests an enormous change in environment for this location. In fact, Puma Punku, truly startles the imagination. There is the remains of a great wharf (for an ocean long ago lapped upon the shores of Tiwanaku)—as one researcher put it “It still has the ruins of extensive docks lying on an earlier shoreline, that in its heyday, one of these docks could have accommodated hundreds of sea-going vessels!”) and a massive, four-part, now collapsed building. One of the construction blocks from which the pier was fashioned weighs an estimated 440 tons (equal to nearly 600 full-size cars) and several other blocks laying about are between 100 and 150 tons.  The quarry for these giant blocks was on the shore of Titicaca, some ten miles away.
    It is interesting that in this particular area, these huge monolithic and monumental stones, weighing hundreds of tons, were so strewn about, yet a little to the north, at Cuzco and the Sacred Valley area similarly huge blocks of stone remained intact without so much as a crack appearing between them. This has led to the belief that at Tiwanaku, a calamitous event occurred that did not happen further north, or at least not to the same dynamic magnitude.
    There is further evidence that Titicaca was once a saltwater sea, for even today its shoreline is littered with millions of fossilized seashells; and it has salt-water flora and fauna in and around the lake, with tons of fossilized sea shells upon its shores. The marine fish and seahorses in the lake are all oceanic types found only in salt water, and skeletons of salt-water, ocean-dwelling fish have been found there...Sixteen miles away, and 100 feet higher in elevation, lies a huge set of wharves and piers within the ruins of an ancient city, devastated by a cataclysmic event. These rock wharves bear tribute to a once flourishing shipping business of significant size, with several of the docks and piers so large that hundreds of ships could dock comfortably, and water lines along surrounding hills suggests that a salt water sea once occupied the area.

Top Left: the fossil shell from an extinct air-breathing tortoise of the genus Chelonoidis, that cannot live above 164 feet; Top Right: Sea Shells on top of the Andes Mountains; Bottom Left: Fossilized sea shells found at Lake Titicaca; Bottom Right: Titicaca is today inhabited  by the only known freshwater seahorses, having once been sea water that evolved over time when the lake rose

    While Titicaca today is considered a fresh-water lake, it still has significant salt content, and evidence of its drainage basins suggests it was once completely salt water.
    It is believed that the area was once inhabited by the Urus, a people today no longer etant, and later dominated successively by Aymara warlords, Quechuas of the Inca empire, and Spanish conquerors. Along its banks flourished the Tiwanaku culture that has been dated variously from early B.C. times to as far back as 2000 B.C. Some culture left behind immense megalithic constructions and complex agricultural systems redolent of an obviously advanced civilization. Before these people mysteriously disappeared, its art, culture and religion had spread throughout the entire Andean region.
    Some researchers argue that an incredibly devastating earthquake could have torn the city asunder, lifting Tiwanaku and the lake to where they are now. Most researchers fall short of this, since the idea would have to include the rising of the Andes in a very short time; however, what most researchers fail to comprehend is the Lord’s involvement here, for it was the result of his crucifixion that set these event into motion, with a three-hour earthquake and storm that devastated the area—and the deity that created the universe could certainly build a mountain in a three-hour or three-day period.

The most important edifice for dating purposes is the Kalasasaya (“Place of the Vertical Stones”). It is built like a stockade with 12-feet high columns jutting upward at intervals, each of these being carved into human figures. The steps of the Kalasasaya (Temple), are each a rectangular block of stone about 30 feet wide. The megalithic entrance to the Kalasaya mound is here seen from the Sunken Courtyard viewing west. The Kalasaya stairway is a well-worn megalith, a single block of carved sandstone. Like the Kalasaya mound, the Sunken Courtyard is walled by standing stones and masonry infill. In this case the stones are smaller and sculptured heads are inset in the walls. Several stelae are placed in the center of the 100-foot square courtyard.
    Once again, we find the evidence of both a flood, i.e., water overrunning the port and of a colossal earthquake with the rising of the Andes. So while Posnansky can suggest a Flood, and others an earthquake, and still others the rising of the Andes as the culprit that brought an end to the magnificent Tiwanaku city and people, it seems clear it was a combination of all three, that destroyed Tiwanaku as well as numerous other cities and lands as outlined in 3 Nephi 8-9.