Continuing from the previous six
posts, several examples have been shown how the Inca construction differed
considerably from the older, more exact and precise building of a more ancient
people.
Those who built the magnificent
structures in Peru and the Andes had a knowledge of building far beyond that of
other people. As an example, according to the Engineering News-Record, Civil engineers
and other researchers working under a $90,000 National Science Foundation grant
are studying the ancient highway system of South America for clues to help
modern society build roads, bridges and other infrastructure that last longer
and have a less harmful impact on the environment. This past July, researchers
spent 10 days in the Peruvian highlands walking about 30 miles of the road
northeast of Huaraz; they used ground-penetrating radar to probe the subgrade,
and they used satellite equipment to report findings in real time to colleagues
in the United States.
Left: An ancient Peruvian road near the town of Castillo. Note the new paved
cut cutting across the ancient thoroughfare; Right: The ancient highway that
went from Ecuador to Chile, a distance of 3,200 miles
“When
the Conquistadors came, they said that the road was better than the Roman roads
in Spain.” Ancient Peruvians also built other stone structures near or
integrated into the road—culverts, ditches, sidewalls—to accommodate water
flows and support side slopes,” said Clifford J. Schexnayder, a retired
professor at Arizona State University, Tempe. “Hydraulic pressure, as with
today’s solid-concrete retaining walls and levees, was likely not a problem due
to the permeability of these stones. Today, some asphalt and concrete pavements
are being designed with permeability in mind.”
Left:
While the
Egyptian stonework followed a horizontal plane, the South American stonework is
polygonal, apparently following neither vertical nor horizontal planes, a
process which would have required a considerably higher level of technical
skill. The masonry of South America is probably the
finest the world has ever seen; Right: The unusual granite stonework at Puma
Punku at Tiwanaku, considered the oldest stone structures on Earth, that fit
perfectly without mortar
The stonework at Puma Punku (Door
of the Puma), just south of Lake Titicaca in the ruins called Tiwanaku
(Tiahuanaco), are considered by modern builders some of the most advanced
stonework ever seen among ancient ruins. Even with modern-day technology and
machinery, archaeologists believe that replicating these stone structures would
be difficult, if at all possible. Those who built this area would have been
very sophisticated, knowing astronomy and mathematics. To build a place like
Puma Punku, experts say there had to have been a great deal of planning and
writing, to have made these finely
cut stones. The cuts are all perfectly straight, the holes cored into them are
perfect, and all of equal depth, and were cut to interlock and fit together
like a giant puzzle—when fitted together they created a structure four levels
high, or about forty to fifty feet.
The slabs of rock at
Puma Punku said to have once been a huge wharf. The port wharf with a massive four-part building, is
now an area filled with enormous stone blocks scattered around the ground like
matchsticks, with several weighing between 100 and 150 tons. One block
still in place is estimated to weigh 440 tons. So noticeably
impressive are the stones and megaliths is their sheer size, which has given
certain sites an almost 'mythological' status, with local traditions often
claiming that they were fashioned by 'giants' or 'gods.' As an example, a story
was told by the local Aymara natives to a Spanish traveler who visited
Tiahuanaco shortly after the conquest. He said that the city's original
foundation was placed in the age of Chamac Pacha, or First Creation, long
before the coming of the Incas. Its earliest inhabitants, they said, possessed
supernatural powers, for which they were able miraculously to lift stones off
the ground, which "...were carried [from the mountain quarries] through
the air to the sound of a trumpet.”
While legends are far
too often exaggerated, they usually contain some segment of the truth, and here
we find that these ruins at Tiwanaku are both dated to an ancient age, and
verified to an ancient time by the indigenous natives at the time of the
Spanish conquistadors. What is important about this is the fine work, showing
an advanced engineering technology admitted to be unbelievably advanced even by
today’s standards.
Does this sound like
something the Inca could have achieved in a mere 90 years, while fighting on three fronts and conquering some 100 different tribes and nations? Hardly.
Once again, let’s
take a look at the stonework ability of the Inca.
On an ancient wall in Cuzco, we have on the right, the original wall
built long before the Inca, showing an ancient technology of perfectly fitted
large stones precisely cut and angled; Right: On the left and at the top, the
later Inca work, using their typical small stones with which they worked to
cover the original wall
Another ancient pre-Inca wall in Cuzco, with Inca additions along the
far left top, once again using the small stones
Inca stonework repair. The Inca fitted their small rocks on the
massive stones that weighed many tons built by an ancient, pre-Inca people
This wall behind the Peruvian woman was built entirely by the Inca.
Note how the rocks do not fit well, and compare with wall at right of pre-Inca
stonework by a more ancient people
Since
it is obvious the Inca simply lacked the advanced engineering skills of the
ancient builders of Cuzco, Sacsayhuaman, Ollantaytambo and numerous other
sites, the question
has to be asked. Who could have built such magnificent stonework as that found found
all over Peru?
The only plausible answer is that it was built by the
Nephites.
“And it came to pass that the Lord told me whither I should
go to find ore, that I might make tools (1 Nephi 17:10)…the Lord did show me
from time to time after what manner I should work the timbers… now I, Nephi,
did not work the timbers after the manner which was learned by men, neither did
I build the ship after the manner of men; but I did build it after the manner
which the Lord had shown unto me… and I, Nephi, did go into the mount oft, and
I did pray oft unto the Lord; wherefore the Lord showed unto me great things (1
Nephi 18:1-3).
It was the Lord who personally instructed Nephi, and it was
Nephi who then taught his people how to “build buildings, and to work in all
manner of wood, and of iron, and of copper, and of brass, and of steel, and of
gold, and of silver, and of precious ores, which were in great abundance… and
I, Nephi, did build a temple; and I did construct it after the manner of the
temple of Solomon save it were not built of so many precious things; for they
were not to be found upon the land, wherefore, it could not be built like unto
Solomon's temple. But the manner of the construction was like unto the temple
of Solomon; and the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine (2 Nephi 5:15).
It took a great deal of effort, labor, ingenuity, and
persistence to build Sacsayhuaman. “And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did cause
my people to be industrious, and to labor with their hands” (2 Nephi 5:16).
Sacsayhuaman, of course, is the City of Nephi (2 Nephi 5:8),
later called the City of Lehi-Nephi (Mosiah 7:21; 9:15).
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