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<< Our Photo Pages >> Tiwanaku - Akapana Pyramid - Pyramid / Mastaba in Bolivia

Submitted by bat400 on Wednesday, 21 October 2009  Page Views: 16826

Multi-periodSite Name: Tiwanaku - Akapana Pyramid
Country: Bolivia Type: Pyramid / Mastaba
 Nearest Village: Tiwanaku
Latitude: 16.55631S  Longitude: 68.67283W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
2 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
4 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
4 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
5

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Tiwanaku - Akapana Pyramid
Tiwanaku - Akapana Pyramid submitted by SolarMegalith : Akapana Pyramid - one of the youngest constructions in Tiahuanaco, it's construction started around 8th century AD and was never finished (photo taken on May 2008). (Vote or comment on this photo)
Pyramid in Bolivia.
Built around 1200 BC and is described by experts as one of the biggest pre-Columbian constructions in South America (45 feet high.)

The pyramid is dramatically damaged by looting and quarrying that began with the Spanish Conquest and has continued through the 20th Century. A large "looter's hole" can be seen in the center of the pyramid's top surface.

Note: Renovations to attract tourists to Akapana pyramid may end in building being removed from UN list of archaeological treasures
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Tiwanaku
Tiwanaku
Tiwanaku
Tiwanaku
Tiwanaku
Tiwanaku

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Key: Red: member's photo, Blue: 3rd party photo, Yellow: other image, Green: no photo - please go there and take one, Grey: site destroyed

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 180m NNW 340° Tiwanaku* Ancient Village or Settlement
 965m SW 232° Pumapunku* Ancient Temple
 29.7km NNW 341° Suriki Island* Ancient Mine, Quarry or other Industry
 61.8km NW 314° Copacabana Ceremonial Center Ancient Temple
 75.0km W 268° Cuncaicha Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature
 76.6km NW 319° La Fuente del Inca* Holy Well or Sacred Spring
 102.1km WNW 295° Aramu Muru* Sculptured Stone
 123.9km WNW 288° Jiskairumoko Ancient Village or Settlement
 149.3km WNW 299° Puno Fertility Sanctuary* Ancient Temple
 183.9km WNW 300° Sillustani necropolis* Ancient Temple
 187.1km WNW 302° Lake Titicaca Raised Fields Ancient Village or Settlement
 240.7km WSW 255° Cerro Baul Ancient Village or Settlement
 266.5km SW 218° Lluta Valley Geoglyphs* Hill Figure or Geoglyph
 270.3km SW 216° San Miguel de Azapa Archaeological Museum* Museum
 270.8km SW 215° Azapa Valley Geoglyphs* Hill Figure or Geoglyph
 274.2km SW 217° Cerro Sagrado Geoglyphs Hill Figure or Geoglyph
 274.4km SW 217° La Tropilla Geoglyphs* Hill Figure or Geoglyph
 292.9km WNW 282° Sumbay Rock Art
 300.3km WSW 246° Museo Chiribaya Museum
 302.7km WSW 246° Chiribaya Alta Ancient Village or Settlement
 326.7km SSW 205° Chiza Geoglyphs* Hill Figure or Geoglyph
 359.8km SSW 202° Tiliviche Geoglyphs* Hill Figure or Geoglyph
 383.0km SSW 193° Tarapacá geoglyphs Hill Figure or Geoglyph
 390.7km SSW 195° Atacama Giant* Hill Figure or Geoglyph
 392.2km NW 312° Raqchi* Ancient Temple
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"Tiwanaku - Akapana Pyramid" | Login/Create an Account | 4 News and Comments
  
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Makeover may lose Bolivian pyramid its world heritage site listing by bat400 on Wednesday, 21 October 2009
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As with all makeovers, it seemed a good idea at the time. The village of Tiwanaku in the Bolivian Andes reckoned it could attract more tourists by giving an ancient pyramid a facelift.

Workers plastered the Akapana pyramid – one of the biggest constructions in South America which predates the Incas – with adobe to make it look more impressive.

The problem, according to some experts, is that the new look is an archaeological travesty which could cost the pyramid its UN world heritage site designation. Rather than clay bricks, the original construction, of immense spiritual significance for the Tiwanaku civilisation, is believed to have used stone.

"They decided to go free-hand with the design. There are no studies showing that the walls really looked like this," José Luis Paz, who has been appointed to assess damage at the site, told Reuters.

Officials from the UN heritage agency, Unesco, are due to visit Tiwanaku to determine if its main attraction should be removed from the list of world archaeological treasures.

It was included in 2000 because its ruins "bear striking witness to the power of the empire that played a leading role in the development of the Andean pre-Hispanic civilisation". The Tiwanaku civilisation, which reached Bolivia and parts of Peru, Argentina and Chile, existed from 1500BC to AD1200. The pyramid was thought to have been built between AD300-700 .

Paz, who heads excavations at the site, said the adobe not only looked wrong, its weight risked collapsing the pyramid. Thousands of tourists pay $10 (£6.50) each to visit every year and the people of Tiwanaku, he said, hoped to swell the revenue with a "more attractive" structure. Staff from the state National Archaeology Union (UNAR) did the renovation.

Authorities defended the renovation. "The UNAR has restored the original form the pyramid had," the culture minister, Pablo Groux, told Reuters. "If we look at pictures from five years ago, there was just a hill there. What we can see now is something close to what the construction originally looked like."

"The inclusion in the list of world heritage sites involves regular checks, because some places may lose the essence of why they were included in the list. In the case of Tiwanaku losing that title is unlikely," he said.

For more, including a photo, see the Guardian.
[ Reply to This ]
    Bolivia rejects pyramid criticism by bat400 on Saturday, 14 November 2009
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    Submitted by coldrum ---

    Bolivia's culture minister has denied that restoration work on an ancient pyramid might see it lose its Unesco World Heritage Site designation. Pablo Groux told the BBC the government had halted the work at the Akapana pyramid in Tiwanaku earlier this year, after it was told to do so by Unesco.


    Local archaeologists used a clay-based plaster, adobe, instead of stone on the structure, sparking worldwide outrage. Some experts said they were concerned the work could even cause its collapse.

    The Akapana pyramid is one of the biggest and oldest pre-Hispanic constructions in South America. It had great spiritual significance for the Tiwanaku civilization, which predated the Inca empire.


    They decided to go free-hand with the [new] design... There are no studies showing that the walls really looked like this. Jose Luis Paz, who was appointed in June to assess damage to the site, said the Bolivian state National Archaeology Union (Unar) had made a serious error in choosing to rebuild the pyramid using adobe when it was clearly built of stone.

    "They decided to go free-hand with the [new] design... There are no studies showing that the walls really looked like this," he told the Reuters news agency.

    Mr Paz said the local authorities in Tiwanaku had simply asked Unar to make the pyramid "more attractive for tourists". He also warned that the lower decks of the pyramid were now slightly tilted because of the extra weight of the adobe walls, which could lead to its eventual collapse.

    But Mr Groux defended Unar, saying that as a result of the restoration work, the structure now looked like it had done originally.


    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8317483.stm
    [ Reply to This ]

Ancient Ruler's Tomb, Gold Trove Found in Bolivia Pyramid by bat400 on Tuesday, 07 August 2007
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Additional information from this 2007 dig.

"We believe the individual was a priest or a government figure in the Tiwanaku civilization," Danilo Villamor Encinas, an official with Department of Archaeology of Bolivia, said.

The bones, unlike others found in the pyramid, bear no physical markings of having been ritually sacrificed, he said, and the body was found near the top of the temple rather than at the base, where bones are typically found.

Bolivian archeologists who first announced the find in March said the corpse had been buried with a llama, believed to aid in passage to the afterlife, as well as a gold headband and a fist-size gold pendant.

Researchers have since found a third gold figurine, Villamor said.
"It is very small figurine of gold with two eyes and a mouth and is similar to others found at the site," he said.

Villamor added that the individual—a diminutive 25-year-old male—had suffered from malnutrition, perhaps as a child. "This called our attention, because normally a person that enjoyed a high social rank would be well fed and well cared for," he said.

"This leads us to speculate that this individual lived during a time of cultural stress where there would have been widespread shortages of resources."

For more, see this National Geographic article.
[ Reply to This ]

Gold Bedecked Skeleton in Bolivian Pyramid by Anonymous on Thursday, 03 May 2007
Archeologists have uncovered the 1,300-year-old skeleton of a ruler or priest of the ancient Tiwanaku civilization together with precious jewels inside a much-looted pyramid in western Bolivia.
The bones are "in very good condition" and belong to either "a ruler or a priest," Roger Angel Cossio, the Bolivian archeologist who made the discovery, told Reuters on Wednesday.

He said the tomb -- containing a diadem and fist-sized carved pendant of solid gold -- survived centuries of looting by Spanish invaders and unscrupulous raiders who depleted Tiwanaku of many precious treasures.
"After so much looting... miraculously this has stayed to tell us the history," Cossio said.
"It's a complete body... next to it are jewels, offerings and a llama," he said.

Cossio believes the remains belong to someone of importance in the Tiwanaku society.
"Not just anyone would be buried under the Akapana pyramid" he said.

For more, see the Reuters article.
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