The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-05-07
HAD CIVILIZATION
ANTEDAT|NG THAT
Of ANCIENT EGYPT

airy lore of the lncas, who traced an
unhroken line Of kings back to the,
eleventh century, is dumb concerning
the people who built II; a city which
a thousand years ago had been so
long dead that even song, story and
tradition had forgotten every vestige
OF it's history when Columbus dis
covered the New World" Such is,
the ancient city of Tiahuanacu, whose
ruins are crumbiing surely. bat very
slowly into dust, not far from the
southern shore of Lake Titicaca, in
Bolivia.
THE little present day village of
Tiahuanaeu is located on the railroad
which connects La Paz, the modern
capital Of Bolivia. with the port of
Guaqui on Lake Titicaca. and may be
reached in about two hours from the
former place. Tie ruins Of ancient
Tiahuanacu. covering an earea of
a bout Il square mile, are not over
half mile from the village" writes
Edward Albes. in tho Monthly Bull
letin Of the American union.
Washington, y. G.
Work of Ancient Sculptors.
"A traveller stopping in the little
town. and ignorant of the proximity of
the rains. would be astonished to OBJ
serve the number of beautifully cut
stones built into part of abode huts
of the most primitive character, and
sometimes forming portions of a
squalid patio. A. doorway to a diiapi-
dated, thatch-roof hut. may have a
Intel or Jamb formed BY an artistic,
ally carved stone. In the walls of the
little Catholic church and in those in
closing its yard and even in the paw
ing. may be seen these smooth stones.
The pedestal on which is mounted the
stone cross in front of the church is
made up of them, while on either side
Of the gateway tn the Enclosure stands
IL carved stone idol whose lines. mar
red by the ravages of time, still show
the artistic skill of the ancient
sculptors who wrought them
Thus the ruins of the ancient city
have furnished much Of the material
TO build the village of today. and while
the strict unitarian may find no fault
with this work of destroying the ar
tistic monuments OF a hoary antiquity
to cater to present nssds to the stu
dent of archaeology 1t seems almost
like Dissertation. The Bolivian govern
ment has recently enacted a law which
foEbids the carrying off or wilful de-
structiofI of that portion of the -uins
which vandal hands have left iTact
The ruins themselves include the
remnants of temples. palaces and great
structures of what once must have
been a large and densely populated
city. Not 4 vestige remains OF the
dwellings and less pretentious houses
in which this population must have
lived, These were naturally of a
more temporary character and the re-
lentless agents of destruction. work
ing through countless centuries, have
abliterted AL traces.
1900 Feet Above Sea-Level
/ The question which confronts the
archaeologist is: How could a popula-
ton sufficiently numerous TO accom-
plish the building of such a city have
maintained itself in this region? The
ruins are located 13, 600 feet above the
level Of the sea on n vast plateau.
where the constant cold prevents the
maturing Of corn or other grain, At
present potatoes. oca and some other
edible roots are grown, but the region
sustains only ! scanty mountain nopu-
latlon, The city once covered large
area, the great structures were butt
by skilled masons. One stone Is
thirty-six feet long by seven feet wide,
and weighs TO tons; another is twenty
SIX feet by sixteen, and SIX feet thick.
Only the monoliths of ancient Egypt
equal those Eound in Tiahuanacu The
movement and placing of such mono
liths point TO a dense population, to an
organized government and eonse-
duently to large agricultural area
with means Of transportation from
Various directions,
Tho only tenenable explanation Is
that at the time when Tiahuanacu
fiourished the Andes were from 1900
to 3. 900 feet lower than at present.
Biologists hold that in the Jurassic
and even In the Cretaceous period
there We're no Andes and that through
a gradual upheaval they have been
formed in more recent geological.
times. The bones of a mastodon have
been discovered in Bolivia at an alt-
tude of 5000 above the sea, and such
an animal could not have existed at
such u elevation. Skeletons of gigantic
anteaters have been found in the
deserts. of Tarapaca. and these could
only have existed in regions of arbo-
real vegetation. These and o. her
geological facts. support the theory
that the ancient city of Tiahuanacu
existed when the Andes We're much
lower than at present, perhaps when
the cave man of Britain was fighting
for his life with cave bear wild boar
and mastodon, and sketching their
rude pictures on the walls of his prim-
tive, subterranean dwelling.