Results 1 to 5 of 5

Thread: A southern-hemisphere Stonehenge is found in Chile

  1. #1
    Retired Member United States
    Join Date
    13th September 2013
    Location
    Dixieland - USA
    Posts
    1,030
    Thanks
    642
    Thanked 6,928 Times in 1,027 Posts

    A southern-hemisphere Stonehenge is found in Chile

    Archaeologists and astronomers discover Inca calendars
    in the desert






    ON THE winter solstice in 2017, a team of researchers waited in the pre-dawn chill of the Atacama desert. Before them stood two square piles of stones, each about 1.2 metres (four feet) high. A row of three other cairns stretched out 500 metres to the east. This line of saywas—roughly, “markers” in Quechua, an indigenous Andean language—intersected diagonally with an ancient path, part of a road network built five centuries ago by the Incas. The sun rose directly behind the closest columns, appearing to rest briefly atop them.

    “It was an extremely moving experience,” says Cecilia Sanhueza, a historian at Chile’s Pre-Columbian Art Museum in Santiago. Her findings were made public last month. The alignment of the stones with the sun’s rise supported her thesis that they were not just milestones. At least some of northern Chile’s saywas had the “astronomical function” of prefiguring the sun’s appearance. They are a southern-hemisphere Stonehenge.

    The pillars are a visible link to Inti, the sun god, who was thought to “sit” on saywas at solstices. Their arrangement was a way of “sacralising the political presence of the Inca”, whose empire ruled northern and central Chile from about 1470 to 1530, says Dr Sanhueza.

    She formed her initial theories from her study of 16th-century Quechua-Spanish dictionaries, the drawings of Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, a Quechua nobleman who wrote and illustrated a 17th-century treatise on colonial Peru, and a chronicle by Martín de Murúa, a Basque friar.

    To test her ideas, Dr Sanhueza approached the Atacama Large Millimetre Array, an observatory in the Andes mountains, around 150km (90 miles) from the saywas. Simulations by Sergio Martín and Juan Cortés, astronomers at the observatory, supported the thesis that some rows are aligned with sunrises on important dates. That spared Dr Sanhueza the trouble of testing in person the function of each set of saywas.

    But she and her colleagues then spent days and nights battling altitude sickness and the cold to study the environment for additional clues to the purpose of the saywas. Jimena Cruz, an indigenous Atacameña archaeologist, interviewed retired llama herders to learn more about the cultural significance of the pathways. She suggested observing one set of saywas on August 1st, a day of veneration of the earth goddess Pachamama. Sure enough, the rising sun aligned with the pillars. Ms Cruz also recruited local volunteers to help preserve the saywas.

    There are more to be studied, Dr Sanhueza thinks. The investigators hope the example they set will encourage more collaboration between archaeologists, astronomers and locals, and remind the rest of the country that it has a rich indigenous heritage.





    Source: http://earthmysterynews.com/2018/05/...ound-in-chile/



    peace...

  2. The Following 10 Users Say Thank You to skywizard For This Useful Post:

    Aianawa (1st June 2018), Aragorn (31st May 2018), Dreamtimer (1st June 2018), Dumpster Diver (1st June 2018), Elen (31st May 2018), Emil El Zapato (31st May 2018), Herbert (31st May 2018), Juniper (2nd June 2018), Kathy (6th June 2018), modwiz (5th June 2018)

  3. #2
    Senior Member Aianawa's Avatar
    Join Date
    18th March 2015
    Posts
    12,485
    Thanks
    45,719
    Thanked 35,452 Times in 10,162 Posts
    Pretty sure EnjoyB has some in the NZ thread from NZ, also.

  4. The Following 8 Users Say Thank You to Aianawa For This Useful Post:

    Aragorn (2nd June 2018), Dreamtimer (2nd June 2018), Dumpster Diver (1st June 2018), Elen (2nd June 2018), enjoy being (1st June 2018), Juniper (2nd June 2018), Kathy (6th June 2018), modwiz (5th June 2018)

  5. #3
    Retired Member
    Join Date
    6th August 2015
    Posts
    1,853
    Thanks
    4,608
    Thanked 11,685 Times in 2,094 Posts
    Yep the stone circle at Koru Pa for one. Past citadel and teaching site.

  6. The Following 7 Users Say Thank You to enjoy being For This Useful Post:

    Aianawa (1st June 2018), Aragorn (2nd June 2018), Dreamtimer (2nd June 2018), Elen (2nd June 2018), Juniper (2nd June 2018), Kathy (6th June 2018), modwiz (5th June 2018)

  7. #4
    Retired Member
    Join Date
    23rd December 2013
    Posts
    938
    Thanks
    2,656
    Thanked 5,320 Times in 939 Posts
    I wonder whether there are any upturned cups buried beneath the cairns? Still learning about the megaliths and standing stones but it appears that some of them have artefacts buried beneath, so it appears that the structure on the surface may only be a part of the complete site.

    I often wonder when I read articles such as the one that is the topic of this thread: Why is it that some megaliths and ancient buildings and sites have survived the ravages of time and weather - and - some have not? Hmmm ....

    Much Peace & Much Respect - Amanda

  8. The Following 7 Users Say Thank You to Amanda For This Useful Post:

    Aianawa (5th June 2018), Aragorn (5th June 2018), Dreamtimer (5th June 2018), Elen (5th June 2018), enjoy being (5th June 2018), Kathy (6th June 2018), modwiz (5th June 2018)

  9. #5
    Senior Member Aianawa's Avatar
    Join Date
    18th March 2015
    Posts
    12,485
    Thanks
    45,719
    Thanked 35,452 Times in 10,162 Posts
    With the wisdom and knowledge that the/our shoreline where main people area's were is nowadays many feet in the water, lots to find yet imo Amanda

  10. The Following 6 Users Say Thank You to Aianawa For This Useful Post:

    Aragorn (5th June 2018), Dreamtimer (5th June 2018), Elen (5th June 2018), enjoy being (5th June 2018), Kathy (6th June 2018), modwiz (5th June 2018)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •