Twilight of the Gods: The Mayan Calendar and the Return of the Extraterrestrials by Erich Von Daniken Read Free Book Online Page B

Switzerland.

    The same applied to the engravings on the Gateway of the Sun. The "priest-astronomers" (Posnansky) knew how to represent the winter and summer solstices, and also the equinoxes, the daily position of the Moon, and even the "heavenly equator" down to the finest detail ("y el eje vertical de estas dos Figuras representa el Ecuador Celeste").50
    Posnansky was pulled along by his own excitement and enthusiasm. He was acquainted with all of the literature that had been written about Tiwanaku, knew the legends and lore of the Incas, could speak Aymara and Quechua fluently, and was determined to find the answer to one key question: How was all this possible? He often doubted his own discoveries, consulted with other scientists, and was still forced to come to the same conclusion-namely that Tiwanaku must be viewed a kind of prehistoric metropolis, built before the last great flood by beings that were somehow way more advanced than any kind of Stone Age man had any right to be. For Posnansky, the Gateway of the Sun was just the centerpiece of a fantastic wall filled with calendrical depictions. ("...La Puerta del Sol es unicamente la Parte central de un formidable muro de inscriptiones calendograficas...."51)
    This means that the priest-astronomers must have taken the precession of the Earth into account. (Precession refers to variations in the inclination of a planet's rotational axis. The Earth's precession cycle lasts around 25,800 years.) Posnansky identified three construction periods at Tiwanaku and noted that parts of Puma Punku at least belonged to the oldest of these-this oldest period was also, paradoxically, the most technically perfect, contrary to any rules of technological evolution. As we all know, at the beginning it's always quite primitive: Tools and techniques have to be developed. From generation to generation, small advances are made and skills improve. This only applies to a limited extent at Tiwanaku, because in one corner of the complex lies Puma Punku-built with inexplicable technology. Later generations simply tried to extend the complex with poorer-quality tools.

    Based on his astronomical calculations, Posnansky dated the second period as being at least 10,000 years before Christ, and the oldest at around 15,450 BC. This was long before New Grange (Ireland), Stonehenge (England), or any kind of Egyptian or Sumerian culture. At least, it was if we accept established archaeological teachings.
    But although Arthur Posnansky was often overtaken by his own enthusiasm, he was anything but a fantasist. He was a true researcher in body and soul: He didn't simply base all his work on his own discoveries and theories, but rather called regularly on the wisdom of other astronomers, geologists, and so forth. In this way, he was able to ascertain that the fauna and flora present during the building of the first stage of Tiwanaku must have changed radically: "This can be clearly shown by the remains of sea life and the silt sediments by Lake Titicaca."52 Posnansky searched for the quarry from which the large stone blocks came and found it around 40 miles from the site of the ruins in the volcanic slopes of "Kjapphia" (now known as "Cerro de Skapia") near Zepita on the Peruvian side of the border. Here, a number of various different types of andesite could be found. (Andesite forms from cooled volcanic magma.)
    Then Posnansky was confronted with another problem: How did the blocks get all the way to Tiwanaku? The most plausible solution involved specially built roads on a very solid foundation. Rollers would have then been used to get the 200-ton slabs moving. Then came the ships. Posnansky maintained there was once-"without a shadow of doubt"53-a canal system. The fact that there was water around can be shown geologically. Tiwanaku itself was sited on a harbor. But that was a long, long time ago in a prehistoric epoch.

    Posnansky was the first person to postulate a complicated and perfectly designed