h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Tiwanaku - Pre-Inca Metropolis - A87799928
Author: Tavaron da Quirm - Arts Editor - U1314679

this is a Flea Market rescue, the original Entry can be found here: A612992
I don't know how much of the original Entry is preserved in this one, I just tried to get things right. It was difficult because there is not a lot of information and it often is not sure which information is accurate.

First one to comment on this gets a !

I want the !
Vastly improved entry on Dihybrid's U181644 original.
I was a bit confused about how the fishers lived 40km away from the lake you mentioned. That's a bit of a commute to work. Yes, you mentioned that the lake changes size and shape over the centuries, but 40km?! Did they really build an irrigation system that long, has the lake really changed that much since 1,500BC or are there nearer lakes? Sounds a very complicated water system to me – no wonder some people think that s did it...

One quick question – in the Gateway of the Sun bit, you mention 'a large human figure whose head is surrounded by suns rays or wears an elaborate hat and holds a staff in each hand' – I wasn't sure whether he was surrounded by lots of suns, the sun's rays, a hat, or whether it is unclear whether or not what he is surrounded by are either a) suns or b) a hat or c.) is/are the sun/suns wearing hats? Sorry – I've read that bit a couple of times, and still not quite sure what you mean. Might just be me getting confused...

But very good – not a place I know anything about other than what I've read here, but if I'm ever in South America, it's a place I'd like to go.

<BB<

This is very interesting and makes Tiwanaku sound like a place well worth visiting.

You've talked about the Inca but do you know if Tiwanaku was linked to the Olmec or Mayan civilisations that flourished further north?

Maybe I'm being dense, but I was getting confused by the description of the Kalasasaya. You say there were no walls above the surface of the platform. But,on the top of the stairs was a door. Presumably you mean there was a further structure on top of the platform with a door in it but is there another set of stairs?

*hands BB the *
Thanks for reading!

Sorry, I really made a mistake. It's only 10km from the lake, but yes, it was once much closer.

I have reworded this sentence, I hope it's clearer now.

Sorry, I couldn't find any mentions of Tiwanaku being linked to other cultuires. But this doesn not mean it's impossible, people just know very little about this culture obviously.

Well... um... it's two large vertical stones at the sides and one large horizontal stone on top of them. So that's a door.

Sorry,it was the steps that confused me.

What I meant was- was there one platform with standing stones round it and steps up to it, then another platform on top with steps up to it and a door?

Or was there one plaform with standing stones round it and steps up to it and the partly-walled enclosure with a door is on the same level but directly at the top of the steps?

(It needs a plan really.)

No, it's one and the same platform. it has standing stones around it and steps up to it and a doorway.

maybe a picture helps:
http://www.diana-tours.com/images/tiwanaku.jpg
(you can't properly se the standing stones because of the wall they erected)

I happened to catch a TV program about this, the last time I was in the vacinity of a Television for a period of time (err September? maybe), The irrigation system they used, was (in the TV thing I watched), really* highlighted as something that was their key to success, as a culture, given the environment and growing capibilities... can't quite recall now, but sure they were aiming towards tying to say some change (possibly climatic, or change in the l lake), bought their demise, wehn it screwed up the irrigation system

Always tricky with cultures and times, wehre there isn't necessarily (and may never have been), any written records, and so only assumptions and deductions from physical, surviving artifacts, must be the sole basis for determining how their culture worked on all* levels

Liked the entry BTW read well to me...

The description of the figure, with the 'sun around his head', was that one of the 'pictures' used by.... err whoever the bloke was who said it was aliens wat done it? (vague recolection of seeing one of this books, and reading some of it, wehn I was a kid)

Thanks.

Thanks 2legs.

Yes, maybe there was a climate change, but nobody can be sure about that. Also there was never a written record, that's right.

Many people seem to believe aliens are involved. Obviously the nascar lines are the signs for the landing, like the lights on an airport, you know?

Yes... even as a child, when I read those* books, I thought it all rather amusing and silly.... oo, a line drawn on the 'face' of the landscape... clearly* an alien llanding strip! Ooo... a strange 'picture' of someone, clearly an alien in a space suit!

THis is excellent.

Thanks Dmitri.

Your Guide Entry has just been picked from Peer Review by one of our Scouts, and is now heading off into the Editorial Process, which ends with publication in the Edited Guide. We've moved this Review Conversation out of Peer Review and to the entry itself.

If you'd like to know what happens now, check out the page on 'What Happens after your Entry has been Recommended?' at EditedGuide-Process. We hope this explains everything.

Thanks for contributing to the Edited Guide!

Well done!

<BB<

Thank you!