Hallan pruebas en el lago Titicaca de la existencia de una religión anterior a la inca

Artefactos y restos encontrados en la parte boliviana del lago Titicaca indican que la región albergó sofisticadas ceremonias religiosas mucho antes de lo que se pensaba.

Los hallazgos muestran que ofrendas rituales a deidades sobrenaturales se llevaban a cabo cerca de la isla del Sol en el lago Titicaca 500 años antes de la llegada de los incas, según un equipo internacional de investigadores.

"La personas suelen asociar la isla del Sol con los Incas, porque era un lugar de peregrinación importante para ellos y porque dejaron atrás numerosos edificios ceremoniales y ofrendas en la isla y sus alrededores", afirmó el arqueólogo José Capriles, profesor de antropología de la Universidad Estatal de Pensilvania (EEUU).

La investigación publicada en la revista Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences muestra que el pueblo Tiwanaku, que habitó en el lago Titicaca entre el 500 y el 1100 d.C., fue el primero en ofrecer artículos de valor a las deidades religiosas en el área.

Con la ayuda de sonares y de fotogrametría tridimensional submarina, los arqueólogos pudieron escanear y mapear el arrecife Khoa. Posteriormente, utilizaron una draga de agua para excavar el sedimento y encontrar los artilugios. El equipo encontró ofrendas rituales que consistían en quemadores de incienso de cerámica, jóvenes llamas sacrificadas y adornos de oro, conchas y piedras.

"Los hallazgos, y especialmente los quemadores de incienso de cerámica con forma de puma, son significativos porque nos ayudan a obtener una comprensión más amplia del comportamiento ritual y la religión del estado de Tiwanaku, una sociedad que precedió a los incas en varios cientos de años", dijo Christophe Delaere, líder de la investigación.

Lake Titicaca: The Cauldron of Incan Creationism

Lake Titicaca has long been the center of various socio-political cultures in South America. The lake has seen many cultures along its shores, such as the Pucará (400BC-100AD) and the Tiwanaku (200BC-1000AD), and still remains a place of value and livelihood for the Uru peoples of the famed Floating Islands. Yet it is the Incas who encapsulated the essence of the great lake around which they built their own civilization. Lake Titicaca was enveloped into their mythological and religious beliefs as the center of the cosmos.

The Incan Creation Story

According to Inca tradition, their creator god (called either Viracocha or Wiraqocha) created the world as it is now through trial and error, creation and destruction. As seen in other creation myths, such as those of the Norse and the Greeks, the first beings were created both by and from the creator himself, later meeting an unfortunate end at the hands of a great flood sent by the creator.

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Representation of Inca god Viracocha

Representation of Inca god Viracocha ( Public Domain )

In the Incan worldview, Viracocha's first attempt at creating life came in the form of stone giants. Due to the giants' size and physical makeup, it is not surprising that they were so difficult to control that Viracocha traded them in for the smaller, more "pliable" race of humans (forged from clay or stone) which he supposedly crafted in Tiahuanaco. For a time, Viracocha let humanity thrive until their greed and pride - two factors that have been humanity's downfall across cultures - led to Viracocha's decision to start again. Thus he sent the Incan version of the Great Flood. The deluge eventually subsided into Lake Titicaca, leaving three humans alive (or two, depending on which narrative one reads), just as Lif and Lifsandir were the only survivors of the Norse Ragnarök, and Deucalion and his wife were among the few to survive the second ancient Greek flood. These humans would go on to create the humans from which all current people are descended. It is also said that either from Lake Titicaca or before the creation of the lake, Viracocha forged the sun, the moon and the stars. Lake Titicaca, therefore, is quite literally the cauldron from which life as the Incas knew it sprung.

La balsa de totora, Viracocha I, y su arribo a la Isla de Pascua ( CC BY-SA 3.0 )

Verbal Legend

Among the most valued sources discussing Incan religion and Viracocha's creation myth comes from a Spaniard named Juan Diez de Betanzos. De Betanzos ' source is unique in its respect as a "firsthand account" by scholars because de Betanzos' book, Narrative of the Incas , is based solely on statements of his Incan wife, Dona Angelina. Angelina was originally named Cuxirimay Ocllo Yupanqui, and was a young wife of Incan ruler Atahualpa (one of many wives of the leader). Atahualpa was in power when the Spanish came to the Empire, and was deposed and executed by conquistador Francisco Pizarro. Cuxirimay Ocllo Yupanqui was taken prisoner, renamed Dona Angelina and eventually married to Juan de Betanzos, with whom she shared the Incan worldview. Thus the account by de Betanzos has been considered the closest thing to an indigenous written record.

Amantaní (in the distance) viewed from Taquile (in the foreground) on Lake Titicaca, Peru.

Amantaní (in the distance) viewed from Taquile (in the foreground) on Lake Titicaca, Peru. ( Public Domain )

However, as with most interpretations of ancient traditions through Christian eyes, de Betanzos' own religious upbringing cannot be overlooked as a possible influence in the writing of his narrative. The Inca creation myth survives in great detail because of Dona Angelina, yet the monotheistic worldview of the Spanish may have subtlety influenced the stories. For instance, the Spanish appear to have attempted to transform Viracocha - as the god of creation and the highest of the Incan pantheon - into an Incan name for the Christian god, with an emphasis of Viracocha's creation placed on rigid perceptions of light and dark (i.e., good and evil) rather than the Incan values of duality and reincarnation. (This theory is grounded in the codification of other polytheistic religions by Christians - such as the Norse sagas - and has not been proven by this author.) On the other hand, it can also be argued that naming Viracocha as the "primary god" was not an intention, but a mere misinterpretation by the Christian writers.

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Polish divers search lakes near Machu Picchu for traces of Inca ritual activity

Polish scientists searched for traces of the Inca ritual activity in three lakes in the Machu Picchu region of Peru - at an altitude of over 4100 m above sea level. On the shores of the lakes there are ceremonial platforms, from which sacrificial offerings were probably made during rituals.

Particularly two of the lakes surveyed this year - Soctacocha and Yanacocha - are very interesting for researchers. They are located in the vicinity of the well known Inca trail Camino Inca that connects numerous archaeological sites with the famous rock city of Machu Picchu. In times of splendour, more than 500 years ago, the city was surrounded by many temples and settlements. Currently it is the protected area of Machu Picchu National Park and a very popular tourist route.

"We were convinced that it was worth exploring deep into the lakes already during the reconnaissance. It turned out that in both cases there were ceremonial stone platforms by the lakes. Sacrificial offerings were probably made from these platforms during rituals", said research expedition leader, diver and archaeologist Dr. Maciej Sobczyk from the Center for Precolumbian Studies of the University of Warsaw. In addition Dr. Sobczyk, Mateusz Popek and Przemysław Trześniowski are also members of the team of underwater archaeologists.

The platforms themselves will also be studied by archaeologists. It is possible that since they were cult-related structures, there could be foundation deposits (sacrificial offerings made at the time of construction). Sometimes the dead would also be buried underneath such structures.

All the lakes are found at the foot of the Salkantay Glacier, which was the object of worship of the former inhabitants of the Andes. According to the archaeologists, they played an important role in the Inca beliefs - llamas and alpacas, the animals that played and still play an important role in the economy of the Andes, were believed to have emerged from them in the old days. What could the Incas sink during religious celebrations? It is known that the Incas immersed stone boxes filled with gold and silver figurines in the Lake Titicaca on the border of Peru and Bolivia.

Polish scientists' camp [Credit: M. Sobczyk]

Archaeologists have high hopes for what may be hidden in the bottom of the lakes Soctacocha and Yanacocha. During their initial research, they used sonar to create bathymetric maps. Divers took a several centimetres core sample from one of the lakes - the layers of mud that had settled over millennia. By analysing the sample, scientists will not only learn the history of lakes, but also determine the environmental conditions in the area surrounding the reservoirs.

"This year's work was a big logistical challenge. Due to the difficult terrain, all equipment and supplies had to be delivered to the main camp using mules, and then, due to the steep trails, getting to the place of work took more than two days", recalls Dr. Sobczyk. There was also an unfortunate accident - one of the transport animals fell from the slope.

Last year, archaeologists from the Center for Precolumbian Studies of the University of Warsaw inaugurated pioneering research in water reservoirs located in the Peruvian National Park of Machu Picchu. They surveyed four different lakes, including Humantay. This year, the researchers returned to verify previously identified potential traces of human activity and test equipment designed specifically for the expedition. Despite reaching the bottom at the depth of 20 m, researchers failed to discover traces of ancient rituals.

The lakes studied by the Polish archaeologists are not only at very high altitudes, they are also very deep. This carries a high risk for divers - no sonar or archaeological diving has ever been done at such altitudes.

Mateusz Popek prepares the sonar [Credit: M. Sobczyk]

"High-altitude diving requires rigorous adherence to procedures that are associated with much lower atmospheric pressure at high altitudes. Traditional depth gauges may give inaccurate results, making it more difficult to plan and execute dives", explains the underwater archaeologist and IANTD diving instructor, Przemysław Trześniowski.

High-altitude diving involves a much higher risk of decompression sickness, which also requires high-level diving skills associated with underwater position and ascent rates.

Deep diving in Humantay has also allowed scientists to collect Doppler data, which will be analysed by the National Centre for Hyperbaric Medicine in Gdynia. Dive tables and planning and diving procedures have been developed specifically for archaeologists by Dr. Jacek Kot, MD.

High-altitude underwater studies in the Peruvian Andes are carried out by the Center for Precolumbian Studies in collaboration with the Regional Department of the Ministry of Culture in Cusco, the Research Team of the Machu Picchu Park, as part of the project "The role of the satellite sites in the vicinity of Machu Picchu: Inkaraqay, Chachabamba and mountain lakes at Nevado Salkantay (Peru) ", led by Prof. Mariusz Ziółkowski. Research in the Machu Picchu National Park is funded by the Opus and Prelude grants of the National Science Centre.

Polish scientists' camp [Credit: M. Sobczyk]