
Peru is a country in South America, home to several ancient cultures. The earliest evidences of human presence in Peruvian territory have been dated to approximately 12,500 BCE in the Huaca Prieta settlement.[24] Andean societies were based on agriculture, using techniques such as irrigation and terracing; camelid husbandry and fishing were also important.
The oldest known complex society in Peru, the Caral/Norte Chico civilization, flourished along the coast of the Pacific Ocean between 3,000 and 1,800 BCE.[1]
Nazca Lines[]
Not far from the sea, in the Andes mountains of Peru, lies the Palpa Valley near the city of Nazca. A small area of level ground about a mile wide and nearly forty miles long sits in the middle of this valley. Should you fly overhead, you will see big lines laid out on this dusty plain. Some of the lines run parallel, some intersect while others seem to enclose geometric shapes. Archaeologists who discovered the lines, concluded that they were Inca roads... Roads that go nowhere.
The ancient Mayans possessed an astonishing knowledge of mathematics and celestial mechanics. They were aware of the fact that the earth was round and had estimated the length of an earth year at 365.242 days. There are many mysteries of ancient peoples which continue to amaze modern investigators.
High on red sandhill cliffs overlooking the Bay of Paracas near Pisco, Peru is a 602 foot design. It is visible some 12 miles from the coast and is in the shape of a large trident known as the Tree of Life. There is some speculation that it may be a pointer, pointing toward the Plain of Nazca.
The fortress of Sacsahuaman which is near the present day city of Cuzco, is a marvel of ancient engineering. Many of the stone blocks used in the construction of this fortress weigh more than 100 tons. The walls which form the terraces on the side of the mountains are more than 1500 feet long and 54 feet wide. These blocks have been carved from even larger pieces of rock which have been transported from a distant quarry.
Near the city of Nazca lies a barren, desolate plain upon which are carved a number of enormous drawings. Many are more that 150 yards in size. They are of common animals and objects such as a bird, spider, fish and other designs. These carvings are so large so as to be unrecognizable from the ground. They can only be made out distinctly from the air. This observation has led researchers to assume that the carvings were drawn to be seen by gods, making the outlines so enormous that they could be seen from heaven.
Tiahuanaco[]
In the ancient city of Tiahuanaco, Peru is a stone idol weighing approximately 20 tons, carved from a single block of red sandstone. It is covered with hundreds of carefully carved symbols. The accuracy and precision of the idol's workmanship stands in stark contrast to the primitive building in which it resides. Further, the symbols themselves are a source of amazement.
In a book entitled "The Great Idol of Tiahuanaco", H.S. Bellamy & P. Allen postulate that the symbols embody a mass of astronomical data about the earth and the heavens 27,000 years ago. They believe that a book titled "Theory of Satellites" by Hoerbiger which was published in 1927, five years prior to the discovery of the idol, details a series of events which are encoded in the symbols on the idol. Bellamy and Allen believe that the idol records a satellite object making 425 orbits around the earth per year; and that one year lasted 288 days.
Antarctica[]
In the early 1700s, a series of ancient maps which had belonged to Turkish Navy Admiral Piri Reis were discovered in the Topkapi Palace. The maps were given to an American cartographer named Arlington H. Mallerey for analysis. At first glance, the amount of land mass and relative positions of the major continents seemed to be correct and it was noted that the continent outlines did not conform to a standard flat map.
With the assistance of a cartographer from the U.S. navy Hydrographic Bureau, Mallerey was able to determine that the maps were a representation of the world as viewed from a point in space above Cairo, Egypt. Not only were the outlines of the continents correctly distorted by the curvature of the earth, but the placement of mountain ranges and other geographical features was just as accurate. Further, the Piri Reis maps show mountain ranges on the Antarctic continent that were not known until 1952 when echo sounding maps were produced for the first time. These mountains have been covered with ice throughout recorded history.
By Danny Brown, dannybrown@easynet.co.uk.