Akapana ~ The Sacred Mountain

Map of the Akapana Pyramid according to Ponansky, (1945, Vol. I. Plate VIII)

interactive.archaeology.org/tiwanaku/project/akapana1.html

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Dinesh ^club

The largest and most imposing single building in Tiwanaku is the Akapana. Perhaps because of its massive and unprecedented scale for the Andean highlands, archaeologists early in this century assumed that the Akapana was a natural hill, a geological feature only superficially modified by the people of Tiwanaku. But, as our recent excavations have demonstrated unequivocally, the Spanish chronicler Cieza de Leon had it right nearly 500 years ago when the described the structure as “a man-made hill, built on stone foundations” The Akapana is, in fact, an entirely artificial construction of transported earth, clay, gravel, and cut stone stepping up in seven, superimposed terraces. The design, techniques, and materials of the construction in the Akapana are fascinating in themselves, but even more so for the insight they provide concerning the function and meaning of this impressive structur3 ~ page 104

2 years ago.

Dinesh ^club

a Section of the first terrace on the east side of Akapana, exposed during the 1976 excavations directed by Gregorio Cardero Miranda (INAR) - Photograph by Wolfgang Schuller

2 years ago. Edited 2 years ago.

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