Not to be pedantic but the nearest quarries are actually about 6.2 miles away (or 10 km which is probably what you were thinking.)
The most likely scenario is that Tiahuanacoan laborers retrieved the stone from a quarry near Lake Titicaca and laboriously transported them using inclined planes and cords- quite the impressive feat considering one stone weighs 130 tons. One quarry source is from the Copocabana region on the other side of Lake Titicaca and the andesite stones taken from there (one weighing 40 tons) were transported across 90 kilometers including a trip across Lake Titicaca. Quite an impressive feat but not one that requires extraterrestrial aid.
In 2002 archaeologist
Alexei Vranich set out to replicate how the Tiahuanacons quarried and transported their materials across such a vast stretch with the technology available to them. He and his crew constructed a
12 ton reed totora, set out to find an adequate stone to transport and used levers, ropes,
stone ramps and lubrication made from fish oils to haul the
9 ton stone to their
totora. They also discovered that they could have transported
up to 18 tons using the methods and the totora they had built. Yes, 130 tons is a helluva lot more, but Vranich's experiment shows how the technology and work force available to the Tiahuanacoans allowed them to accomplish such a monumental task. Here's Dr. Vranich's comprehensive report on building the reed boat:
http://dralexeivranich.org/documents/Reed_Boats.pdf
Not quite. The grooves
are impressively similar, but not for all of them- some are actually unfinished which of course means the grooves
were not all uniform and this makes the claim of a consistent 1 cm. deep, 1 cm. pattern wide puzzling.
The ruins are diorite and andesite, but diorite isn't the impenetrable stone it has been portrayed as- it can be cut by substances other than diamond. Yes, it is tough stuff, but there are several examples of ancient cultures carving it with copper tools accessible at the time. There's no need to include diamond-tipped implements much less high-tech' assistance when copper and bronze tools
can cut diorite. The Code of Hammurabi was inscribed on diorite and the mineral was used in art, sculpture, weaponry and architecture in ancient Egypt, the Incans, Mayans, Assyrians and Babylonians. Diorite balls were used by the Egyptians to cut rock-
the statue of Khafre from the 4th Dynasty is a diorite gneiss composition and intricately carved. Diorite sculptures dates back as far as 4,000 BCE. In a similar vein some archaeologists have suggested that the ancients spread quartz powder on a hard surface then used copper tools to saw the material.
Anyway, copper saws could cut precise grooves and drill holes similar to what is displayed at Puma Punku. It is extremely time consuming and labor intensive but certainly within the capabilities of the culture at the time. There may be some mystery over the precise methods they used but there's no evidence anything other than available materials, clever engineers and a large work force were responsible for Puma Punku's amazing constructs.
Several Egyptian diorite quarries are examined at in this paper which gives an idea of how ancient cultures could and did quarry a wide range of stone sources:
http://www.eeescience.utoledo.edu/F...cientEgyptianQuarries_IllustratedOverview.pdf
As for the claims that the structural accomplishments at Puma Punku are beyond the capabilities of modern technology, well, that's ridiculous. Contemporary architectural and materials technology makes the Puma Punku accomplishments astounding on their own terms, but a pale reflection of what we're capable today. Mystery mongerers tend to make this claim often but it's nonsense of course.
I certainly can't accuse you of this, but based on my experiences with ancient astronaut claimants I've always found their attitude not only ridiculous but condescending with a whiff of Eurocentrism behind them. These weren't stupid people, they were modern humans with the same brain capacity as us- they just had resources and knowledge that limited their technological aptitude in comparison to modern technology. What they accomplished with what they had access to was astonishing but within the realms of human capability and doesn't require any external aid. We built these structures with our know how, our blood and sweat and our perseverance, not aliens or time travelers or pixies. Every time I read or hear about ancient astronaut claims I get the extreme from "ancient peoples were too stupid to accomplish this" to "ancient peoples accomplished feats moderns are incapable of". Both stances are just plain ridiculous.
<clipped
Cargo Cult stuff>
It's De Gelder's
The Baptism of Christ. It looks like an illuminated sky with the holy spirit personified as a dove appearing during Jesus' baptism. Artists who portrayed Biblical scenes often used a luminous circle to convey divinity in their paintings and iconography; the dove was and is a common motif in Christian art for rebirth and the Holy Spirit. It has nothing to do with UFOs. The Baptism of Christ as an example of UFOs in art is also an odd choice- there are other paintings that portray objects that look far more E.T. like than this one. De Gelder clearly intended to paint the classic scene as recorded in Mark 1:10, Matt. 3:16, Luke 3:21, and John 1:32. where a dove flew from an illuminated sky to descend as the Holy Spirit to Jesus during his baptism.
It's a dove in a halo of light. Not an alien spacecraft.
The Art of Imagining UFOs is a great article on the subject in the Italian edition of Skeptic magazine. I hope it clears up some misconceptions you have on ancient astronaut nonsense.
I can't argue that we know every aspect of how they constructed these amazing features- only an estimated 5% of the Tiahuanacon ruins have been examined by archaeologists! That's a drop in the bucket and a lot more work is necessary to get a clearer picture of their culture and accomplishments. But questions do not equal abject ignorance and ignorance does not necessitate a completely worthless hypothesis like ancient astronauts when more plausible scenarios offer the more parsimonious explanations.
Here's Dr. Vranich's documented experiment on moving the stone slab:
Voyage to the American Stonehenge
And Dr. Vranich's extensive study on the Tiwanaku ruins:
The Construction and Reconstruction of Ritual Space at Tiwanaku, Bolivia.
