I'm in Tiwanaku, Bolivia, where the
Incas say mankind was created.
Not far from here are the mysterious ruins of Puma Punku,
which feature magnificent megalithic blocks.
Today, most archaeologists believe that Puma Punku was part
of an ancient temple complex, but they are baffled by the
uniformly shaped and sharp edged stone blocks found all over the
site. They are also puzzled by an even
bigger mystery: What type of structure did these blocks
actually form? Could it be that the ruins of
Puma Punku offer evidence of advanced, extraterrestrial
technology being used in the ancient past?
For an ancient astronaut theorist, there are few sites on
Earth more intriguing than this one, and that's why I'm here
investigating the incredible mystery of Puma Punku.
My name is Giorgio Tsoukalos. I explore the world that exists
between reality and speculation, the known and the unknown.
What we've been taught by mainstream scholars is not the
whole picture. But I'm convinced that every day
we are one step closer to the truth.
High in the Andes Mountains, in the Altiplano desert, is
Tiwanaku, one of the most rugged and desolate places on Earth.
This region of Bolivia has seen its fair share of warfare,
invasion and turmoil over the years, but I'm here to see if it
also experienced contact with extraterrestrials.
In 1549, while searching for the capital of the Inca Empire,
Pedro Cieza de León and his Spanish conquistadors discovered
the ruins of what looked like a massive temple complex at what
is now called Tiwanaku. Mainstream archaeologists
suggest that these ruins were once the center of the Tiwanaku
civilization, with approximately 40,000 inhabitants, but little
is known about the people who lived here or the structures
they left behind. Of special interest are the
walls of this large square shaped courtyard, which
features numerous carved stone faces that suggest those of
extraterrestrial visitors. But located just a half a mile
away from the temple at Tiwanaku lie the ruins of what is thought
to be yet another temple complex: the mysterious site
known as Puma Punku, "the Gateway of the Puma."
The name was given by the local Aymara people, who found
artifacts at the site depicting imagery of warriors wearing
masks made of puma skulls. But the Aymara have only
inhabited the area for around 800 years, and Puma Punku is
believed to have been built thousands of years ago.
But what was it? A temple?
A meeting place? Some elaborate monument?
All of these possibilities have been suggested, but to this day
no one knows just what this place was, who built it, or
exactly how old it really is. But what's even more intriguing
is that the blocks here don't even look like those found at
Tiwanaku. It is one of the places where
logic no longer makes sense, because the blocks that we have
here are unique on this entire planet.
This is the only place.
So check it out. Here are the awesome, awesome
H blocks. They're made from solid blocks
of precisely shaped andesite. Whenever I see them, I I
and this is just this feeling that you get at Puma Punku
I'm at a loss for words, because this here is something that
can't be found anywhere else in the world.
Mainstream archaeologists believe that these H blocks were
created by hand, with primitive stone and metal tools.
Tools, I should mention, that they have never found examples
of. But what's so very interesting
is that they seem as if they are part of a larger picture.
That if you put them together, they form a solid wall, which is
very incredible. If another block was placed on
top or this was placed on top of another rock, these are features
that make these two blocks fit together seamlessly.
Because the one thing that we have to remind ourselves with
this particular construction style, no mortar, no binding
agent was ever used. These pieces are so perfect that
they fit together interlockingly in such a way that you don't
need anything with which to bind together the two or three or
hundreds of pieces. Other examples of this type of
precise, interlocking stonework can be found in Cusco, at
Saksaywaman and even Machu Picchu.
But nothing with the sophistication of this place
right here. I mean, it's incredibly
enigmatic. Everywhere I turn, I see more
and more incredible blocks that can't be explained by mainstream
scientists. This is pretty amazing.
I mean, check this out. If you look at this groove
right here... I mean, forget chicken bones.
You simply cannot do this with primitive tools.
And you've got these holes drilled at an equidistant, as if
it's some type of a female piece to a male piece.
So what was it that actually fit into this?
Because one thing, to me, is crystal clear, that this here
or any of these pieces they have nothing to do with any type
of embellishments. These look like technical
components, part of a larger, almost industrial construction.
I've got a little paper clip,
ordinary paper clip that I've just unfurled.
To see how deep they go, and they actually go equidistant all
the way down. I mean, that is something that
cannot be achieved with... with chicken bones.
As far as I'm concerned, these stone blocks had to have been
cut with some type of advanced technology... but what?
Back in 2012, I met up with machinist and toolmaker Chris
Dunn at his workshop in Danville, Illinois, to put a
Puma Punku stone sample through the ultimate test.
We've got a sample of the laser cut.
This is the diamond wheel cut. And the top surface is the
original cut surface from Puma Punku.
So now we can compare the difference between all three
cuts. Looking at an actual
piece of precision cut stone from Puma Punku under a
microscope, Chris compared the two modern cutting techniques
with the part of the stone cut thousands of years ago.
Even taking into account centuries of time and weather,
Chris's comparison revealed incredible differences.
You've got vitrification...
upon the laser cut side... and then, of course, you've got
circular tool marks on, uh... the the side cut with the
diamond saw. And then, whatever tool they
used to... cut the ancient surface must have been a
different method. Now, do you think
it's possible that some type of a diamond precision tool was
used on the old surface, but because it was such a long time
ago, that over time, the surface became a bit more rough and
we're talking 10,000 or even 15,000 years ago?
That is a reasonable speculation.
I think we have to start examining, um...
a little more sophisticated tools that no longer exist.
The cuts from the diamond saw were the best
comparison to those found on the stone blocks at Puma Punku...
so we're talking about the sharpest, most sophisticated
cutting tool we have today. So, how could a so called
"primitive society" have achieved such sophisticated
stone carving techniques? Check out this block right here.
There's something really cool about this one.
First, I wanted to show you true north on my compass...
which, as you can see... this is true north.
Now, watch what happens. All of a sudden...
true north is over there. It's in the complete opposite
direction... and here, even more so...
down there. This is wild.
So... what is going on here? Clearly, this rock has been
somehow magnetized. So, was it exposed to some
electromagnetic waves? Or is it like this because, at
some point, these blocks underwent or came in contact
with something strange? I mean, this whole place is
bizarre. Below the plateau, where the
H blocks are located, are the steps and walls marking the
edges of the Puma Punku mound. Now I can truly see the scale of
the sight. If you look down all the way,
you can see, it's perfectly level, it's perfectly level.
This is a newly excavated area that I haven't seen before
and again, it shows tremendous precision.
Check out this, for example, right here.
What's really interesting is that you can't even put a
piece of paper in between the fittings; and no mortar
was used. So, I mean, this is really
incredible stuff and this is very, very, very old.
But, at the same time... it was just utter perfection.
The Spanish conquerors were not able
to move such gigantic blocks. And then the Inca ruler said,
"It was not us who made Puma Punku.
It was the gods."
just a half a mile from the H blocks at Puma Punku, is a
giant stone structure called "The Gate of the Sun."
Here you can find depictions of the god Viracocha and his winged
children. Look at those incredible
carvings. It's one giant piece; a monolith
made of andesite. It's incredibly difficult to
carve this with any type of tool, because it has to be
harder than the current andesite.
In the 1960s, at this same location, a wall was
excavated to reveal a fascinating array of stone
heads. But who do these strange heads
represent? There is one structure here that
may provide a clue. This is a place where the
Bennett Monolith was discovered. And it's a representation of
Pachamama 21 feet tall. The largest monolith ever
uncovered here. "Pachamama" essentially means
"the cosmic mother," because "Pacha" means "cosmos" and
"mama"... well, I don't have to explain that.
And so the idea is that this is a place of creation.
And I find that interesting, because if you look at the
different heads that are built into the wall, some look, uh,
very different than others. So the question arises are
these heads representing different races of humans?
Or are they depictions of the so called gods alien visitors
who came down from the sky? It's fascinating to look around
and see these ancient monuments at Tiwanaku and Puma Punku.
But I still wonder just how old these ruins really are.
Before I began my investigation, I made a trip to Switzerland to
talk with my good friend and mentor Erich von Daniken, who
gave me some great insights into the history behind these
incredible and mysterious sites. So, Erich, tell me about Puma
Punku, because what I find interesting is according to some
translations, somebody suggested there is a calendar there.
And this calendar goes back some 20,000 or so years.
Now, this calendar, Giorgio, you are referring to,
is clearly proven. There are scientific books
written by Dr. Edmund Kiss, that's 50, 60 years ago, uh,
by Dr.... Professor Bellamy. I knew him personally.
Brilliant explorers, and they absolutely deciphered this
calendar of Tiwanaku, and it dates back at least 24,000 years
in the past. But our modern archaeology does
not accept these dates because it contradicts our evolution.
In 1928, German explorer Edmund Kiss drew
elaborately detailed re creations of what he believed
once stood at both Tiwanaku and Puma Punku.
He became one of the first to suggest that the ancient
structures were far older than the traditionally accepted date
of 200 AD. Another German researcher,
Professor Hans Schindler Bellamy, dated Puma Punku to
before 10,000 BC and theorized that it was destroyed by a
flood. The Spanish
conquerors, when they arrived, they were up there with their
soldiers and they took the Inca, the ruler of them, and they
showed them these ruins of Puma Punku and they asked them,
"How did you make this? Because we, from Spain, we were
not able to move such gigantic blocks."
And then the Inca ruler said, "It was not us who made it.
It was the gods who made it in one simple night."
Mainstream archaeologists who dismiss the
local stories of gods constructing Puma Punku have
long argued that ancient people could have moved these
megalithic stones through sheer manpower alone.
During an experiment conducted in 1966, members of the Bolivian
army attempted to drag a two ton megalithic block and raise it
using only rope. They barely managed to shift it
by a few inches. But assuming that the ancient
people here really were able to somehow raise these giant blocks
using nothing more than rope and manpower, how did they get them
here in the first place? Mainstream archaeologists say
the massive stones were hewn at quarries over 60 miles away and
then they were rolled to Puma Punku on logs.
But there is one major problem with this theory.
We're at an altitude of over 12,000 feet, which means there
are no trees, because trees only grow to a certain altitude.
And if somebody proposes that this whole place was deforested
and they just cut down the trees in order to move around these
blocks, then they don't know what they're talking about.
So the idea of wooden rollers falls by the wayside.
Like that.
While I'm in Bolivia, I want to find out what
the local people know and believe about both Puma Punku
and Tiwanaku. Right next to the ruins is the
town of Tiwanaku, home to the native Aymara people.
The Aymara have inhabited Bolivia as well as Peru and
Chile for at least 800 years, descending from other cultures
in the area that go back as far as 5,000 years.
They continue to speak the native language of their
ancestors, and have kept alive the oral traditions of their
people for centuries. With the help of my translator
and guide, Juan Carlos, I've arranged to meet Rene Quispe, an
Aymara elder and local historian.
So what can he tell me about the legends how, for example,
Tiwanaku was built?
The sun god Viracocha is the Andean creator
and destroyer of worlds. According to ancient legends,
Viracocha was born on the Isle of the Sun on nearby Lake
Titicaca. Eventually, Viracocha
disappeared "over the water as if it were land, without
sinking," never to return. Like that.
Yes. I'm shocked to hear
this Aymara elder mention the term "Watchers," because the
Watchers are a key component of the ancient astronaut theory, so
to hear this term associated with the ancient stories of
Bolivia is pretty awesome. According to the Book of Enoch,
an ancient Hebrew text found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, the
Watchers were a group of 200 angels sent to Earth to watch
over the early humans. But when they mated with human
women and created a race of giant hybrids, known as the
Nephilim, they angered God and were banished from returning to
Heaven. Now, what's really interesting
is that the Inca also tell of Viracocha creating a race of
giants. So, hearing an Aymara elder and
historian say that Viracocha was also considered a Watcher is
incredibly fascinating. Was there a particular reason
why it was built?
Yeah. Also... Giants jumped out of
the lake. Giants.
Oh, they were shaving off the stones.
Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. No?
Like that. No? The question I would
like to ask is, if we look at the Gate of the Sun with
Viracocha in the center and all those winged beings, what is the
significance of it?
No? Pacahacas. They were... they
were Viracocha's court. Yeah.
According to the Anales de Cuauhtitlan, a
document from 1570, Viracocha said, "If my subjects were ever
to see me, they would run away." Now, when I hear that, I'm
tempted to ask, "Did Viracocha need a mask because he didn't
look anything like his subjects?"
Could he have been a real, flesh and blood
extraterrestrial? How does he react when people
say, for example, that this place here could have been built
more than 10,000 years ago?
I agree that this place existed before the flood.
It's really interesting to hear this Aymara elder mention Posnansky when
talking about the date of Tiwanaku.
Arthur Posnansky spent over 40 years in Bolivia researching and
writing about pre Inca archaeological sites.
Posnansky proposed that Tiwanaku was around 17,000 years old, and
he developed his theory after examining the connections
between the ancient temple complex and sophisticated
astronomical alignments. According to his theory, the
structure at Tiwanaku called "Kalasasaya" was built so that
the sun would rise directly over the cornerstones on the summer
and winter solstices, and based on the changing tilt of the
Earth, you'd have to go back at least 17,000 years for that to happen.
Today, many people say that
Posnansky's theories are miscalculations...
Yeah. ...and that it was
just fantasy.
Yeah. Hmm?
Right.
to meet Aymara elder Rene Quispe and to ask him about the
Aymara traditions. The three things that stuck out
were, one the giants. That's amazing stuff that
they came out of Lake Titicaca and that they used stones with
which to whittle down the giant blocks.
And then the second one was the stories about the Watchers.
And that is interesting to me because the stories of the
Watchers exist worldwide. And then the third one was that
he completely agrees with the theories of Arthur Posnansky.
After coming here and seeing this place firsthand once again,
I'm more and more convinced that Posnansky was correct and that
the local stories about Tiwanaku being built by some kind of
extraterrestrial beings might be more than just mythology.
Much, much more. I really do think that something
really weird happened at Puma Punku.
When you see the articulation of the stones,
they're doing things that are way beyond.
There was nothing they couldn't do.
I'm in Peru, meeting with author and ancient
astronaut theorist David Childress, a prolific author
on the topic of ancient technology.
He has spent most of his life traveling the world and
challenging established assumptions about mankind's
history. He's just the person I need to
help me sift through the evidence and connect all the
dots. I really do think that, uh, Puma
Punku is one of the few places in the world where common sense
no longer applies. Something really weird happened
at some point at Puma Punku. I mean, when was the last time
you were there? I was there, uh, just,
uh, about six months ago or so. David has studied
Puma Punku for decades, and he believes that it is the key to
showing the connection between ancient civilizations and
ancient space travelers. One of the things that I enjoy
talking about is that when we look at these stones that
obviously have been cut in a very precise fashion that, in
your opinion, it had to have been done in an easy fashion
with easy means. What do you mean by that?
One of the things is when you see the articulation of
the stones at Puma Punku and the H blocks are such a good
example the stonemasons were getting very fancy and they're
doing things that are way beyond what they need to do.
But it would seem as if, with the power tools that that I
think they must have had, there was nothing they couldn't do.
They could be as fancy as they wanted, because it was easy for
them. Exactly like this.
It's unnecessary elaboration and decoration.
You're thinking, oh, this must be so much labor and moving the
stones and cutting the stones. Yet it had to be easy for them.
And moving the stones, too, must have been easy for them.
It's not something that's so incredibly difficult as as we
would imagine that primitive architects and engineers would
be doing. It has been
suggested that some sort of antigravity technology may have
been used at Puma Punku to lift and place the massive stone
blocks. But if that were true, it would
certainly suggest that some sort of highly advanced technology
was in play here. You have, also, the
areas with keystone cuts. And the the poured clamps of
molten metal that went into those cuts.
Yeah, just like these. Yeah, right.
And that's such an unusual way of fitting stones.
And that is something that you see at the sun temple,
Coricancha in Cusco you'll find, also, these keystone
cuts and at Ollantaytambo on the way to Machu Picchu.
Right here. That's Ollantaytambo right
there. Right, right.
That's an indication that the same builders of Puma Punku and
Tiwanaku are also the builders of the sun temple in Cusco and
at Ollantaytambo and Saksaywaman, even Machu Picchu.
But then you can go around the world and find this unusual
keystone cuts in Egypt, in Greece.
This is at the Giza Temple.
Okay. There at at Giza and the Sphinx
temple. You're also gonna find these at
Borobudur in Java, at Angkor Wat in Cambodia and at the
megalithic site of My Son in Vietnam.
These mysterious keystone cuts exist at a
surprising number of ancient sites all over the world.
It's a building technique that involves pouring metal into cut
rock on both sides of a joint. And it has been suggested that
the clamps that went inside them were made of copper, bronze,
silver, or a mixture of silver and gold.
Curiously, in nearly every case where keystone cuts have been
found, the clamps have been removed.
Or, possibly, the structures are so old that the metal has eroded
completely. But some still contain remnants
of metal, which leaves no doubt that the architects had at least
rudimentary knowledge of metallurgy.
You know, stuff like that is sensational, because it would
imply one of two things. Either, as you say, they were
the same builders. Or that they were the same
teachers. Because, clearly, it is not a
similar construction style; it's identical.
It's it's not something that could really have
been developed independently, and and so the mainstream
archaeologists are basically just ignoring this.
Because if they were to discuss this, it would completely wreck
their whole theories that these people are... are isolated from
each other. I mean, they had to be made by
the same kind of engineers and and architects.
Here we have blocks that some have estimated to be
100 metric tons. How would you move a 100 ton
block without a crane? I don't know.
I'm in Peru with
fellow ancient astronaut theorist David Childress.
We've been discussing the precision cut stone blocks found
all over Puma Punku. Many of the blocks contain
keystone cuts, which are also found at other megalithic sites.
But these aren't the only striking similarities that exist
between Puma Punku and other ancient sites found throughout
the world. There are so many
similarities, including the monolithic doors that you have
at Puma Punku and Tiwanaku where these doors are just cut out of
one solid piece of granite. And you find that, too, uh, at
Persepolis in in Iran, for instance.
And then, on top of all that, you've got the Fuente Magna bowl
that's now in the Precious Metals Museum in La Paz.
Thought to be over 5,000 years old, the Fuente
Magna bowl was discovered near Lake Titicaca by a local farmer
in the 1950s. It features hundreds of
triangular carvings that are strangely similar to the
cuneiform text used by the ancient Sumerians.
But what is a bowl featuring Sumerian text doing more than
8,000 miles from Sumeria or, as we know it today, Iraq?
Could it be further evidence that what ancient astronaut
theorists have been saying for decades might be true?
Could early humans, at one time, really have been influenced by
visitors from another planet? That bowl has two
forms of Sumerian writing on it, Sumerian hieroglyphs and
Sumerian cuneiform. It's been authenticated by
Bolivian archaeologists, and all that mainstream archaeologists
can do at this point is ignore it.
It's not something they could ever address because it would
completely blow all of their theories out of the water.
What makes a Bolivian archaeologist less
mainstream than all the other mainstream archaeologists?
In my opinion, nothing. So why aren't they confirmed by
the rest of archaeology? It would change
history. The Fuente Magna bowl is
basically proof that the Sumerian Anunnaki were coming to
South America. I believe that Tiwanaku and
Puma Punku, uh, were were mining centers.
The idea of Sumerian writings being discovered near
Lake Titicaca would relate to the theories of author Zecharia
Sitchin and his proposal that the Sumerians were interacting
with a highly advanced extraterrestrial race known as
the Anunnaki. History has to be rewritten.
Eventually, they'll have to address these things.
I look forward to, uh, whatever results you come up with.
I'll definitely keep you posted on my my findings.
After speaking with David Childress, I'm more convinced
than ever that Puma Punku was constructed with the assistance
of extraterrestrials, but my questions of what these blocks
actually formed and how the structure was destroyed still
remain unanswered. To get a better picture of just
what this incredible site might have looked like when it was
first built, I returned home to meet with Casey Hemmatyar, a
forensic structural engineer based in Los Angeles.
With more than 30 years of experience investigating all
types of structures and building materials, I knew that Casey
would be the perfect person to analyze what Puma Punku was
built to be and what violent forces might have led to its
destruction. Mr. Hemmatyar?
Hello. I'm Giorgio. Great pleasure to meet you.
So, in your opinion, how do you think something like this was
cut? The first thing is
that how these people, uh, several thousand years ago had
this ability and this precision and the knowledge to create such
a structure. Is it impossible to use a copper
tool in order to create these? Um, probably, yes.
Because you need a material that has a much higher hardness in
order to achieve these goals. In modern days, we do these type
of, uh, structures. We call them tilt up.
Let's say this wall is three story, okay?
So what we do, we come right next to that particular site, we
place wood forms all around it. Once we place the reinforcing,
then we pour concrete into this and we flatten the surface and
we let it stay there to cure for several days.
Then we have special cranes that come, and then we lift them.
They bring down. Now, we're doing this at the
same time on four sides. So what you're
telling me is the way it works is that the whole thing is
raised by a crane, like this. Yes.
So in reference to Puma Punku with all of this, I
mean, here we have blocks that some have estimated to be around
100 metric tons, and we're also at an altitude of almost 13,000
feet, so the air is rarified. You know, it's, uh, kind of a
dicey place up there if you're not in physical shape.
So how would you move a 100 ton block without a crane?
Uh... I don't know.
Even to an expert like Casey Hemmatyar, the
methods used to carve the stones at Puma Punku and then lift them
into place remain a mystery. But now I'm even more eager to
find out not only how Puma Punku was built but why.
I'm in Southern California in the offices of
Forensic Structural Engineer Casey Hemmatyar.
Using CGI technology, Casey has spent the last three weeks
constructing a three dimensional model of Puma Punku.
And now he's about to show me not only what he believes it
might have looked like but how it was ultimately destroyed.
Here we've got some visualization of what potential
combination of putting these together to create the platform.
Man, I'm blown away by what Casey is showing me, a
three dimensional model of what Puma Punku might have looked
like more than 10,000 years ago. It's unlike any other model I've
ever seen. It even has a large platform
area that I can imagine being used as some kind of a launching
pad. Was Puma Punku some type of
spaceport for ancient astronauts?
Or the headquarters for a team of alien engineers and
scientists sent to explore the Earth?
This is cool looking. Really awesome.
But now I'm more puzzled than ever.
How could such a large and magnificent structure have been
so completely destroyed? As a forensic structural
engineer, do you think that an explosion might have been a
reason for the destruction of Puma Punku?
The size of these, uh, stones, the weight of them, the
mass and the way I look at the pictures of the remains of
these, it's my opinion that it it would be very remote that
that would've been the cause. Okay, so then what
does that leave us with? The concept of flood
would make more sense to me. Casey's computer
animation of Puma Punku is consistent with various theories
which suggest that the enormous stone blocks were somehow lifted
up and then dropped down. It's also consistent with what
I've been hearing from everyone I've spoken with so far that
Puma Punku was built sometime before the Great Flood.
The soil becomes almost liquid.
Getting saturated by water, it loses its stability, and
therefore it's not capable of providing support to the
structure above anymore. And with the movement of water
itself, that can cause movement of those objects.
The idea that Puma Punku was destroyed by a flood
makes perfect sense because seashells and fossils of fish
have been found here, even though the nearest body of
water is more than ten miles away.
The cataclysm or the flood is strong enough to jumble up the
original place of these blocks right away.
Every legend, every mythology has a core of truth, and that is
my quest. Casey, thank you very much for
your time. My pleasure.
There is now very little doubt in my mind that
Puma Punku was built with some sort of extraterrestrial
technology and that its destruction was probably caused
by a great flood, perhaps the same flood that is described in
the Old Testament. This has been an amazing
journey. And while I'm even more
convinced that mankind had alien ancestors, I need to find more
evidence. And so this is why I'm off once
again in search of aliens. Captioning sponsored by
A&E TELEVISION NETWORKS Captioned by
Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org