Getting High in Peru, Year 2, Sillustani at 13,000 feet

Sillustani, A Pre-Inca and Inca Site

Today we leave Lago Titicaca after spending nine hours yesterday on a boat visiting the Islas de los Uros and Isla Taquile. While on the islands, we learned about the cultures here past and especially the present. But now we are on our way to visit an intriguing archaeological site above Lago Titicaca.

Sillustani is an ancient site dating back to the Tiwanaku Empire days (and other earlier cultures), but the focus on site is on the later Colla and Inca funerary towers “Chullpas.” I would like to return here a third time to spend much more time since the funerary practices of the Inca here and the earlier cultures resemble very much the funerary practices of BC cultures in the Sinai (now part of Egypt) and in Syria. Similar needs-similar responses?

Manco Capac, 1st Inca with student below

            On our way back to and through Puno, we stopped at the Mirador, which was interesting for me since the statue provides me with a second image of Inca Manco Capac. The statue makes more sense to me now that I researched the Inca (Kings). Our final stop was at Sillustani, a pre-Inca site of the Colla Aymara tribe who later allied with the Inca and became part of their southeastern group. However, this site was occupied by another tribe before the Inca and the Colla, the Pukara who lived here from 800 BC to 500 AD. The Tiwanaku followed them from approximately AD 600 - 1100. The Tiwanaku formed an empire during those centuries controlling Lago Titicaca south through what is now Bolivia. More about them in a later blog. Sillustani is located on a peninsula of Lago Umayo, the summit is near 13,000 in elevation. 

Note the towers on the summit

A bit of history here and below

            On our way up to the summit, we stopped at one of the few remaining stone monoliths (or huacas) representing a person. The monoliths lost their heads during Spanish times since the Spanish viewed them as idolatrous. Evidently some of them were carved with a decapitated head in one hand and a weapon in the other hand.  Nearby and further up on the way up to the summit are the remains of distinctive and circular Inca temples (sun is the larger one and moon the smaller) either not completely excavated or recovered up to preserve it.  The unanswered question for me is when was the latest year when the circles were sectioned to clearly define its dimensions, including its depth. I would love to do it and then recover the sectioning to protect it. According to on-site signage the sun temple circle was intact back in 1864 and had two huacas within where one was falling. Was that the last year this was examined?

A stone monolith

Inca Sun and Moon Temples remains above and below

The distinctive features of this site are the funerary towers (“Chullpas”), in which the Colla/Qolla people (AD 1100 – 1450) and the Inca (1450-1532) buried its nobility up on the summit (at 12,950 feet). No doubt the Colla/Inca would gather here periodically to conduct feasts and/or libations for the dead. The tallest chullpa is 40-feet in height. Most of these tombs on the summit though are much shorter (and no longer towers) and especially the ones down below remind me of the Nawamis in the Sinai Desert where 9000 years ago the Neolithic peoples buried their dead. Both the tombs below and the ones in the Sinai are constructed of field stone and cylindrical with the opening facing east. In both cases, long stone slabs compose the roof. The dead, along with some possessions, were placed on the floor with some possessions. The shorter and fieldstone round ‘towers’ may date to the Tiwanaku. 

The field stone funerary houses below the summit

The 40-foot high funerary tower

Now we are at 12,850 feet

For me, the distinctive feature of the Colla/Inca funerary towers on the summit was that the massive blocks were cut and shaped smooth to compose a cylinder (think soup can), however, the diameter is greater at the top than at the base. As we walked, I pointed out to some of the students that some of the fallen blocks were now used to line our walkway. We did the same thing at Petra (Jordan) using some of the fallen temple and Byzantine church blocks to compose a walkway for tourists. In 2013, I had no problem convincing some of the students to enter a funerary tower on the summit for pictures. Surprisingly, they remained in the tomb talking for at least 20 minutes.  Some mummies have been recovered here and are pictured on the on-site signage. Check out the shorter chullpas here to note how they were constructed and what they look like inside.

Walkway strewn with fallen blocks from the chullpas

The smaller ones outside and inside

Collapsed roof of one chullpa

View of inside

            In 1971 as they were excavating one of the larger chullpas, the funerary tower known as the Lizard Chullpa, they recovered a gold jewelry horde (501 pieces) plus other metals and stones (silver, copper, lapis, for examples), a total of 1280 objects. Many of the pieces are believed to have been part of what the elite Colla/Inca was wearing. Neither this year nor last did we have time to tour the onsite museum. And we definitely did not have time to visit the museum in Puno where this horde is on display (It was on my list, but we returned to Puno’s harbor too late.). This funerary tower was built over Tiwanaku remains, a pre-Inca culture mentioned above. The diameter of the base is more than 7 meters (23 feet) and its height is 12.2m (40 feet). At least some of these chullpas were covered with dome-shaped stones. The Inca continued the Colla funerary tradition at least until 1532.

Lizard Chullpa

On-site signage of the 'gold' find

            One of the Inca chullpas perhaps a 100 meters off still has its stone dome roof. The easterly opening is only .5 by .5m. Within, it has three levels, and the ceiling of the first level is composed of tiles and tree trunks. The base has a diameter of 5.5m (18.2 feet) and its height is 8.6m (26.4 feet).  

With the person in the pic you have perspective of the size

From here we traveled nonstop back to Arequipa after ascending to 15,000 feet before the descent to 8,000 feet at Arequipa and back to our homes by 10:30 pm.

This likely may be my final blog of our 3-day trek to Lake Titicaca area. 

Last pics before heading back to the bus. Clouds are coming in with hail!