May Your 2017 Be Filled With Mysteries In Stone & People

Maren Elwood filming at Saqsaywaman in 2013

As we cycle into a New Year, my thoughts turn to the many mysteries around the world that play out in stone and entice us to unravel the stories of people in our past. 

As a visual anthropologist, I look for themes...patterns...clues in the visual data I collect during my research.  As many of you know, my focus for many years has been on the archaeological site in Peru called Saqsaywaman.  This site it known for it's megalithic, polygonal walls fit so well together as to defy our attempts to understand how they were constructed. 

---

COMMON THEMES
EASTER ISLAND & SAQSAYWAMAN, PERU

Small stone block among megaliths in wall on Easter Island...very similar to those found in Saqsaywaman, Peru

When you examine the stone walls at Easter Island and at Saqsaywaman, some have small polygonal stones embedded among the larger blocks.  It is speculated that this type of construction was to keep the walls stable during earthquakes, which does seem to be a plausible explanation given that these walls survive to our current era.  Yet, we still don't know for sure.

Given that this same type of construction is found at Easter Island and at Saqsaywaman, the question is:  Were these walls made by the same culture?  And, who were these people?  These questions still are to be answered by archaeologists and anthropologists.  In my wildest dreams, I'd be able to find some piece of that puzzle.

---

COMMON THEMES
GOBEKLI TEPE, TURKEY & RAPA NUI, CHILEAN ISLAND IN PACIFIC OCEAN
Easter Island is one of the most isolated locations on earth, yet it's stone artifacts seem to link together cultures not only in Peru, but also from an archaeological site in Turkey that has already completely upended our understanding of our human history. 

Rendering of T-Pillars at Gobekli Tepe

Gobekli Tepe was discovered in 1996 by German archaeologist Claus Schmidt and has been the site of constant archaeological discoveries since then.  The site is huge and includes many circular temples that radio carbon dating have proved to go back as far as 9000 BCE...making this site the OLDEST stone structure we have found to date on the earth.  Just consider what this date means.  This site was built 11,500 years ago, which means it was built 7,000 years before the Great Pyramid and more than 6,000 years before Stonehenge!

One of the common stone construction elements found in all the Gobekli Tepe temples are what have become known as "T-Pillars."  These T-Pillars can weight up to 50 tons and have a wide range of carvings in them, including some that have the same hands under the belly motif.  What is the meaning of the elegant hands and fingers linked under the belly of the Moai and the T-pillars? 

---

Note From Maren Elwood

Maren filming at Saqsaywaman, Peru

So, as we enter the year 2017, I hope we all have a bit of mystery in our lives.  And, through the work of archaeologists, anthropologists, and various other types of established and emerging sciences, I hope we start to have a more thorough understanding of our human history. 

Happy Holidays everyone...and a Mysterious New Year!

---