 LA
PAZ, Bolivia (AP) Italian archaeologists say they have found a
600-foot wall under the waters of Lake Titicaca that could be
part of an ancient temple, but Bolivian experts said Wednesday
the structure was part of a terraced agricultural field.
Above: Bolivian archaeologist Eduardo Pareja holds up camelloid
bones recovered from the waters of Lake Titicaca by an international
scientific expedition, August 23, 2000. The remains of what is
thought to be a 1,000- to 1,500-year-old temple, including a 200-meter
long, 50-meter wide holy temple, a terrace for crops, a pre-Incan
road and an 800-meter long containing wall, have been found in
the lake's depths by the international scientific group Akakor
Geographical Exploring. REUTERS/David Mercado
The announcement
Tuesday by the Akakaor Geographical Exploring Society has set
off a slew of refutations from Bolivian experts and government
officials, who disputed the Italian group"s claim that its
15-day trip was the first underground expedition in Titicaca,
considered the largest and holiest lake in the Andes. According
to Bolivian archaeologist Carlos Ponce Sanjines, there have been
at least 12 expeditions in Titicaca, including those by French
explorer Jacques Cousteau in 1968 in a submarine. Lorenzo Epis,
the head of the Akakaor expedition, said Tuesday the group found
an underwater temple and several Inca-period objects in an area
around the Islands of the Sun and Moon, 90 miles north of La Paz.
The trip was
funded by ENTEL, a Bolivian telecommunication company owned by
the Italian company STET. Epis" group had left La Paz Wednesday
and could not immediately be reached for comment. The Italian
expedition said they found a structure 600 feet long and 150 feet
wide near the Island of the Moon. Initial findings indicate it
is 1,000 to 1,500 years old, Epis said. But Bolivian Vice Minister
of Culture Antonio Eguino said the structure was not a temple.
"The information we have indicates they found a wall that
we believe was part of a terraced agricultural field," Eguino
said. "There is no evidence indicating the wall was part
of a temple."
Joe Reinhard,
an American archaeologist who discovered an Inca mummy in southern
Peru, says there have been several underground expeditions in
Lake Titicaca, including the area the Italians were exploring
this month. Eguino also criticized the way the Italian group handled
the Bolivian archaeologist who guided them to the site, noting
that he wasn"t even mentioned at their news conference. Bolivia
requires that a local archaeologist be on any such trip. If the
underwater structure does turn out to be something, he said, the
Italians should have given proper credit. "It was convenient
for the Italians to take credit for a discovery as if they had
done it on their own without considering Bolivian cooperation
and previous expeditions," Eguino said. Near Lake Titicaca
arose the population and ceremonial center of the Tiwanaku civilization,
one of the most important in South America.
The Tiwanaku
began its rise over 1,000 years ago, extending far into Peru,
northern Chile and Argentina. The Incas believed they originated
from Lake Titicaca and the deity Viracocha began his acts of creation
there. Several legends described underwater cities and treasures.
Numerous ceremonial sites were built along the lake"s shores,
indicating it was considered sacred at least 2,000 years ago,
Reinhard says. At the time of the Spanish conquest in the 1500s,
one of the most important religious sites of the Inca empire was
located on the Island of the Sun. Due to the variations in the
lake"s level _ it rises and falls as much as 18 feet _ causeways,
piers and other structures have appeared from under the water,
giving rise to many of the stories about underwater ruins, including
cities, Reinhard says.
Whatever the
Italians did find, Eguino said Bolivia would require foreign assistance
in order to explore and confirm it.
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