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Thanks to a number of different, surprising archeological discoveries, it has become a popular theory that incredible, advanced ancient civilizations may have inhabited South America thousands of years ago, leaving behind a legacy of mind-bending cyclopean structures and monuments that defy logic.
From incredible lost cities, uncharted territories, tales, and myths that speak of giants and Gods coming down from the heaven, to explorers who have vanished from sight while searching for long lost civilizations, South America has it all.
But among all the secrets that hide deep within the heart of South America, we turn towards cyclopean masonry that points towards the existence of a number of ancient civilizations that were far more advanced than what we are willing to accept.
To understand the incredible secrets, mysteries, and beauties this continent hides, we look towards former US President Theodore Roosevelt and the Roosevelt–Rondon Scientific Expedition which traveled into the heart of Brazil.
In the Book Through the Brazilian Wilderness, the former US president tells of an incredible account.
While shooting the rapids of a formidable river in the Matto Grosso, the former president’s attention was drawn to a most unusual sight:
“By these rapids, at the fall, Cherrie found some strange carvings on a bare mass of rock. They were evidently made by men a long time ago. As far as it is known, the Indians thereabouts make no such figures now…They consisted, upon the upper flat part of the rock, of four multiple circles with a dot in the middle, very accurately made and about a foot and a half in diameter; and below them, on the side of the rock, four multiple M’s or inverted W’s. What these curious symbols represented, or who made them, we could not, of course, form the slightest idea. It may be that in a remote past some Indian tribes of advanced culture had penetrated to the lovely river, just as we had now come to it…Colonel Rondon stated that such figures as these are not found anywhere else in the Matto Grosso, and therefore it was all stranger to find them in this one place on the unknown river, never before visited by white men, which we were descending…”
Island of Marajó—Home to an advanced ancient culture
Without a single reason of a doubt, the ancient Marajoara culture from Brazil deserves to be mentioned as one of the most amazing civilizations to ever develop in what is now Brazil.
The Island of Marajo was home to the advanced pre-Columbian civilization of Marajoara, which inhabited major parts of the island from around 400 BC to around 1600 AD. The importance of the culture was reaffirmed by archaeologists who have been busy exploring the home of the Marajoara since the nineteenth century.
At its peak, it is estimated that this pre-Colombian society had a population of around 100,000 people.
The Marajoara culture was also one of the civilizations that reached a notoriously high level of social complexity.
Their complexity was expressed in their technically elaborate ceramic production, characterized by a great diversity of forms and shapes.
Archaeological excavations have revealed countless artifacts crafted by the Marajoara. Some were found in funerary complexes while others were probably used in diverse rituals.
The Marajoara iconography was strongly centered on the human figure and the representation of tropical forest animals with symbolic meanings. Their cultures iconography composes an intricate visual communication system that uses symmetries, paired elements, rhythmic repetitions and binary oppositions to reaffirm, transmit and perpetuate a vision of the world.
Without a doubt, we can conclude that the Marajoara were skilled potters, they dedicated their history to the creation of strange and highly ornamented ceramics that surprisingly, are still being made today by a small number of artisans.
Interestingly, a number of scholars have compared the pottery produced by the Marajoara to the pottery of the Andean region, suggesting a possible relationship between them.
Huge underground chambers, connected by tunnels, constitute additional evidence of the dexterity of the ancient Marajoara.
Marcel Homet—evidence of Advanced Civilizations?
Marcel Homet was a French—Algerian researcher who published countless books on anthropology, ancient history, and ethnology.
One of his most famous books titled ‘Sons of the Sun’ details his work in South America and the discoveries he made connecting the new continent to the old world. Among his discoveries, during his fieldwork in South America, Homet uncovered a number of carved inscriptions, petroglyphs and countless native legends and traditions which pointed to the possible existence of an extremely well-organized, advanced civilization or civilizations that may have existed in the distant past, hidden deep in the Amazonian rainforest.
Homet’s work eventually took him to the MacuxiI tribe, who speak of the existence of a glorious ancient city, adorned with gold, massive walls, and rooftops, that belonged to a Sun worshiping ancient civilization. The MacuxiI tribe also introduced Homet to another city, hidden deep in the unexplored Pakaraima mountains. There, according to MacuxiI elders, lay the remnants of a massive boulder covered with strange petroglyphs that point the way towards another ruined city.
The MacuxiI further explained that if anyone were to travel down that path, continuing for another two days walk, you’d reach a massive wall in the mountains marked by an arch that lead towards an incredible city located beneath the surface.
Pedra do Inga—An ancient cosmic map?
More evidence of advanced ancient civilizations in Brazil was uncovered in the 1600’s when explorer Feliciano Coelho was traveling near modern-day Joao Pessoa, where he uncovered a massive stone, carved in bas-relief: The Inga Stone.
Written on its surface were countless strange symbols and characters that were unlike any other writing system on the continent.
The most famous symbols on the Inga Stone are those representing the constellation of Orion, and the Milky Way Galaxy. Experts refer to the Inga Stone as “an exceptional archeoastronomy monument, like no other in the world.”
The Inga Stone features hundreds of strange symbols and “Stars” that stretch over a rock measuring 245 meters in length, 3 meters in height. Several figures are carved in low relief in this set and there are entries whose meanings are unknown. The age of the inscriptions is unknown, but geologists estimate that the rock formation dates back at least 6,000 years.
Deforestation of the Amazon, and how it revealed traces of a long-lost culture
Recent studies have revealed more evidence that a large ancient civilization called the Amazon their home thousands of years ago.
According to an archaeological survey, southern parts of the Amazon rainforest are covered by a massive network of ancient settlements and ceremonial centers which existed long before the arrival of Columbus.
Researchers have shown how complex societies—of around one million inhabitants—existed in the Amazon as early as 1250AD.
“Our research shows we need to re-evaluate the history of the Amazon,” said researchers who were left awestruck by the find.
The distribution of the potential sites suggests an interconnected, advanced series of fortified villages spanning over 1,100 miles that flourished between 1200 and 1500 A.D.
Manuscript 512—Evidence of a long-lost civilization in the Amazon?
An ancient document titled Manuscript 512 perhaps offers further evidence of the existence of long-lost civilizations in the Amazon. The document, now housed at the Brazilian National Library in Rio de Janeiro mentions a group of explorers which allegedly stumbled upon a ruined ancient city in eastern Brazil, around 1753.
This ‘magnificent stone city’ was unlike any other city they’ve ever seen, with architecture early reminiscent of that of Ancient Greece and mysterious writings not native to the region.
The enigmatic text of the manuscript is completed with curious details, such as documenting the discovery of a bag of gold coins bearing the silhouette of an archer and a crown, or the reproduction of hieroglyphs copied from various corners of the city, which some say bare an uncanny similarity with Greek and Phoenician letters.
Landsat 2 and the Pyramids of South America
One of the most bizarre discoveries perhaps occurred after the Landsat Satellite photographed what seem to be pyramidal structures in the Amazon in 1975.
The idea that the Amazon was inhabited only by primitive cultures is an understatement to our civilization.
I quote Theodore Roosevelt in his book “Ultimate Collection: Memoirs, History Books, Biographies, Essays, Speeches &Executive Orders: America and the World War, The Ancient … Wilderness, History as Literature…”:
“Before white man arrived in South America, there already existed therein various semi-civilizations, some rude, others fairly advanced, which rose, flourished, and persisted through immemorial ages, and then vanished. The vicissitudes in the history of humanity during its stay on this southern continent have been as strange, varied, and inexplicable as paleontology shows to have been the case, on the same continent, in the history of the higher forms of animal life during the age of mammals…”
Do the images snapped by the Landsat satellite indicate traces of yet another lost city in the Amazon? The area where the alleged pyramidal structures were spotted is in an area on the Peruvian-Brazilian border, more precisely to the southeast of Peru, 13° S latitude, 71° 30″ W longitude.
Itá Letra, an undecipherable writing in South America
If we move further south, away from Brazil and towards Uruguay we will come across another megalithic mystery: Itá Letra.
Located deep within the depths of the Ybytyruzú mountain range, in Paraguay, stands the imposing enigma of Itá Letra (‘Piedra con Letra’), a place that is home to a set of indescribable petroglyphs, which for a long time were presumed to have been Viking in nature. The enigmatic set of petroglyphs date back to around 5,000 BC and feature numerous symbols. However, the most prominent of them all are the engravings which are believed to depict ‘Star Maps’ or Constellations.
The enigmatic set of inscriptions were studied by a team of archaeologists from the Museo de Altamira (Spain) in 2010.
The researchers concluded that the figures were elaborated by natives of the area, between the years 5,000 and 2,500 BC, thus discarding Scandinavian Vikings as possible authors.
The oldest of the Itá Letra symbols are believed to date back to around 5,000 BC. and are located in the most hidden caves. The symbols represent constellations, footprints of felines or birds, female sexual organs, among other objects that the inhabitants of that time perceived and reproduced in their caves.
A Pyramid-building Civilizations that predates the ancient Egyptians
Despite the fact that everyone immediately identified Egypt with Pyramids, the truth is that there exists an ancient civilization in South America so advanced, that it built monuments and pyramids before the Egyptians.
Caral is believed to be one of the first sophisticated ancient civilizations that developed in South America. They developed advanced methods in agronomy, medicine, engineering and architecture over 5000 years ago.
“As for pharmacology, we found that Caral inhabitants used willow —containing the *active chemical ingredient of aspirin*— to relieve pain such as headaches.”
Website andina.com.pe writes:
“Another highlight was the civil engineering, which continues to amaze since scientists applied the seismic resistance technology to the over-5000-year-old constructions.”
Chan-Chan: The largest Pre-Colombian city of South America
The Andean Chimu state was an ancient civilization that established in modern-day Peru around 850 AD. This ancient city covers staggering twenty square kilometers with a dense urban center of six square kilometers. It was the imperial capital called home for over fifty thousand people. Archeologists have discovered pyramidal temples, cemeteries, gardens, reservoirs, and symmetrically arranged rooms in the center of the city that consisted of several walled citadels.
The Chimu empire was well known for their extremely well-planned cities, having large, flat-topped buildings for the nobility and incredibly well-decorated adobe pyramids that served as temples.
Puma Punku, Ollantaytambo, Sacsayhuaman—A megalithic mystery
I could probably continue writing about these three above-mentioned sites for hours.
But I’ve already done so in the past.
All three sites are beyond a reason of a doubt, the best evidence that in the distant past, extremely advanced civilizations existed in South America.
All three ancient sites, Ollantaytambo, Sacsayhuaman and Puma Punku offer evidence of supermassive stones and intricately shaped blocks which have been placed into position so that not a single sheet of paper fits in-between the blocks.
Even more interesting is the fact that many of the stones found at Ollantaytambo and Sacsayhuaman seem almost as if they were melted and then shaped into a specific form.
Sacsayhuaman, for example, features incredible zic-zac lines on the quarries where the ancients extracted their stones from. No one has been able to explain what type of tool could have created these evenly spaced lines at Sacsayhuaman.
Puma Punku, on the other hand, offers us the so-called ‘H blocks’ which are a giant mystery on their own.
No one knows for sure how they were shaped nor what they were used for.
A perhaps even greater mystery is transportation.
Just how did the builders of Puma Punku, Ollantaytambo, and Sacsayhuaman transport massive blocks of stone, without the use of technologies such as the wheel?
Human activity in the Americas around 130,000 years ago?
All of this doesn’t come as a surprise perhaps if we read through the latest archaeological discoveries that have been made in the American Continent.
Published in the Journal Nature is a discovery that has sent shockwaves in the archaeological community.
The arrival of the first humans in America has for provoked for years an intricate scientific debate among experts.
After finding evidence of the use of stone tools and fossil remains of a mastodon at an archaeological site in California, experts claim that some of our human relatives had already migrated to the New World approximately 130,000 years ago.
“I realize that 130,000 years is a really old date and makes our site the oldest archaeological site in the Americas,” says study leader Tom Deméré, the paleontologist at the San Diego Natural History Museum, whose team describes their analysis today in Nature. “Of course, extraordinary claims like this require extraordinary evidence, and we feel like the Cerutti mastodon site presents this evidence.”
And while the above-mentioned find was made in North America, it drives us to ask questions which we’ve avoided for decades.
If there were people in North America some 130,000 years ago, isn’t it possible that similar hominids existed to the south? In Central and South America?
Let me know what you think and post your comments below.
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed reading this article, as much as I enjoyed writing it.
*Clyclopean: denoting a type of ancient masonry made with massive irregular blocks.
Featured Image Credit: Jungle Ruins by Julian-Faylona. Image posted with permission.
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