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SMITH S()X I A X M I SC ELLA X E< H"S COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 6 1 



The great monolithic gateway of Tiahuanaco, Peru, is the best 

 known megalith of South America. In describing this structure 

 Squier says : 



We must imagine a block of stone, somewhat broken and defaced on its 

 edges, but originally cut with precision, 13 feet 5 inches long, 7 feet 2 inches 

 high above ground, and 18 inches thick. Through its center is cut a doorway, 

 4 feet 6 inches high, and 2 feet 9 inches wide. Above this doorway and as it 

 now stands on its southeast side or front, are four lines of sculpture in low 

 relief, like the Egyptian plain sculptures, and a central figure immediately over 

 the doorway sculptured in high relief. On the reverse we find the doorway 



Fig. 32. — Monolithic gateway, Tiahuanaco, Peru, from Stiibel and Uhle. 



surrounded by friezes or cornices, and above it on each side two small niches, 

 below which, also on either side, is a single larger niche. The stone itself 

 is a dark and exceedingly hard trachyte. It is faced with a precision that no 

 skill can excel. 



Among other examples of South American structures illustrating 

 South American monoliths may be mentioned the sun-circles (inti- 

 huatana), first described by Squier, of Sillustani and the stone pillars 

 of Hatuncolla, the latter decorated with figures of serpents, lizards, 

 frogs, and elaborate geometrical designs. The sun-circles 1 consist of 

 rings of well-fitted flat stones forming a platform, on the inner edge 



1 The best description of these known to me is found in Bandelier's " Th 

 Aboriginal Ruins at Sillustani, Peru " (American Anthropologist, Vol. 7, 

 No. 1, 1905). There are a number of sun-circles, less carefully built, on the 

 height called Kajopi, above the village of Huata in Bolivia, according to this 

 authority. 



