Just want to say this is exactly the sort of quality, no frills content that I wish there was more of on KZfaq. Your videos have, for me, ignited an awe-filled appreciation and curiosity for ancient American history and culture. Look forward to seeing more of this. Keep up the great work my man.

As a peruvian in love with andean history, I congratulate you for the thoroughness, elegance and eloquence of your channel!

Thumbs up for a future Wari episode

Thank you for this documentary. When it comes to Tiwanaku, there's too many documentaries that harp on the "mystery" and "archaeologists don't know" aspect. You proved that it's not mysterious, and that we do know how that civilization lived. Granted, we don't know everything about them, but it's certainly far more than "we have no idea how these structures came to be. It's a mystery."

I'm really impressed at the observation/description skills of Pedro de Cieza de Leon. While others of his time were focused only on gold and treasure, he observed the local societies and chronicled them, so we can study it and enjoy it today. Truly a scientist and a visionary. Muchas Gracias, Senior de Cieza de Leon!

I have become addicted to your channel.. The sensitivity you've shown to cultural history is great. Details of tiwanaku agriculture was very interesting. I dont think one can understand Tiwanaku without its agriculture.

Really hope your channel becomes one of the big history channels on KZfaq - the quality of the history, narration, storytelling, and overall video production on all of these has been stellar. Also love how you're so respectful of indigenous cultures and confront the historically prejudicial theories/claims aimed towards groups or archaeological finds. It's been a great addition to my history video binging cycle, hope you keep it up! ❤️

I can't get over how well you thread the line between being genuinely informative while avoiding being dry. I really hope I can find similar channels that look into other areas of ancient history that were neglected by my Euro-centric education.

The author of this video uses drawings from Ephraim Squire’s mid to late 1860s trip to Tiwanaku. His stories of seeing signs of professional looting all over Peru are legendary! He specifically mentions being shadowed his entire time in Tiwanaku by an elderly Aymara man, looking for signs of possible treasure. Squire’s book, Peru Illustrated, published in 1877 is well worth the read. The frontispiece is of the gateway to Ollantaytambo valley, which I was lucky enough to visit in 2017.

Can't wait for the episode on Chachapoyas! It was my favourite place on my travels throughout South America and the sarcophagi fascinated me and continue to do so

Just found this channel and I'll be watching previous episodes to bring myself up-to-date.

I came across this video because last week I was in Bolivia and got to know Tiwanaku, its quite an impressive place!!

Dejo mi like, seguro de la gran calidad historica del video, cuando tenga subtitulos lo vere con mas calma...

super cool video, i really love to hear someone cover the less known south american civilizations! one point i'd like to add about coca leaves are that they are also valued for the increased oxygen intake it gives you when chewed, something that is important when wandering the mountains

YES. been waiting for this one, bruv.

This is the most in depth description of this site that I have ever seen. Most videos barely scratch the surface. Well done!

Love this channel. Equal mention of competing theories. But gives information that has actual archeological evidence. Entertaining yet intellectually and academically honest.

Nice, you're hardwork definitely pays off. The fact that you're educating many people by spreading not so well known history is something to be very proud of. Thank you

I love your videos. They are so interesting and full of information. It’s like taking several courses on the history of the Americas.

OMG FINALLY !! THANK YOU (I legit been waiting since the last one came out daily lmao

Another great presentation! A couple of minor quibbles: Pedro de Cieza de Leon was NOT a “conquistador”, but entered Ecuador and Peru from what is now Columbia to suppress the revolt against the king of Spain by the Pizarros. In fact he mentions repeatedly that the damage to the country was caused more by the Spanish civil wars than the conquest itself. His views caused him to fall from favor with the Spanish court, and his full commentaries were suppressed. In addition, the use of Coca was strictly limited by the Inca to elite use and forbidden to the common people. Cieza de Leon writes at length about the spread of cultivation and sale to the common people AFTER the conquest, mentioning how profitable the trade was.

I only found you channel a few weeks ago and have since been working through video after video finding one inspiration after another. I already knew this channel was unique and high quality, but I was still shocked to hear you bring up the *psychological* impact on the people of Tiwanaku that a slow, losing battle with nature must have created. Cultural trauma is a subject we are only beginning to see mainstream recognition of (at least in the US) as it relates to the generational harms inflicted by colonialism, slavery, and social stratification. Hearing someone think about it through the context of the archaeological record is, as a layman, a completely novel experience for me. You are elevating the discourse around these topics on multiple levels my friend, and I see you and what you're creating.

Great information and more will be much appreciated. Thank you for the accurate video. Keep them coming

Really excellent! Finally someone has set the record straight on Tiwanaku. Thank you. You use an image of the Gateway Tunic in part two. I have studied this textile intensively for over 20 years and have some interesting insights into it. If the author of these videos is interested please get in touch.

Excellent as always. Thank you for these videos!

what a great video. love seeing oft overlooked history.

This is great, really appreciate the bibliography too!

Another excelent video my friend!

Boo yeah, I’m glad I found this little two-parter video and your channel, this is informative as hell. I love finding no-nonsense videos like this 👍🏼

I've been waiting for this ever since the last video. I'm glad this is the first video I am watching after waking up.

Every time a human culture gets it together enough with the "civilization-toolkit" of Intensive agri, Monolithic stonework, Metalworking & Adv iconography/writing we usually see impressive water-engineering (canals, tce farming, ships for trans & trade, massive reservoirs...), & seems hand-in-glove with expansion/empire-bldg; BUT it still amazes me how water somehow remains THE "Instrument of Fate" - eg. Mega droughts, Catastrophic flooding, Tsunamis, El Nino (esp true in Peru & my birthplace of Queensland, Aust.), Monsoonal rain disruption...odd how it appears to "self-select" to always stay relevant in a make-or-break kind of way..."What the Waters give, the Waters take away"...

very nice presentation, thank you very much!

What a great video series !

Thank you for providing two episodes. Your presentation was wonderful. I visited Lake Titicaca in 2015, but unfortunately did not have this much information available to me at the time. BTW, I am a very happy subscriber!!

I super love and appreciate that you give good weight to and explanation of ceramic culture

Love your content :) keep it up and you're gonna be successful

I'm so glad I somehow discovered this channel

Great work thank you

I mean, I think it’s likely the Wari and Tiwanaku were both empires in the traditional sense. You don’t get something like the Inca empire without historical precedent for it

Excellent! Nice to see your computer is repaired.

Yup so definitely subscribed

Amazing educational content. General enough for average people but still dense with lots of information.

You are my go-to channel for early Americas' history, before and settlers came from other countries. Thank you.

This was not a empire but a culture or ideaiology like Buddism or Toaism that then was used in pottery and art work.

Please keep making videos. The focus of and idea behind this channel is awesome.

Saludos cordiales desde Bolivia. Gracias por difundir nuestra historia al mundo anglosajon.

Tiwanaku people dominate the farming game: What should we buy? Those cocaine leaves bruh! And some of that corn for making the party juice. These people knew whats up. I love that anywhere we look, people were getting high all the time. We always attribute it to ritual, but was it really? Probably both ritual and recreation. I was just thinking, corn beer is like the most American thing ever. Cheers to our friends in the far South!

This is excellent!

Good video, didn't even know these guys existed until now.

Great! Thanks again!

Very good stuff! Cieza de Leon traveled south along the eastern shore of Lake Titicaca while Ephraim Squire journeyed north to Cuzco along the western shore.

Well done 👍

Loving these videos man. I've been to all these places and even got a tattoo of a figure from the sun gate. (One of those in supplication? To the central god figure) Done in cuzco. From Ecuador to Chile, I've seen as much as I possibly could of the 1000s of years of history in that region. Completly amazing stuff 🤙

It’s such a great example of an emerging field of discovery! You’re amazing for be so on the research

Have always been fascinated by the amazing stone work at the various sites in Central and South America. As with all ancient stone work, you gotta wonder how the hell they acomplished the feats they did, because certainly they had to be more primitive than us, right? The Incas were supposed to have attributed their cities as left by their ancestors; poignantly made clear by the much lesser quality stone work they formed around the earlier, higher quality works. Who really quarried and set all of that amazing stone work, in places like Pumu Puncu, etc.? Questions that will, most likely, never be answered.

AHH I love this series

Fascinating!

Love this!❤ I studied archeology in the moquegua valley and am always tickled when it comes up. I have been lucky enough to be in the presence of mummies, knotted hats, and portrait keros! I even got to climb cerro baul. If you haven’t already read it, “Andean diaspora” by Goldstein (my professor) is an amazing resource!

Thank you for posting this

Great work! I’ve been searching for exactly this kind of information rich videos, on exactly these subjects. I am very excited for the future, where you have covered all the big names in Peruvian archeology, and really start digging into the obscure. However, even when covering civilizations I am familiar with, you have given me a lot of new information to consider. So I’ll enjoy the wait!

Thank you for your very professional and informative film.It is great that you give us the facts,without all the sensationalism that other sites like to throw in,because in the end the people of that region,in that time,were just people, just like us.I do wonder about climate changes during the the time they lived and thrived,and what was involved in their downfall,maybe a volcano 7000 miles away controlling and destroying everything they had built..🤔😔

About Tiahuanaco in Moquegua, it would be interesting if you check information about the Omo temple. This article is very interesting on the subject: "Multiethnicity, pluralism, and migration in the south central Andes: An alternate path to state expansion"

Love any and all anthropology/archeology, but when it's history you can recognize the effect is even more humbling if that is possible. I'm from eastern Bolivia myself and grew up watching on the tv present day Aymara people going to Tiwanaku to celebrate the winter solstice as the start of the andean new year. To think of the homage that is paid at what essentially are the ruins of what once was a far-reaching vibrant culture unto itself is dizzying. Thanks so much for your work and your channel, amazing

Thank you, Ancient Americas, for the excellent video. Really great job. You've explained that the Tiwanaku did not grow coca or maize in their raised beds. What DID they grow in the oft-depicted and mentioned raised beds? On what staple crop did the Tiwanaku people base their impressive food surplus, the one enabling them to develop a far-flung Andean culture? Your excellent video mentions that Tiwanaku priests took narcotics. Narcotics are natural or lab-produced opioids. "Narcotics" is NOT a synonym for "drugs" in general. Instead, it is a very specific type of substance that Tiwanaku priests were unlikely to possess. "Hallucinogens" might be a term that's more accurate.

Thank you.

Great content!

Territory disputes could have been settled on the ball courts, not a battle field. Though that distinction is probably lost on the participants. Imagine, There's a territory dispute, , both sides meet in the city, the decision is given to the Gods. At Dawn the 2 sides meet on the court. The ball is tossed into the air, to be illuminated by the first Rays, starting the match. 40 minutes later it's over. The Case is settled, the loser capitulates, releasing the captives, and returning the territory. BOTH SIDES PAY THE CITY, and go home, after the sacrifices and a huge party, with both sides encouraged to mix mingle and get along. Odd thing.. it doesn't seem to reduce conflict, but changes the nature of conflict to a Game Theory concern. Allowing fluid conquest and controlling transfer without "War" between associated cities.

Thanks for what you do sharing so much valuable information it might be a basic suggestion for a video but I have been wondering what the different classes in these ancient societies were and how they functioned as an incorporated peoples seeing howmuch some of these arts traditions and amazing structures travel far and wide from traders expansion etc I think it would be very interesting

I'll try go to the Anthropology museum in cochabamba to take good quality pictures for you. Thanks for the documentary :)

I understand why it serves as a good point of comparison with regards to the concept of empire. But one can overstate how systematic and "uniform" the Roman empire was in its conquests and administration. Mainly because it changed so much over the many centuries and because it varied greatly from region to region. In some cases even from city to city.

Very well researched and organized

16:24 I think the similarities between the Tiwanaku Sun Gate God and the Incan Creation God Vericocha can’t be understated. They have the same face, general body shape, eye shape, frills and even identical staffs and the altar he stands on. Coincidence? Maybe but I think not.

I also remember some histories about the destruction of many large monuments by the 'conquistadores"they believe this pieces may have gold inside

Thank you for bringing Tiwanaku to the spotlight, I'm looking forward to seeing more of your work on the continent. I had barely notions of all this, I had overlooked the history of America, I'm sad to say.

So it appears they've gone the way of the Toltecs, a semi mythical empire being nearly forgotten to time with some modern experts doubting it even existed.

Thanks

Excellent work. But what happened there? Puma Punku especially seems to have been visited by some calamity. The block are strewn haphazardly. Massive flood? Also there is a species of sea horse in the lake. It seems it was once connected to the sea. Thanks.

Can you please do a video on the ancient cultures of the southwest USA they are also connected to Mesoamerica

Looking for the Wari program.

Another great presentation ! I wanted to get your thoughts on the south american gods, namely, viracocha. I am a white guy and feel weird even bringing this up because of the white washing done or talked about in recent years but this always interested me. The inca describe viracocha as a light skined long white hair with beard with long robe ( reminds me of gandalf or a medieval wizard) anyway, when pizzaro arrived in peru they though he was a god because he looked like the description of viracocha who said that he would return, oneday. So, when pizzaro arrived, he was welcomed with open arms. My question is: Did a light skinned people live or rule over incans in the past and when leaving said they would return oneday? Or were the legends fabricated and the inca guessed what viracocha should look like? In short, were there white folks in south america a long time before columbus, pizzaro, etc? I believe the people of central america had same description of quetzquatl (sp?) And kulkulkan? Fascinating!

I've always wondered: cross their wood working that is gone but you know was there from surviving super sophisticated stone work supports for large roof beams + bronze/copper tools + traversing the coast - why no advanched ship building?

Viracocha has a embrion by its feet developing growth at the stomach and in the face he has grow wings and flying .

Do you know what kind of event destroyed the site and when did it happen? Thoose giant andesite and granite blocks are broken and the rest is in chaotic order, it must have been an zunami caused by an earthquake or something powerful catastrophe, I miss this detail it is very important.

impressive

So who were the Aztecs and Toltecs descended from?

Hey, your sub count really took off. Think it was 140 or 240 when I subbed, now it's closing in on 7500, nice. You know it's kind of surprising that no one so far has bothered to do an English language show or series on any of this stuff. The initial settling could be the first with interviews with archeologists and geneticists explain the various theories and presenting their findings. The killing off and/or dying out of the megafauna after settlement to the beginnings of agriculture afterward and the various crops that came out as a result. The first uses of cotton and later how textiles came out, how stone was quarried, how the various structures were created, how the metal tools and clubs and stuff were cast, where the ore was mined or how it was gathered, etc. I know there was a US civil engineer who did a some studies on how Machu Picchu was built although I forget his name atm. There's far more than that but overall there's enough to make like a literal series about everything... maybe you should shop the idea around and be the presenter, hehe.

I love the big FU at the end.

Will you be doing any videos of the Caribbean? Such as the Arawak? Taino? It would be a great addition to your collection, and, I can learn more of my ancestors! Thank you! ;D

WHERE ARE THE SUBTITLES IN SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE ???

How did they used to get their colours? How did they get them to look so vivid and last as vivid so long?

Love this content please accept this comment for the algorithm !

were the many man made underground conduits, not mentioned ?

In part 1 and 2 you mention directions as northEAST and south EAST. The images show the locations as northWEST and southWEST.

Puma Punku Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” (Genesis 11:1-4) Puma Punku And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” (Genesis 11:5-7) Tiwanaku So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth. (Genesis 11:8-9)

Huari episode when?

🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

I have always been amazed about the fact that, while Tehotihuacan and the classic Mayans were inhabiting Mesoamerica, at the same time Tiwanaku and Wari were ruling the andean region. To what extent were they related?, we will never know. They all represent the zenith of spiritual and supernatural achievements in the Americas. To both, archeologists and scientists they seem not to have had any physical contact, but to me, they must have shared some out-of-this-reality methaphysical contact. All of these societies do share a deep common sense of the mystical, spiritual and supernatural nature. How I wish to somehow travel through time and appreciate with my own eyes how unique and awesome this lost world in the ancient Americas must have been!!! ... My sincere congratulations for your amazing work. I am very impressed by your almost perfect pronunciation of every single name of the Andean sites. You are the one in all KZfaq videos about these subjects who truly nail it with the names!!! Keep up with the great work and thank your for your videos. So looking forward to the Wari episode. Cheers!

"Good morning officer, what seems to be the problem?' "Sir, are you munching a huge mouthful of coca leaves?" "Hey, it's my religion, man, don't oppress me" "Please exit your vehicle" "I'm in a vehicle?"

What of the statues of bearded men?

Tiwanaku is in Bolivia 🇧🇴