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speculativeoptimist
What's up with this guy on the bottom left? It looks terrified compared to the others.
The great pyramid of Tiwanaku, called the Akapana, is nearly the size of the great pyramid of Khufu, and might actually hold chambers in its interior. Ongoing excavations revealed a complex network of tunnels and passageways very similar to the shafts of egyptian pyramids.
A robot investigates the pyramid of Akapana in Tiahuanaco
Like he was made in the great pyramid of Gizeh in Egypt, investigators have used a robot to explore a tunnel found in the pyramid of Akapana, located in the archaeological zone of Tiahuanaco according to informs the newspaper the Universal one into Mexico.
In the pyramid constructed between years 400 and 700 of ours he was, detected a mysterious tunnel which was decided to investigate by means of this technique. The robot was able to lower 3.8 meters by the interior of the tunnel and later to slide 18 meters in line horizontal by the same one. To little, the robot stopped when appearing before him a slope of 1.7 meters, moment at which the investigators before the fear to lose the talent, decided to suspend the operation.
It is predicted to construct another model of robot that can draw for this obstacle and return to undertake the investigation. One thinks that the tunnel can lead to a ceremonial camera, but the possible content of the same one is not known, although it is speculated on with the funeral camera of a monarch of Tiahuanaco.
Robotic exploration of a newly-discovered tunnel in the Akapana pyramid, June 13, 2006
Recently, the Department of Archaeology of Bolivia (DINAR, directed by Javier Escalante) has been conducting excavations on the Akapana pyramid. The Proyecto Arqueologico Pumapunku-Akapana (PAPA, or Pumapunku-Akapana Archaeological Project) run by the University of Pennsylvania, has been excavating in the area surrounding the pyramid for the past few years, and also conducting Ground Penetrating Radar surveys of the area
The field season began with three surveys in different areas using the 400Mhz and the 200Mhz antennas in order to accurately assess the soil context and its relationship to the radar signal in terms of velocity and depth. The soil has a high percentage of clay, which seems to be slowing down the radar signal quite a bit, making prospection difficult since the architecture is located at varying depths below the surface.
Geophysics at Tiwanaku Ground-penetrating radar (GPR), magnetometry, induced electrical conductivity, and magnetic susceptibility mapping in the northeast quadrant of Tiwanaku’s monumental core has revealed a series of previously unknown architectural features. Several of these were tested with excavations and confirmed to be wall foundations and conduits. Others await subsurface testing but the synergy of geophysical data, aerial photographs, and topographic data provide strong evidence for the following features: two residential compounds, four pools for water retention, a series of conduits, revetments, and a square structure. The combination of GPR and magnetometry has proven particularly useful at Tiwanaku. While the majority of buried architectural features seem to be detected with GPR, magnetometry helps to distinguish between local building materials (mostly sandstone and other sedimentary rocks) and the ritually significant andesite imported from the shores of Lake Titicaca. The data suggest that a series of east facing revetments were built with andesite while those facing north were not, a pattern consistent elsewhere at Tiwanaku.