All language subtitles for Ancient.Aliens.S20E20.eng

NARRATOR: High in the
Andes Mountains,

more than 150 massive
stone blocks

lie scattered on the ground.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: Puma Punku is
one of the most enigmatic places

on planet Earth.

Some of the stone blocks
are over a hundred tons.

NARRATOR: The ancient blocks are
carved with incredible precision.

TRAVIS TAYLOR: It's an
amazing piece of engineering

that is beyond its time.

NARRATOR: But the origins
and purpose of Puma Punku

remain completely unknown.

Mainstream archaeology says
that this site is

1,500 years old,

but anyone you talk to
in that community

will tell you
it's much, much older.

NARRATOR: Could new
advancements in technology

finally help to solve
a centuries-old puzzle

and offer proof
of alien intervention on Earth?

ERICH VON D�NIKEN: The locals say, "It
was not us who made these platforms.

"It was the gods.

The gods who descended
from the sky."

NARRATOR: There is a doorway

in the universe.

Beyond it is
the promise of truth.

It demands
we question everything

we have ever been taught.

The evidence is all around us.

The future is
right before our eyes.

We are not alone.

We have never been alone.

High in the Andes Mountains,

Spanish explorer
Pedro Cieza de Le�n is

searching for
the Inca capital of Qullasuyu.

Just south of Lake Titicaca,

at an elevation
of nearly 13,000 feet,

he comes upon
extraordinary ruins

covering roughly
two and a half square miles.

It is the ancient
settlement of Tiahuanaco.

De Le�n spends many months
investigating the site

and writes in his chronicles

that Tiahuanaco contains
impressive stone walls,

idols of human figures,
and great doorways.

He also writes about an area

south of the main
archaeological site

called Puma Punku,
or "Gate of the Puma."

It features stone blocks
so enormous,

he does not understand how
they could be moved by humans.

And they are carved
with a precision

that, according to De Le�n,
could not be accomplished

with the tools
available to the Inca.

TSOUKALOS: Pedro
Cieza de Le�n says

that the local population,

which was Inca, told him...

...that this place was
not built by the Incas

but it was built
hundreds of years before.

If the Inca themselves have said
that it was not the Inca,

well, then,
who were the pre-Incas?

And there we are confronted
with a gigantic question mark.

NARRATOR: What the giant blocks
formed is completely unknown,

and nearly five centuries
after its discovery by De Le�n,

Puma Punku remains
as mysterious as ever.

It's out in this really open
high plains.

Most of the stones
in Puma Punku are huge.

The biggest is 130 tons.

There's another one
that's 85 tons.

Even the small ones are
multiton.

So these are huge.

The Plataforma L�tica is
in the center of Puma Punku

and it's, in fact,
the foundation.

So it consists of enormous slabs
of red sandstone

that were brought from a quarry
eight miles to the west,

over two mountain ranges.

So, how that was accomplished,
I have no idea.

CAROLINE WHITEHILL: Another
really fascinating

aspect of the Puma Punku site

is the distribution
of these blocks.

Some of them are still
upright in the position

that they were
originally constructed in.

Most of them are strewn about.

It looks like you're
in a child's playroom

and blocks have just been
knocked over

from some sort of a structure
that was built.

HUGH NEWMAN: It looks
like it's been destroyed

by a kind of tsunami
or something.

It's got mud
piled up everywhere.

Giant stones sticking out of it
at crazy angles.

NARRATOR: It remains unknown

whether the structures
of Puma Punku were destroyed

by a cataclysm
or if the construction project

was simply abandoned
before it was finished.

But the roughly
150 megalithic blocks

that can be found
at the site today

reveal that
the builders possessed

astounding
stoneworking abilities.

BARNHART: Puma Punku has
these megalithic blocks

that are perfectly cut...

...that all of their angles are
completely right angles.

There's these ones
in particular called H-blocks

that look
like a big capital "H."

They have kind of,
uh, fade lines going in

where they carved the same shape
in a couple of different layers,

deeper and deeper
into the stone.

And its precision is
really mind-boggling.

TAYLOR: There are grooves that are
cut with perfect 90-degree angles.

It looks
like they were so precise

that they were done

with modern-day
milling machine tools.

DAVID CHILDRESS: There's
stones there, too,

that have a lot of drill holes

and saw cuts
and things like that in them.

It's an amazing piece
of engineering

that is beyond its time.

TSOUKALOS: Predominantly, we have
two types of stone at Puma Punku,

and that is red sandstone
and gray andesite.

They have found tools
made of copper

and of iron
and bronze at Puma Punku.

And with those tools, you can
absolutely cut the sandstone.

However, you cannot cut
the gray andesite blocks

with bronze or with copper
or with iron.

What's interesting, too,
is that the stone blocks

that we find at Puma Punku,

the surface is
as if you're touching glass.

It is perfection.

So, to me it's possible
that our ancestors figured out

a way to vitrify stone.

And we have evidence here
of some type of a heat tool.

NARRATOR: In 1903,
Arthur Posnansky,

an Austrian engineer, explorer,
and amateur archaeologist,

traveled to Puma Punku,

which by that time was
located in Western Bolivia.

Posnansky began
the most thorough study

of the site ever conducted.

Arthur Posnansky was born
in Vienna, Austria

in the 19th century,

and in his early 20s
he moved to South America.

But very soon after that,

he became fascinated
by Puma Punku

and spent almost
the rest of his life

studying and researching
that location.

TSOUKALOS: Arthur Posnansky lived
and researched at Puma Punku

from 1904 until 1945.

He was there for 41 years

and he absolutely fell in love

not only
with the landscapes there

but also with that culture
that put a spell on him,

and it was
his biggest siren call.

When speaking
with the Aymara elders,

they speak very, very fondly

of the archaeologist
Posnansky...

...because he respected them
and he respected their culture.

And he talked to them about what
they knew about these sites.

And one of the places
that they're in agreement

is that the site is much older

than it's believed to be
by mainstream archaeologists.

NARRATOR: Mainstream
scholars believe

the site was
originally constructed

about 1,500 years ago,
but Posnansky proposed

that Puma Punku was
much, much older.

By examining the structures
and what he believed was

their original alignment
with the stars,

he dated the ruins to 15,000 BC.

TAYLOR: Arthur Posnansky suggests
that Puma Punku would line up

with stellar objects
about 17,000 years ago.

The local Indigenous people,
the Aymara, uh, they actually

have a mythology
that Puma Punku has been around

for maybe
as much as 17,000 years.

NARRATOR: The Aymara people
have occupied the area

of modern-day Peru and Bolivia
for at least 800 years

and lived alongside the Inca
when Pedro Cieza de Le�n

arrived at Tiahuanaco
in the 16th century.

Both the Inca
and Aymara told De Le�n

and other Spanish chroniclers

not only that Puma Punku was
built long before their time

but also that it was
the work of the gods.

VON D�NIKEN: The locals said,

"It was not us who made this.

It was the gods
who did it in one night."

"The gods who descended
from the sky."

So, normally every culture says,

"Oh, yes, we did it.
We, we had the knowledge.

We were strong enough."

In that case, Puma Punku,
the locals say,

"It was not us
who made these platforms.

It was the gods."

Which gods? Extraterrestrials.

NARRATOR: The mystery of Puma Punku
has persisted for centuries.

But now, thanks
to new archaeological research

and cutting-edge technology,

experts believe
they may finally be able

to accurately reconstruct
the ancient megalithic site

and, in the process,

perhaps answer some
of the long-standing questions

about Puma Punku's age,
how it was built,

and its potential
extraterrestrial origins.

# #

NARRATOR: Western Bolivia, 1995.

Archaeologist Alexei Vranich
is preparing to excavate

an ancient structure
at the site of Tiahuanaco

for his PhD thesis.

When the project
runs into complications,

a local archaeological team

invites him to instead
visit the ruins of Puma Punku.

VRANICH: The Puma Punku
is located at Tiahuanaco

just a little bit south
of the village.

It's one of the more
dramatic landscapes you can find

at 13,000 feet above sea level.

And you simply don't expect
to find something so impressive

in such a desolate landscape.

I remember seeing it, and I had
no idea what I was looking at.

It was a confusing mess,

and I had never seen
anything like it.

NARRATOR: Upon
seeing Puma Punku,

Vranich decided to make the site

the new focus
of his excavation project.

VRANICH: I lived in the village
with the Aymara Indians,

and these are local people that
have been there for centuries,

and they worked directly
with me,

so I got to know
the culture very well.

They're excellent excavators.

But they also held it
in high esteem

within their cosmological world.

WHITEHILL: When you speak to
the elders of the Aymara,

they will tell you that this
was actually built by the gods,

that these were gods
that came down.

NARRATOR: Jorge Delgado,

an Inca by birth and heritage,

says that in
the Native tradition,

the gods connected
with Puma Punku

are known as the Space Brothers.

...ways how we can
become one with the stones.

NARRATOR: The first known photograph
of Puma Punku was taken in 1893,

and the site has transformed
dramatically since that time.

In fact,
the entire area of Tiahuanaco

is like a giant puzzle with
many pieces missing or moved.

TSOUKALOS: Half of
Tiahuanaco town

was built with Puma Punku stone

and with Tiahuanaco stone
from the ancient sites.

I mean, there is one block
at a gas station.

The cathedral,
or the Church of Tiahuanaco--

a third of it is Puma Punku
Tiahuanaco rock.

It puts a giant damper
on trying to figure out

what did Puma Punku look like
in its heyday?

NARRATOR: Even the
Bolivian government

has been responsible
for altering the landscape.

VRANICH: In the 1950s,

the Bolivian government
decided that they wanted

to have ruins

similar to what Peru had
for Machu Picchu

or Mexico had for Teotihu�can.

So, it was a very
progressive agenda

to give the Bolivian people
a pre-Columbian identity.

But the result for archaeology
was a bit of a disaster.

They moved around a lot of stone

and did a lot
of questionable reconstructions.

NARRATOR: While performing
excavations at the ancient site,

Dr. Vranich decided to embark on
his own reconstruction project

in hopes of answering some
of Puma Punku's many mysteries.

Dr. Vranich's reconstruction
would be computer-generated,

and the first step
was to precisely measure

every stone block.

VRANICH: I used a lot of
interesting and new technologies

from laser scanners
to photogrammetry.

But the best method
ended up being tape measure,

pen and paper.

And I used the notes
from scholars

from over a century ago,
from the 1840s to the 1890s.

And then, recently,
an architect from UC Berkeley

did a lot of the drawings
of these stones,

and that became the basis
for the reconstruction.

NARRATOR: Once Dr. Vranich
completed the arduous task

of documenting the measurements
of every known stone block

and slab at Puma Punku,

he 3D-printed them at UCLA,

where he was working
as a research associate

and visiting
assistant professor.

With help from his students,

he began putting together
the puzzle pieces.

We had a lot of pieces,

and we had no idea how
to go about putting it together.

There was a couple of rules
that have been found

on how some of these stones,

or how some
of the ornaments, fit.

Certain types of windows
or niches are always found

in certain patterns
or in certain combinations.

We continued to play
with this model

probably for over a year.

And we were almost
at our wits end going,

"We're not gonna be able
to put this together,"

when we finally had
a moment of insight.

We were able to put together

two different pieces that formed

what one wall of the temple
would have looked like.

NARRATOR: Dr. Vranich and
his students had discovered

what he calls
the Tiahuanaco Rosetta Stone.

VRANICH: That allowed us
to find the other pieces

and fit them together.

And once we had that,
we realized we actually had

a miniature version
of the Puma Punku

down to almost exact size,
0.57 in scale.

That was one of those

aha moments
that almost surprises you.

For an archaeologist,
it's one of those moments

that you live for.

NARRATOR: Once Dr.
Vranich and his students

established how the pieces
fit together,

they were able to do a complete
reconstruction of Puma Punku.

VRANICH: Puma Punku-- it's two
different things, in a way.

One of them
is the entire temple complex,

which is almost
half a kilometer long.

There's the main platform,
there's a plaza in front of it,

there's a couple
of different walls.

So, it's a substantial building.

But surrounding
the inner courtyard,

you would have had
these buildings

that we're reconstructing
right now.

So, we're reconstructing

the main religious
and ritual focus

of this larger temple complex.

The Puma Punku
probably had formed

part of the religious ideology
that Tiahuanaco

was an important place on Earth
where all the forces

of the heavens
and the underworld

were mediated to create

a fertile and safe Earth.

NARRATOR: Dr. Vranich has
assembled the most complete model

of Puma Punku ever constructed.

But just how accurate is it?

And could it provide
the key to solving

the centuries-old mystery
of Puma Punku?

NARRATOR: Over the
past 20 years,

archaeologist Dr. Alexei Vranich

has taken detailed measurements

of every existing
megalithic block at Puma Punku

and had them 3D-printed.

By working with his model,
he has developed a theory

on how the ancient site
was originally constructed.

On March 5, 2024,

he invited Giorgio Tsoukalos

and aerospace engineer
Dr. Travis Taylor

to a workspace in Los Angeles

to share the results
of his research.

Tell me what this template is
that's on the tabletop here.

VRANICH: This represents
the sandstone foundation

for this building
of the Puma Punku.

And to print it out
was simply too cumbersome,

so we put it out on paper.

Put that in scale for me.
How-how far

-is this piece of paper?
-So, this one's about

-maybe 70 meters long by about
12 meters wide. -Oh, okay. Okay.

-And... -And consisting
of how many platform?

So, we have 17 different pieces

of sandstone that would have
completed a very flat surface.

And there's an excellent chance
it probably would have extended

another 12 meters this way.

TSOUKALOS: When I saw
the model in person,

I was like,
"I cannot believe my eyes."

It almost looked
like a very long

and rectangular building

with multiple structures
lining up a long avenue.

Alexei, clearly,
this is a passion for you.

My-my question is,
if I were to compare

all the cuts and everything
to the actual one,

how closely would they compare?

-No, they wouldn't.
-Really?

VRANICH: I wanted to know
what these blocks looked like

when they were made,
not how they were damaged

or worn over the years.

I needed to know, "How were
these things meant to fit?"

So, you-you would suggest, then,

that these blocks

are what they actually
looked like when they were made.

VRANICH: Exactly.

Well, that's amazing. I mean,
the first time I was there,

uh, was in 1995,

and in 1995,

one of the most
fascinating blocks I've seen

is this guy right here.

VRANICH: This stone...

-This is what you were looking at, correct?
-Yes. Mm-hmm.

So, it's a stone--
it's a window within a window

-within a window.
-TAYLOR: Yes.

TSOUKALOS: Wow.

TAYLOR: You have to have done

ground-penetrating radar,

uh, and other
sensor measurements out there.

Is there more to it
underneath the surface

that we're not seeing here?

We actually did
one of the most extensive

ground-penetrating radar surveys
for the entire continent.

And then UNESCO went by
and did a drone survey,

uh, and it picked up every
tiny bump across the surface.

And, yeah,
they definitely showed

that the Puma Punku
is quite large

and there's a lot more
of these stones.

Do you have any conclusion
what any of this means?

This is a temple,
it's a ceremonial place.

That-That's clearly evident.

TAYLOR: Alexei, looking at
all the parts here, uh,

I could probably come up
with a billion combinations.

So, how certain are you

that this
is the right combination?

Or that there's iterations
of it, versions of it,

or something
completely different

that this
could've possibly been?

You know what,
I-I'm fairly confident

about the general form

and the location
of certain things,

that's for sure.

NARRATOR: While working
with his 3D printed model,

Dr. Vranich made
an extraordinary discovery

about the purpose
of the intricately carved blocks

at Puma Punku.

Come over here.

We just printed this one out.

If this is the way
it should have gone,

with here, and then it would
have had a little bit on top.

From this point,
it doesn't seem like much.

But come around this side.

Now look through the door

and what do you see?

-Bring yourself down.
-So like this?

Oh! Yeah!

And you know when
you'll have the two mirrors

parallel to each other
and you look

and it's like an infinity
mirror, as they call it.

-VRANICH: Yes. -TAYLOR:
It's kind of that effect.

Like you're looking to infinity.

It's forced perception.

It's a door within a door
within a door within a door.

TAYLOR: What direction
is this facing?

VRANICH: So this is
facing, uh, west.

TAYLOR: Oh, so it
would see a sunset?

VRANICH: Yes, yes.

TAYLOR: It would be very
interesting to note

what time of year does the sun
actually set perfectly

such that it illuminates
the very center

of that infinity door?

It won't line up
exactly right now,

but you could project
that backwards in time,

and it would tell us when
the sun lined up on that spot.

You could use this
to date this room.

VRANICH: Right.

NARRATOR: Determined to solve
the mystery of Puma Punku,

Dr. Vranich has released his 3D
printing diagrams to the public

and has challenged
other researchers

to reconstruct
the ancient site as well.

There's a lot of pieces

that I haven't
been able to place,

so that's why I placed all
of this information online

along with
the basic instructions.

I would love for people to
download this, print them out.

My model is good for the moment,

but it's the basic model.

We can add
a lot of things to it.

TAYLOR: What Alexei has done
is absolutely fantastic.

Now anyone can take
all the pieces there

and see if they can
put them together in a way

that makes sense to them.

And sooner or later,
someone is going to figure out

what all these pieces built,
what they were,

why were they there.

NARRATOR: Now that accurate
measurements of Puma Punku

are available online,

could this mark the beginning
of a new era of discovery?

Perhaps further clues
can be found

by examining
another model of Puma Punku

that reveals that the site
bears striking similarities

to some of the most
ancient constructions on Earth.

NARRATOR: 3D data visualization
expert Scott McAvoy

runs the university library's
digital media lab.

He is also known
for his CGI reconstructions

of ISIS-destroyed sites

in the ancient
Syrian city of Palmyra.

Archaeological reconstruction
is a way to put

a lot of different data together

in a way that we
can draw connections

between ourselves and the way
things were in the past.

If a picture is worth
a thousand words,

a 3D model
must be worth a million.

Puma Punku is a perfect target
for this work.

It's dripping with mystery
and it's very enticing.

NARRATOR: Now he has applied the
data collected by Dr. Alexei Vranich

to create a digital
3D wireframe of Puma Punku.

-Hey, Scott.
-Hey. Good to see you again.

Good to see you.

NARRATOR: On March 28, 2024,

Scott invited archaeologist
Dr. Ed Barnhart,

who has conducted his own
on-the-ground investigations

of Puma Punku
to review his model

and discuss his findings.

BARNHART: I've been to Puma
Punku three different times.

I have wandered this thing

and looking at it
from different angles,

feeling stupid
that I can't figure out

how any of these things
go together.

McAVOY: Well, that's where
technology can really help us.

-Let me show you what we got.
-Okay.

McAVOY: So, this is the positions
of the stones from 1893.

The stones had been moved
so many times in recent years

and even in the past
before this photo was taken.

We're trying
to get a better sense

of where they might have laid.

This is a puzzle with probably
40% of its pieces missing.

McAVOY:
I think it was calculated,

like, ten percent of the pieces
are maybe here.

-Oh, my gosh, really?
-Yeah. We're missing a lot.

This is only 150 bricks.

You know,
if we put these up by volume,

I think
it's going to make up, like,

half of the front facade.

-Oh, my gosh.
-Yeah.

Here we're starting with the
satellite image of Puma Punku.

And then we overlay,
um, Alexei's map.

So here we have a basic 3D model

of the platform around it,

the plaza on the outside.

And we see that this temple
is at the entrance

to this sunken courtyard.

That is fascinating.

McAVOY: From the incisions
on the foundation here,

I feel pretty comfortable
extruding the walls.

You know, raising
these up to the height

of the doorway and trying
to fill in that space.

Okay. That does make sense.

So, there seems to be
an implied symmetry here.

There seems to be a pattern.

This side reflects this side.

So we're moving forward
based on that.

BARNHART: Wow.

That makes logical sense to me

because the other parts
of Tiahuanaco we can see

all adhere to a basic symmetry.

McAVOY: Well, you know, there's
so many more pieces here that

I wasn't even able
to find a place for,

especially
these tub stones here.

BARNHART: You know,
one of the real clues

is these little guys right here,

these, where we believe

metal, kind of I-bars,
would keep them clasped.

There's another one there.

Those are exactly
the kind of pieces

that I'm focused on
to say like, "Okay,

this puzzle piece
has to fit with this one."

Yeah, these are great.

NARRATOR: The type of connection

Dr. Barnhart is referring to

is commonly called
a keystone cut.

On the blocks at Puma Punku
are what we call keystone cuts.

And these keystone cuts
are notches, like a T-notch,

set on the edge of a block
that match a T-notch

on another edge of a block.

And then molten metal was poured

into those notches
as a fastener.

NEWMAN: These keystone
cuts are fascinating

because they're found
not just at Puma Punku

and Tiahuanaco in Bolivia.

They're found in Peru.

They're found in Egypt.
They're found in Greece.

And they even found at
Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

So, does this prove
that there was, like,

a worldwide
technological civilization

that shared this knowledge?

TSOUKALOS: From the ancient
astronaut perspective,

our ancestors all went
to the same masonry school.

Meaning, the same
extraterrestrial teachers

visited at Puma Punku

and the same teachers
visited at Angkor Wat.

NARRATOR: Is it possible
that Puma Punku

was visited
by otherworldly beings

in the distant past?

Ancient astronaut theorists
say yes,

and suggest Puma Punku
presents evidence

that could push back
the entire timeline

of human civilization.

NARRATOR: Muncie, Indiana.

April 9th, 2024.

At Ball State University,
Giorgio Tsoukalos

is meeting with Professor
of Electronic Art John Fillwalk,

who used the data gathered
by Dr. Alexei Vranich

to develop his own model
of Puma Punku.

So, here's what
we've been working on.

Oh, wow. This is great.
Look at all this.

This was probably
the most challenging

reconstruction we've ever done.

So, how then did you come up
with that particular structure?

The first thing, really,
we tried to do

was reconstruct the foundation
because that really informed

sort of the growth
of the building out of that.

And a lot of the blocks are
very specific to certain spots.

TSOUKALOS: Oh, wow.

FILLWALK: Then we create a motif

that expands around
the structures.

You know, to me,
it seems very mystical.

The patterning of the doorways
within doorways within doorways

I mean, it really suggests
an idea of a transition.

It points, to me,
toward another reality,

maybe the afterlife,
to honor ancestors.

NARRATOR: John Fillwalk's
reconstruction,

much like the model built
by Dr. Alexei Vranich,

contains doorways
within doorways,

which he believes
points to the site

having served
a ceremonial function.

But the question remains:
for who?

In 1945,
after studying Puma Punku

for more than four decades,
archaeologist Arthur Posnansky

published his findings
in a book titled

Tihuanacu:
The Cradle of American Man.

And in it, he proposed
that the structures found

throughout the Tiahuanaco site--
including Puma Punku--

were built
roughly 17,000 years ago.

The reason why he did that
is because

of astronomical facts

that he found at Tiahuanaco.

These astronomical markers only

line up properly

around 15,000 BC.

CHILDRESS: Modern
archaeologists have been

getting dates
that are more like 500 AD.

But the dating is difficult.

Even today,
archaeologists are not

in agreement of the dates
of Tiahuanaco and Puma Punku.

NARRATOR: Posnansky
based his dating

on features at a site located

less than one mile
northeast of Puma Punku

called Kalasasaya.

John Fillwalk digitally
recreated this ancient site

with its
central sunken courtyard

and many monoliths

in order to look
for celestial alignments

that might corroborate
Posnansky's dating.

We're looking at Kalasasaya.

And Kalasasaya does have
a beautiful equinox alignment.

You'll see
the sun just sits there

-right on top of the, the stone.
-TSOUKALOS: Okay.

FILLWALK: That's gorgeous.

TSOUKALOS: Oh, how cool is that?

So, we worked with NASA's

JPL Horizons group

to provide data on any kind
of visible celestial body

-looking at 15,000 BC.
-And what did you find?

So, there were some interesting
alignments, I have to say.

At Kalasasaya.

Because there's all
the verticals that point around.

And so we investigated that

from the center monument
looking outward towards

those posts
as almost like in Stonehenge

-where you look and you can see,
-Right.

you know, solstice or equinox
and that kind of thing.

That would essentially indicate

that Posnansky's calculations

in this particular case

were correct.

I mean, I think that's possible.

There are alignments.

-Wow. Okay.
-Yeah.

-There are. -That date back 15,000 BC.
I mean,

you know, all of this
would essentially rewrite

South American history,
and this is something to be

-excited about.
-Yeah.

NARRATOR: If the Kalasasaya
structure at Tiahuanaco

can be dated to 15,000 BC,

is it possible that Puma Punku
is that old as well?

FOERSTER: There's no logic
as to why modern archaeologists

put one fence around Puma Punku

and another around Tiahuanaco.

They're both the same location.

It's clear they were
both built at the same time

by the same builders
in the very, very distant past.

NARRATOR: Some
researchers also believe

that the remote location
of Puma Punku

would make more sense if it had
been built 17,000 years ago,

because at that time,
it may have overlooked

Lake Titicaca.

If you look at
the geomorphology, if you look

at the sediments that have
been deposited around the site,

you can see that the lake was
at one point much, much larger.

COLLINS: Lake Titicaca today

is many miles away
from Puma Punku,

but in the past it is believed
that this was actually

much closer to Puma Punku.

-So, we're looking at Lake
Titicaca right now, -Correct.

so where is, in this image,

where is Puma Punku located?

Yeah, so, right,
so at the tail end

of the lake, here on the south,

kind of east corner, if you come
out here into the plains,

it's a little bit offset
into that area, that flat area.

Okay, and the idea
is that long ago,

Lake Titicaca was much,
much larger,

and so that Puma Punku
and Tiahuanaco

may have been a harbor or a port

to Lake Titicaca.

Certainly would make sense,
and water

is such a dominant feature
at the site, as you know,

-with the canal structures
-Right.

-and drainage systems and all of that.
-Mm-hmm.

So, that connection to water,
obviously, is really important.

NARRATOR: According
to some experts,

Puma Punku's proximity
to Lake Titicaca

in the distant past
might also explain

why the site appears to have
experienced a cataclysmic event.

FOERSTER: I think what was
responsible was a massive

explosion of the volcano
of Cerro Khap�a

between 12,800

and 11,600 years ago.

Right next to that volcano

is the deepest part of the lake,

which is 800 to 900 feet deep.

So I think the debris
that came from the volcano

created a tsunami
that lifted up the soil

and sediment at the bottom
of the shallow part of the lake

and literally buried Puma Punku
and parts of Tiahuanaco.

TSOUKALOS: There
is a possibility

that Dr. Posnansky's
calculations are correct.

And Puma Punku may date back

as far as 15,000 years BC.

And if that is the case,

that is one of those times

where, in many cultures
around the world,

including the ancient Egyptians,

are referring to a golden age

when the so-called gods
mingled amongst humankind.

So, was this an early memory
of first contact?

NARRATOR: Could it be
that Puma Punku was built

more than 17,000 years ago

and has a connection
to otherworldly visitors?

Perhaps further clues
can be found

by examining
a gigantic stone gateway

that might be
the final piece of the puzzle.

NARRATOR: When investigating
the ruins of Puma Punku

for insights
about its mysterious origins,

ancient astronaut theorists
believe

some of the most
compelling clues

can be found by examining
a giant stone doorway

that stands less
than a mile away

in central Tiahuanaco.

Called the Gate of the Sun,

it is ten feet tall,
13 feet wide

and was carved from
a single piece of andesite stone

that weighs more than ten tons.

Perhaps one of the most
iconic works of Tiahuanaco

is the Gate of the Sun.

It was found nearby
and ultimately moved

to its present location.

And they think
that it could well have been,

actually, the entrance
or gateway to Puma Punku.

It features
the Inca god Viracocha,

who's the god of creation,
who's portrayed

as a sort of a humanoid figure

with rays coming off his head.

NEWMAN: Interestingly,
the god Viracocha

is holding two staffs.

And this is the most
ancient version of Viracocha.

And so to find that there
is really quite astonishing.

It's said
that Viracocha himself,

the great god of the Andes,
was actually the person

who instigated the construction
of Tiahuanaco and Puma Punku.

So what's particularly
fascinating about

the Gate of the Sun is that

on either side of Viracocha

are these figures on each side,

and they are birdmen.

TSOUKALOS: Viracocha is flanked

with 48 winged beings.

Now, why would these beings

have wings attached to them?

Well, because our ancestors

try to signify flight.

What I think is depicted

on the Gate of the Sun is a type

of a celestial pantheon,

suggesting that whoever came

and imparted knowledge

at Tiahuanaco and Puma Punku

were beings that had
a celestial connection,

meaning they came from the sky.

NARRATOR: Could it be
that the figures carved

on the Gate of the Sun are
depictions of extraterrestrials

who arrived in Puma Punku
in the distant past?

If Puma Punku was
some sort of temple complex--

as Alexei Vranich, Scott McAvoy

and John Fillwalk
have all envisioned--

was it built to connect
with these beings?

For now, there remain
more questions than answers.

But many researchers believe
that solving the mystery

of Puma Punku could lead to
even more profound revelations.

VRANICH: Puma Punku
will be a mystery

for a lot of people
for a long time.

And there are
a lot of aspects and facets

of that society
we don't know about.

Archaeologists will be able to
work there for many generations.

We can continue to excavate,

uh, and do
more advanced analysis

to try to find out
a little bit more

about Puma Punku
and Tiahuanaco society.

FOERSTER: Puma Punku is unique
in terms of its construction,

its astonishing level
of accuracy.

Flat surfaces almost laser flat.

So it makes it one
of the most enigmatic

and fascinating
ancient locations on the planet.

The level of technology
required to create

Puma Punku would defy
21st century technologies.

So, how that was accomplished,
I have no idea.

TSOUKALOS: Even to this day,
with all the recreations,

nobody really
has figured out yet

what that place looked like
when it was finished.

What was Puma Punku made for?

Your guess is as good as mine.

But we may have a eureka moment

where, together,

we will unlock the great mystery

of Puma Punku.

NARRATOR: Since Spanish
explorers first came upon

Puma Punku
nearly five centuries ago,

the ruins have remained
one of the ancient world's

greatest mysteries.

Like the pyramids that stand
on Egypt's Giza Plateau,

the enormous Moai statues
of Easter Island,

and the monoliths of Stonehenge,

might Puma Punku
point to a history

that is much different
than we've imagined?

Perhaps modern technology

will soon reveal Puma Punku's

long held secrets and the truth

about our alien ancestors.

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