This week’s Monument Monday comes with stories that a traveler might think came from a work of fiction. Marchausi (also spelled Markawasi), Peru is a plateau that was created by a volcanic eruption in the Andes Mountains. It houses sets of granite rocks that have been the center of theories and speculations for years. The other side of the plateau has a collection of ruins that contain over fifty structures, and burial tombs are located around the outskirts of the settlement. The granite rocks contain different human-like and animal-like figures, as well as religious symbols that makes the traveler and the curious side in all of us ask, “Why? How?”
photo via: wikipedia
Peruvian explorer Daniel Ruzo had theories as to where these sculptures came from. He theorized that they came from a now forgotten race that was wiped out years before our civilization existed. He also thought that it was a an advanced civilization that was able to travel world wide, and leave there mark in different places. The most common connection that he made was between the peoples who built these statues and the ancient Egyptians. The African Queen, founded in Marcahuasi on the left, greatly resembles the Great Sphinx of Egypt on the right:
photo via: bcvideo
Later in his research, Ruzo came to the conclusion that the “Masma Culture” was responsible for the carvings. Explorer Peter E. Schneider later took this picture, that he calls “The Egyptian Princess.” He believes that this connected the lost people who built these monuments in Peru to civilizations in Egypt:
photo via: bcvideo
The origins of these granite “sculptures” are still unknown. Many theories say that the rocks continued to take this shape through the natural process of erosion.
