A network of ancient earthworks covers a large part of the land near the Titicaca Lake. The slopes of hills are criss-crossed with terrace walls and the surfaces of the plains covered with raised fields, indicating that this was once a highly productive agricultural place for the south central Andes. Using the Google Maps satellite imagery, we discover that some landforms are geoglyphs, with a clear symbolic function. Among them, there are animals,where ponds are their eye

Sparavigna, Amelia Carolina

English

PORTO Publications Open Repository TOrino

  1 
 
 
 
 
Geoglyphs of  Titicaca  
 
 
 
 
Amelia Carolina Sparavigna  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Torino, Italy, 2010 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This book is dedicated to my grandmother, Carolina Dastrù. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Amelia Carolina Sparavigna is assistant professor from 1993 at the Polytechnic of Torino, Italy. 
She gained her Bachelor Degree in Physics from the University of Torino in 1982, and the 
Doctoral Degree in 1990. She is co-author of more than 80 publications on international journals.  
Her research activity is on subjects of the condensed matter physics, liquid crystal microscopy and 
image processing. She has a passion for archaeology. 
 
 
 
Editore: Lulu.com  
Copyright: © 2010 A.C.Sparavigna, Standard Copyright License  
Lingua: English  
Paese: Italia 
 
 
  3 
 
 
Geoglyphs of Titicaca  
 
Amelia Carolina Sparavigna  
 
 
 
 
A network of ancient earthworks covers a large part of the land near the Titicaca Lake. The  
slopes of hills are criss-crossed with terrace walls and the surfaces of the plains covered with 
raised fields, indicating that this was once a highly productive agricultural place for the south 
central Andes. Using the Google Maps satellite imagery, we discover that some landforms are 
geoglyphs, with a clear symbolic function. Among them, there are animals,  where ponds are their 
eyes.  
 
 
 
Any landform composed of fine-grained materials evolves in wide and flat relieves, due to the 
down-slope  transport of its materials over time. Earthworks, which are artificial landforms, are 
subjected  to the same destiny, to be widened and flattened as a consequence of the natural 
degradation  processes
1
. Sometimes, men are enhancing their degradation. 
Due to evolution, ancient earthworks become sinusoidal profiles apparent on the current 
landscape. Therefore, these ancient structures become in the satellite imagery a texture 
superimposed to the background landform. In some cases, in spite of natural degradation and 
human actions, these textures remain quite visible. A wonderful example is the really huge 
network of earthworks, covering a total of 120,000 hectares of the land near the Titicaca Lake. 
These earthworks are the result of an almost unimaginable agricultural effort of ancient Andean 
people. Some of the landforms are rather remarkable, having a clear symbolic meaning, being then 
geoglyphs. Some represent birds, where circular ponds are their eyes. Other animals can be 
observed in a complete survey of the lands near the lake. 
Earthworks, canals and ponds are the remains of an extensive ancient agricultural system built and 
used by Andean peoples centuries ago, throughout the vast high plain surrounding Titicaca Lake. 
People created a system of raised fields, which were large elevated planting platforms, with the 
corresponding drainage canals and ponds. This system improved soil conditions, the temperature 
and moisture conditions  for crops. These remains are then providing evidence of the impressive 
engineering abilities of the peoples who lived there in pre-Columbian times. Moreover, this 
finding contradicts the opinion that considers the lands of the Lake Titicaca to be unproductive 
agriculturally. Archaeology and the satellite imagery, demonstrate the past richness of the area, 
                                                           
1
 Being erosion acting on  earthworks, as on all landforms, the study of those structures with known  age 
and  initial  morphology is particularly interesting for geophysical researches. Comparing the original with 
the current shape provides the data for developing and testing models for long-term landform erosion. Such 
investigation was applied, for instance, to the Inca agricultural terraces abandoned at  1532 A.D. in the dry 
lands of southern Peru, see  for instance,  Pattern and rate of erosion inferred from Inca agricultural terraces 
in arid southern Peru, Ana C. Londoño, Geomorphology, Volume 99, Issues 1-4, 1 July 2008, Pages 13-25; 
Modeling the natural degradation of earthworks, M.A. O'Neal, M.E. O'Mansky, J.A. MacGregor, 
Geoarchaeology,Volume 20, Issue 7, October 2005, Pages 739–748 
 
  4 
due to this vast complex of agricultural earthworks. 
The local farmers call the artificial landforms "waru waru" or "camellones" (pre-Hispanic  raised 
fields are present in other regions too
2
). The local farmers of Titicaca  had no idea that these 
textures are the persisting evidence of  remarkable skills of  their ancestors, until 1981, when Clark 
Erickson, University of Illinois, recognized the  significance of waru waru. He and other 
researchers started an experimental reintroduction  of  raised fields, in the Huatta, a land near the 
lake, in Peru. They persuaded some local farmers to rebuild a few of the raised fields, plant them 
in indigenous crops, and farm in traditional manner.  Archaeological and experimental data 
suggest that raised fields might be more appropriate for the region
3
. 
Let us observe the satellite images.  Lake Titicaca sits 3,811 m  above sea level, in a basin high in 
the Andes on the border of Peru and Bolivia. The western part of the lake lies within the Puno 
Region of Peru, and the eastern side is located in the Bolivian La Paz Department. Both regions 
have the slopes of the hills  criss-crossed with terrace walls. Some parts of the plain surfaces are 
covered with raised fields,  indicating that this was once a highly productive agricultural place for 
the south central Andes. 
As earthworks,  raised fields are constructed by excavating parallel canals and piling the earth 
between them creating long and low mounds, surfaces being flat or convex. These raised platforms 
created a local micro-environment, able to reduce the frost risk for crops. The canals between 
raised fields act as sources of  moisture during the periods of drought. Moreover, water in the deep 
canals and in ponds might have been used to cultivate aquatic plants and fish, as well as attract 
lake birds
4
. The raised fields of Titicaca have different forms and size, generally being 4-10 m 
wide, 10 to 100 m long, and 1 m tall. At a later time, the  wavelength increased for larger fields to 
10 m. 
In spite of  erosion, the network of these not so-high earthworks is clearly visible from the  space. 
This book shows a collection on images from the Google Maps imagery, enhanced with image 
processing tools 
5
. We can see many textures having a clear symbolic evident planning: these 
artificially  landforms are then geoglyphs. Moreover, we can suggest a rule of thumb: to find the 
geoglyphs, look for circular ponds, because sometimes they can be the eye of an animal. 
Many geoglyphs are in Peru. In Bolivia  we find a  large area  (located approximately at  
coordinates -16.427,-68.582) where the raised fields have a different style
6
. Here too, we see 
beautiful landforms, showing snakes, birds and other objects, not so easy to figure out.  
Let us then start our survey of the geoglyphs of Titicaca. Coordinates are reported in the figures. 
 
 
 
                                                           
2
 Pre-Columbian earthworks in coastal Amazonia,  S. Rostain, Diversity, Volume 2, 2010,  Pages 331-352; 
Pre-Hispanic Raised Field Agriculture, C. Erickson, web page,  http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~cerickso/; 
Agricultural Earthworks on the French Guiana Coast, S. Rostain, The Handbook of South-American 
archaeology, Volume 3, 2008, Pages 217-233 
3
 Raised field agriculture in the Lake Titicaca basin, C.L. Erickson, Expedition, Volume 30(1), 1988, Pages 
8-16   
4
 Idem  
5
 To have an idea of the processing procedure used for the images shown in this book, the reader can see the 
paper entitled, Enhancing the Google imagery using a wavelet filter, A.C. Sparavigna, 8 Sept 2010. 
Geophysics (physics.geo-ph); Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP), arXiv:1009.1590 
6
 The Bolivian geoglyphs were discussed in a post of  February 24, 2008, by David E. Flynn,  post  with a 
surprising title: Discovery of vast prehistoric works built by Giants? The Geoglyphs of Teohuanaco;  see 
also the page by J.M.Allen, 5th Nov 2009, http://www.atlantisbolivia.org/geoforms.htm 
 
  5 
 
 
 
Peru 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Here we see a plain region quite interesting. Two areas are pointed out that we shall observed in 
detail in the two following images. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  6 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This is the head of a bird, where a circular pond is the eye. 
 
  7 
 
 
 
 
An ant-bear? 
 
 
 
  8 
 
Peru 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Here we see a canal and the beak and claw of a bird at two bends of it. 
Note that here we have two geoglyphs, that we see in the following two images in detail. 
 
 
  9 
 
 
 
 
  10 
Peru 
 
 
 
 
 
A hedgehog (originally upside-down).  
 
 
  11 
Peru 
 
 
 
A snake, with the body and texture of skin created by the terraced hill (left part of the 
image), the head (darker area) on the plain surface of the ground, a pond as its eye. Note the 
bifid tongue. 
  12 
 
Peru 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The detail of the head. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  13 
Peru 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The snake is not alone. It is an element of a more complex drawing, with another animal, 
which seems assailing the snake. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  14 
 
Peru 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sometimes, a geoglyph is beautiful and well preserved but difficult to identify  
(a fish?, a tortoise?). 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  15 
Peru 
 
 
 
 
Another interesting plain area. 
 
 
 
  16 
 
 
 
 
 
Is this landform  representing a condor? 
 
  
 
 
  17 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This is the destiny of  ancient earthworks, cancelled by time, modern cultivations and roads. 
 
 
 
  18 
Peru 
 
 
 
 
 
No comment 
 
 
 
  19 
Peru 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Head of a bird. The beak is touching an old dry channel (upside-down). 
 
  20 
 
Peru 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
It looks like the head of a bird. In any case, we can argue that the creation of earthworks was 
previously planned, following the natural slope of the terrain. The image, with a suitable processing, 
allows observing all the minute details. 
 
 
  21 
 
Peru 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
A star and stripes creation.  
  22 
 
Peru 
 
 
 
 
Another  star and stripes. 
  23 
 
 
 
 
Peru 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Abstract drawing. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  24 
 
Bolivia 
 
 
 
 
A canal or a snake near Tiwanaku. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  25 
 
Bolivia 
 
 
 
 
 
 
A snake and a bird near Ancocahua and Aygachi. 
Note teeth and tongue of the snake. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  26 
Bolivia 
 
 
 
 
Artistic visions. 
 
 
 
  27 
 
Bolivia 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
A flying macaw. 
 
 
 
 
  28 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
To be continued 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Geoglyphs of Titicaca

SPARAVIGNA, Amelia Carolina

PORTO@iris (Publications Open Repository TOrino - Politecnico di Torino)

03 August 2020POLITECNICO DI TORINORepository ISTITUZIONALEGeoglyphs of Titicaca / Sparavigna A.C.. - ELETTRONICO. - (2010).OriginalGeoglyphs of TiticacaPublisher:PublishedDOI:Terms of use:openAccessPublisher copyright(Article begins on next page)This article is made available under terms and conditions as specified in the  corresponding bibliographic description inthe repositoryAvailability:This version is available at: 11583/2375417 since:Lulu Enterprises, Inc.  1     Geoglyphs of  Titicaca      Amelia Carolina Sparavigna               Torino, Italy, 2010          2                   This book is dedicated to my grandmother, Carolina Dastrù.           Amelia Carolina Sparavigna is assistant professor from 1993 at the Polytechnic of Torino, Italy. She gained her Bachelor Degree in Physics from the University of Torino in 1982, and the Doctoral Degree in 1990. She is co-author of more than 80 publications on international journals.  Her research activity is on subjects of the condensed matter physics, liquid crystal microscopy and image processing. She has a passion for archaeology.    Editore: Lulu.com  Copyright: © 2010 A.C.Sparavigna, Standard Copyright License  Lingua: English  Paese: Italia     3   Geoglyphs of Titicaca   Amelia Carolina Sparavigna      A network of ancient earthworks covers a large part of the land near the Titicaca Lake. The  slopes of hills are criss-crossed with terrace walls and the surfaces of the plains covered with raised fields, indicating that this was once a highly productive agricultural place for the south central Andes. Using the Google Maps satellite imagery, we discover that some landforms are geoglyphs, with a clear symbolic function. Among them, there are animals,  where ponds are their eyes.     Any landform composed of fine-grained materials evolves in wide and flat relieves, due to the down-slope  transport of its materials over time. Earthworks, which are artificial landforms, are subjected  to the same destiny, to be widened and flattened as a consequence of the natural degradation  processes1. Sometimes, men are enhancing their degradation. Due to evolution, ancient earthworks become sinusoidal profiles apparent on the current landscape. Therefore, these ancient structures become in the satellite imagery a texture superimposed to the background landform. In some cases, in spite of natural degradation and human actions, these textures remain quite visible. A wonderful example is the really huge network of earthworks, covering a total of 120,000 hectares of the land near the Titicaca Lake. These earthworks are the result of an almost unimaginable agricultural effort of ancient Andean people. Some of the landforms are rather remarkable, having a clear symbolic meaning, being then geoglyphs. Some represent birds, where circular ponds are their eyes. Other animals can be observed in a complete survey of the lands near the lake. Earthworks, canals and ponds are the remains of an extensive ancient agricultural system built and used by Andean peoples centuries ago, throughout the vast high plain surrounding Titicaca Lake. People created a system of raised fields, which were large elevated planting platforms, with the corresponding drainage canals and ponds. This system improved soil conditions, the temperature and moisture conditions  for crops. These remains are then providing evidence of the impressive engineering abilities of the peoples who lived there in pre-Columbian times. Moreover, this finding contradicts the opinion that considers the lands of the Lake Titicaca to be unproductive agriculturally. Archaeology and the satellite imagery, demonstrate the past richness of the area,                                                            1 Being erosion acting on  earthworks, as on all landforms, the study of those structures with known  age and  initial  morphology is particularly interesting for geophysical researches. Comparing the original with the current shape provides the data for developing and testing models for long-term landform erosion. Such investigation was applied, for instance, to the Inca agricultural terraces abandoned at  1532 A.D. in the dry lands of southern Peru, see  for instance,  Pattern and rate of erosion inferred from Inca agricultural terraces in arid southern Peru, Ana C. Londoño, Geomorphology, Volume 99, Issues 1-4, 1 July 2008, Pages 13-25; Modeling the natural degradation of earthworks, M.A. O'Neal, M.E. O'Mansky, J.A. MacGregor, Geoarchaeology,Volume 20, Issue 7, October 2005, Pages 739–748    4 due to this vast complex of agricultural earthworks. The local farmers call the artificial landforms "waru waru" or "camellones" (pre-Hispanic  raised fields are present in other regions too2). The local farmers of Titicaca  had no idea that these textures are the persisting evidence of  remarkable skills of  their ancestors, until 1981, when Clark Erickson, University of Illinois, recognized the  significance of waru waru. He and other researchers started an experimental reintroduction  of  raised fields, in the Huatta, a land near the lake, in Peru. They persuaded some local farmers to rebuild a few of the raised fields, plant them in indigenous crops, and farm in traditional manner.  Archaeological and experimental data suggest that raised fields might be more appropriate for the region3. Let us observe the satellite images.  Lake Titicaca sits 3,811 m  above sea level, in a basin high in the Andes on the border of Peru and Bolivia. The western part of the lake lies within the Puno Region of Peru, and the eastern side is located in the Bolivian La Paz Department. Both regions have the slopes of the hills  criss-crossed with terrace walls. Some parts of the plain surfaces are covered with raised fields,  indicating that this was once a highly productive agricultural place for the south central Andes. As earthworks,  raised fields are constructed by excavating parallel canals and piling the earth between them creating long and low mounds, surfaces being flat or convex. These raised platforms created a local micro-environment, able to reduce the frost risk for crops. The canals between raised fields act as sources of  moisture during the periods of drought. Moreover, water in the deep canals and in ponds might have been used to cultivate aquatic plants and fish, as well as attract lake birds4. The raised fields of Titicaca have different forms and size, generally being 4-10 m wide, 10 to 100 m long, and 1 m tall. At a later time, the  wavelength increased for larger fields to 10 m. In spite of  erosion, the network of these not so-high earthworks is clearly visible from the  space. This book shows a collection on images from the Google Maps imagery, enhanced with image processing tools 5. We can see many textures having a clear symbolic evident planning: these artificially  landforms are then geoglyphs. Moreover, we can suggest a rule of thumb: to find the geoglyphs, look for circular ponds, because sometimes they can be the eye of an animal. Many geoglyphs are in Peru. In Bolivia  we find a  large area  (located approximately at  coordinates -16.427,-68.582) where the raised fields have a different style6. Here too, we see beautiful landforms, showing snakes, birds and other objects, not so easy to figure out.  Let us then start our survey of the geoglyphs of Titicaca. Coordinates are reported in the figures.                                                               2 Pre-Columbian earthworks in coastal Amazonia,  S. Rostain, Diversity, Volume 2, 2010,  Pages 331-352; Pre-Hispanic Raised Field Agriculture, C. Erickson, web page,  http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~cerickso/; Agricultural Earthworks on the French Guiana Coast, S. Rostain, The Handbook of South-American archaeology, Volume 3, 2008, Pages 217-233 3 Raised field agriculture in the Lake Titicaca basin, C.L. Erickson, Expedition, Volume 30(1), 1988, Pages 8-16   4 Idem  5 To have an idea of the processing procedure used for the images shown in this book, the reader can see the paper entitled, Enhancing the Google imagery using a wavelet filter, A.C. Sparavigna, 8 Sept 2010. Geophysics (physics.geo-ph); Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP), arXiv:1009.1590 6 The Bolivian geoglyphs were discussed in a post of  February 24, 2008, by David E. Flynn,  post  with a surprising title: Discovery of vast prehistoric works built by Giants? The Geoglyphs of Teohuanaco;  see also the page by J.M.Allen, 5th Nov 2009, http://www.atlantisbolivia.org/geoforms.htm    5    Peru            Here we see a plain region quite interesting. Two areas are pointed out that we shall observed in detail in the two following images.           6              This is the head of a bird, where a circular pond is the eye.    7     An ant-bear?      8  Peru           Here we see a canal and the beak and claw of a bird at two bends of it. Note that here we have two geoglyphs, that we see in the following two images in detail.     9       10 Peru      A hedgehog (originally upside-down).      11 Peru    A snake, with the body and texture of skin created by the terraced hill (left part of the image), the head (darker area) on the plain surface of the ground, a pond as its eye. Note the bifid tongue.   12  Peru             The detail of the head.          13 Peru         The snake is not alone. It is an element of a more complex drawing, with another animal, which seems assailing the snake.           14  Peru             Sometimes, a geoglyph is beautiful and well preserved but difficult to identify  (a fish?, a tortoise?).             15 Peru     Another interesting plain area.      16      Is this landform  representing a condor?        17       This is the destiny of  ancient earthworks, cancelled by time, modern cultivations and roads.      18 Peru      No comment      19 Peru       Head of a bird. The beak is touching an old dry channel (upside-down).    20  Peru          It looks like the head of a bird. In any case, we can argue that the creation of earthworks was previously planned, following the natural slope of the terrain. The image, with a suitable processing, allows observing all the minute details.     21  Peru            A star and stripes creation.    22  Peru     Another  star and stripes.   23     Peru           Abstract drawing.         24  Bolivia     A canal or a snake near Tiwanaku.                        25  Bolivia       A snake and a bird near Ancocahua and Aygachi. Note teeth and tongue of the snake.          26 Bolivia     Artistic visions.      27  Bolivia           A flying macaw.       28                   To be continued          

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