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a magnificent city that has stood the test of time.

TIWANAKU Tiwanaku, Bolivia is the next stop on my ancient world tour. Located in the Bolivian altiplano by Lake Titicaca, at an altitude of 3,850m, Tiwanaku emerged from the coalescing of previous civilisations in the area around AD 350 until its decline around AD1200. Tiwanaku is famous for its urban centre buildings of the semi-subterranean Temple, the Kalasasaya with the Ponce Monolith and the famous Gateway of the Sun, and the Akapana pyramid. Tiwanaku is also famous for its raised field system, which helped crops grow and survive in the harsh weather of the altiplano. In fact, they are being revived and reintroduced to the local communities in order to substantially increase crop yields. Tiwanaku has been one of my pilgrimage points which I had the pleasure of visiting in 2001. The eerie setting in the high plains, the remoteness and the romantic air of Lake Titicaca in the near distance lends certain sacredness to the area, considering Tiwanaku's strong domination in the region for so long. And with the raised field technology, Tiwanaku is a living reminder that there is still much to learn from our ancient elders.

CAHOKIA In south-western Illinois, there exists a city of mounds called Cahokia. Founded around 1000AD, by the Mississippian culture, their expanse and monumental building is not well-known outside of America, since most of their structures were destroyed by later Americans for urbanisation projects. Also, much of Cahokia had been abandoned around 1400AD, possibly due to environmental stresses. And to think, it was built without beasts of burden or the wheel or metallurgy. At 100 feet high, the 4-tiered pyramid Monks Mound was the tallest building in America until 1867. What draws me to Cahokia is the uniqueness of the site within North America and the sense of what-could-have-been if the Mississippians and other Native Americans had continued in their monumental building. But alas, as with other civilisations in North, Central and South America there seems to have some form of systemic collapses, possibly due to the vagaries of the American environment.

DJENNE Djenne (Jenne) in Mali, West Africa is now famous for its mud brick Great Mosque, the original built in 12th century. In the past Djenne was an independent City State, founded around AD400 sitting between a string of successive West African Empires: Ghana (8-12th centuries), Mali (12-15th centuries) and Songhay after 1500s, the latter two founded by Islamic traders. With economies based upon gold, ivory, pepper, salt and cast metallurgy, European merchants and explorers had long sought the riches of the interior African Empires, but when they finally arrived the heyday of the Empires were long over. Instead of finding equals and being lavished with gold, the Europeans found decay and exploited the existing slave trade. Djenne to me represents the grandeur of West Africa and the tip of the archaeological iceberg in a region where so many ancient cities lay buried beneath sand and grassland.

Further Reading:

Michael Balter. 2005. The Goddess and the Bull: Catalhoyuk- An Archaeological Journey to the Dawn of Civilization.

Sally A. Kitt Chappell. 2002. Cahokia: Mirror of the Cosmos.

Michael Coe. 1994. Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs.

Felipe Fernandez-Armesto. 2000. Civilizations.

Felipe Fernandez-Armesto. 2006. Pathfinders.

Alan Kolata. 1993. The Tiwanaku: Portrait of an Andean Civilization.

Learn more about this author, Ray Burke.
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