1st intact evidence of Incas' underwater ritual offerings found in a lake in the Andes

[Judi Lynn]

3. 2006: Temple Found Under Lake Titicaca

By ABC News
January 7, 2006, 6:22 AM
2 min read

L A P A Z, Bolivia, Aug. 24, 2000 -- A stone anchor and animal bones were among the artifacts scientists Wednesday said they had found beneath South America’s Lake Titicaca in what is thought to be a giant 1000-year-old temple.

After 18 days of diving below the clear waters of Titicaca, scientists said Tuesday they had discovered a 660-foot long, 160-foot wide temple, a terrace for crops, a pre-Incan road and an 2,600-foot containing wall.

“I strongly support the hypothesis that was was found by the ‘Atahuallpa 2000’ expedition are the ruins of a submerged pre-Columbian temple,” said Eduardo Pareja, a Bolivian scientist who was among those who explored the site, around 90 miles northeast of the Bolivian capital La Paz.

Filmed During 200 Dives

Pareja, who termed the discovery the greatest archeological find of the new millennium, showed Reuters the artifacts in his small office at Bolivia’s National Archeology Department. He said the animal bones—of cameloid animals such as llamas — might have been from sacrifices.

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