A strange circular structure in Bolivia’s cold and harsh mountainous regions may once have served as a place for rituals designed to control the region’s hostile climate, according to researchers.

Meeting

The remains were discovered during an archaeological dig in Karangas, which researchers describe as “a region with an extremely arid and cold climate.” This inhospitable wasteland was once actively used for ritual purposes – many remains of ritual structures were found here.

While the presence of so many ceremonial structures in this remote area of ​​the Highlands is unexpected in itself, it is completely unprecedented in the Andes. The object’s name was Vaskiri. It is a circle with a diameter of 140 meters and has 39 rooms around it. Remains of pottery were discovered in the central “square”. Archaeologists believe the building was used between 1250 and 1600 AD.

Aerial photo and map of Vaskiri region / Photo by P. Cruz

At the time, it was believed that if the protective gods were appeased, they could send good weather. This was crucial for people living in harsh climates where a small change in temperature or precipitation could lead to the loss of entire crops or the death of livestock.
– write scientists.

The Spanish priest Bartolome Alvarez, who traveled to these places in the 1580s, most likely mentioned Vaskiri. When describing the rituals that took place in the area, Álvarez wrote of people in a state of “celebratory drunkenness” who entered what he called the “ritual house of hell.”