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Unravelling the Mystery of The Marcahuasi Ruins and Their Connection with Egypt

Unravelling the Mystery of The Marcahuasi Ruins and Their Connection with Egypt

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The Marcahuasi Ruins are a group of rocks located on a plateau in the Andes Mountains of Peru. These rocks are notable for their curious shapes, and various hypotheses have been put forward to explain their formation. For some, these ruins were carved by human beings, whilst others argue that they had been formed by the forces of nature. There are those who claim that the Marcahuasi Ruins contain some sort of healing powers.

Ruin Discovery

The Marcahuasi Ruins are situated near the village of San Pedro de Casta, on a plateau in the Andes Mountains in Huarochirí Province, to the east of Lima, the capital of Peru. This plateau was formed from a volcanic reaction, and consists of granite. Located 4000 m above sea level, the plateau is about 4 km (2.4 miles) square in area.

The high lands and the road to the plateau

The high lands and the road to the plateau (CC BY 3.0)

The area of Marcahuasi is recorded to have first been explored by Daniel Ruzo, a Peruvian explorer, in 1952. It was Ruzo who discovered the curiously shaped rocks on the plateau. According to Ruzo, these rocks were carved by human beings from a highly advanced ancient civilization. Many of these rocks are claimed to have some sort of form that makes them mysterious.

Photo of Danuel Ruzo

Photo of Danuel Ruzo (blogfueradeltiempo.wordpress)

For example, there is the ‘African Queen’, which has been compared to the Sphinx in Egypt, the so-called ‘Egyptian Princess’, and ‘Tawaret’, a rock which is said to look like the Egyptian goddess of the same name. It has been suggested that these rocks show a connection between the people in Marcahuasi and ancient Egypt. Other notable rocks include the ‘Face on Marcahuasi’, said to look like the ‘Face on Mars’, the ‘Monument to Humanity’, named by Ruzo in honor of the four distinct races of humans found on the plateau, and rocks in the shape of animals.

The Face on Marcahuasi

The Face on Marcahuasi (andestao)

Masma Civilization

The civilization responsible for these carvings, according to Ruzo, was the ‘Masma’. This term is recorded to have first been coined by a Peruvian esoterist by the name of Pedro Astete. According to the story, Astete was residing in Andahuaylas, Peru, when in 1905, he had a strange dream. In that dream, he saw a large, underground hall which was filled with scrolls containing ancient knowledge. Additionally, he heard the name ‘Masma’ being repeated by a voice. Astete had further dreams about the ‘Masma’, and was even able to make Biblical connections to that name.

Eventually, Astete met Ruzo in 1920, and the latter became convinced that the ‘Masma’ of Astete’s dreams were indeed real. Ruzo began searching for evidence of the ‘Masma’, and it was by discovering the Marcahuasi Ruins that he could claim that he had found physical evidence of this proto-historic civilization’s existence. Ruzo proposed that the ‘Masma’ were a very advanced civilization that was capable of travelling around the world. They had left evidence of themselves in many places, one of them being a plateau in the Andes. It was also suggested that the rock carvings at Marcahuasi were made just before a world-wide cataclysm destroyed the ‘Masma’, and were meant to serve as a warning to future man.

View of the rock formation from a camping zone.

View of the rock formation from a camping zone. (CC BY 3.0)

Strange Mysteries

Other strange mysteries have also been attributed to the Marcahuasi Ruins. For example, the ruins are said to be quite well-known as a spot for UFO sightings, and has attracted many UFO enthusiasts to the nearby village of San Pedro de Casta. In addition, it has been claimed that the ruins possess supernatural healing powers. One story, for instance, tells of a Peruvian man who was paralyzed in a car accident. The man goes to the ruins, meets a mysterious stranger there, and is cured.

Others are more skeptical about the ruins, be it the strange mysteries or Ruzo’s beliefs about the rocks. It has been proposed that the rocks are not at all carvings by human beings, but the result of erosion over a long period of time, and that people see the things they want to see in these rocks.

Top image: Shape of a human head on Marcahuasi. (CC BY-SA 3.0) and the Giza Pyramids & Sphinx (CC BY 2.0)

By Wu Mingren

References

BC Video Inc., 2009. The Mysterious Stone Monuments of Markawasi Peru.[Online]
Available at:http://www.bcvideo.com/markawasi.html

Flores, A., 2016. Hike to Marcahuasi and the Ancient Figures.[Online]
Available at:https://www.theoutbound.com/peru/hiking/hike-to-marcahuasi-and-the-ancient-figures

hereafter, 2016. Marcahuasi.[Online]
Available at:http://ourancientworld.com/Settlement.aspx?id=18

Herring, K., 2011. Marcahuasi and San Pedro de Casta Meet the New Age.[Online]
Available at:http://realitysandwich.com/82149/marcahuasi_and_san_pedro_meet_new_age/

Rome, L., 2016. Marcahuasi: Mysteries in Stone.[Online]
Available at:http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/arqueologia/marcahuasi01.htm

Schoch, R. M., 2005. The Mystery of Markawasi.[Online]
Available at:http://www.robertschoch.net/Mystery%20of%20Markawasi.htm

Williamsssej, 2016. Marcahuasi Ruins.[Online]
Available at:http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/marcahuasi-peru

 
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Wu

Wu Mingren (‘Dhwty’) has a Bachelor of Arts in Ancient History and Archaeology. Although his primary interest is in the ancient civilizations of the Near East, he is also interested in other geographical regions, as well as other time periods.... Read More

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