ichingcarpenter
21st December 2018, 21:06
Abstract
The ruins of Tiwanaku (A.D. 500–950), in the modern republic of Bolivia, present an archaeological challenge owing to intense looting during the colonial period that effectively demolished the site. One building in particular, known as the Pumapunku, was described by Spanish conquistadors and travelers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as a wondrous, though unfinished, building with gateways and windows carved from single blocks. Unparalleled in the pre-Colombian New World, the craftsmanship of this masonry has long been considered the architectural apogee of Andean pre-Colombian lithic technology.
Unfortunately, during the last 500 years, treasure hunters have ransacked this building to the point that none of approximately shattered remains of 150 blocks of the standing architecture are to be found in their original place. Over the last century and a half, several different scholars have carefully measured the shattered architecture and even managed to join several fragments to form complete pieces. This research revisited these historic field notes with a view to transforming this century and a half of documentation into solid 3D form. These measurements were entered by hand into an architectural modeling program; the virtual form was subsequently printed in 3D form at 4% reduced scale. Unlike large architectural pieces — or notes or models on a computer screen — 3D-printed pieces can be manipulated quickly and intuitively, allowing researchers to try combinations and seek connections rapidly, turning over pieces and testing possible fits.
This tactile engagement, along with the ability to quickly try out combinations of the 3D-printed pieces, led to fresh and often unexpected insights. Once refined and simplified, this methodology, was demonstrated to the indigenous site managers who were provided with a full copy of the printed architectural fragments with a view to continuing research and to present the work to visitors, stakeholders and other scholars.
Background
This effort represents a technological step back from recent efforts in the virtual assembly of fragmentary data through the use of advanced computer programing, and instead denotes an attempt to capitalize on the archaeologist’s learned ability to visualize and mentally rotate irregular objects in 3D space. The case study is the highly damaged pre-Colombian monument in the high Andes of Bolivia known as the Pumapunku (Gateway of the Puma or Jaguar). The most common word used in the description of this complex ruin is “inconceivable”—a word penned in the first description of the site in 1549 [1], and that continues to be used in popular literature and by tour guides today.
The intent of the project, then, was to translate the inconceivable into the conceivable, or in more precise terms, to translate the complex and cumbersome data that is difficult to visualize and test into something that both our hands and our minds could grasp. Unlike pottery or bone artifacts, which archaeologists are accustomed to handling and refitting due to their smaller size, the majority of the blocks were too large to move. To overcome this challenge, the project team tested a variety of field-recording techniques, eventually relying almost exclusively on an extensive set of archival field records from various scholars to manually input and create virtual 3D models of architectural fragments. Thereafter, the project used additive manufacturing, more commonly known as 3D printing, to create reduced and accurate models of the fragments. Having the pieces all visible and immediately accessible resulted in an engaging and non-stop process of trial and error and moments of insight that could be quickly tested on the models.
Due to the quantity of ashlars that has been lost or remains unexcavated, a full reconstruction of this building is unlikely, at least for the moment; nevertheless, this research reconstructs enough of the building to understand the form of the building. Those interpretations are beyond the scope of the paper; in their place, for this publication we focus on the manner in which we can revalue previous fieldwork from the last century and created a novel, effective and non-invasive methodology of reconstructing shattered architecture that can be comprehensible to a wide range of stakeholders.
SNIP
One unique aspect of Tiwanaku masonry that facilitated reconstruction was that the andesite blocks were also completely dressed and finished before being set in place through the use of hoisting grips that were intricately carved through the andesite. This arduous and challenging task allowed the block to be lowered slowly without damaging the precise friable edge, resulting in a perfect right angle between the block and the floor. Elaborate decorative friezes would span several ashlars; however, unlike in other parts of the world where these finer details would be carved after the blocks were assembled, the Tiwanaku masons completed each ashlar, including the carved frieze, before assembling the structure [12]. Consequently, this unique construction method meant that even if the structure was never actually assembled, a virtual anastylosis, based on reconnecting the frieze and other decorated elements, was indeed possible.
The precision of the mortarless joints allowed a few blocks to be reunited with their likely neighbors [22]. Architect JP Protzen managed to make several more refits, but one of his more significant was his realization that the much-admired carved block known as the “Escritorio del Inca” (Desk of the Inca, henceforth to as Model Stone 1) was an accurate and reduced-scale model (.5774) of a full-scale architectural form (Fig. 8) [35]. Forming an architectural “Rosetta stone,” the proportions and relations of the carved ornamentation served to justify joining several andesite blocks to form an architectural composition. Though these and several other blocks have been refit, as of yet, we still lack a view of a complete structure. In particular, the relation between the andesite blocks and the sandstone slabs has still to be established. Protzen cautiously suggests that the architectural composition he reassembled may have flanked either side of a gateway.
A few of the examples at the link
https://media.springernature.com/full/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1186%2Fs40494-018-0231-0/MediaObjects/40494_2018_231_Fig18_HTML.jpg
https://media.springernature.com/lw785/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1186%2Fs40494-018-0231-0/MediaObjects/40494_2018_231_Fig19_HTML.png
https://media.springernature.com/lw785/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1186%2Fs40494-018-0231-0/MediaObjects/40494_2018_231_Fig21_HTML.png
https://heritagesciencejournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40494-018-0231-0
The ruins of Tiwanaku (A.D. 500–950), in the modern republic of Bolivia, present an archaeological challenge owing to intense looting during the colonial period that effectively demolished the site. One building in particular, known as the Pumapunku, was described by Spanish conquistadors and travelers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as a wondrous, though unfinished, building with gateways and windows carved from single blocks. Unparalleled in the pre-Colombian New World, the craftsmanship of this masonry has long been considered the architectural apogee of Andean pre-Colombian lithic technology.
Unfortunately, during the last 500 years, treasure hunters have ransacked this building to the point that none of approximately shattered remains of 150 blocks of the standing architecture are to be found in their original place. Over the last century and a half, several different scholars have carefully measured the shattered architecture and even managed to join several fragments to form complete pieces. This research revisited these historic field notes with a view to transforming this century and a half of documentation into solid 3D form. These measurements were entered by hand into an architectural modeling program; the virtual form was subsequently printed in 3D form at 4% reduced scale. Unlike large architectural pieces — or notes or models on a computer screen — 3D-printed pieces can be manipulated quickly and intuitively, allowing researchers to try combinations and seek connections rapidly, turning over pieces and testing possible fits.
This tactile engagement, along with the ability to quickly try out combinations of the 3D-printed pieces, led to fresh and often unexpected insights. Once refined and simplified, this methodology, was demonstrated to the indigenous site managers who were provided with a full copy of the printed architectural fragments with a view to continuing research and to present the work to visitors, stakeholders and other scholars.
Background
This effort represents a technological step back from recent efforts in the virtual assembly of fragmentary data through the use of advanced computer programing, and instead denotes an attempt to capitalize on the archaeologist’s learned ability to visualize and mentally rotate irregular objects in 3D space. The case study is the highly damaged pre-Colombian monument in the high Andes of Bolivia known as the Pumapunku (Gateway of the Puma or Jaguar). The most common word used in the description of this complex ruin is “inconceivable”—a word penned in the first description of the site in 1549 [1], and that continues to be used in popular literature and by tour guides today.
The intent of the project, then, was to translate the inconceivable into the conceivable, or in more precise terms, to translate the complex and cumbersome data that is difficult to visualize and test into something that both our hands and our minds could grasp. Unlike pottery or bone artifacts, which archaeologists are accustomed to handling and refitting due to their smaller size, the majority of the blocks were too large to move. To overcome this challenge, the project team tested a variety of field-recording techniques, eventually relying almost exclusively on an extensive set of archival field records from various scholars to manually input and create virtual 3D models of architectural fragments. Thereafter, the project used additive manufacturing, more commonly known as 3D printing, to create reduced and accurate models of the fragments. Having the pieces all visible and immediately accessible resulted in an engaging and non-stop process of trial and error and moments of insight that could be quickly tested on the models.
Due to the quantity of ashlars that has been lost or remains unexcavated, a full reconstruction of this building is unlikely, at least for the moment; nevertheless, this research reconstructs enough of the building to understand the form of the building. Those interpretations are beyond the scope of the paper; in their place, for this publication we focus on the manner in which we can revalue previous fieldwork from the last century and created a novel, effective and non-invasive methodology of reconstructing shattered architecture that can be comprehensible to a wide range of stakeholders.
SNIP
One unique aspect of Tiwanaku masonry that facilitated reconstruction was that the andesite blocks were also completely dressed and finished before being set in place through the use of hoisting grips that were intricately carved through the andesite. This arduous and challenging task allowed the block to be lowered slowly without damaging the precise friable edge, resulting in a perfect right angle between the block and the floor. Elaborate decorative friezes would span several ashlars; however, unlike in other parts of the world where these finer details would be carved after the blocks were assembled, the Tiwanaku masons completed each ashlar, including the carved frieze, before assembling the structure [12]. Consequently, this unique construction method meant that even if the structure was never actually assembled, a virtual anastylosis, based on reconnecting the frieze and other decorated elements, was indeed possible.
The precision of the mortarless joints allowed a few blocks to be reunited with their likely neighbors [22]. Architect JP Protzen managed to make several more refits, but one of his more significant was his realization that the much-admired carved block known as the “Escritorio del Inca” (Desk of the Inca, henceforth to as Model Stone 1) was an accurate and reduced-scale model (.5774) of a full-scale architectural form (Fig. 8) [35]. Forming an architectural “Rosetta stone,” the proportions and relations of the carved ornamentation served to justify joining several andesite blocks to form an architectural composition. Though these and several other blocks have been refit, as of yet, we still lack a view of a complete structure. In particular, the relation between the andesite blocks and the sandstone slabs has still to be established. Protzen cautiously suggests that the architectural composition he reassembled may have flanked either side of a gateway.
A few of the examples at the link
https://media.springernature.com/full/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1186%2Fs40494-018-0231-0/MediaObjects/40494_2018_231_Fig18_HTML.jpg
https://media.springernature.com/lw785/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1186%2Fs40494-018-0231-0/MediaObjects/40494_2018_231_Fig19_HTML.png
https://media.springernature.com/lw785/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1186%2Fs40494-018-0231-0/MediaObjects/40494_2018_231_Fig21_HTML.png
https://heritagesciencejournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40494-018-0231-0