EXTINCT ANIMALS IN ROCK ART - THE TIAHUANACO TOXODON?

Quadruped from Viracocha

statue, Semi-subterranean

Temple, (head to upper

right, tail to lower left),

Tiahuanaco, Bolivia.

Magicians of the Gods,

Gaham Hancock, p. 389.

In the past I have presented a number of columns on RockArtBlog about extinct animals portrayed in rock art, both real and imagined, even including one on April 1, 2015 about extinct giraffes pictured in Utah that was meant as an April Fool's Day joke (it did, however, succeed in detecting a few April Fools).

Viracocha statue,

Semi-subterranean Temple,

Tiahuanaco, Bolivia.

ancient-origins.net,

Public Domain.

There are many real examples of animals that are no longer extant that are pictured on caves walls and cliffs. The most famous examples that come to mind are the mammoths and aurochs of European Paleolithic cave art. Examples that are not accurate include all of the so-called dinosaurs found by fringies in rock art. Another example of an extinct animal that I consider to be unwarranted is represented by nebbish-looking quadrupeds at Tiahuanaco that the fringies have declared to be pictures of Toxodons.

Toxodon platensis,

Wikipedia,

Public Domain.

"Toxodontidae, is an extinct family of notoungulate mammals known from the Oligocene to the Holocene (5,000 BP) of South America, with one genus, Mixotoxodon, also known from the Pleistocene of Central America and southwestern North America (Texas). They somewhat resembles rhinoceroses, and had teeth with high crowns and open roots, suggesting that they most often fed on tough pampas grass. However, isotopic analyses have led to the conclusion that the most recent forms were grazing and browsing generalists." (Wikipedia)

                                                                  

Close-up of Viracocha statue

head, the quadrupeds can be faintly

seen on the right side of the head.

Photograph Graham Hancock. 

Well, if the Toxodon survived until 5,000 BP isn't it possible that someone in early Tiahuanaco saw one to picture on stone? No, it is not. The earliest date estimates for Tiahuanaco were Posnansky's 11,000 - 17,000 years BP were based upon geological estimates and archaeoastronomy. "Beginning in the 1970s Carlos Ponce Sangines proposed the site was first occupied around 1580 BC, the sites oldest radiocarbon date. This date is still seen in some publications and museums in Bolivia. Since the 1980s, researchers have recognized this as unreliable, leading to the consensus that the site is no older than 200 or 300 BC." (Wikipedia) Perhaps some of these cryptozoology enthusiasts are genuinely fooled by the original improbably early dating of the ruins. I suspect, however, that most of them are just cynically publishing these stories for financial gain or career notoriety.

Quadrupeds on right side of

head. Drawing of Viracocha

statue. davidpratt.info

Indeed, in reading various reports of the Tiahuanaco Toxodon, it is difficult to even determine where he is supposedly pictured. Some reports imply that the image(s) are carved on the gateway of the sun. In his book Magicians of the Gods, Graham Hancock (p. 389) correctly states that the figures are carved on the sides of the head of a humanoid statue. This figure was found in a structure known as the Semi-subterranean Temple and is assumed to represent the deity Viracocha. Many sculptures of the figure of Viracocha have been found but this is the only one with these particular quadrupeds carved on the sides of the head, and what these represent is a mystery, but I am confident that they do not represent the poor Toxodon, long dead and gone.

NOTE: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the originals at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

ancient-origins.net

Hancock, Graham

2015 Magicians of the Gods, St. Martin's Press, New York.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiwanaku

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxodontidae

www.davidpratt.info