Puma Punku is a single part of the greater Tiahuanaco complex.
According to Anthropology Professor W. H. Isbell, a radiocarbon date obtained from mound fill forming the Puma punku deposited during the oldest of three construction epochs dates the earliest construction epoch of the Puma punku at 1510 �25 B.P. (A.D. 440; calibrated, A.D. 536�600). This would place the building of the temple at the beginning of the third great Tiwanakan cultural expansion.
Today the site appears 'broken', and has been reduced to piles of scattered geometric blocks. These immense quartzite blocks were designed so as to interlock with each other, creating an architecturally unique temple without precedent in the America's. Puma Punku appears to have been destroyed by an earthquake, perhaps accompanied by a tidal wave from Lake Titicaca. Some of the structures on higher ground were once covered with 2 meters or so of earth.
Located not far from another amazing site - Tiahuanaco - the ruins of Puma Punku have puzzled experts for decades.
Some 45 miles west of the city of La Paz in Bolivia, we find an ancient site that is unlike any other on Earth.
Shattering traditional views on ancient cultures, the archaeological site of Puma Punku features incredibly precise stones, precision cuts, and polished surfaces on stones that have defied explanation for centuries.
Some of the stones at Puma Punku were so finely polished that they appear smooth as glass. Only a few places on earth display this type of stonework.
It's as if thousands of years ago, an unknown culture used advanced tools to shape and form massive andesite stones. Some of these rocks have been cut with such precision that they fit together perfectly and are interlocked with each other without the use of mortar.
Even more fascinating is the fact that not a single sheet of paper can fit between some of these stones.
So, who were the people of this lost civilization who built Puma Punku, without any writing system as far as we know? The ancient builders left no written records.