Doug's Darkworld

8

Yes, there it is, the Peruvian Stargate. It’s known as “La Puerta de Hayu Marka.” Or “The Gateway To The Gods”, “Aramu Muru”, and “The Doorway of the Amaru Meru.” I know, I said Bolivian Stargate in yesterday’s post. That was to throw off people who might be tempted to cheat and google it. (You know who you are.) I found out about it on the Ancient Aliens program. “La Puerta de Hayu Marka” was reportedly located in a remote area of Peru, and was only discovered by westerners in 1996. The local natives have all sorts of colourful stories about it, and the Ancient Alien theorists have even more colourful stories about it. There is a small depression in the centre of the doorway (which is about 5 feet high by the way) that reputedly was the place where a “key” was inserted to activate the doorway.

Well, I thought, this is curious. I began a search online to see what else I could find out about “La Puerta de Hayu Marka”, and well, pretty much nothing but the various Ancient Alien sites happily copying and pasting the exact same story a million times. I was a little surprised, I would have guessed that a new and mysterious carved structure in the mountains of Peru would have merited a least some archaeological interest, even if to just point out that it is a known Inca structure of no interest. Even the skeptic sites didn’t mention it, how could this be? Is it so mysterious that they can’t explain it and are even afraid to try? Queue Twilight Zone music.

Alas, after way too much time wading through various sites, I finally stumbled upon the truth. And was profoundly disappointed. In this case, a picture speaks a thousand words, here is another image of “La Puerta de Hayu Marka:”

OK, it’s not the best photograph, but the “stargate” is visible in the shadowed area at the lower right. Note the stunning remoteness of the location. That’s Lake Titicaca at the upper left. Not visible are the locals hanging around the site to sell trinkets to credulous westerners. Buying trinkets is optional, paying the local in the hard hat who will show up to collect “admission” is not. For more money one can even see locals perform some sort of magical rite. Just don’t listen too closely to what they are chanting, because it’s likely something along the lines of “More money from gringo suckers, ha ha ha.”

Sigh. In conclusion, there’s nothing remote about this gateway at all, the conquistadors no doubt saw it. The idea that westerners first saw it in the nineties doesn’t pass the laugh test. And it’s no wonder no archaeologist has paid much attention to it, it was no doubt picked clean and destroyed by looters before there even was a science of archaeology. (Grave robbing is the world’s second oldest profession.) In fact, I would bet the farm that this was a little known Inca ruin until some guy in the nineties noticed its superficial similarity to … drumroll… a certain prop in a certain science fiction show. And the rest is history, if made-up turista trap tripe from the nineties can really be called history.

I’m really pretty disgusted by this one. At least with the things like the Nuremberg UFO woodcut, there is at least some mystery. This is just a previously unremarkable Inca ruin dressed up with story for the modern UFO crowd, no more mysterious than the various “Mystery Spots” along roadsides in the USA. And this was hyped on the History Channel? For shame.

(Welcome new and old readers. I hope you enjoyed this post. As of January 2018 I have resumed regular blogging on my new Patreon version of Doug’s Darkworld. Science, history, current events, and posts about a certain president who can hardly go a day without inspiring a blog post.)

(The top image is claimed as Fair Use under US copyright law. It’s not being used for profit and is the best darn picture of the stargate I could find. Credit and copyright: Erin Irkun. The second picture is also claimed as Fair Use under US copyright law. It’s not being used for profit. Credit and copyright Darren Alff. The fine travelogue of his journey to the Peruvian Stargate, with many other photos, can be viewed here.)