Off the eastern coast of southern Brazil, archaeologists have discovered the oldest pyramids in the world, older than the ancient Egyptian pyramids by several centuries. Their research shows that these South American pyramids were much larger than the early pyramids of Egypt, with their height about 160 ft. and their base expanding to nearly 40 acres.
The functions of the pyramids were the same, religious worship, but the building concept was quite different. While the Egyptian pyramids were made of stone, the Brazilian pyramids were made of endurable sea shells. The construction concepts were decidedly different as well. The Egyptian pyramids were built in one operational phase, while studies show the pyramids of the Americas seemed to have been built in many phases that lasted decades, or perhaps even centuries.
Research reveals that architecturally, the Brazilian pyramids’ style differs from the great Pyramids of Giza. The Brazilian style is similar to the Central American and Mexican pyramid style. They have structures atop the pyramids. Moreover, and most notably, the Brazilian pyramids are well over 3,000 years older than their Central American counterparts.
One of the largest surviving examples of this is found in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. Even today, this pyramid covers over 25 acres with a height of 100 feet, which is 65 feet less than the original structure. According to Professor Edna Morley, the director of the National Heritage Institute in Santa Catarina, “These massive structures will help revolutionize the way we think about ancient Indian culture. . . . research shows that Brazil’s prehistoric Indians 5,000 years ago were more sophisticated than we had thought, . . . capable of producing truly monumental structures.”
It’s possible that Brazil originally had more than a thousand ancient pyramids, some more than 5,000 years old. Shockingly, only ten percent of those pyramids remain, all in various states of disrepair. Just a hundred years ago, one could have compared most of the pyramids of the Americas to the great Pyramids of Egypt. Unfortunately, from the 1920s through the 1960s, most of the pyramids of the Americas were destroyed. Just last summer, in July of 2013, Jonathan Kramer reported that a 4,000 year old ancient pyramid in El Paraiso, translated “the Paradise,” located just north of Lima, Peru was completely destroyed. According to the report, three more pyramids would also have been destroyed if not for the intervening actions of concerned onlookers. This antiquity abuse is rampant throughout Central and South America.
Although the pyramids of the Americas should be meant for admiration and protection, nearly a century after their discovery, their destruction continues with few repercussions. In 2013, a Mayan pyramid was destroyed in Belize by construction crews needing the raw materials for modern building projects. In Brazil, Belize, and Peru, pyramids are destroyed to to supply raw road construction material. In the case of the El Paraiso, Peru pyramid, government officials filed criminal complaints against the real estate agencies responsible for the destruction of the ancient pyramid. The real estate agency’s defense? As the land owners, they were within their legal rights to destroy the pyramids on their titled property.
This reply from these Peruvian realtors, their contention that they were within their rights to do as they pleased to these ancient pyramids as the legal land owners, offends one’s sense of morality. What about the rights of stewardship and the right to preserve our ancient monumental past? We should be honoring the ancients and the sanctity of their holy sites. Realtors, land owners, road construction companies, and corporations shouldn’t be sacrificing these sacred treasures for their own self-serving ends. Henceforth, any detrimental actions like those noted in this article should be seen as an assault on a world level with swift retribution in the forms of great fines and prison terms.
An archaeologist with the Belize Institute of Archaeology told local channel 7NewsBelize, “We can’t salvage what has happened out here, it is an incredible display of ignorance.” The Director, Jaime Awe, called the destruction “One of the worse set of blows I have felt philosophically and professionally. It is against the law; it is against the nature act to willfully destroy an ancient monument. Any willful destruction of an ancient site or monument has penalties of 10 years’ imprisonment or $10,000 for this kind of destruction.”
Putting a fine point on the issue, archaeologist Ruth Shady, director at the Caral Archaeological Zone, an ancient site 90 miles north of El Paraíso, said, “This is equivalent to burning ancient books that we would never be able to extract knowledge from.” Now, just a fragment of this antiquity that was once the center of a settlement of about 40,000 ancient people remains. A growing number of people are finally realizing that such terrible losses can no longer be tolerated.
What we need to protect, preserve, and promote our world antiquities from such callous, ignorant, and unforgivable actions is a world-recognized historical preservation force, a world council developed to preserve and protect all ancient sites. Endorsed by the United Nations, this preservation council would be an enforcement team — a Delta Force of preservation. Deployed by the United Nations on the offense for the defense of ancient history, council members would use strong-arm tactics to achieve their ends.
Ideally, they would block all detrimental acts of destruction or harm to these ancient sites until local officials act to preserve and protect the site from threat. A world recognized council for the protection and preservation of the pyramids would consist of dedicated archaeologists, anthropologists, sociologists, museum curators, and, on the strong-arm side, a military unit to physically thwart any threats of harm to the sacred sites. When people refuse to listen and do the right thing, they must be forced to.
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Catherine Swendsen is a writer from the Colorado Springs area.
