Arthur Posnansky (1873-1946)
Arthur Posnansky (1873-1946)
Arthur Posnansky (Vienna, January 1, 1873 - La Paz, April 13, 1946), also
known as Arturo Posnansky, was a military man, naval engineer, war hero,
builder, urban planner, filmmaker, photographer, researcher, writer, historian,
miner, explorer, businessman, adventurer, paleontologist, anthropologist and
archaeologist of Austro-Hungarian origin; He bequeathed his houses as
museums while offering the Neo-Tiwanacota style to architecture. He wrote a
classic book of universal archeology: Tihuanacu, the cradle of the American
man.
Biography.
Arthur Posnansky was born in the city of Vienna in 1873, then the capital of
the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
After completing his studies in Bavaria and Austria and completing his first
profession at the Royal and Imperial Academy of Pola (in Pula) as a Naval
Military Engineer of the Austro-Hungarian Navy at the age of 18 in Austria,
his adventurous and investigative spirit and his dreams awakened. They are
centralized in the American continent.
When the Acre War broke out, Posnansky took up arms to join the Bolivian
Army; his private boat named Anni, which he would rename with the nom de
guerre: Iris, which was vital in battle, since the strategic and personal design
of the young naval engineer made it very versatile and practical in combat.
Today it can be seen in the town of Riberalta, Beni in Bolivia as a relic under
the popular name of Tahuamanu.
Captain Posnansky was an outstanding War Hero, since when he was taken
prisoner by the Brazilian army he managed to escape from his captors in a
very brilliant way, go to Europe to reconfigure his ship and return to the war
front; It is historical that during that time of war his head had a price in Brazil.
To this day he also holds the rank of "Hero of Acre and captain of the
Bolivian Armed Forces."
Arthur, who would inherit the genetic qualities of his father, studied in Austria
and Bavaria, studied at the Imperial and Royal Academy of Pola, where he
graduated as a naval officer, with the title of engineer, having his first
experiences as an officer in the Austro-Hungarian Navy.
Without a doubt, the qualities of his father as a warrior and researcher, as well
as the characteristic of Pola, the place where he studied and due to the great
maritime activity of this port, is that it had a great cultural friction, which
influenced the personality of Arthur Posnansky who received from his father
and the Imperial Academy the desire to venture into culture and to be a
warrior of vocation and action, beyond the adventurous criteria that his
detractors could express.
The genetic influence of his father and the telluric influence of a multicultural
city were firmly established in the personality of the young Austrian who
would migrate to Latin America, so that, throughout his life, in well-marked
and balanced stages, the conditions would manifest. warrior and brave of the
tireless combatant who in fact participated directly and decisively in the Acre
War that Bolivia fought with Brazil; and on the other hand, he became a
scientist and scholar who launched innovative and revolutionary cultural
theories about the origin of man, as a tireless student of the cultural
expressions he found in Tihuanacu and the Bolivian Andes region.
Due to these qualities of his life and as it could not be otherwise, in 1895, at a
very early age, being 22 years old, to hold the rank of lieutenant of the Navy
of the Royal Austro-Hungarian Empire, he presented a study as a work of
graduation, A Comparative Essay Between the Architecture of Easter Island
and Tihuanacu.
This demonstrates the two facets raised and identified in the brand new naval
officer and engineer: His military vocation and his talent as a scientific
researcher.
What allows us to infer his conditions as a soldier and his spirit as a
researcher, from his graduation from the Imperial and Royal Academy of Pola
along with the comparative essay presented, were these the foundations of his
existence, particularly as a soldier in an international war between Bolivia and
Brazil, where he had an exceptional role, and as a researcher, with
investigative contributions on the Tihuanacota empire.
While this was happening in the center of Europe, in the multicultural port of
Pola, in the Amazon region located in South America, the rubber boom arose
that generated a strong European migration to that geographical sector, with
the city of Manaus being the epicenter of the rapid development and where the
Naval Captain moved to work in a river transport company.
The demand for rubber for use in motor vehicles that began to be
manufactured in Europe was so great that they turned to the richest area in
rubber production: El Acre Boliviano.
Julio César Maldonado Leoni (rector of the Military University of the Armed
Forces. from Bolivia).
After the war ended in 1903, Posnansky, now with Bolivian nationality, was
decorated as a National Hero. He also directs the National Museum of Bolivia,
founded the Archaeological Society and the Folklore Institute of Bolivia. He
also writes many texts and publishes books in various fields of research,
traveling throughout the United States and Europe giving lectures at different
universities and scientific institutes.
Originally, and based on his theories, the book was to be called "Tihuanacu,
The Cradle of Humanity", but the discrepancies he encountered with the
American publisher forced him to accept the title with which it was released to
the public.
Posnansky said during his tours and exhibitions as well as in his writings that
Tiwanaku would have been built long before any other civilization in the
world and that its culture was the basis of all subsequent civilizations.
His studies on the basis of astronomical positions and the purest scientific
deduction dated Tiwanaku to within 15,000 to 17,000 years in the past (13,000
to 15,000 years BC); thereby achieving terrible opposition from many lawyers
and support from others.
Posnansky actually enjoyed relationships with the best of the scientific world
of his time, Posnansky's friendship with the scientist Albert Einstein is proven,
with whom from 1913 onwards he had long conversations at his home in the
city of Berlin, Germany, when Posnansky I was in that city.
He wrote Einstein and his New Truth in the National Bulletin of Engineers
No. 1, in the city of La Paz in the year (1923) and then in (1945) he presented
before the Conference of the Geographic Society: Bolivia, the United States
and the Atomic Era.
Arthur Posnansky died in July 1946 in the city of La Paz at the age of 73.
His relatives from the Scientific Society of Bolivia assured that among his
legacies would be original documents with scientific evidence about the
mysteries of Tiwanaku which would surprise humanity. These documents
would have been placed at the site of the Bennett Stela, in the Plaza del
Hombre Americano in La Paz, Bolivia. Later, when this archaeological piece
was moved to La Paz and then returned to Tiwanaku, these documents were
rarely lost.
Recognitions.
Lieutenant of the Royal Austro-Hungarian Navy.
Naval Engineer of the Royal Austro-Hungarian Navy.
Captain of Engineers.
Captain of the Bolivian Armed Forces.
Hero and Honoree of the Acre War.
Secretary General of the XIX International Congress of Americanists.
Member of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland -
FRAI.
Member of the Berlin Antopological Society.
Member of the Geographia Society of Rio de Janeiro.
Member of the Geographic Society of Sucre, Bolivia.
President of the Geographic Society of La Paz.
President of the Archaeological Society of Bolivia.
Director of the "Tihuanacu" Institute of Anthropology, Ethnography and
Prehistory.
Member of the Board of the Beneméritos Héroes de la Patria.
Substitute member of the Pan American Institute of Geography and History.
Commander of the Royal Order of Wasa.
Section President of the XXVII International Congress of Americanists
(Lima).
Member of the New York Academy of Sciences, USA.
Director of the Bolivian Folklore Institute.
President of the III Section of the III General Assembly of the Pan American
Institute of Geography and History.
Director of the Cultural Mission of the Government of Bolivia in the USA.
Representative of Bolivia before International Scientific Societies.
Books and publications[edit]
Die Osterinsel und ihre Praehistorischen Monument. Pula (Austria-Hungary)
(1895).
The Paumaris and Ipurinás Indians in the Purús River, Seus Etnológico
Costumes. For Brazil). (1898).
Map of the Acre River (Seven volumes), Scale 1:21,000. Manaus (Brazil).
1897 to 1900. La Paz Geographic Society. (1900)
Acre Campaign. The Boat "Iris", Adventures and pilgrimages. Peace (1904).
Petrographic Study of Tihuanacu, La Paz, (1904).
A Trip on Lake Titicaca, aboard the L. N. "Carmen. (Descriptive album).
Peace, (1905).
Prehistoric Races and Monuments of the Andean Altiplano. (50 illustrations,
three plans, one chrome). IV Scientific Congress. l°. Pan-American. Santiago
de Chile, (1908).
Prehistoric Monuments of Tihuanacu. (Tribute to the XVII Congress of
Americanists. Peace, (1910).
Tihuanacu and the Prehistoric Races and Monuments of the Andean Altiplano.
(Work read at the sessions of the XVII International Congress of
Americanists). Buenos Aires, (1910).
Tihuanacu and Islands of the Sun and the Moon, Titicaca and Koati. (With
album of 35 views) La Paz, (1910).
Potosí-Sucre Railway with Gas-Electric Self-Generating Engines. Peace,
(1911).
The Climate of the Altiplano and the Extension of Lake Titicaca, in relation to
Tihuanacu in Prehistoric Times. (With a plan and four engravings). Peace,
(1911).
Lorenzo Sundt and Bolivian Geology (First rectification) La Paz, (1911).
Tihuanacu and Prehistoric Civilization in the Altiplano. Peace, (1911).
Tihuanacu. (Second expanded and corrected edition) La Paz, (1911).
The Mission of the Delegate of the Geographic Society of La Paz, before the
XVII International Congress of Americanists. Peace, (1911).
Brief Reflections on the Origin of the Incas, in Chilean Magazine of History
and Geography. Santiago de Chile, (1911).
Lorenzo Sundt and Bolivian Geology. (Second rectification). Peace, (1911).
Illustrated General Guide for the Investigation of the Prehistoric Monuments
of Tihuanacu and Islands of the Sun and the Moon (Titicaca and Koati). With
brief notes on the Chullpas, Urus, and writing of the aborigines of the Andean
Altiplano. (With a chrome, 54 engravings, three plans and four facsimiles).
Peace, (1912).
The Stepped Sign, in Proceedings of the XVII th. International Congress of
Americanists. London (United Kingdom), (1912).
Die Altertümer von Tihuanacu, in Zeitschrift für Ethnologie. (Heft I). Berlin,
(1913).
Praehistorische Ideenschriften in Südameika, in Zeitschrift für Ethnologie.
(Heft II). Berlin, (1913).
Eine falsche Kritik Max Uhle's über Tihuanacu. Berlin, (1913).
A false Criticism of Max Uhle. A Couple of Critical Words about the Work
'Tihuanacu' by Stübel and Uhle, (Part of Uhle). Berlin. (1913).
Thesaurus Ideographiarum. Volume I. The Step Sign in American Ideographs
with Special Reference to Tihuanacu. (Editor: Dietrich Reimer). Berlin,
(1913).
Thesaurus Ideographiarum Americanarum. Band I. Das Treppenzeichen in der
Amerikanischen Ideographieen mit benderer Rücksicht auf Tihuanacu.
(Verlag: Dietrich Reimer), Berlin, (1913).
A Prehistoric Metropolis in South America. (Editor: Dietrich Reimer. Berlin,
(1914). (Award-winning work).
Ein Neues Craniometrisches Instruments und seine Verwendung zur
Herstellung von Messbildern. Berlin. (1913).
Eine Praehistorische Metropole in Sudamerika. (Verlag: Dietrich Reimer),
Berlin, (1914). (Award-winning work).
Cosmological and Theogonic Beliefs of the Ancient Tihuanacus. Studies
based on the ideographic inscriptions of monuments and ceramic works. in
Bulletin of the Geographic Society of La Paz, (1914).
Mongoloid Signs in Some Ethnic Types of the Altiplano. Second Pan
American Scientific Congress. Washington, (1915).
The Chipaya Language. Peace, (1915).
La Paz Sanitation Problem. (1916).
The Great Temple of the Sun in the Andes. The Age of Tihuanacu. Prehistoric
Astronomy, in Bulletin of the Geographic Society. Peace, (1918).
El Ekeko", Contribution to Bolivian Folklore. Peace, (1918).
The Chipayas of Carangas, (1918).
Portraits and Memories of Extinct Animals in the Ceramics of South America.
"The Macrauchenia and its Relationship with the Legendary Huarihuillka, in
the Bulletin of the Geographical Society. Peace, (1919).
The Grand Temple du Soleil in the Andes. The age of Tihuanacu. Astronomie
Prehistorique. Peace, (1919).
The Future Hour. Peace, (1919).
Andean Anthropogeological Notes, in the Bulletin of the Geographical
Society. Peace, (1920).
Temples and Prehistoric Dwellings. Peace, (1921).
Biographical Sketch of Don Manuel Vicente Ballivián. Peace, (1922).
Brief News of a Tihuanacu Cultural Branch in the Northeast of Bolivia,
(1922).
Surgical Operations in Primitive Villages. Peace, (1922).
Who were the Incas?, in the Bulletin of the Geographical Society. La Paz,
1922, and in Annals XX International Congress of Americanists. Rio de
Janeiro (Brazil) (1922).
Brief News from a Tihuanacu Cultural Branch in the Northeast of Bolivia.
Annals of the XX International Congress of Americanists. Rio de Janeiro
Brazil). (1922).
The Age of Humankind. Peace (1922).
Einstein and his New Truth, in the National Bulletin of Engineers No. 1, La
Paz (1923).
Atavistic Impulses, The Case of Poland Méndez. Peace (1923).
Ueber Trepanieren und kúnstliche Verunstaltungen an Aymara-schaedeln,
Zeitschrift fúr Ethnologie, Heft 5-6 . Berlin (1924).
Führer dd. Geographisch-industrielle Austellung Bolivia in Berlin, (1924).
Kulturvorgeschichtliches u. die Astronomische Bedeutung des grossen
Sonnentempels von Tihuanacu in Bolivian, in Anales of International
Congress of Americanists. The Hague (Netherlands), (1924).
New Research in Carangas "Bolivia", in Anales du XXIe Congrés
International des Americanistes. Gothenburg (Sweden), (1924).
Der Mensch vor dreizehntausend Jahren, in Die Woche, Nr. 46 u. 47, Berlin,
(1924).
Kulturvorgeschichtliches u. die astronomische Bedeutung des grossen
Sonnentempels von Tihuanacu in Bolivian. (Vortrag inder Treptow-
Sternwarte [Link] Potsdam). Das Weltall 24 Jahrg. Heft.2 Nov.1924.
Berlin.(1924).
Modern Bolivia, in Le Vie d'Italia e dell' América Latina. Milan (Italy),
(1925).
Notes on Prehistoric Culture and the Importance of the Temple of the Sun in
The Andes, in Bolivian-Magazine. London (United Kingdom), (1925).
The Step Motif in the Ornamentation and Symbolism of Pre-Columbian
America', in Monatsschrift "Bolivia", Hamburg, (1925).
Ausgewanderte Plaquetten im Tihuanacustyl in Hannoveranische geologische
Gesellschaft. 17, Hanover, (1925).
Die erotic Keramiken der Mochicas u. deren Beziehung zu occipital
deformierten Schaedeln, Frankfurt am Main, 1925. Band II, der
Abhandlungen zur Anthropologie. Ethnologie u. Urgeschichte der Frankf.
Anthropol. Gesellsch. (1925).
Argument des archaeologischen Films: Tihuanacu der Untergang einer Welt,
Berlin, (1925).
The Erotic Ceramics of the Mochicas and their Relationship with Occipitally
Deformed Skulls. Peace, (1926).
A Prehistoric City in Beni. Peace, (1926).
The Urus. Peace.(1926)
The Odyssey of the Tihuanacu Stamp, La Paz, (1925).
Plot of the Archaeological Film "The Glory of the Race or Tihuanacu, the
Decline of a Culture, (1926).
The Age of Tihuanacu. (Buenos Aires, La Nación, Buenos Aires June 13 and
20, 1926). (1926).
Preliminary Comments to the "Indian Sphinx. Peace . Editorial of the
Tihuanacu Institute of Anthropology, Ethnography and Prehistory. (1926)
Titicaca-Desaguadero-Poopó. A Navigable Riverway to Oruro. Irrigation and
Colonization of the Margins of the Desaguadero. Arborization of the
Altiplano. Sanatorium on Panza Island. La Paz, Edit. Tihuanacu Institute.
(1927).
New Chronological Data from Tihuanacu, at the XXIII International Congress
of Americanists. New York, (1928).
The Removal of the Climacteric Cingulum in the Andean Altiplano as a
Factor in the Depopulation of the Inter-Andean Region, in International
Congress of Americanist, New York and Bulletin of the University of Cuzco,
(1928).
The Foundation of the "Geological Survey" in Bolivia, (1929).
The Tihuanacu Calendar, (1930).
Origin of Cult and Culture in the Three Americas. 21 clichés and a map,
XXIV International Congress of Americanists; Hamburg, (1930).
Economic and Industrial Rise of South America. South America Producer of
its Own Resources. A Producing Source of Electrical Energy for a
Transcontinental Power Plant, in "El Diario". Peace, (1930).
A New Secondary Sexual Character, in Magazine of the Scientific Society of
Bolivia No. 1. Peace, (1930).
The Law of Bolivia over the Chaco, from a Geographical Point of View "With
two maps and a facsimile. Editorial of the Tihuanacu Institute of
Anthropology and Prehistory. Peace. (1930).
Alleged Errors in the Calculation of the Age of Tihuanacu, a replica, in
Bulletin of the Geographic Society of La Paz, No. 59-60, (1931).
Publication of the Unpublished Manuscript of Fr. Bartolomeo de Mora of
what happened in the Chiriguanos War of 1729, with introduction and notes
by Dr. A. Metreaux, in Magazine of the Institute of Ethnology, National
University of Tucumán, Volume II, (1931).
Prehispanic Legends about Two "Kerus, Magazine of the Institute of
Ethnology. National University of Tucumán. Volume II, (1931).
Las Perlas Agr. and Representations on Archaic Textiles as proof of the
Discovery of America before Columbus. Work presented to the VII Pan
American Scientific Congress, Mexico, D. F., (1932).
Prehistoric Mexican-Central American Connections with the Ancient
Metropolis of the Andes. VII Pan American Scientific Congress. Mexico, D.
F., (1932).
Towards an Irrational and Antiquated Communism that Would Retrograde
Human Culture Five Hundred Years, or Towards Social Rationalism that will
give Man what Man Needs and Demands to Live with Dignity (with 2
engravings). Peace, (1932).
The Last Moment of the Incario. (IV Centenary of the Conquest of Upper
Peru). Work presented to the XXV International Congress of Americanists, La
Plata, (1932).
A Giant Idol, found in the First Period Underground Temple of Tihuanacu.
Work presented to the XXV International Congress of Americanists. La Plata,
1932.
To the Government of Bolivia and the Upright Men of the Country. El Acre,
The National Museum, The Tihuanacu Stamp, La Paz, (1932).
The Tihuanacu Calendar and its Adoption for the Man of Current Culture, in
La Nación of Buenos Aires, April, (1933).
Atahuallpa, as Man and Monarch. On the IV Centenary of his Death: June 24,
1533, in La Nación, Buenos Aires (Argentina), (June 1933).
Memorial, presented to the World Economic Conference. London, United
Kingdom). (1933).
Precursors of Columbus, in Bolet. Soc. Argentine History, Buenos Aires,
(1933).
Archaeological Remains of a Millennial Struggle, La Nación, Buenos Aires,
Argentina, 1934.
The Urus or Uchumi, In Annals of XXV, Congr. Int. of Americanistas, La
Plata, Argentina, (1932).
The Drain Channeling. Oruro, future river port in the Altiplano. 1935.
The Extermination of the Vicuña in Bolivia and Peru. (1935).
Quod Videbitis Vidi... ? The Chaco War could have been avoided. Peace,
(1936).
Anthropology and Sociology of the Inter-Andean and Adjacent Races. Peace,
(1937).
A National Park for Bolivia. Editorial "Renacimiento" La Paz, (1937).
To the Peoples of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru. The Economic
Independence of South America: An International Power Plant, taking
advantage of the slope of the Desaguadero towards the Pacific. Editorial
"Renacimiento", La Paz, (1937).
What is Race? (1943).
First New Chronicle and Good Government written between 1584-1614.
(1944)
Kinoa (Quinoa). (1945).
Bolivia, the United States and the Atomic Age. (1945).
Tihuanacu, The Cradle of the American Man VOLUME ONE. (1945). JJ
Publishing Augustin Publisher, New York (USA). USA)
Volume I: 158 numbered pages plus photographs, maps and sketches.
Volume II: 246 numbered pages plus photographs, maps and sketches.
Tihuanacu, The Cradle of the American Man VOLUME TWO. (1957). Don
Bosco Publishing House, Ministry of Education of the Republic of Bolivia. La
Paz, Bolivia.
Volumes III-IV: 246 numbered pages plus photographs, maps and sketches.
Post-mortem impression.
Grades.
Military University of the Armed Forces. from Bolivia.
Army General Staff, Miraflores, La Paz, Bolivia.
References.
See at: Cnl. DAEN and EEADV Archive and Library
The return of "Tihuanacu, the cradle of the American man" (in Spanish).
Accessed February 3, 2014
After half a century, they reissue Tihuanacu by Arthur Posnansky (in
Spanish). Accessed February 3, 2014.
External links.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arthur Posnansky.
Article by Yuri Leveratto on the alternative theory of Arthur Posnasky
Chap. Arthur Posnansky and The Acre War: EEADV Library
Posnansky, or the Guardian of the Past
EEADV Archive and Library