The Magna Fountain, heritage of the Sumerians in the New World
One of the most controversial archaeological finds in all of America is the Fuente Magna, also called Vaso Fuente, a large stone vessel, similar to a container for carrying out libations, baptisms or purifying ceremonies.
The vase was discovered in Bolivia in 1960 by a farmer on private land said to have belonged to the Manjon family, located in Chúa, about 80 kilometers from La Paz, near Lake Titicaca.
On the outside, the vase contains some zoomorphic bas-reliefs (of Tihuanacoid origin), while inside, in addition to a zoomorphic or anthropomorphic figure (depending on the interpretation), there are incisions two different types of writing, an ancient alphabet, proto- Sumerian, and Quellca, the language of the ancient Pukara, precursor civilization of Tiwanaku.
In 1960, the Bolivian archaeologist Max Portugal Zamora carried out some small restoration work on the stone vase and tried without success to decipher the mysterious writing that is carved on the inside.
A member of the Manjon family gave the glass to the municipality of La Paz in 1960. In exchange, the Manjon family obtained land in an area adjacent to the capital. The object remained in a basement of the Museum of Precious Metals for 40 years.
Until the end of the 20th century, no one really knew where the Magna Fountain came from and no one could imagine the extraordinary and fascinating history it contained.
In 2000, two researchers from La Paz, the Argentine Bernardo Biados and the Bolivian Freddy Arce, traveled to Chúa, a place located north of Lake Titicaca, and asked the natives of the Aymara language for information about the discovery of the Fuente Magna in 1960. Initially, no one knew how to report either about the Fuente Vessel or about the Manjon family, who seemed to have vanished. Subsequently, they found a 92-year-old man named Maximiliano, who, after having observed a photo of the Fuente Magna, recognized it as his and called it “the pig's plate”.
Maximiliano declared that the glass was found many years before in the surroundings of the town and that no importance was given to it until some men took it (perhaps paying something in exchange), to later deliver it to the municipality of La Paz.
Just like that: one of the most important objects in all of human history was used by a farmer as a container to feed pigs!
Bernardo Biados and Freddy Arce photographed and studied the famous glass in depth, coming to the conclusion that it was used in ancient times for purifying religious ceremonies. The two researchers sent photos of the inscriptions to the American epigrapher Clyde Ahmed Winters, who deciphered the enigmatic proto-Sumerian engravings found inside the Fuente Magna.
Below is the translation of the central box where the cuneiform characters are:
In the future, approach a person endowed with great protection in the name of the great Nía. This oracle serves people who want to achieve purity and strengthen their character. The Divine Nía will spread purity, serenity, character. Use this talisman (the Great Source) to make wisdom and serenity germinate in you.
Using the appropriate shrine, the holy ointment, the wise man vows to take the right path to achieve purity and character. O priest, he finds the unique light for all who desire a noble life.
According to ancient texts, Ni-ash (Nammu or Nía) was the goddess who gave birth to Heaven and Earth, in the times of the Sumerians. The bas-relief on the inside of the glass, which may evoke a frog (a symbol of fertility), according to some researchers, is precisely the representation of Nia, the goddess of the Sumerians.
The other symbols found on the sides of the bas-relief and in the part adjacent to the proto-Sumerian incisions were interpreted as Quellca, the written language of the Pukara civilization, but have not been deciphered.
On the outside of the glass there are some zoomorphic bas-reliefs reminiscent of the Tiwanaku culture: fish and snake. It is very likely that the Magna Fountain was used as a sacred vessel for esoteric ceremonies that evoked the cult of fertility and the search for purity.
Here the following question arises: how is it possible that there are proto-Sumerian inscriptions on a vase found near Titicaca, about 3800 meters above sea level, tens of thousands of kilometers distant from the place of expansion of the Sumerian civilization?
In my opinion, the Fuente Magna is authentic and is one of the most important ancient objects in the world through which you can learn about the remote past of humanity, as well as its interoceanic travels.
First of all, it must be remembered that the existence of the New World was perfectly known by the Phoenicians and Carthaginians who circumnavigated Africa in the 1st millennium BC, but their knowledge came from the Sumerians, the people often mistakenly associated with “the birth of civilization.”
It is known that the Sumerians sailed their boats through the Tigris and Euphrates canals in order to trade. However, little is known about the maritime navigation of the Sumerians, who were based on the current island of Bahrain, where recent excavations demonstrated the existence of a commercial port that was active in the third millennium BC. In Sumerian texts, present-day Bahrain was called Dilmoun, and from there, the Sumerian fleets left for the mouth of the Indus, from where they ascended the great river, arriving at Mohenjo-Daro to exchange textiles, gold, incense and copper. The Sumerian boats were boats that could move up to 36 tons.
According to Bernardo Biados, the Sumerians circumnavigated Africa already in the third millennium BC, but, once they reached the Cape Verde Islands, they found their way blocked by contrary winds that blow incessantly towards the south-west. Therefore, they were forced to head west in search of favorable winds. This is how they arrived, by chance, in Brazil, on the coasts of what is now Piauí or Maranhao. From those points they explored the continent by going up the tributaries of the Amazon River, in particular, the Madeira and the Beni or following the "Peabirú Trail" recently studied by Brazilian archaeologists (or simply trading with Guaraní indigenous people).
According to other researchers, they initially arrived at the Paraná River estuary and then ascended it, thus reaching the Chaco.
In this way, they reached the Andean plateau, which probably did not have such a cold climate in 3000 BC. They mixed with the Pukara population, which in turn came from the Amazon (Arawak expansion), and with the Colla people (whose descendants speak the Aymara language today). The Sumerian culture influenced the people of the highlands, not only in regards to religion, but also in terms of lexical matters. Many linguists, in fact, found many similarities between Proto-Sumerian and Aymara.
Some Sumerians returned to the Old World, taking with them coca, which was also found in the mummies of some Egyptian pharaohs.
Recently, Bernardo Biados and Freddy Arce analyzed and studied in depth the Pokotia monolith, which contains interesting inscriptions on the dorsal part, which can also be related to interoceanic voyages that occurred before the third millennium BC.
Only with a comparative study of genetics, archaeology, Linguistics and epigraphic science will allow us, in the future, to truly understand the relationships between the ancient peoples of the world, in order to be able to draw a detailed map of all human evolution.
YURI LEVERATTO
