Arthur Posnansky

Photograph of Arthur Posnansky from Campaña del Acre: la lancha "Iris"; aventuras y peregrinaciones Arthur Posnansky (1873–1946), often called "Arturo", was an Austrian engineer, explorer, ship’s navigator, entrepreneur, La Paz city council member, and amateur archaeologist. During his lifetime, Posnansky was known as a prolific writer and researcher and for his active participation in the defense and development of Bolivia. He is well known for his books, including Tihuanacu, the Cradle of American Man, Campana de Acre, La Lancha "Iris", Die Osterinsel und ihre praehistorischen Monumente, and Razas y Monumentos Prehistóricos del Altiplano Andino. Many, if not most, of his theories have been rejected by modern scholars.

Early life He was born in Vienna, Austria, on April 13, 1873. He helped his father in his business as a manufacturing chemist. At this time, he was deeply involved in cognate studies. His interest in cognate studies ended when his father suddenly died. After his father's death, Posnansky studied at the Imperial and Royal Naval Academy of Pola for the position of Naval Military Engineer in the Austro-Hungarian Navy. During his time in the Naval Academy, he made several extensive training voyages, including to the Easter Islands in the South Pacific Ocean, as a part of his shipboard training. While on Easter Island, he made ethnological observations, which he later published as Die Osterinsel und ihre praehistorischen Monumente. Posnansky graduated from the Imperial and Royal Academy of Pola at age 18.

Posnansky's final and most important book, Tihuanacu, the Cradle of American Man, was published in 1945 (volumes I and II) and 1957 (volumes III and IV). In it, Posnansky argued that Tiwanaku was constructed approximately 15,000 BC by American peoples, although not by the ancestors of those then living in the area, the Aymara. Posnansky also saw Tiwanaku as the origin point of civilization throughout the Americas, including the Inca, the Maya and others. Since the publication of the work, these ideas have since been disputed by later archaeological research. However, the photographs, detailed descriptions of structures and inscriptions, meticulously prepared maps, and numerous photographs found in this work constitute an extremely valuable historical record of the site. Posnansky's ideas about Tiwanaku having been a full-fledged city with a large permanent population, rather than only a seasonally occupied ceremonial center, and its abandonment having been the result of prehistoric climatic change are widely accepted in principle. This book and his personal efforts also contributed significantly to the eventual preservation of the site at a time when it was being very badly damaged by neglect, stone-quarrying, and looting.