Although little known, these ancient stone structures are estimated to have been built between the years 400 and 1660 and are located about 70 kilometers from Quito in the Chocó Andino area.
They say that in these sunken spaces of various shapes, the shamans or “yachaks” held ceremonies and cults to the sun and moon, while the sages used them as mirrors and observed the sky reflected in the water for their astronomical studies.
Specialist Flor Sánchez of the Metropolitan Institute of Heritage told Prensa Latina that the existing archaeological evidence at Tulipe favors a number of histories among those living near the site.
There are those who are convinced that this area is a portal to other dimensions, that it is connected to other important sites in Mexico, for example, but experts do not support these theories, Sánchez commented.
With these beliefs, some people currently go to Tulipe to perform rituals, requiring the appropriate permits to do so, although it is forbidden to enter the pools because it is a sacred place and to maintain its state of conservation.
Not even in the times of the yumbos did everyone enter the pools, they were apparently intended for the city’s elite, the expert specified.
There are seven pools in total. Of those located in the central part of the complex, two are rectangular, and two more have a curved top.
The fifth is an irregular polygon with 19 angles and the sixth is very small, which is why it may have served a practical function, such as storing water for the entire complex, as all the pools are connected by an elaborate network of canals.
Farther away is the seventh basin, which is circular and whose walls contain a double row in the form of concentric rings where they appear to have invoked the sun and performed purification rites.
Some reports suggest that these pools, relatively close to the line dividing the planet into two hemispheres, may have been an outdoor astronomical observatory, where pooled water reflected the moon and constellations, a way Earth could be seen in capture this space… and the sky.
Every year, on March 20th, Tulipe celebrates the festival of the Equinox, a ritual of the Andean belief that begins the agricultural year, and at these times it is the indigenous people who make offerings to the deities to ensure the bounty of the harvests to guarantee .
CULTURAL AND MYSTICAL EVIDENCE
The complex, which displays the cultural testimonies of the Yumbo people, covers three hectares of land and is divided into two parts: the museum, which is a place of dissemination, and outside the pools, or ceremonial center, where the archaeological revelations are located.
A few meters from these structures flows the Tulipe River, although it is believed that the water used for the rites did not come from there but from nearby elevations and artificial terraces built to catch the rain.
The mysticism of the yumbos is preserved in this area and can also be seen in the petroglyphs, ancient stone engravings where circles predominate, a symbol of perfection, and spirals representing the cyclical and the movement so common in the pre-Columbian worldview .
A number of tolas remain nearby, truncated pyramids of earth and other materials about 20 meters high, which are said to have served as both dwellings and ceremonial or burial sites.
We can say that in Tulipe the ideas of nature are united with the balance of the cosmos and that’s how the Yumbos understood it, said Flor Sánchez, the expert and guide.
He told how this city was forced to emigrate both by the eruption of the Guagua Pichincha and Pululahua volcanoes in the second half of the 17th century and by Spanish colonization.
BEFORE CEREMONIAL CENTRE, NOW MUSEUM
To continue the history of the yumbos in Tulipe there is not only archaeological evidence but also a museum that has received international awards such as the Reina Sofía Award for Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage (2011).
Between 2001 and 2004, the Cultural Heritage Salvage Fund, now known as the Metropolitan Heritage Institute, under the direction of Hólguer Jara, undertook a major excavation and restoration project at the site.
Thanks to his work, the museographic space was inaugurated on March 24, 2007, composed of three rooms that show the environment and geographical location of Tulipe, as well as ceramics, among other original objects and replicas.
They also state that the Yumbos were primarily a farming and trading people who also hunted and made handicrafts.
They used to carry baskets attached to their foreheads to carry fish, cassava, green bananas, papayas or meat, and they appear to have been robust people, as shown by wax models on display at the museum, derived from forensic studies of human remains, found in the zone .
The Yumbo culture left a historical, archaeological, and mythological legacy due to their familiarity with astronomy, geometry, and architecture, although some of their customs are still questioned.
Although the site was discovered in the 21st century, its history today attracts hundreds of people who visit this ancestral site, where questions feed the myths and legends surrounding the yumbos.
arb./avr