Tiwanaku (Spanish: Tiahuanaco or Tiahuanacu) is a Pre-Columbianarchaeological site in western Bolivia, near Lake Titicaca, about 70 kilometers from La Paz, and it is one of the largest sites in South America. Surface remains currently cover around 4 square kilometers and include decorated ceramics, monumental structures, and megalithic blocks. It has been conservatively estimated that the site was inhabited by 10,000 to 20,000 people in AD 800.[2]
Jesuit chronicler of Peru Bernabé Cobo reported that Tiwanaku's name once was taypiqala, which is Aymara meaning "stone in the center", alluding to the belief that it lay at the center of the world.[4] The name by which Tiwanaku was known to its inhabitants may have been lost as they had no written language.[5][6] Heggarty and Beresford-Jones suggest that the Puquina language is most likely to have been the language of Tiwanaku.[7]
Site history
The dating of the site has been significantly refined over the last century. From 1910 to 1945, Arthur Posnansky maintained that the site was 11,000–17,000 years old[8][9] based on comparisons to geological eras and archaeoastronomy. Beginning in the 1970s, Carlos Ponce Sanginés proposed the site was first occupied around 1580 BC,[10] the site's oldest radiocarbon date. This date is still seen in some publications and museums in Bolivia. Since the 1980s, researchers have recognized this date as unreliable, leading to the consensus that the site is no older than 200 or 300 BC.[11][12][13] More recently, a statistical assessment of reliable radiocarbon dates estimates that the site was founded around AD 110 (50–170, 68% probability),[1] a date supported by the lack of ceramic styles from earlier periods.[14]
Tiwanaku began its steady growth in the early centuries of the first millennium AD. From approximately 375 to 700 AD, this Andean city grew to significance. At its height, the city of Tiwanaku spanned an area of roughly 4 square kilometers (1.5 square miles) and had a population greater than 10,000 individuals. The growth of the city was due to its complex agropastoral economy, supported by trade.[15]
The site appeared to have collapsed around 1000 AD, however the reasoning behind this is still open to debate. Recent studies by geologist Elliott Arnold of the University of Pittsburgh have shown evidence of a greater amount of aridity in the region around the time of collapse. A drought in the region would have affected local systems of agriculture and likely played a role in the collapse of Tiwanaku.
Relationships
The people of Tiwanaku held a tight relationship with the Wari culture. The Wari and Tiwanaku civilizations shared the same iconography, referred to as the "Southern Andean Iconographic Series". The relationship between the two civilizations is presumed to be trade based or military based. The Wari aren't the only other civilization that Tiwanaku could have had contact with. Inca cities also contained similar types of architecture Infrastructure seen in Tiwanaku. From this it can be expected that the Inca took some inspiration from the city of Tiwanaku and other early civilizations in the Andean basin.
Structures
Carving in the Gate of the Sun of Tiwanaku, (Photography of 1903).
The structures that have been excavated by researchers at Tiwanaku include the terraced platform moundAkapana, Akapana East, and Pumapunku stepped platforms, the Kalasasaya, the Kantatallita, the Kheri Kala, and Putuni enclosures, and the Semi-Subterranean Temple.
The Akapana is a "half Andean Cross"-shaped structure that is 257 m wide, 197 m broad at its maximum, and 16.5 m tall. At its center appears to have been a sunken court. This was nearly destroyed by a deep looters excavation that extends from the center of this structure to its eastern side. Material from the looter's excavation was dumped off the eastern side of the Akapana. A staircase is present on its western side. Possible residential complexes might have occupied both the northeast and southeast corners of this structure.
Originally, the Akapana was thought to have been developed from a modified hill. Twenty-first-century studies have shown that it is an entirely man-made earthen mound, faced with a mixture of large and small stone blocks. The dirt comprising Akapana appears to have been excavated from the "moat" that surrounds the site.[16] The largest stone block within the Akapana, made of andesite, is estimated to weigh 65.7 tons.[17] Tenon stone blocks in the form of puma and human heads stud the upper terraces.[16]
The Akapana East was built on the eastern side of early Tiwanaku. Later it was considered a boundary between the ceremonial center and the urban area. It was made of a thick, prepared floor of sand and clay, which supported a group of buildings. Yellow and red clay was used in different areas for what seems like aesthetic purposes. It was swept clean of all domestic refuse, signaling its great importance to the culture.[16]
The Pumapunku is a man-made platform built on an east-west axis like the Akapana. It is a T-shaped, terraced earthen platform mound faced with megalithic blocks. It is 167.36 m wide along its north-south axis and 116.7 m broad along its east-west axis and is 5 m tall. Identical 20-meter-wide projections extend 27.6 meters north and south from the northeast and southeast corners of the Pumapunku. Walled and unwalled courts and an esplanade are associated with this structure.
A prominent feature of the Pumapunku is a large stone terrace; it is 6.75 by 38.72 meters in dimension and paved with large stone blocks. It is called the "Plataforma Lítica" and contains the largest stone block found in the Tiwanaku site.[17][18] According to Ponce Sangines, the block is estimated to weigh 131 metric tonnes.[17] The second-largest stone block found within the Pumapunku is estimated to be 85 metric tonnes.[17][18]
Scattered around the site of the Puma Punku are various types of cut stones. Due to the complexity of the stonework the site is often cited by conspiracy theorists to be a site of ancient alien intervention. These claims are entirely unsubstantiated.
The Kalasasaya is a large courtyard more than 300 feet long, outlined by a high gateway. It is located to the north of the Akapana and west of the Semi-Subterranean Temple. Within the courtyard is where explorers found the Gateway of the Sun. Since the late 20th century, researchers have theorized that this was not the gateway's original location.
Near the courtyard is the Semi-Subterranean Temple; a square sunken courtyard that is unique for its north-south rather than east-west axis.[19] The walls are covered with tenon heads of many different styles, suggesting that the structure was reused for different purposes over time.[20] It was built with walls of sandstone pillars and smaller blocks of Ashlar masonry.[20][21] The largest stone block in the Kalasasaya is estimated to weigh 26.95 metric tons.[17]
Within many of the site's structures are impressive gateways; the ones of monumental scale are placed on artificial mounds, platforms, or sunken courts. One gateway shows the iconography of a front-facing figure in Staff God pose. This iconography also is used on some oversized vessels, indicating an importance to the culture. The iconography of the Gateway of the Sun called Southern Andean Iconographic Series can be seen on several stone sculptures, Qirus, snuff trays and other Tiwanaku artifacts.[22]
The unique carvings on the top of the Gate of the sun depict animals and other beings. Some have claimed that the symbolism represents a calendar system unique to the people of Tiwanaku, although there is no definitive evidence that this theory is correct.
The Gateway of the Sun and others located at Pumapunku are not complete. They are missing part of a typical recessed frame known as a chambranle, which typically have sockets for clamps to support later additions. These architectural examples, as well as the Akapana Gate, have unique detail and demonstrate high skill in stone-cutting. This reveals a knowledge of descriptive geometry. The regularity of elements suggests they are part of a system of proportions.
Gate of the Moon.
Many theories for the skill of Tiwanaku's architectural construction have been proposed. One is that they used a luk’ a, which is a standard measurement of about sixty centimeters. Another argument is for the Pythagorean Ratio. This idea calls for right triangles at a ratio of five to four to three used in the gateways to measure all parts. Lastly, Protzen and Nair argue that Tiwanaku had a system set for individual elements dependent on context and composition. This is shown in the construction of similar gateways ranging from diminutive to monumental size, proving that scaling factors did not affect proportion. With each added element, the individual pieces were shifted to fit together.[23]
As the population grew, occupational niches developed, and people began to specialize in certain skills. There was an increase in artisans, who worked in pottery, jewelry, and textiles. Like the later Inca, the Tiwanaku had few commercial or market institutions. Instead, the culture relied on elite redistribution.[24] That is, the elites of the state controlled essentially all economic output but were expected to provide each commoner with all the resources needed to perform his or her function. Selected occupations include agriculturists, herders, pastoralists, etc. Such separation of occupations was accompanied by hierarchical stratification within the state.[25]
Some authors believe that the elites of Tiwanaku lived inside four walls that were surrounded by a moat. This theory is called "Tiwanaku moat theory". This moat, some believe, was to create the image of a sacred island. Inside the walls were many images devoted to human origin, which only the elites would see. Commoners may have entered this structure only for ceremonial purposes since it was home to the holiest of shrines.[3]
Fraile Monolith, holding a snuff tray and a Qiru; the belt shows sprouting plants that are often mistaken for crabs
Cosmology
In many Andean cultures, mountains are venerated[26] and may be considered sacred objects. The site of Tiwanaku is located in the valley between two sacred mountains, Pukara and Chuqi Q’awa. At such temples in ancient times, ceremonies were conducted to honor and pay gratitude to the gods and spirits.[27] They were places of worship and rituals that helped unify Andean peoples through shared symbols and pilgrimage destinations.
Tiwanaku became a center of pre-Columbian religious ceremonies for both the general public and elites. For example, human sacrifice was used in several pre-Columbian civilizations to appease a god in exchange for good fortune. Excavations of the Akapana at Tiwanaku revealed the remains of sacrificial dedications of humans and camelids.[28] Researchers speculate that the Akapana may also have been used as an astronomical observatory. It was constructed so that it was aligned with the peak of Quimsachata, providing a view of the rotation of the Milky Way from the southern pole.[29] Other structures like Kalasasaya are positioned to provide optimal views of the sunrise on the Equinox, Summer Solstice, and Winter Solstice. Although the symbolic and functional value of these monuments can only be speculated upon, the Tiwanaku were able to study and interpret the positions of the sun, moon, Milky Way and other celestial bodies well enough to give them a significant role in their architecture.[30]
Aymara legends place Tiwanaku at the center of the universe, probably because of the importance of its geographical location. The Tiwanaku were highly aware of their natural surroundings and would use them and their understanding of astronomy as reference points in their architectural plans. The most significant landmarks in Tiwanaku are the mountains and Lake Titicaca.[31] The lake level of Lake Titicaca has fluctuated significantly over time. The spiritual importance and location of the lake contributed to the religious significance of Tiwanaku. In the Tiwanaku worldview, Lake Titicaca is the spiritual birthplace of their cosmic beliefs.[32] According to Incan mythology, Lake Titicaca is the birthplace of Viracocha, who was responsible for creating the sun, moon, people, and the cosmos. In the Kalasasaya at Tiwanaku, carved atop a monolith known as the Gate of the Sun, is a front-facing figure holding a spear-thrower[33] and snuff. Some speculate that this is a representation of Viracocha. However, it is also possible that this figure represents a deity that the Aymara refer to as “Tunuupa” who, like Viracocha, is associated with legends of creation and destruction.
The Aymara, who are thought to be descendants of the Tiwanaku, have a complex belief system similar to the cosmology of several other Andean civilizations. They believe in the existence of three spaces: Arajpacha, the upper world; Akapacha, the middle or inner world; and Manqhaoacha, the lower world.[34] Often associated with the cosmos and Milky Way, the upper world is considered to be where celestial beings live. The middle world is where all living things are, and the lower world is where life itself is inverted.[35]
Archaeology
The Bennett Monolith was found in the centre of the Semi-Subterranean Temple by American archeologist Wendell Clark Bennett. It is the largest Stele ever found in the Andean world (7,3 m tall); his body is covered with mythical figures.Heads in the Semi-Subterranean Temple.
As the site has suffered from looting and amateur excavations since shortly after Tiwanaku's fall, archeologists must attempt to interpret it with the understanding that materials have been jumbled and destroyed. This destruction continued during the Spanish conquest and colonial period, and during 19th century and the early 20th century. Other damage was committed by people quarrying stone for building and railroad construction, and target practice by military personnel.
No standing buildings have survived at the modern site. Only public, non-domestic foundations remain, with poorly reconstructed walls. The ashlar blocks used in many of these structures were mass-produced in similar styles so that they could possibly be used for multiple purposes. Throughout the period of the site, certain buildings changed purposes, causing a mix of artifacts found today.[23]
Detailed study of Tiwanaku began on a small scale in the mid-nineteenth century. In the 1860s, Ephraim George Squier visited the ruins and later published maps and sketches completed during his visit. German geologist Alphons Stübel spent nine days in Tiwanaku in 1876, creating a map of the site based on careful measurements. He also made sketches and created paper impressions of carvings and other architectural features. A book containing major photographic documentation was published in 1892 by engineer Georg von Grumbkow, With commentary by archaeologist Max Uhle, this was the first in-depth scientific account of the ruins.
Von Grumbkow had first visited Tiwanaku between the end of 1876 and the beginning of 1877, when he accompanied as a photographer the expedition of French adventurer Théodore Ber, financed by American businessman Henry Meiggs, against Ber’s promise of donating the artifacts he will find, on behalf of Meiggs, to Washington's Smithsonian Institution and the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Ber’s expedition was cut short by the violent hostility of the local population, instigated by the Catholic parish priest, but von Grumbkow’s early pictures survive.[36]
Pictures of archaeological excavations in 1903
Stairs of Kalasasaya (1903)
Gate of the Sun (1903)
Gate of the Sun, Rear View (1903)
Akapana (1903); first thought to be an alluvial layer, later shown to be entirely artificial
Semi-Subterranean Temple (1903)
Contemporary excavation and restoration
Amateur archaeological reconstructed Walls around the KalasasayaRemains of the original Kalasasaya walls show high quality of stonework
In the 1960s, the Bolivian government initiated an effort to restore the site and reconstruct part of it. The walls of the Kalasasaya are almost all reconstructed. The reconstruction was not sufficiently based on evidence. The reconstruction does not have as high quality of stonework as was present in Tiwanaku.[20] Early visitors compared Kalasasaya to Englands Stonehenge.[37] Ephraim Squier called it "American Stonehenge".[38] Before the reconstruction, it had more of a "Stonehenge"-like appearance as the filler stones between the large stone pillars were all looted.[39] As noted, the Gateway of the Sun, now in the Kalasasaya, is believed to have been moved from its original location.[3]
Modern, academically sound archaeological excavations were performed from 1978 through the 1990s by University of Chicagoanthropologist Alan Kolata and his Bolivian counterpart, Oswaldo Rivera. Among their contributions are the rediscovery of the suka kollus, accurate dating of the civilization's growth and influence, and evidence for a drought-based collapse of the Tiwanaku civilization.
Archaeologists such as Paul Goldstein have argued that the Tiwanaku empire ranged outside of the altiplano area and into the Moquegua Valley in Peru. Excavations at Omo settlements show signs of similar architecture characteristic of Tiwanaku, such as a temple and terraced mound.[19] Evidence of similar types of cranial vault modification in burials between the Omo site and the main site of Tiwanaku is also being used for this argument.[40]
Robotic exploration of a newly discovered tunnel inside Akapana, June 13, 2006
Today Tiwanaku has been designated as a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site, administered by the Bolivian government.
Recently, the Department of Archaeology of Bolivia (DINAR, directed by Javier Escalante) has been conducting excavations on the terraced platform mound Akapana. The Proyecto Arqueologico Pumapunku-Akapana (Pumapunku-Akapana Archaeological Project, PAPA) run by the University of Pennsylvania, has been excavating in the area surrounding the terraced platform mound for the past few years, and also conducting Ground Penetrating Radar surveys of the area.
In former years, an archaeological field school offered through Harvard's Summer School Program, conducted in the residential area outside the monumental core, has provoked controversy amongst local archaeologists.[41] The program was directed by Gary Urton,[42] of Harvard, who was an expert on quipus, and Alexei Vranich of the University of Pennsylvania. The controversy was over allowing a team of untrained students to work on the site, even under professional supervision. It was so important that only certified professional archaeologists with documented funding were allowed access. The controversy was charged with nationalistic and political undertones.[43] The Harvard field school lasted for three years, beginning in 2004 and ending in 2007. The project was not renewed in subsequent years, nor was permission sought to do so.
In 2009 state-sponsored restoration work on Akapana was halted due to a complaint from UNESCO. The restoration had consisted of facing the platform mound with adobe, although researchers had not established this as appropriate.[44][45]
In 2013, marine archaeologists exploring Lake Titicaca's Khoa reef discovered an ancient ceremonial site and lifted artifacts such as a lapis lazuli and ceramic figurines, incense burners and a ceremonial medallion from the lake floor.[46] The artifacts are representative of the lavishness of the ceremonies and the Tiwanaku culture.[46]
When a topographical map of the site was created in 2016 by the use of a drone, a "set of hitherto unknown structures" was revealed. These structures spanned over 411 hectares, and included a stone temple and about one hundred circular or rectangular structures of vast dimensions, which were possibly domestic units.[47]
Aerial surveillance
Between 2005 and 2007 various types of aerial surveillance methods were used by UNESCO to create an aerial picture of the site. Lidar, aerial photography, drones, and terrestrial laser scanning were all used in this process. Data concluded from this research includes topographical maps that show the principal structures at the site along with mapping of multiple structures in the Mollo Kuntu area. Over 300 million data points were placed from these methods and have helped redefine main structures that have not fully been excavated such as the Puma Punku.
Important authors
Alan Kolata of the University of Chicago conducted research at Tiwanaku in the late 1900s from which he made descriptions of the City and its structure and culture in his book The Tiwanaku. He later published Valley of The Spirits which described more aspects of Tiwanaku culture such as astrology and mythology.
John Wayne Janusek of Vanderbilt University spent time in the late 1900s as well at the site of Tiwanaku recording findings of the excavations going on. In 2008 he published Ancient Tiwanaku which described his findings on the architecture, agriculture and other aspects of Tiwanaku life.
Jean-Pierre Protzen was an architecture professor of the University of California at Berkeley and spent much of his life studying the architecture of Tiwanaku. In 2013, he published The Stones of Tiahuanaco which gives great descriptions of the architecture and stonework seen at Tiwanaku. His work has played a huge role in creating potential reconstructions of what many of the structures look like, especially the puma punku.
Friedrich Max Uhle was a German archaeologist, whose work in Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Bolivia at the turn of the Twentieth Century had a significant impact on the practice of archaeology of South America.
Inca architecture is the most significant pre-Columbian architecture in South America. The Incas inherited an architectural legacy from Tiwanaku, founded in the 2nd century B.C.E. in present-day Bolivia. A core characteristic of the architectural style was to use the topography and existing materials of the land as part of the design. The capital of the Inca empire, Cuzco, still contains many fine examples of Inca architecture, although many walls of Inca masonry have been incorporated into Spanish Colonial structures. The famous royal estate of Machu Picchu is a surviving example of Inca architecture. Other significant sites include Sacsayhuamán and Ollantaytambo. The Incas also developed an extensive road system spanning most of the western length of the continent and placed their distinctive architecture along the way, thereby visually asserting their imperial rule along the frontier.
Isla del Sol is an island in the southern part of Lake Titicaca. It is part of Bolivia, and specifically part of the La Paz Department. Geographically, the terrain is harsh; it is a rocky, hilly island with many eucalyptus trees. There are no motor vehicles or paved roads on the island. The main economic activity of the approximately 800 families on the island is farming, with fishing and tourism augmenting the subsistence economy. Of the several villages, Yumani and Challapampa are the largest.
The Chakana is a stepped cross motif used by the Inca and pre-incan Andean societies. The most commonly used variation of this symbol today is made up of an equal-armed cross indicating the cardinal points of the compass and a superimposed square. Chakana means 'bridge', and means 'to cross over' in Quechua. The Andean cross motif appears in pre-contact artifacts such as textiles and ceramics from such cultures as the Chavín, Wari, Chancay, and Tiwanaku, but with no particular emphasis and no key or guide to a means of interpretation. The anthropologist Alan Kolata calls the Andean cross "one of the most ubiquitous, if least understood elements in Tiwanaku iconography". The Andean cross symbol has a long cultural tradition spanning 4,000 years up to the Inca Empire.
The Chivay obsidian source is the geological origin of a chemical group of obsidian that is found throughout the south-central Andean highlands including southern Peru and western Bolivia. Chemical characterization studies using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) have shown that the Chivay obsidian source, also known as the Cotallalli type or the Titicaca Basin type, makes up over 90% of the obsidian artifacts analyzed from the Lake Titicaca Basin.
The Gate of the Sun, also known as the Gateway of the Sun (in older literature simply called " monolithic Gateway of Ak-kapana", is a monolithic gateway at the site of Tiahuanaco by the Tiwanaku culture, an Andean civilization of Bolivia that thrived around Lake Titicaca in the Andes of western South America around 500-950 AD.
The Kalasasaya or Stopped Stones is a major archaeological structure that is part of Tiwanaku, an ancient archeological complex in the Andes of western Bolivia that is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Wari Empire or Huari Empire was a political formation that emerged around 600 AD (CE) in Peru's Ayacucho Basin and grew to cover much of coastal and highland Peru. The empire lasted for about 500 years, until 1100 CE. It existed during the same era as the Tiwanaku culture, and at one time, was thought to have been derived from it. In 2008, archeologists found a precolumbian city, the Northern Wari ruins near modern Chiclayo. The find was the first extensive settlement related to the Wari culture discovered that far north. Archaeological discoveries have continued over the past decade. In 2023, archaeologists discovered a 1200-year-old Wari ritual complex in Arequipa. While more discoveries are being made regarding the Wari Empire, archaeologists are able to draw more conclusions about the Wari Empire's culture.
Pumapunku or Puma Punku is a 6th-century T-shaped and strategically aligned man-made terraced platform mound with a sunken court and monumental structure on top. It is part of the Pumapunku complex, at the Tiwanaku Site near Tiwanacu, in western Bolivia. The Pumapunku complex is a collection of plazas and ramps centered on the Pumapunku platform mound. Today only the ruins of the monumental complex on top of the Puma Punku platform mound remain.
Edmund Kiss was a German pseudoarchaeologist and author best known for his books about the ancient settlement of Tiwanaku in the Andes mountains of Bolivia.
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.
Waru Waru is an Aymara term for the agricultural technique developed by pre-Hispanic people in the Andes region of South America from Ecuador to Bolivia; this regional agricultural technique is also referred to as camellones in Spanish. Functionally similar agricultural techniques have been developed in other parts of the world, all of which fall under the broad category of raised field agriculture.
Tourism in Bolivia is one of the key economic sectors of the country. According to data from the National Institute of Statistics of Bolivia (INE), there were over 1.24 million tourists that visited the country in 2020, making Bolivia the ninth most visited country in South America.
The Andean civilizations were South American complex societies of many indigenous people. They stretched down the spine of the Andes for 4,000 km (2,500 mi) from southern Colombia, to Ecuador and Peru, including the deserts of coastal Peru, to north Chile and northwest Argentina. Archaeologists believe that Andean civilizations first developed on the narrow coastal plain of the Pacific Ocean. The Caral or Norte Chico civilization of coastal Peru is the oldest known civilization in the Americas, dating back to 3500 BCE. Andean civilizations are one of at least five civilizations in the world deemed by scholars to be "pristine." The concept of a "pristine" civilization refers to a civilization that has developed independently of external influences and is not a derivative of other civilizations.
The Pucará culture was an archaeological culture which developed in Qullaw, along the north-western shore of Lake Titicaca. It was characterized by a hierarchy of smaller centers and villages scattered throughout the northern basin of the Titicaca. The name originates from the town of Pukara, one of the largest settlements in the region. The modern town of Pucará is located half a mile to the east of the archaeological site. The Pukara culture is unrelated to the stone fortresses, pukaras, built across the Andes during the Inca Empire. Its sphere of influence reached as far north as the Cuzco Valley and as far south as Tiahuanaco. The culture had two phases of development within the Formative Period: the Middle Formative, and Late Formative.
Pucará, Puno is a town in the Puno Region, Lampa Province, Pucará District, Peru. It is located to the north-west of Lake Titicaca.
The Tiwanaku Polity was a Pre-Columbian polity in western Bolivia based in the southern Lake Titicaca Basin. Tiwanaku was one of the most significant Andean civilizations. Its influence extended into present-day Peru and Chile and lasted from around 600 to 1000 AD. Its capital was the monumental city of Tiwanaku, located at the center of the polity's core area in the southern Lake Titicaca Basin. This area has clear evidence for large-scale agricultural production on raised fields that probably supported the urban population of the capital. Researchers debate whether these fields were administered by a bureaucratic state (top-down) or through a federation of communities with local autonomy. Tiwanaku was once thought to be an expansive military empire, based mostly on comparisons to the later Inca Empire. However, recent research suggests that labelling Tiwanaku as an empire or even a state may be misleading. Tiwanaku is missing a number of features traditionally used to define archaic states and empires: there is no defensive architecture at any Tiwanaku site or changes in weapon technology, there are no princely burials or other evidence of a ruling dynasty or a formal social hierarchy, no evidence of state-maintained roads or outposts, and no markets.
Sonia Alconini Mujica is a Bolivian anthropologist and archaeologist specializing in the socioeconomic and political development of early states and empires in the Andes. She has studied the dynamics of ancient imperial frontiers, and the ways in which Guarani tropical tribes expanded over these spaces. She has also conducted work in the eastern Bolivian valleys and Lake Titicaca region.
The Wankarani culture was a formative stage culture that existed from approximately 1500 BCE to 400 CE on the altiplano highlands of Bolivia's Oruro Department to the north and northeast of Lake Poopo. It is the earliest known sedentary culture in Bolivia, as after circa 1200 BCE camelid hunters of the altiplano became camelid herders and sedentary lifestyle developed. The Wankarani culture was little researched before 1970, when Carlos Ponce Sanginés defined all the mound sites in the area as belonging to one culture that predated Tiwanaku and was contemporary with the Chiripa culture.
The architecture of Bolivia is closely related to its history, culture and religion. Bolivian architecture has been constantly changing and progressing over time. Subject to terrain and high altitudes, most of Bolivia's Pre-Columbian buildings were built for housing, mainly influenced by Bolivian indigenous culture. The arrival of Spanish settlers brought many European-style buildings, and the Spaniards began planning to build big cities. After Independence, the architectural style became Neoclassical and many churches and government buildings were built. In modern Bolivia, like many countries, skyscrapers and post-modern buildings dominate, and of course there are special styles of architecture to attract tourists and build.
↑ Kelley, David H.; Milone, Eugene F. (November 19, 2004). Exploring Ancient Skies: An Encyclopedic Survey of Archaeoastronomy. Springer. ISBN978-0-387-95310-6.
↑ Heggarty, P.; Beresford-Jones, D. (2013). "Andes: linguistic history". In Ness, I. (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. pp.401–409. doi:10.1002/9781444351071.wbeghm852. ISBN978-1-44435-107-1.
↑ Posnansky, Arthur (1910). Tihuanacu e islas del Sol y de la Luna (Titicaca y Koati). La Paz.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
↑ Posnansky, Arthur (1945). Tihuanacu, the Cradle of American Man. Vol.I–II. Translated by James F. Sheaver. New York: JJ Augustin.
↑ Ponce Sanginés, Carlos (1971). Tiwanaku: Espacio, Tiempo y Cultura. La Paz: Academia Nacional de Ciencias de Bolivia.
↑ Browman, David (1980). "Tiwanaku expansion and economic patterns". Estudios Arqueológicos. 5: 107–120.
↑ Janusek, John (2003). "Vessels, Time, and Society: Toward a Ceramic Chronology in the Tiwanaku Heartland". In Kolata, Alan (ed.). Tiwanaku and Its Hinterland: Archaeological and Paleoecological Investigations of an Andean Civilization, Vol. 2: Urban and Rural Archaeology. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian. pp.30–89.
↑ Stanish, Charles (2003). Ancient Titicaca. Los Angeles: University of California Press.
1 2 3 Isbell, W. H., 2004, Palaces and Politics in the Andean Middle Horizon. in S. T. Evans and J. Pillsbury, eds., pp. 191-246. Palaces of the Ancient New World, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection Washington, D.C.
1 2 3 4 5 Ponce Sanginés, C. and G. M. Terrazas, 1970, Acerca De La Procedencia Del Material Lítico De Los Monumentos De Tiwanaku. Publication no. 21. Academia Nacional de Ciencias de Bolivia.
1 2 Protzen, J.-P., and S. E. Nair, 2000, "On Reconstructing Tiwanaku Architecture": The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 59, no., 3, pp. 358-371.
↑ , Smith, Michael E. (2004), "The Archaeology of Ancient Economies," Annu. Rev. Anthrop. 33: 73-102.
↑ Bahn, Paul G. Lost Cities. New York: Welcome Rain, 1999.
↑ Magli, Giulio (2009). Mysteries and discoveries of archaeoastronomy: from Giza to Easter Island. New York: Copernicus Books/Springer Science + Business Media, in association with Praxis Pub. ISBN978-0-387-76566-2.
↑ Max Uhle: Wesen und Ordnung der altperuanischen Kulturen. Colloquium Verlag, 1959, p.62: The staff in the figure's right hand clearly indicates the spear-thrower due to the hook at the top, which - as is often the case with real spear throwers - has the shape of a bird („Der Stab in der rechten Hand der Figur bezeichnet durch den am oberen Ende sitzenden Haken, der — wie so oft bei wirklichen Speerschleudern — die Gestalt eines Vogels hat, deutlich die Speerschleuder.“)
↑ Alfons Stübel, Max Uhle: Die Ruinenstätte von Tiahuanaco im Hochlande des alten Perú: Eine kulturgeschichtliche Studie auf Grund selbständiger Aufnahmen. Hiersemann, Leipzig 1892, Part II, p. 46 (digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de).
↑ Jean-Pierre Protzen, Stella Nair: The Stones of Tiahuanaco: A Study of Architecture and Construction. Vol. 75. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press, University of California, Los Angeles 2013, p. 46.
↑ Alexei Vranich, Charles Stanish (eds.): Visions of Tiwanaku. UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, Los Angeles, 2013, p. 4
↑ Hoshower, Lisa M. (1995). Artificial Cranial Deformation at the Omo M10 Site: A Tiwanaku Complex from the Moquegua Valley, Peru.
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