scholarly journals A Bayesian Re-Assessment of the Earliest Radiocarbon Dates from Tiwanaku, Bolivia

Radiocarbon ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik J Marsh
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Bayesian Models ◽  
Sociopolitical Complexity ◽  
Lake Titicaca ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Titicaca Basin ◽  
Lake Titicaca Basin ◽  
Archaic States ◽  
History Of

The development of sociopolitical complexity at Tiwanaku around AD 500 was one of the major episodes of social change in the history of the Lake Titicaca Basin. It was the result of poorly understood processes that took place at a series of ceremonial centers in the preceding centuries. The history of Tiwanaku during this time is especially unclear, because the only radiocarbon dates are from excavations whose details were never completely published. Despite this, there is consensus that Tiwanaku was founded around 300 BC. A re-evaluation of the archaeological context of each of these dates shows many of them to be unreliable. Two Bayesian models from independent excavations agree that Tiwanaku was in fact founded centuries later, most likely around AD 110 (50-170, 1σ). This has important implications for widely used monolith and ceramic sequences, as well as understanding the rise of Tiwanaku and other archaic states.

scholarly journals A Bayesian Re-Assessment of the Earliest Radiocarbon Dates from Tiwanaku, Bolivia

Radiocarbon ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 54 (02) ◽  
pp. 203-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik J Marsh
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Bayesian Models ◽  
Sociopolitical Complexity ◽  
Lake Titicaca ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Titicaca Basin ◽  
Lake Titicaca Basin ◽  
Archaic States ◽  
History Of

The development of sociopolitical complexity at Tiwanaku around AD 500 was one of the major episodes of social change in the history of the Lake Titicaca Basin. It was the result of poorly understood processes that took place at a series of ceremonial centers in the preceding centuries. The history of Tiwanaku during this time is especially unclear, because the only radiocarbon dates are from excavations whose details were never completely published. Despite this, there is consensus that Tiwanaku was founded around 300 BC. A re-evaluation of the archaeological context of each of these dates shows many of them to be unreliable. Two Bayesian models from independent excavations agree that Tiwanaku was in fact founded centuries later, most likely around AD 110 (50-170, 1σ). This has important implications for widely used monolith and ceramic sequences, as well as understanding the rise of Tiwanaku and other archaic states.

scholarly journals Underwater ritual offerings in the Island of the Sun and the formation of the Tiwanaku state

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (17) ◽  
pp. 8233-8238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christophe Delaere ◽  
José M. Capriles ◽  
Charles Stanish
Keyword(s):  
The Sun ◽  
Metal Shell ◽  
Lake Titicaca ◽  
South Central ◽  
Titicaca Basin ◽  
Lake Titicaca Basin ◽  
Archaic States ◽  
Role Of Religion ◽  
Compositional Properties

Considerable debate surrounds the economic, political, and ideological systems that constitute primary state formation. Theoretical and empirical research emphasize the role of religion as a significant institution for promoting the consolidation and reproduction of archaic states. The Tiwanaku state developed in the Lake Titicaca Basin between the 5th and 12th centuries CE and extended its influence over much of the south-central Andes of South America. We report on recent discoveries from the first systematic underwater archaeological excavations in the Khoa Reef near the Island of the Sun, Bolivia. The depositional context and compositional properties of offerings consisting of ceramic feline incense burners, killed juvenile llamas, and sumptuary metal, shell, and lapidary ornaments allow us to reconstruct the structure and significance of cyclically repeated state rituals. Using new theoretical tools, we explain the role of these rituals in promoting the consolidation of the Tiwanaku polity.

scholarly journals Temporal Inflection Points in Decorated Pottery: A Bayesian Refinement of the Late Formative Chronology in the Southern Lake Titicaca Basin, Bolivia

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 798-817 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik J. Marsh ◽  
Andrew P. Roddick ◽  
Maria C. Bruno ◽  
Scott C. Smith ◽  
John W. Janusek ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Formative Period ◽  
South American ◽  
Lake Titicaca ◽  
Large Sets ◽  
Inflection Points ◽  
Titicaca Basin ◽  
Lake Titicaca Basin ◽  
Ceramic Chronology ◽  
Late Formative ◽  
Stratigraphic Sequences

The Late Formative period immediately precedes the emergence of Tiwanaku, one of the earliest South American states, yet it is one of the most poorly understood periods in the southern Lake Titicaca Basin (Bolivia). In this article, we refine the ceramic chronology of this period with large sets of dates from eight sites, focusing on temporal inflection points in decorated ceramic styles. These points, estimated here by Bayesian models, index specific moments of change: (1) cal AD 120 (60–170, 95% probability): the first deposition of Kalasasaya red-rimmed and zonally incised styles; (2) cal AD 240 (190–340, 95% probability): a tentative estimate of the final deposition of Kalasasaya zonally incised vessels; (3) cal AD 420 (380–470, 95% probability): the final deposition of Kalasasaya red-rimmed vessels; and (4) cal AD 590 (500–660, 95% probability): the first deposition of Tiwanaku Redwares. These four modeled boundaries anchor an updated Late Formative chronology, which includes the Initial Late Formative phase, a newly identified decorative hiatus between the Middle and Late Formative periods. The models place Qeya and transitional vessels between inflection points 3 and 4 based on regionally consistent stratigraphic sequences. This more precise chronology will enable researchers to explore the trajectories of other contemporary shifts during this crucial period in Lake Titicaca Basin's prehistory.

Architecture and Polity in the Formative Lake Titicaca Basin, Bolivia

2004 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin A. Beck
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Formative Period ◽  
Lake Titicaca ◽  
Regional Context ◽  
Regional Approach ◽  
Titicaca Basin ◽  
Lake Titicaca Basin ◽  
Middle Formative ◽  
Village Societies ◽  
Public Architecture

Abstract A regional approach to public architecture offers a useful medium through which to study changes in the scale of integrative institutions. Changes in political structure are often associated with changes in the scale and complexity of public ritual space. In Bolivia’s Lake Titicaca Basin, Middle Formative period (800–250 B.C.) villagers along the Taraco Peninsula built earthen platforms that visually dominated their settlements. Until recently, research on the peninsula had focused almost exclusively on the site of Chiripa, with the result that little was known of the regional context in which this site and its neighbors emerged. Now, after excavations at the contemporaneous site of Alto Pukara, the sequence of public architecture at Middle Formative communities may be viewed within a regional context. This paper evaluates the trajectory of institutional complexity along the Taraco Peninsula through a formal comparison of public ritual architecture at Alto Pukara and Chiripa. Six criteria for measuring architectural variation—centrality, permanence, accessibility, visibility, scale, and ubiquity—facilitate this comparison. Only through a regional approach can we understand the integrative role of public space in these early village societies.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document