12. The Lake Titicaca Basin: A Precolumbian Built Landscape

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.

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Architecture and Polity in the Formative Lake Titicaca Basin, Bolivia

Latin American Antiquity ◽

10.2307/4141577 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 15 (3) ◽

pp. 323-343 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

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.

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Torata Alta: An Inka Administrative Center and Spanish Colonial Reduccion in Moquegua, Peru

Latin American Antiquity ◽

10.7183/1045-6635.23.1.3 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 23 (1) ◽

pp. 3-28 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Prudence M. Rice

Keyword(s):

Earthquake Swarm ◽

Spanish Colonial ◽

Lake Titicaca ◽

Beer Brewing ◽

Administrative Reforms ◽

Titicaca Basin ◽

Lake Titicaca Basin ◽

Colonial Settlement ◽

The Church ◽

Administrative Center

AbstractThe hilltop site of Torata Alta displays a gridded site plan characteristic of Inka and Spanish colonial settlement planning, and it is now evident that the site’s brief history represents both occupations. Torata Alta began as a colony established by the Inka in the agriculturally rich Torata Valley and was settled by their Altiplano allies, the Lupaqa, in the Lake Titicaca Basin. Sometime during the early 1570s, as part of Spanish colonial administrative reforms, the community became a reducción resettlement of native Andeans drawn from small nearby hamlets. A church and ancillary buildings were constructed in the site center, and investigated structures include a beer-brewing facility and residences for textile-producing elites. In 1600, the eruption of Huaynaputina volcano and its accompanying earthquake swarm destroyed the church and covered the site with a layer of ash. Torata Alta’s residents continued living there but suffered another earthquake in 1604. The community appears to have been largely abandoned by the end of the first quarter of the seventeenth century, the residents moving down to the valley settlement that became modern Torata.

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