Tiwanaku: Fantasy and Archaeological Realities

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Tiwanaku (Spanish: Tiahuanaco or Tiahuanacu; Aymara, according to Bernabé Cobo: Taypi Qala, meaning “stone in the center”) is a major pre-Columbian archaeological site in western Bolivia, near the southern shore of Lake Titicaca, approximately 70 kilometers from La Paz. It is one of the largest and most significant archaeological sites in South America. The remains of the ancient city, which cover around 4 square kilometers, include monumental architecture, finely carved megalithic blocks, and decorated ceramics. The complex includes several major architectural complexes: the Semi-Subterranean Temple, Kalasasaya, Putuni, Chunchukala, Kherikala, Kantatayita, and the Akapana pyramid. Further to the southwest lies the monumental site of Pumapunku, famed for its intricate stonework. At its peak around AD 800, Tiwanaku is estimated to have supported a population of 10,000 to 20,000 people. There is a large area of ancient occupation under the modern settlement, geophysical surveys of the area between Puma Punku and Kalasasaya have revealed the remains of numerous buried structures — including foundations, water channels, terraces, residential compounds, and gravel walkways.

Tiwanaku was first recorded in written history in 1549 by the Spanish chronicler Pedro Cieza de León. The chronology of Tiwanaku has been the subject of considerable revision. From 1910 to 1945, Arthur Posnansky, an Austrian-born amateur archaeologist based in Bolivia worked on this site and his meticulous documentation, including maps, drawings, and photographs, remains a valuable record of the site in the early 20th century. He published his work and conclusions in his multi-volume work Tihuanacu: The Cradle of American Man (). On the basis of his survey and archaeoastronomical observations, together with supposed geological correspondences, Posnanski claimed the site was between 11,000 and 17,000 years old. As research on this site progressed, this dramatic misdating, unsupported by stratigraphic or material evidence, was later dismissed by scholars due to the new information becoming available

Scientific understanding of Tiwanaku’s origins has advanced significantly since Posnansky’s time. In the 1970s, Bolivian archaeologist Carlos Ponce Sanginés suggested that the site was first occupied around 1580 BC, based on early radiocarbon dates (and this is a view still echoed in some Bolivian publications and museum displays). However, since the 1980s, scholars have dismissed these early dates as unreliable. The current scholarly consensus, supported by calibrated radiocarbon dating and the absence of earlier ceramic styles, places the founding of Tiwanaku during the first or second century A.D.

Tiwanaku’s rise began in the early centuries of the first millennium AD, and between approximately AD 375 and 700, it developed into a thriving highland city. Its growth was fueled by a sophisticated agropastoral economy and long-distance trade, allowing it to become a major political, economic, and ceremonial centre in the Andes. A vast irrigation network covered over 80 square kilometers, supporting crops like potatoes, quinoa, and maize. Tiwanaku dominated the Lake Titicaca basin and parts of modern-day Bolivia and Chile.

Around 1000 AD, the civilization appears to have collapsed abruptly, most probably due to a prolonged drought that crippled food production. The population dispersed into nearby highlands, and Puma Punku seems to have been abandoned before its construction was complete.

Labelled map of Tiwanaku  (Lonely Planet Guide Bolivia).
Pumapunku off map to SW of museum

Pumapunku
Apparently one of the most important parts of this complex, Pumapunku is a collection of plazas and ramps centered on the Pumapunku platform mound located southwest of the Kalasasaya Temple in the Tiwanaku complex, its name in Aymara means “The Gate of the Puma.” 

Puma Punku is a terraced earthen platform (167 x 117 m) faced with massive stone blocks. The mound’s core consists of clay, while its edges were filled in some areas with river sand and cobblestones. The monumental complex on top of the Puma Punku platform mound includes a walled courtyard to the west, a central esplanade, a terraced mound with megalithic stonework, and an unwalled western court.  These structures deteriorated or were destroyed long ago, and now only ruins remain of this feature. Our understanding of the site is limited by the damage caused by looting, stone quarrying, and natural erosion. 

Archaeological work has identified three major construction phases, along with later repairs and modifications. In its prime, Puma Punku is thought to have been a striking ceremonial site, decorated with polished metal plates, brightly colored ceramic and fabric ornamentation and in its heyday was used by elaborately dressed elites and priests adorned with exotic jewellery.

The age of the Pumapunku complex has long been debated. Radiocarbon dating of deep organic layers by archaeologist Alexei Vranich produced an estimate of around 440 AD (calibrated to 536–600 AD). Excavations revealed that the complex's foundations — made of clay, sand, and gravel — rest directly on sterile Pleistocene sediments, with no evidence of earlier pre-Andean cultures beneath the site.

Von Alexei Vranich - https://heritagesciencejournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40494-018-0231-0 Reconstructing ancient architecture at Tiwanaku, Bolivia: the potential and promise of 3D printing, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=77577781

Pseudoscientific Claims
Puma Punku has become a popular subject in pseudoscientific theories involving lost continents and ancient aliens. Thousands of websites and media sources promote such ideas, citing the site's precision stonework and high-altitude location as inexplicable mysteries. There are however well-documented local precedents such as the sites of Pucará and Chiripa. The reconstructions show that Puma Punku's buildings are elaborated versions of structures excavated at Chiripa, which date from 550 BC to 100 AD (see the reconstructions by Alexei Vranich). Some of these earlier buildings were identified as storage facilities due to food remains and basket impressions. Vranich argues that claims of alien intervention or a lost supercivilization ignore the region’s archaeological context and reflect long-standing biases, such as labelling the Aymara as a "Stone Age people" incapable of such achievements.

References
Posnanski, A. 1945-57, "Tihuanacu. The Cradle of American Man", (vols 1-4), J. J. Augustin, New York / Ministerio de Educación, La Paz 1945–1957.

Vranich, Alexei 1999, "Interpreting the meaning of ritual spaces: the temple complex of Pumapunku, Tiwanaku, Bolivia" (Thesis). University of Pennsylvania.

Vranich, Alexei 2018. «Reconstructing ancient architecture at Tiwanaku, Bolivia: the potential and promise of 3D printing». Heritage Science 6 (1): 1-20. doi:10.1186/s40494-018-0231-0. Consultado el 20 de enero de 2025.