Tiwanaku
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Tiwanaku is a Pre-Columbian archaeological site in western Bolivia.
The site was first recorded in written history by Spanish conquistador Pedro Cieza de León. He came upon the remains of Tiwanaku in 1549 while searching for the Inca capital Qullasuyu.
The name by which Tiwanaku was known to its inhabitants may have been lost as they had no written language. The Puquina language has been pointed out as the most likely language of the ancient inhabitants of Tiwanaku.
Structures
The area around Tiwanaku may have been inhabited as early as 1500 BC as a small agricultural village. During the time period between 300 BC and AD 300, Tiwanaku is thought to have been a moral and cosmological center for the Tiwanaku empire to which many people made pilgrimages. Researchers believe it achieved this standing prior to expanding its powerful empire.
In 1945, Arthur Posnansky estimated that Tiwanaku dated to 15,000 BC, based on his archaeoastronomical techniques. In the 21st century, experts concluded Posnansky's dates were invalid and a "sorry example of misused archaeoastronomical evidence."
