TIAHUANACO CULTURE

The Tiahuanaco culture was developed in the Andean plateau, in the Collao tableland, between 12,467 and 13,123 feet over sea level. Its expansion included part of Peru and Bolivia. Despite the dry and very cold weather, the presence of Titicaca Lake propitiates a benign climate in the area. This is why the towns settled down in the shores of this lake. Researches about its origin go back to 250 b.C. and its decadence around 1000 A.D.

GROWTH
Between 400 and 750 A.D. Tihuanaco culture achieved a growth from the shores of Titicaca lake to the lower area, from east to west of the plateau. It ruled as far as Moquegua, the actual north of Chile and the northwest of Argentina, besides some Amazon regions.

Tihuanaco controlled a vast territory. Although, specialists point out this expansion was not making military force. Depending on the town, it was making by politic or economic techniques. The collapse of this culture was cause maybe by extreme climatic changes, which modify the lake levels considerably, which affected the agriculture.

BREEDING AND FISHING
This plateau is the most important and the one with the largest number of camelids: alpacas, vicuñas, guanacos and llamas. Also a great variety of ichthyology is possible to find there, because only Titicaca lake has a great variety of birds (puna duck, Andeans seagulls, suri, parihuanas), amphibious and some mammals. Both activities, breeding of camelids and fluvial and lacustrine fishing, were complementary labors of the agriculture.

AGRICULTURE
In spite of the weather limitations of the region, the advanced technology allowed the Tiahuanacos a better use of the grown. The main products they develop were: potatoes, oca, mashua, olluco; quinua, cañihua and the corn.

SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION
Tiahuanaco was an expansive state, based in the agriculture, and had a manager elite that controlled the lands.

The social structure was formed by at least three different classes. A warrior one, in charged of the political and religious matters. The second one oriented to the pottery, and finally a group made up by farmers, shepherds, and fish men.

It seems that Tiahuanaco had a religion instituted by the government; the main god was the God of the Crooks, personage which appears on the "Portada Del Sol". The growth of these people as a culture was because their ability to manage the resources they had.

ARCHITECTURE
The main site of this culture was a complex made for civil and ceremonial purposes, located at 12.43 miles at the south of the lake. This had a main avenue from north to south. Including the area where the houses were built, it had 3.7 miles and it was occupied by 30 to 40 thousand people.

In the suburbs of the city there are other architectonic places like at north Acapana, Puma Puncu at the south. At the northwest of the Acapana there are other edifications like "Semisubterráneo Temple", "Cantatayita", "Calasasaya", "Putuni", "Chunchucala", "Laca Collu" and "Qhiri Qala".

The Acapana is formed by seven overhead terraces with walls of 656 feet width and 56 feet high recovered by stones. In the last terrace it is a sunken patio.

From Puma Puncu it was found just the trace of what was probably a truncate pyramid. "The Semisubterráneo Temple" is a sunken patio, and in its center is located the Bennet stele and its stoned walls had stone heads.

To get into Calasasaya, which is a low platform with a sunken patio, there are stairs where is located the "Ponce stele". There were found other ceremonial centers of less importance like Lucurmata, Conco, Huancané and Pacchiri. Unfortunately a lot of this architecture is lost because it was make of mud bricks.

POTTERY
In general, the Tiahuanaco pottery shows symmetric details with orange, black and red colors. The most used vessels were the "queros" and the portrait glasses, decorated with apparently human faces in the sides of them. Probably the "queros" had ceremonial purposes, this may an explanation of why they appear in the arms of the Bennet and Ponce steles.

SCULPTURE
The Tiahuanaco people achieved an important develop in stone work. The stone heads and monoliths sculpt in a volcanic stone called "andesita". The main sculptures are Bennet and Ponce steles as well as "Portada Del Sol".