The Seventh Week - Tiwanaku

Tiwanaku is an important Pre-Columbian archaeological site in western Bolivia. It is recognized as one of the most important precursors to the Inca Empire, flourishing as the ritual and administrative capital of a major state power for approximately five hundred years. The ruins of the ancient city state are, about 72 km (44 miles) west of La Paz. Pedro Cieza de León stumbled upon the remains of Tiwanaku in 1549 while searching for the Inca capital Qullasuyu. Some have hypothesized that Tiwanaku's modern name is related to the Aymara term taypiqala, meaning "stone in the center", alluding to the belief that it lay at the center of the world. However, the name by which Tiwanaku was known to its inhabitants may have been lost, as the people of Tiwanaku had no written language. The people of Tiwanaku had important knowledge about architecture, astronomy, engineering and pottery. They practised skull deformity as a sign of beauty and power. The quarries, from which the stone blocks used in the construction of structures at Tiwanaku came, lie at significant distances from this site. The red sandstone used in this site's structures have come from a quarry 10 kilometers away—a remarkable distance. The green stones originate from the Copacabana peninsula, located across Lake Titicaca. One theory is that these giant stones, which weigh over 40 tons were transported some 90 kilometers across Lake Titicaca on reed boats, then dragged another 10 kilometers to the city.

After entering Tiwanaku and sampling some of the local culture we had lunch. Then we first went to see Tiwanaku’s most outstanding structure – the Akapana Pyramid. This 16 metre high hill covers 200sq metres. At the centre is an oval-shaped sunken area attributed to Spanish excavation although some archaeologists believe it was used for water storage. However, recently, after finding skulls assumed to be war trophies, some believe this was a ceremonial temple. We then took the difficult path to Templete Semisubterraneo. A red sandstone pit structure measuring 26m by 28m. it has a rectangular sunken courtyard and 175 carved stone faces on the walls.

Our next destination, Kalasasaya, is a 130m by 120m ritual platform that is 3m high. It contains the the El Fraile structure the Monolito Ponce and Tiwanaku’s most famous structure – the Puerta del Sol. This gateway was carved from a single block. It is estimated to weigh 44 tons.

After this we went to see the museums followed by the ruins at the Puma Punku site south-west of the main site. The Puma Punku is another man-made platform. It is 167.36m by 116.7 m and is 5 m tall. A prominent feature of the Pumapunka is a stone terrace that is 6.75 by 38.72 meters in dimension and paved of large stone blocks. It is called the "Plataforma Lítica". The Plataforma Lítica contains the largest stone block found in the Tiwanaku Site. The weight of this block is estimated to be 131 metric tons.