The old temple could reveal secrets of a lost society that lies ahead of the Inca empire
Archaeologists say they have discovered the ruins of which they believe the limits of an old temple of the mysterious Andean Society of Tiwanaku, which flaps around 1000 AD.
The research team discovered the immense temple complex in the highlands of today’s Bolivia community of Caracollo. The location is located southeast of the Titicaca Lake, another region, when researchers had concentrated their search for clues who could help to encourage the secrets of this lost society.
The extraordinary find is about 210 kilometers south of the established archaeological site of Tiwanaku, the capital of the powerful empire that preceded the Incas. The latest results were described in a study published on June 24th in the June 24th.
The temple, which is referred to as a Palaspata according to the local name of the region, is outside the borders where Tiwanaku was previously expanded, said Dr. José Capriles, a Bolivian archaeologist and deputy professor of anthropology at Pennsylvania State University.
Capriles, who was the main author of the study, found that the architectural elements of the building, including a terrace platform and a sunken courtyard, have a remarkable resemblance to the Tiwanaku style, which was found in other parts of the Titicaca region. “We do not expect it in this particular place and the fact that it exists there is remarkable,” he said.
The temple, on which a hiking trail runs through the locals, is located near a long-used Bolivian travel route, which is now called La Paz-Cochabamba Highway and the three trade routes connected with each other, which were used by other subsequent companies, like the Inca.
According to the researchers, the discovery of the ceremonial temple has the light on the networking of the various areas of lost society and, like Palaspata as a goal for the Tiwanaku Society, to expand its power in the region.
The researchers found Keru cups on the surface of the ruins. Keru cups were used to drink Chicha, a corn base alcohol, and indicate that the temple was used for large meetings. – José Capriles/Penn State
Who was the Tiwanaku?
In the 1860s, archaeological studies of locations Tiwanaku began, but the researchers still have little knowledge of society. Most of them know what experts know were derived by deriving ceramics, camelid residues and other religious sites such as Akapana who endowed the Andean highlands.
Tiwanaku communities first appeared in an Altiplano or a high level of the Andes, which were called Titicaca basin and were named after the Titicaca -Lake.
Due to its location, agriculture and corn were difficult, so that people had rely on Lama caravans to combine the communities in the region and to facilitate trade. According to study, the capital Tiwanaku, also called Tiwanaku, managed trade, trade and interregional interaction.
“Tiwanaku was what we call primary state formation, which means that it was a complex society that had a complex social stratification,” said Capriles. The empire developed without external influence and emerged from a number of previous agricultural societies.
According to Dr. Nicola O’Connor Sharratt, extraordinary anthropology professor for anthropology at Georgia State University, strikes the proof of Tiwanaku objects such as pottery, such as Pottery, and the people in this area in this area, in a valley that is now South Peru. She was not involved in the study.
It is also believed that Tiwanaku populations have lived in today’s North Chile and Cochabamba, added Sharratt.
The Tiwanaku constructed Palaspata in order to further exert its socio -political influence on other companies in the region by controlling the trade between regions, according to the new study.
“The placement of this location is strategically between two large geographical zones of the Andean highlands,” said Capriles.
“This was perhaps a nice outpost for strategic control that not only controlled the flow of goods in the economic and political sense, but also through religion, and that’s why it is a temple,” he said. “The orientation of religious, political and economic institutions, how many of these institutions arise, is something that people were somehow surprised.”
The Palaspata temple is approximately 125 meters long and 145 meters wide (410 x 475 feet) and has 15 modular housings that surround the central square. – José Capriles/Penn State
Covering of a lost temple
The Palaspata temple is only visible through its circumference wall, which is outlined with red sandstone.
When working on an archaeology project near the highway, the researchers noticed the structure and decided that it seemed “significant”, said Capriles.
They continued to examine the area on foot and drone. From the first findings, Caprile’s 3D rendering was able to use a digital reconstruction of the temple.
The structure is 125 meters long and 145 meters wide (410 x 475 feet) – about the size of a city block – with 15 modular housings that were probably rooms that surrounded an inner courtyard.
The main entrance of the building is geared towards the west, which is geared towards the Solarequinox and indicates the religious role of the temple in society. Although Tiwanakus spiritual practices are not much known, archaeologists have previously found stone monoliths and ceramics with plant-based and animal-based symbolism, which alludes to traditions that are known as part of other pre-incinca companies. Researchers about earlier expeditions in connection with Tiwanaku usually discovered religious structures that highlight the natural characteristics of the landscape and align themselves with important events in the sun cycle.
Archaeologists have also found Tiwanaku pottery on site, such as This indicates that the building was probably used for parties or large meetings, Sharratt said.
Compared to other old societies, Tiwanaku remains puzzling, and researchers have a limited, patching understanding of civilization, according to Sharratt.
Archaeological theories suggest that Tiwanaku collapsed due to drought or environmental deterioration. Other experts believe that these two factors may have led to social tensions and unrest, which ultimately led to a populist uprising.
Why doesn’t researchers know much about this cryptic society? Tiwanaku “did not fit the ideas of early archaeologists about what a state should look like or where you could have a flowering city,” said Sharratt. “It didn’t necessarily meet all of our expectations, so I think that this is sometimes the reason.”
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