Museo Arqueológico de la Universidad de San Simón

Museo Arqueológico de la Universidad de San Simón

Museo Arqueológico de la Universidad de San Simón

Museo Arqueológico de la Universidad de San Simón

Museo de Metales Preciosos Precolombinos

Museo Arqueológico de la Universidad de San Simón

Museo de Metales Preciosos Precolombinos

Tiwanaku copper alloy large Tupu

Private Collection

Museo de Metales Preciosos Precolombinos

National Archaeological Museum, La Paz, Bolivia

National Archaeological Museum, La Paz, Bolivia

National Archaeological Museum, La Paz, Bolivia

National Archaeological Museum, La Paz, Bolivia

National Archaeological Museum, La Paz, Bolivia

Inka Museum, Isla Del Sol, Bolivia

At the same time that the Maya in Guatemala and the Yucatán were building their “classic” culture, that is, beginning with the second century CE, the powerful Tiwanaku culture developed on the high plains of Bolivia. The culture quickly spread over vast parts of what are now Bolivia, Peru, Chile, and Argentina.  The center of this empire was Taypikala, “the stone in the center,” at the present archaeological site of Tiwanaku. Some 1500 years ago, Tiwanaku was a splendid city with 50,000 inhabitants located about 12,000 feet above sea level near Lake Titicaca. Tiwanaku masons built the city with giant andesite stone blocks, many much taller than a person. These megalithic stones were made to fit seamlessly into each other. They were richly decorated with intricate carved designs, melted gold, and colorful textiles. Tiwanaku’s temple walls, adorned with sheet gold, showed viewers dazzling solar reflections. The city’s wealth was based on highly refined irrigation and on farflung trade in exotic goods and, especially, objects related to the use of plant-based drugs. (For many South American cultures, drug-induced visions were apparently considered a source of sacred knowledge.) By exploiting copper mines in the south, Tiwanaku achieved mass production of tools made of tin bronze. The lords of Tiwanaku would rule the Andes as living gods for the next 600 years.