Tiahuanaco

Tiahuanaco (Tiwanaku)

Region- The Tiahuanaco civilization was 15 miles from the shores of Lake Titicaca. 72 miles west of La Paz. The area of their civilization was 2 miles above sea level. The center of the city was very powerful, and self-sustaining. The capital of this city was settled in about 400 B.C. on the Tiahuanaco River. The Tiahuanaco River empties in the the Titicaca lake every day so there are many smaller villages along the river that is all still all part of the Tiahuanaco civilization. The emptying river stretches 9.3 miles to the north.

History- Tiahuanaco civilization is believes to be the center of the center of the Pre-Inca Civilization. The process of building the city was to believed to have happened in 500 A.D.. In about the year 1000 the Taihuanaco civilization moved east to Bolivia and North to Chile and Peru. The buildings in the city were made of Stones fitted with out mortar and were cut to fit perfectly together so the builds would survive the wind and other storms. The massive blocks that the buildings were made of weighted up to 100 tons. It is not like the blocks were from the general area the blocks were brought from miles away. The the culture was very powerful for 200 years. The Tiahuanaco’s Built many pyramids including the Akapana and there are three other temples which are associated which are the Kalasasysa, the Putuni, and the Kheri Kala. The walls were studded with stone cut faces in the walls.

Economy- The Tiahuanaco civilization was a self-sustaining. To survive they did agriculture, hurding, and fishing which they did on Lake Titicaca.

Religion- The Tiahuanaco’s largest step pyramid was the the Akapana. Which was once believes to be a modified hill. But was later found out that it was not. It was built from stone it was 55.8 feet tall and it was 656 square feet. The Tiahuanaco’s believe that Viracocha made the earth, the stars, the sun and mankind. Viracocha was the sun and storm god. The first time that Virachocha made his first creation he was displease so he abolished it with a flood and started over again. On his second try he was more happy with it.

Work Cited- http://www.crystalinks.com/tiahuanaco.html http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/latinamerica/south/sites/tiahuanaco.html http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/CIVAMRCA/TIA.HTM http://www.ladatco.com/TITI-TIA.HTM