Tiwanaku polity

The Tiwanaku polity (Spanish: Tiahuanaco or Tiahuanacu) was a Pre-Columbian polity in western Bolivia based in the southern Lake Titicaca Basin. Tiwanaku was one of the most significant Andean civilizations. Its influence extended into present-day Peru and Chile and lasted from around 600 to 1000. Its capital was the monumental city of Tiwanaku, located at the center of the polity's core area in the southern Lake Titicaca Basin. This area has clear evidence for large-scale agricultural production on raised fields that probably supported the urban population of the capital. Researchers debate whether these fields were administered by a bureaucratic state (top-down) or through a federation of communities with local autonomy (bottom-up; see review of debate in Janusek 2004:57-73). Tiwanaku was once thought to be an expansive military empire, based mostly on comparisons to the later Inca Empire. However, recent research suggests that labelling Tiwanaku as an empire or even a state may be misleading. Tiwanaku is missing a number of features traditionally used to define archaic states and empires: there is no defensive architecture at any Tiwanaku site or changes in weapon technology, there are no princely burials or other evidence of a ruling dynasty or a formal social hierarchy, no evidence of state-maintained roads or outposts, and no markets.

Tiwanaku was a multi-cultural network of powerful lineages that brought people together to build large monuments. These work feasts integrated people in powerful ceremonies, and this was probably the central dynamic that attracted people from hundreds of kilometers away, who may have traveled there as part of llama caravans to trade, make offerings, and honor the gods. Tiwanaku grew into the Andes' most important pilgrimage destination and one of the continent's largest Pre-Columbian cities, reaching a maximum population of 10,000 to 20,000 around 800.

Outside of the core area in the southern Lake Titicaca Basin, there were Tiwanaku colonies on the coast of Peru, where highland people imitated Tiwanaku temples and ceramics, and cemeteries in northern Chile with elaborate grave goods in the Tiwanaku style. Despite the clear connections to these enclaves, there is little evidence that Tiwanaku leaders controlled the territory or people in between, that is, its territory was not contiguous. With a few important exceptions, Tiwanaku's influence outside the Lake Titicaca Basin was "soft power" that blossomed into a powerful, widespread, and enduring cultural hegemony.

The city of Tiwanaku lies at an altitude of roughly 3,800 meters (12,500 feet) above sea level, making it the highest state capital of the ancient world.

The site of Tiwanaku was founded around 110 during the Late Formative Period, when there were a number of growing settlements in the southern Lake Titicaca Basin. Between 450 and 550, other large settlements were abandoned, leaving Tiwanaku as the pre-eminent center in the region. Beginning around 600 its population grew rapidly, probably due to a massive immigration from the surrounding countryside, and large parts of the city were built or remodeled. New and larger carved monoliths were erected, temples were built, and a standardized polychrome pottery style was produced on a large scale.

Tiwanaku's influence, most clearly documented by the presence of its decorated ceramics, expanded into the Yungas and influenced many other cultures in Peru, Bolivia, and northern Argentina and Chile. Some statues at Tiwanaku were taken from other regions, where the stones were placed in a subordinate position to the Gods of the Tiwanaku. Archaeologists have documented Tiwanaku ceramics at a large number of sites in and beyond the Lake Titicaca Basin, attesting to the expansive influence of Tiwanaku symbols and attached messages of power.

The population grew rapidly between 600 and 800, the site became an important regional power in the southern Andes. William H. Isbell states that "Tiahuanaco underwent a dramatic transformation between 600 and 700 that established new monumental standards for civic architecture and greatly increased the resident population". Early estimates suggested the city covered approximately 6.5 square kilometers at with 15,000 to 30,000 inhabitants. More recent surveys estimate the site's maximum size between 3.8 and 4.2 square kilometers and a population of 10,000 to 20,000. Instead of a large permanent population, the number of people at Tiwanaku probably fluctuated dramatically depending on the season as people made long visits to participate in work parties and festivals.

In the rest of the southern Lake Titicaca Basin, hundreds of smaller settlements have been found. Some of the largest and most important were Lukurmata, Qeya Kuntu, Kirawi, Waka Kala, Sonaji, Kala Uyuni, and Khonkho Wankane.