The Role of Late Formative Households in the Rise of Tiwanaku: The Round House Coincidence

MARSH, ERIK J.

Vancouver

Congreso; 73° Reunión Anual de la Sociedad para Arqueología Americana; 2008

Society for American Archaeology

South of Late Titicaca during the Late Formative, growing populations began constructing ceremonial centers on a regional scale. A clearer picture of daily life in the region figures prominently in a more robust understanding of the fundamental elements of the cultures of the Late Formative, and the degree to which these patterns persisted in the foundation of complexity at Tiwanaku. This talk focuses on possible Middle Formative precedents for Late Formative domestic contexts, specifically in terms of the Wankarani cultural complex south of the Lake Titicaca Basin. Possible influences or migrations in this larger region contribute toward a wider geographic perspective on the dramatic social reorganization in the centuries that preceded the rise of Tiwanaku.