When did Tiwanaku rise and fall? Leveraging Bayesian models to refine heartland and coastal chronologies

MARSH, ERIK J.; SHARRATT, NICOLA; KORPISAARI, ANTTI

Chicago

Conferencia; 87th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology; 2022

Society for American Archaeology

This paper presents a comprehensive refinement of Tiwanaku?s chronology. We track independent site-by-site temporal trends in Redwares, monument construction, and residential occupation based on a complete compilation of radiocarbon dates, updated calibration curves, and Bayesian models of stratigraphic relationships. The results suggest that during cal AD 400? 600, there was a large-scale migration to Tiwanaku. During cal AD 600?700, Redwares were only present at Tiwanaku itself; the Akapana and Pumapunku monuments were started and finished. Next, during cal AD 700?900, Redwares became widespread in the southern Titicaca Basin, Lake Titicaca islands, Moquegua, and Cochabamba. At Tiwanaku, there was an urban renewal around cal AD 900 but residential occupation ended around cal AD 1000. Offerings continued to be left until cal AD 1100, mostly around the Akapana. At other sites, occupations lasted until cal AD 1000? 1050. On Lake Titicaca islands, temples were closed, and on the coast, communities started using new post-collapse ceramic styles. At Lukurmata, occupation peaked, coincident with intense use of raised fields, which were abandoned around cal AD 1150 as a regional drought started. These staggered trends prompt a reconsideration of the interaction networks that assembled and disassembled Tiwanaku.