About Lake Titicaca:

Lake Titcaca is the world's highest navigable lake to large vessels. It rests on top of the altiplano at 12,500 feet above sea level. It borders Peru to the west and Boliva to the east. Lake Titicaca is about 120 miles long and 50 miles wide at the widest point. The meaning of the word "Titicaca" is unsure, but some have interpreted it be "Rock of the Puma" or "Crag of Lead." Lake Titicaca has 41 islands. Some are populated, and some have pre-Inca ruins dating back thousands of years. Perhaps the most famous island is the Island of the Sun "Isla del Sol." The island has Tiwanaku era ruins. According to Inca folklore, it was on one of Lake Titicaca's islands that creation of the world by the creator god Viracocha, which means "foam of the sea," took place [1].

The shallowest areas are covered with the totora reed, which can be used as food, material for roofing, material for making boats, fodder, and other craft. Lake Titicaca provided many plants and animals for the ancient Tiwanaku people to eat. For example, various algae could have been eaten. Large number of birds are found around Lake Titicaca because the lake serves as the nesting place for many species: ducks, geese, gulls, coots, grebes, herons, ibises, and flamingos.
Fish along the shores were caught by drag nets or fixed submerged nets. At certain times at night, they are so close to shore that they could be caught with cast or dip nets. [2].

How the houses at the Tiwanaku city of Lukurmata were built:

First, a 5-10 cm layer of clean orange clay was poured over a flat area to serve as the floor. After this clay surface has hardened, the walls made of adobe were built on top. Walls were made of mud brick or cut sod set on a stone foundation. House roofs may have consisted of bundles of thatch or reed supported on a framework of light poles. They probably had a gable or hip form [2].

General information about houses of Tiwanaku (by Katharine Davis, Harvard):

First off there is this "domestic structure" question at Tiwanaku
is tough. As opposed to the monumental sector, there is very little we know
about domestic areas. They are supposed to be organized into compounds, as you
mentioned. No one, however, has ever excavated an entire domestic compound so
it is difficult to say what these areas represented. Were these family groups,
extended family? Were these compounds economically specialized? How was space
used? What does a "Tiwanaku house" look like?

I have actually excavated 2 areas where domestic activity is supposed to have
gone on; La Karana and my new site, Muru Ut Pata. It would be better, I think,
for your project, if I describe some of the activities and atributes of these
domestic spaces so you can start thinking about what they may have looked like.

As far as plans, as I have said, no one really has ever really showed a large
chunk of the domestic landscape so we don't know how these separate places
articulated over the several square kilometer landscape of urban Tiwanaku.
Population estimates I can recommend John Janusek's newest book. It has plans
of several small peices of domestic areas.

As far as giving you tips generally...

_______________
The look....
I believe houses were made out of adobe walls on top of one or two runs of
stone. Some of these were nice, cut stone, sometimes more river-stone looking
cobble stone. The roofs were probably thached totora reeds. Very little wood
used, I would think as opposed to those great Inka structures. Many compunds
are walled... some with stone, some with bottom half stone top adobe.
I can send you some examples of adobe houses today so you can get the color, if
you like. One of the neat things is that I think you can match the color off
these pictures because the Tiwanaku would have used the same soil as the
Aymaras that live and build their houses today.

We have some indications of painted adobes or colorful dirt floors in some of
these compounds. Janusek found an example of this. Is this ritual?

The layout of most everything is that "15 degrees east of north" orientation.

Mostly the "houses" look like small "rooms" and are rectangular in shape. Once
in a while there is a round structure (meaning the foundation stones or
architectural footprint of a round structure) These are the subject of a lot of
speculation. Were these compound or supra-compound storage structures as
Escalante suggests? He claims that the floor was kept almost ritually clean.
Were these ritual areas?

Some rooms may have used the compound walls as back walls of their structure.

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Attributes of domestic compounds...
I believe (through my zooarchaeological work) that these areas were directly and
intimately tied to camelids (llamas and alpacas). No pens have ever been
found... were they perhaps made of totora reed or were they kept further from
the compound than we have excavated?

We have found evidence, in many cases, for water (or sewage management). Canals
seem to have been a feature of compounds. They are stone lined sometimes with
cut stone sometimes and sometimes built with cobblestone. Some in La Karana
might have come off a centralized system from the monumental center. Maria
Bruno wrote an interesting peice on this possibility. I forget which
publication.

Cooking seems to have been done in these compounds outside. A compound hearth?
Many cases of fire pits in Muru Ut Pata. We found one that was about 1 meter
deep and 1 meter across. Might have been a kiln.

_______________
Setting of compounds on the landscape...
The way I see it, there is a fair amount of difference in domestic areas/housing
compounds. I would suggest different "settings" for these compounds. There is La
Karana of which Javier Escalante writes in the Kolata volume. These houses were
built on artificially modified (stone faced) terraces leading down parallel to
the river. (I believe there were 3.)

Most compunds seem to have some stone lined storage bins, huge pits of refuse
(ash, animal bones) dug into the surface. Some have specialized areas, there is
some evidence for bone flute manufacture at Mission area of Lurkurmata. There is
Mollu Kantu that Janusek and Couture worked/are working. This place is thought
to have had a component of ceramic specialization.

Another thing, that I want to bring up is that these domestic areas were places
of lots of change, rebuilding, abandonment, and reuse. People seem to have been
changing function and architecture quite a bit. Pits are dug for trash and
possibly covered to prevent attracting rodents. House are built, fixed,
dismantled etc all the time.

The types of organization of family units at Tiwanaku:

It seems that there was a diversity of compound organizational types at Tiwanaku.
1) For example, there were long compounds that have many family units of 3-4 buildings. These compounds were often demarcated by canals running through them. Sometimes there were walls between family units, sometimes there wasn not. This type of organization became popular Late Tiwanaku III and Tiwanaku IV.
2) There could have also been large trapezoidal compounds that serve as little communities and neighorhoods. Crafts and activities were highly specialized, and so were the buildings and outdoor areas. Often, there were no clear physical wall between different families. This type of organization became popular Late Tiwanaku III and Tiwanaku IV.
3) There were also large trapezoidal compounds which included smaller walled compounds inside. In this case,there are physical demarcations (walls) between different families, but still an enclosed community. This type of organization became popular Late Tiwanaku III and Tiwanaku IV.
4) There were also single, smaller independent compounds.
5) Finally, there were individual houses. These houses tend to be bigger than the ones in familial units. These were present pre-Tiwanaku and post-Tiwanaku [3].

Language of the Tiwanaku
The names of the characters presented herein are Aymara. Aymara is the primary language of the native people currently living in present day Bolivia near the site of Tiwanaku. Whether or not the Tiwanaku spoke Aymara or an earlier proto-Aymara language, is uncertain. What is known, though, is that by the time the Spanish arrived, Aymara was the language of prayer for residents of Arequipa, a former outpost of Tiwanaku. While the residents of Arequipa spoke Quechua in their daily lives, they prayed and performed holy ceremonies in Aymara. Thus, by the Late Horizon, Aymara was understood by native south Andean peoples to be the language of spirituality and ancestor worship, practices most closely associated with the religious practices of the Tiwanaku, and practices which took hold throughout the south Andean region as the influence of the Tiwanaku grew.

This information, though, does indicate whether or not the Tiwanaku themselves were proto-Aymara speakers; it merely implies that the use of proto-Aymara expanded with the expansion of Tiwanaku power. At the time of Tiwanaku IV, at least three dominant languages were used in the empire: Puquina, proto-Aymara, and Uru-Chipaya. The arguments for the dominance of each of these languages rest on the "core assumption that spatial distribution of the distinctive Tiwanaku art style…reflects the aggressive expansion of a single ethnic group that imposed linguistic uniformity in its direct sphere of influence." Therefore, while it is unreasonable to presume all at Tiwanaku in the Tiwanaku IV period spoke a single language, it is not unreasonable to assume that some of the people under the control of Tiwanaku were themselves Aymara speakers; thus the presented family should be seen as a family of proto-Aymara speaking members of Tiwanaku society, and their language orientation should not be interpreted as the norm for all the Tiwanaku and those under their influence.

Domestic Animals at Tiwanaku

The Tiwanaku utilized a variety of domestic animals for both food and labor. Of the Andean camelids, both the alpaca and the llama were integral to the life of the Tiwanaku. Both of these animals were used to carry heavy loads of goods. Both animals were also used as a sustainable source of wool for clothing, and waste was utilized as both fertilizer and fuel. Llama and alpaca meat was also a source of protein and fat, nourishment that was essential for survival in the altiplano. A system of seasonal transhumance emerged whereby herds of llamas and alpacas were grazed in the higher fields during the summer and spring, and brought into enclosures and even into housing compounds during the colder months. During this time, llama milk helped nourish the compound dwellers, while the heat emitted from the llama bodies also helped elevate the temperature of the living areas, much as livestock has been used to heat dwellings throughout the course of human experience.

Guinea pigs, or cuys, were kept inside houses themselves. Guinea pigs have a quick reproductive cycle and short gestational period, so that a small colony, even if regularly harvested, will retain its size; thus, a stable supply of protein was available for any domestic compound with guinea pigs. Another benefit of guinea pigs is that they tend to eat household insects, which are dangerous in that they can lay eggs in stored food. It is also interesting to note that guinea pig milk is rich in fat (fat percent by volume is greater than 6), and nutritious; while there is no contemporary Andean example of guinea pig milk utilization as a foodstuff, it is possible that in periods of camelid disease or sickness, cuy milk may have functioned as a substitute for camelid milk.

Food Cultivation

The Tiwanaku operated a complex, sophisticated and efficient agricultural system based on raised fields and terrace. Fundamental to both these types of agriculture was water. As such, any description of Tiwanaku agriculture must also focus on the hydraulic engineering expertise of the Tiwanaku.

The Tiwanaku altered the paths of river, created canals, levees, and reservoirs to provide a stable and constant supply of of water to their arable land. The agricultural landscape of the Tiwanaku was divided between dry field agriculture and irrigated agriculture. Of the two, the irrigated agriculture was more productive and therefore the dominant of the two in major urban areas such as Tiwanaku.

Of the irrigated agriculture, two primary methods of irrigation developed, both of which were suited to their landscapes. Along mountainsides and canyon walls, massive terraces and retaining walls were built. Streams were diverted to follow the courses of these terraces, so that at both ends of each terrace, pools formed, and water ran along the length of the terrace in a canal. This water would then spill to the lower level, and the process would repeat itself. On flat land and in the Tiwanaku basin, low-lying areas were raised, and canals were built to divert river and lake water around these fields.

The abundance of water around the crop yielding land produced both a water rich environment for the crop to grow, and additionally a microclimatic shield from the frost that can destroy crops even in the summer. During the day, the water absorbs heat from the sunlight, during the night, this heat is released, and a blanket of warmth protects the crop zones from extremes of weather. This naturally occurring phenomenon explains why raised field farming and water-fed terrace farming is up to ten times as productive as traditional dry agriculture, since plant death and damage from frost and cold is prevented in all but the most extreme of weathers.

Fish purposefully transplanted to the canals, and perhaps even the terraced fields, maintained the cleanliness of the water and may have provided a complementary aquaculture. Mud from the bottom of canals, rich in nitrogen from fish waste and decaying plant material, was dredged and spread over the fields as a fertilizer, often times in conjunction with llama feces.

In the environment of the water-fed fields, the Tiwanaku grew manioc, maize, quinoa, potatoes and a variety of other foods. These foods fed the Tiwanaku, and the agricultural methodology of the Tiwanaku continued to be utilized well into the late Horizon and early colonial period. The people used footplows to farm their food.

Tiwanaku domestic ritual activities

Camelids (llamas and alpacas) played an important role in the lives and rituals of the common Tiwanaku person. The Tiwanaku did not have a clear separation between ritual activities and utilitarian activities. Thus, camelids were used extensively in the domestic utilitarian context and ritual context.

To illustrate, a Tiwanaku person could eat the camelid, use their dung as hearth-fuel, and consume their fat. Then they could use the fat to light sahumadores (ceramic vessels that were used as a source of light, smoke, etc). These sahumadores could be used in both a ritual context and a domestic one. The sahumador, when lighted with camelid fat, could be used as a part of a ritual purification ceremony, or as a source of light on the cold, altiplano nights. Furthermore, camelids were also a source of ritual well-being. Fetal or young camelids were placed under floors and walls as part of a dedication ceremony. These dedications ensured the inhabitants well-being and prosperity. Even now, some Andean communities still bury fetal or young camelids to dedicate a construction site.

The camelid was also an important economic resource. Almost every part of the camelid was used for one purpose or another. The bones could be used to make tools or musical instruments. The wool could be used to make textiles, and the meat for food.

Burying parts of humans in many mortuary contexts were common. These burials of human parts happened both inside and outside of elaborate tomb contexts. Ancestor worship in one form or another was very important to the Tiwanaku [4].

[1] "Titicaca, Lake." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2005. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 16 Dec. 2005 <http://www.search.eb.com/eb/article-9072652>.

[2] Bermann, Marc. "Lukurmata: Household Archaeology in Prehispanic Bolivia." Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994.

[3] Janusek, John Wayne. "Identity and Power in the Ancient Andes:Tiwanaku Cities Through Time." New York: Routledge, 2004

[4] Janusek, John W. "State and Local Power in a Prehispanic Andean Polity: Changing Patterns of Urban Residence in Tiwanaku and Lukurmata, Bolivia." Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI Dissertation Services, 2000

About Lake Titicaca, construction of houses, family unit organizations, and ritual activities by Di Hu.
Language, Domestic animals, food preparation by Peter Sobieraj.
Photos courtesy of Clark Erickson