By Di Hu

For the past three months, I have worked intensively to finalize and execute a vision of how to bring an aspect of ancient Tiwanaku to the modern viewer. For the first one and a half months, I conceptualized a virtual pilgrimage movie and drew a story board for it. I also collected Andean music so I could put music in the movie. Unfortunately, I could not pursue this project because there was neither a virtual landscape nor a virtual Tiwanaku for me to use.

I then decided to do something related to the landscape and houses because that related somewhat to my previous project. The project grew enormously over time, and I spent countless hours researching, modeling, writing, and uploading. The project evolved into a storybook style introduction to daily life at Tiwanaku residential compound. It was told in first person, from the perspective of a teenage Tiwanaku boy named Janq'u. Sarah and I conceptualized this idea. Peter Connolly’s work came to mind when we thought about the purpose of our project. One particularly good book he wrote and illustrated was “The Legionary.” The book traced the career of a real Roman legionary named Tiberius Claudius Maximus. Like Connolly, we wanted to use visual imagery, an accessible writing style, and a narrative style to bring to life the world of a Tiwanaku family.

In order to make the project work, we needed three main things: research, a modeled compound, and objects to fill the compound. I did at least 30 hours of research. I also modeled the compound from the archaeological plans of John Janusek, the drawings of Javier Escalante, and numerous ethnographic sources. It took me 39 hours to model the compound, not including the research. I also spent probably close to another 25 or so hours doing work: scanning, uploading, meeting, working on the website, and sending emails to group members.

Sarah made most of the items that fill the compound, especially the ceramics, and I am very thankful for her countless hours modeling numerous ceramics and objects and placing them in the compound, which was very difficult due to the nature of Sketchup. Fabian was responsible for the website, Peter did some research for us, Sujay did some work with groups of compounds, and Stefanos was responsible for rituals and religion. Combined, I think we all spent a total of 300-325 man-hours to complete the project. I am very thankful for all their work in making this project come alive. Here is my journal that recorded the whole “daily life in Tiwanaku” process.