About the Book
The capital of the pre-Inca state of Tiwanaku was one of the great centers of Andean civilization. It lies in ruins twelve thousand feet above sea level near Lake Titicaca in Bolivia. Alan L. Kolata and his multidisciplinary team, who have worked at the site for more than two decades, present the results of their intensive research into the city and its surrounding countryside.
This magnificent volume strikes a balance between descriptive and analytical objectives, framing new data sets in coherent narratives of interpretation. The book presents, for the first time, a rich body of empirical data on the chronology of the Tiwanaku state; the nature of the social and political relationships between the city and its hinterland; the form and meaning of its monumental and elite architecture; and the texture of everyday life in its residential quarters. Kolata concludes this sweeping study with a chapter that places the organization and historical dynamics of Tiwanaku society into a broader theoretical framework that has great salience for archaeological interpretation throughout the Americas.
The book presents, for the first time, a rich body of empirical data on the chronology of the Tiwanaku state; the nature of the social and political relationships between the city and its hinterland; the form and meaning of its monumental and elite architecture; and the texture of everyday life in its residential quarters. Kolata concludes this monumental study with a chapter that places the organization and historical dynamics of Tiwanaku society into a broader theoretical framework that has great salience for archaeological interpretation throughout the Americas.