Ancient temple could reveal secrets of a lost society that predates the Inca Empire

The temple, Palaspata, is approximately 125 metres long by 145 metres wide (410 by 475 feet) and has 15 modular enclosures surrounding the central plaza. José Capriles/Penn State via CNN Newsource

Archeologists say they have discovered the ruins of what they believe are the boundaries of an ancient temple belonging to the mysterious Andean society of Tiwanaku that disappeared around AD 1000.

The research team unearthed the immense temple complex in the highlands of what is now Bolivia’s municipality of Caracollo. The site is southeast of Lake Titicaca, a different region than where researchers had previously focused their search for clues that might help unravel the secrets of this lost society.

The extraordinary find is roughly 130 miles (about 210 kilometres) south of the established archeological site of Tiwanaku, the capital of the powerful empire that preceded the Incas. The latest findings were described in a study published on June 24 in the journal Antiquity.

Called Palaspata after the native name for the region, the temple lies outside the borders of where Tiwanaku was previously known to have expanded, said Dr. José Capriles, a Bolivian archeologist and associate professor of anthropology at Pennsylvania State University.

Capriles, who was the lead author of the study, noted that the building’s architectural elements, including a terraced platform and sunken courtyard, have a striking resemblance to the Tiwanaku style found in other parts of the Lake Titicaca region. “We don’t expect it in this particular place and the fact that it exists there is remarkable,” he said.

The temple, which has a trail cutting through it from repeated travel by locals, is near a long-used Bolivian travel route, now called the La Paz–Cochabamba Highway, which connected three trade routes used by other societies that followed, like the Inca.

The discovery of the ceremonial temple is shedding light on the interconnectivity of the lost society’s various territories and how Palaspata could have served as a gateway for Tiwanaku society to expand its power in the region, according to the researchers.

Who were the Tiwanaku?

Archeological investigations of Tiwanaku sites began in the 1860s, but researchers still have scant knowledge of the society. Most of what experts know has been deduced from studying ceramics, camelid remains, and other religious sites, such as Akapana, that dot the Andean highlands.

Tiwanaku communities first emerged in an altiplano, or high plain, of the Andes called the Titicaca Basin, named after Lake Titicaca.

Due to its location, farming crops, like maize, was difficult, so the people relied on llama caravans to connect the communities in the region and facilitate trade. The capital city of Tiwanaku, also called Tiwanaku, managed trade, commerce and interregional interaction, according to the study.

“Tiwanaku was what we call a primary state formation, meaning that it was a complex society that had complex social stratification,” Capriles said. The empire developed without external influence and “emerged out of a series of prior agricultural societies.”

Evidence of Tiwanaku objects, like pottery, suggests Tiwanaku people began to settle in that area around AD 700, as well as farther west in a valley that’s now southern Peru, according to Dr. Nicola O’Connor Sharratt, associate professor of anthropology at Georgia State University. She was not involved in the study.

Tiwanaku populations are also suspected to have lived in what is now northern Chile and in Cochabamba, Sharratt added.

The Tiwanaku constructed Palaspata to further exert its sociopolitical influence over other societies in the area by controlling trade between regions, the new study suggests.

“The placement of this site is strategically located between two major geographic zones of the Andean Highlands,” Capriles said.

“This might have been sort of a nice strategic control outpost that not only controlled flow of goods in an economic and political sense, but it also did so through religion, and this is why it is a temple,” he said. “The alignment of religious, political and economic institutions, which is how many of these institutions emerge, is something that I think people were kind of surprised about.”

Uncovering a lost temple

The temple Palaspata is only visible by its perimetre wall, which is outlined with red sandstone.

While working on an unrelated archeology project near the highway, researchers noticed the structure and decided it “seemed significant,” Capriles said.

They investigated the area further on foot and with drones. From the initial findings, Capriles was able to use 3D rendering to create a digital reconstruction of the temple.

The structure is 125 metres long and 145 metres wide (410 by 475 feet) — about the size of a city block — with 15 modular enclosures that were likely rooms surrounding an inner courtyard.

The building’s main entrance faces west, aligned with the solar equinox and indicative of the temple’s religious role in the society. While not much is known of Tiwanaku’s spiritual practices, archeologists have previously found stone monoliths and ceramics with plant- and animal-based symbolism that may allude to traditions known to be part of other pre-Inca societies. Researchers on past expeditions related to Tiwanaku commonly uncovered religious structures designed to highlight the landscape’s natural features and align with key events in the solar cycle.

Archeologists have also found Tiwanaku pottery at the site, such as keru cups, typically used to drink some form of maize-based alcohol. This suggests that the building was likely used for parties or large gatherings, Sharratt said.

Compared with other ancient societies, Tiwanaku remains enigmatic, and researchers have a limited, patchwork understanding of the civilization, according to Sharratt.

Archeological theories suggest that Tiwanaku collapsed because of a drought or environmental degradation. Others experts believe that both of these factors may have led to social tension and unrest, ultimately giving rise to a populist uprising.

Why don’t researchers know much about this cryptic society? Tiwanaku “didn’t fit some early archeologists’ ideas about what a state should look like or where you could have a thriving city,” Sharratt said. “It hasn’t necessarily met all of our expectations, so I think that’s partly why.”

By Gina Park, CNN