Tiwanaku (or Tiahuanaco and Tiahuanacu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiwanaku – they can’t seem to agree on how to spell the name) is amazing - an ancient city out in the middle of the Altiplano (about 50 miles from La Paz). On Thursday, while Dave had to work, I checked it out.
The ruins are of an advanced civilization dating from around 300 BC (although some claim much earlier), but a dominant civilization from around 300 to 1000 AD. In any event, it is the site of one of the earliest civilizations in South America. Some believe the civilization died out due to climate changes affecting their farming and food supply. In 1445 (just before Columbus) the Inca began the conquest of this Lake Titicaca region, including what remained of this group. There are a lot of similarities between this architecture and building techniques and those of the Incas. It is possible that the Incas borrowed (and improved upon) these techniques or that remnants of this Tiwanaku civilization may have been among the early Incas.
The Inca ruins in Cuzco and Machu Pichu in Peru are clearly more impressive and have been much more thoroughly excavated and restored. Those Peruvians ruins also have the advantage of being located in a particularly beautiful setting (Tiwanaku on the Altiplano looks a lot like the Snake River plains of southeastern Idaho), but these still are something of a marvel. The sandstone rocks came from a quarry about 10 miles away and the stones used for the large monoliths came from the other side of the Copacabana peninsula and some how had to be transported by boats across the lake. How did they get them here?
There also a musuem with some displays explaining the history and culture and interesting artifacts, including some large carved stone statutes. Like the Incas, these people did a lot with gold, but the gold artifacts are in a heavily guarded museum in La Paz.
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