Pumapunku

I had been working at Tiwanaku for six years, first as a volunteer in 1995, then as the director of excavations at the temple of Pumapunku, the most elaborate architectural complex of the Precolumbian Andes.

Letter from Bolivia: Coping with Chaos 2003

To meet our goals, we assigned two crews to excavate new units around the formal hall, two crews to investigate the chambers located on the first terrace of the Pumapunku pyramid, and five crews to work around the apparent feasting area.

Interactive Dig Tiwanaku - Pumapunku Temple Update 1 2002

Stones were removed from the terraces of the Pumapunku temple to build a Colonial church.

Interactive Dig Tiwanaku - Pumapunku Temple Update 1 2002

Because of this, we have not yet gotten to the Inka layers around the formal hall or on top of the first terrace of the Pumapunku.

Interactive Dig Tiwanaku - Pumapunku Temple Update 1 2002

In past seasons, we had demonstrated that the Inka focused their settlement around the Pumapunku, virtually ignoring other monumental buildings like the Akapana and the Kalisasaya.

Interactive Dig Tiwanaku - Pumapunku Temple Update 1 2002

The first reason is that the area of the Inka settlement we're excavating is next to the Pumapunku temple, and it is covered by a thick layer of earth, over three feet deep in places.

Interactive Dig Tiwanaku - Pumapunku Temple Update 1 2002

The University of Pennsylvania project started collaborating with the Department of Archaeology of Bolivia (DINAR, directed by Javier Escalante) in 1995 on the monumental temple of Pumapunku, one of the finest examples of Precolumbian architecture.

Interactive Dig Tiwanaku - Revealing Ancient Bolivia 2002

We investigated three of these areas fairly extensively in previous seasons, and this year we plan to focus our attention on the two areas that we haven't had a chance to fully investigate, the area that was likely used for feasting and the chambers built on the Pumapunku itself.

Interactive Dig Tiwanaku - Pumapunku Temple Update 1 2002

During the summer of 2002, we focused on the Akapana pyramid and the Pumapunku temple.

Interactive Dig Tiwanaku - Revealing Ancient Bolivia 2002

They also radically reorganized the sacred space around the Pumapunku, creating at least five distinct activity areas:

Interactive Dig Tiwanaku - Pumapunku Temple Update 1 2002