- Contributed by Charles Stanish, February 27, 2019 (sent for review December 6, 2018; reviewed by John Janusek and Joyce Marcus)
Significance
Ritual and religion are significant factors in primary or archaic state formation. These beliefs and practices not only legitimize these new political organizations in their ability to control supernatural forces, but also incentivize intragroup cooperation by punishing freeloading and rewarding cooperative behavior. Recent archaeological excavations from an underwater ceremonial location near the Island of the Sun in Lake Titicaca have revealed the remarkable constituent elements of repetitive rituals practiced by the Tiwanaku state between the 8th and 10th centuries CE. Evidence of animal sacrifice and high-value offerings of vessels, gold, shells, and lapidary stones on a strategically located reef illustrates how power was consolidated in one of the earliest Andean states.
Abstract
Considerable debate surrounds the economic, political, and ideological systems that constitute primary state formation. Theoretical and empirical research emphasize the role of religion as a significant institution for promoting the consolidation and reproduction of archaic states. The Tiwanaku state developed in the Lake Titicaca Basin between the 5th and 12th centuries CE and extended its influence over much of the south-central Andes of South America. We report on recent discoveries from the first systematic underwater archaeological excavations in the Khoa Reef near the Island of the Sun, Bolivia. The depositional context and compositional properties of offerings consisting of ceramic feline incense burners, killed juvenile llamas, and sumptuary metal, shell, and lapidary ornaments allow us to reconstruct the structure and significance of cyclically repeated state rituals. Using new theoretical tools, we explain the role of these rituals in promoting the consolidation of the Tiwanaku polity.
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