archaeology.org 51from coastal Ecuador nearly 1 , 000 miles away, gold plaques
shaped like llamas and pumas, and more than a dozen deco-
rated feline-shaped ceramic incense burners. Radiocarbon dates
obtained from charcoal fragments, llama bones, and the remains
of lake-dwelling species dated the deposits to between the end of
the seventh century and the beginning of the eleventh century.
The team was able to definitively identify the objects they
found at Khoa Reef by comparing them to similar artifacts
discovered at the Tiwanaku capital and at other Tiwanaku
settlements across their more than 2 , 000 square miles of ter-Sun during Tiwanaku’s six centuries of regional dominance.
In 2013 , a team of researchers led by archaeologist Chris-
tophe Delaere of the University of Oxford and the Université
Libre de Bruxelles began underwater excavations along Khoa
Reef, part of a submerged archipelago off the northern end of
the five-square-mile island. Working in more than 15 feet of
frigid water, they excavated around the base of the reef. There
they uncovered a lapis lazuli figurine depicting a llama or a puma,
the bones of at least four young llamas, Spondylus shells—includ-
ing one carved into the shape of a llama—that were importedu used religion to control their territory by Marley Brown
Y ANDEAN EMPIRE
A puma-faced incense
burner is one of more
than 12 such artifacts
discovered at Khoa Reef.