Encyclopedia of the Incas

north-central highlands, this movement seems to represent a synthesis of cults
found throughout a broad area of northern Peru. By 1000 BC Chavín influence
had appeared as far south as near modern Lima, and by 500 BC Chavín
influence extended from the modern cities of Cajamarca in the north to
Ayacucho in the south.
Following the heyday of the Chavín cult—the Early Horizon time period of
Rowe’s chronology—archaeologists believe that there was a florescence of
numerous powerful but less widespread regional cultures. The best known of
these are the Moche of the Peruvian north coast and the coastal Nazca. During
the Early Intermediate Period of Rowe’s chronology, the Moche and the Nazca
cultures developed into complex civilizations with their ideology evolving out of
the Chavín religious tradition. These societies show increasing complexity and
the Moche may have developed into a centrally governed state.
In the southern Andes, in what is today Bolivia, a large ceremonial center
developed on the shores of Lake Titicaca. This magnificent city, called
Tiahuanaco, was built at an elevation of 3,850 meters (12,631 feet) above sea
level on the cold, treeless altiplano. The exact dimensions of the city are not yet
known, but preliminary studies indicate an urban center of nearly four square
kilometers (2.5 square miles). Although this severe environment seems hostile,
in prehistoric times it supported one of the densest population concentrations in
the ancient New World. Population estimates for the city of Tiahuanaco and its
sustaining area range between 570,000 and 1,111,500 people.
First settled around 1000 BC, the site of Tiahuanaco was occupied for nearly
two thousand years. It began as a small farming village, but around AD 100
people began to construct monumental architecture, and the site grew to be the
capital city of an empire that dominated the southern Andes from AD 500 to
1000, corresponding to the Middle Horizon period of Rowe’s chronology. It is
believed that the Tiahuanaco Empire established administrative centers and
economic colonies throughout the altiplano of Bolivia and Peru and along the
coasts of southern Peru and northern Chile.
The city of Tiahuanaco is dominated by platform mounds and temples. The
largest structure is the platform mound called the Akapana, which measures
about 200 meters (656 feet) at its base and was more than 15 meters (29.2 feet)
high. In addition to platform mounds, other monumental structures at
Tiahuanaco include large, rectangular, stone-walled enclosures and
semisubterranean temples, all of finely cut stone.