ROCK ART AT TIWANAKU, BOLIVIA

Tiwanaku is the name of the archaeological complex, 80km WNW of La Paz, Bolivia. On the high plateau (3800m) is a cluster of impressive stone buildings with several beautifully engraved statues and monuments. What remains largely unnoticed, is that a number of stones bear also (simple) engravings. A small excavation at the base of the slope of the Akapana pyramid (where it faces the Kalasasaya temple) exposed part of a stone wall. On the vertical face of one of the larger shaped blocks is a row of small cupules, crossed by a shorter row. A little north of this group and on the same block is a smaller curved row of even smaller cupules (inset in the first photo). On the north wall of the Kalasasaya is a small stone with one large cupule (second photo) and on a horizontal block in the low walls west of the Kalasasaya is a row of shallow cupules, the east end of which bisects a very faint oval of cupules (third photo). There are more rows of cupules (almost worn away) on this block and several other stones have depressions that could be cupules. Tiwanaku is well-known for the tall statues that often have delicate engravings on them. The last photo shows a detail of the engravings on the famous Ponce Monolith. Notice that the pattern of empty squares and squares decorated with stylised faces is repeated diagonally. One concentric group seems to enclose a small cupule (?).

Outside and to the SW of the main Tiwanaku complex is another large site, called Puma Punku. It is largely in ruins, but excavations are still going on. At one spot there is a large collection of shaped stones brought from several places of Puma Punku. Among these stones are many Chacanas (Andean crosses) and fragments of stones with delicate designs. What remains often unnoticed however, is that several large flat stone slabs have been decorated (most likely afterwards) with lines, spirals and dot-designs. Please do not walk on these slabs. The engravings are weathering severely and the stone is flaky in places.

Here we see a line engraving that may possibly represent a snake. The second photo shows a detail of a rectangular dot figure with diagonal lines (this figure can also be seen in the first photo of the second session).

The Bolivian Rock Art Research Society SIARB (Sociedad de Investigación del Arte Rupestre de Bolivia) now has its own Website. Texts and photos emphasize the need of protection of sites, as more and more places are affected by vandalism.

The Bradshaw Foundation website includes the webpages of SIARB (Sociedad de Investigacion del Arte Rupestre de Bolivia) which was founded in 1987. The section on Bolivia covers the work of SIARB concerning the recording and publishing information on rock art sites in Bolivia.