Lake Titicaca Temple Project 2009
Heritage Aid Foundation
1st June – 31st August
This project has been selected by the Heritage Aid Foundation because of the immediate necessity of its investigation and conservation, and the urgency of its situation. It also is a project that puts to use all of the investigative, conservation, educative and participatory aims of the Foundation, as it it works towards a sustainable scientific and heritage future for Bolivia and South America.
In 2003 a Field Archaeological survey was done on a site near the shores of Lake Titicaca to establish the possible identity of the site, ownership and cultural habitation. Initial agreements were made with the traditional indigenous owners for a full scale excavation to take place in the future with the help of the community. A surface collection of artifacts revealed that the site is a semi-subterranean temple from at least Tiwanaku Classic times.
The site consists of the main buried stone temple structure, surrounded by stone lined tombs and an entrance way leading down to the water´s edge. The remains of a human sacrifice ceremony were also recorded and probably date back to the late 19th or early 20th century. The site is situated close to an area where there are numerous chullpas or burial towers, which date from Tawantinsuyu (Incan) or possibly earlier times.
The site is of great importance not only for the knowledge it can generally give about Tiwanaku culture (≈1700 BC – 1100 AD)[1], or for a specific comparison with the similar semi-subterranean temple at the nearby capital of Tiwanaku, but for the data that is relevant to specific outstanding and hotly debated questions. One of the most important of which, since it affects debate about the construction method, urban layout, transportation and trade economics of the city Tiwanaku, is about the water levels of the lake during the Tiwanaku Urban period. The accepted theory is that the level of the lake was higher making Tiwanaku city a port capital. However, if this temple site dates back to the earlier Classical period, then it would have been covered by the lake waters. From this site we will be able to give a definitive answer to this important question.
Other questions as to how the religious site related to those nearby as part of a network, or to the nearby chullpas, will also add much to our knowledge of their religious economy and the Lake Titicaca political unity. Excavation may reveal that the site had use in early periods by the Wankarani or Chiripa, and define further their relationship and antecedents of the Tiwanaku culture.
Much as, of great interest will be to see if the site remained of religious importance after the demise of the Tiwanaku city and civilization, and who remained using the temple. Particularly since this post-Tiwanaku period is a time of which we presently know very little. This temple site is the most important lake side Tiwanaku discovery in many years and deserves to be thoroughly investigated while it remains in a pristine state.
From a conservation of heritage point of view this important site is at risk from various factors, both human and natural;
a). Firstly, the site has been used for agricultural purposes of both grazing hoofed animals which damages and disturbs the surface, and also by the raising of quinua crops in the temple plaza. After the excavation, the site will be left in a state that can be suitable for tourism, and for future re-construction. The traditional owners will be educated to manage and maintain the site, and to promote its use for heritage tours as part of a sustainable tourism development. Heritage Aid Foundation plans to continue in the future with further excavations and investigations in the region for which we have been invited on the nearby islands and peninsulas, and so make the area one of growing interest to pre-history admirers and general tourists alike.
b). Secondly, these ideas fit in very well with a government plan for a tourist highway to make a heritage route around the south end of Lake Titicaca. In fact the road will pass right beside the temple site. In fact so close that the roads construction, without careful and considered management will cause grave damage to the temple site and the loss of much information to science. The temple site needs to be excavated and developed now so as to be well protected and known before the road reaches it. The Bolivian government which is notoriously lax on heritage protection will, by our excavation, be forced to acknowledge the importance of the site and to provide for its protection in their plans. A further point is that the laying of the road will bring the site to the attention of tomb robbers and treasure hunters who will destroy the, until now, pristine condition of the tombs.
c). Thirdly, and harder to control, is that the rising water levels of Lake Titicaca, especially in the last few years are putting the temple site at risk of being submerged. Already the interesting entryway from the lake is partly submerged and some sub-aquatic investigation will be necessary. The excavation now to retrieve what information is possible before either its full submergence, or the further damage by water to the surrounding tombs, is of an utmost and urgent priority. Conservation techniques to keep the site from further damage from rising lake levels will be employed, and observation and maintenance techniques taught to the local people. Heritage Aid Foundation will maintain, as part of its responsibilities, and ongoing vigilance on the situation.
Future possibilities for the site include the possible reconstruction of the temple site, the housing of a small museum, which we would be linked in with the two other nearby small museums to form a network which would help the attraction and maintenance of all three. Also, to try to obtain a career for some of the local young people in the heritage management of theirs and other nearby sites that are also of interest and at risk.
The project will bring both short term and long term benefits to the traditional indigenous owners as the local people, who are pleading for opportunities as they live in one of the poorest parts of Bolivia, will gain employment as excavators and site assistants, while in the longer term some may be offered the opportunity to continue in the heritage career, while the community as a whole will benefit from having an internationally recognized heritage site under their management.
The project will also serve as an example in Bolivia, not only to the government and to outside organizations (ie. NGOs, Universities) what is achievable by cooperation with the indigenous owners, but also to other indigenous communities in Bolivia and South America, most of whom also have sites of great importance and interest. There presently lies little trust between heritage organizations both national and international, and indigenous peoples, who until now have seen no benefit from the exploitation of their pre-historical traces. This is a situation which Heritage Aid is dedicated to changing, and we have the support of local peoples whose trust and respect we have gained through our participatory aims and methods.
