The Tiwanaku

The Tiwanaku and sacred public areas in the capital. Significantly, there were distinctly secular structures built at the top of the pyramid that Kolata interprets as domestic residences of an elite (117). Substantial quantities of domestic refuse were found in middens associated with these rectangular structures, which were built with finely cut stones and faced inward toward a patio area in a manner not unlike that of the much smaller and earlier buildings at Chiripa. Furthermore, the Akapana is interpreted as an artificial sacred mountain by Kolata (90). In conclusion, Kolata notes that there was a very dense population outsidee Tiwanaku's architectural core. Janusek's excavation, onehalf kilometer east of the architectural core in the area called AKE2, indicated dense residential structures that dated to his late Tiwanaku IV and Tiwanaku V (Kolata 78). These structures were on top of sterile, undisturbed strata, indicating that the first expansion of an urban nature in this area occurred in the Tiwanaku IV period, after Tiwanaku III or Qeya, and that the site was not occupied during the Upper Formative. However, the Tiwanaku IVV occupation was substantial. Overall, it seems that ethnohistorical,archaeological evidence is suggested t be the most reliable by Kolata.