Tiwanaku (Tiahuanaco)

Tiwanaku (also tr. Tiahuanaco) is the site of an ancient city, thought to have been the main centre of the Tiwanaku (Tiahuanaco) civilisation, a pre-Inca peoples, which is situated 15 km. (9.3 m.) southeast of Lake Titicaca in what is today the Department of La Paz, Bolivia. Major features of the site include: the Kantatallita (Dawn Light); Pyramid of Akapana; Kalasasaya Temple (Temple of the Standing Stones); Semi-Subterranean Temple; Puerta del Sol (Gate of the Sun) and Puerta de la Luna (Gate of the Moon); Putuni (Palace of the Sarcophagi); Bennet Monolith; Ponce Monolith; the Monolith of the Frail; and Pumapunku (Gate of the Puma).

Arthur Posnansky (1873-1946), an Austrian immigrant to Bolivia, was a prominent figure in the early study of the ruins at the site, and posited that the city was the originator all the later civilisations of the Americas, including the Inca and the Maya.