TIAHUANACO, te-lirwA-nin& A ruined. city of Bolivia, a few miles from the Peruvian frontier, on an arid plain midway between lakes Titicaca and Aullagas, at an elevation of 12,000 feet. The present town of the same name stands a short distance from the ruins and is built for the most part of beautifully cut stones from the ancient buildings. In the ruined town five great structures besides an equal number of shapeless mounds may be traced. These buildings , are commonly known as tile Fortress, the Temple, the Palace, the Ball of Justice, and the Sanctu ary. The fortress consists of a rectangular mass of earth 620 feet long, 450 feet wide, and about 50 feet high, supported by walls of stone forming ter races, the walls sloping inward. On the summit are traces of rectangular buildings. Adjoining the pyramid to the east is a rectangular apron mound. The Fortress has been almost destroyed by excavations for treasures, but these diggings show that there were subterranean structures within the mound. All the buildings of Tiahua naco are oriented to within ten degrees of the cardinal points. The Temple, believed to be the oldest building here, is a rectangle 388 by 455 feet, defined by erect stones between 8 and 10 feet high, 2 by 4 feet broad, and from 20 to 30 inches thick. On the eastern side, aligned along a lower terrace, are ten columns about 15 feet high, by 4 feet by 3 feet. The interior of the rectangle is raised eight feet above the level of the ground and has a sunken court 280 feet long and 190 feet broad. To the east of the Temple is the Palace, of which the massive foundation re mains, composed of blocks of trachyte 8 to 10 feet long and 5 feet wide. The piers of this building are deeply sunk in the ground and rest on a pavement of cut stones. The Hall of Jus tice stood at one end of a sunken court in a rectangle in plan like that of the Temple. It
was a platform 131 feet long and 23 broad, built of enormous blocks of stone, and had three groups of alcoves or seats arranged at the ends and in the centre, and between the central and side groups were monolithic doorways with sculp tured friezes. The Hall of Justice also stands on a raised area, in the centre of which was a building about 50 feet square , structed of very large stones, and called the Sanctuary. Within the building is a slab of stone 13 feet 4 inches square and 20 inches thick. On its surface is cut what seems to he the plan of a building resembling that of the Fortress, and six niches in which perhaps statues were located.
Tialaanaco is famous for its great monolithic gateway of hard traehyte 13 feet 5 inches long, 7 feet 2 inches high above ground, and 18 inches thick. The lintel over the front of the gateway is sculptured in low relief and the back is carved to represent doors and windows. The masonry at Tialmanaeo is laid without mortar, the stones on each course are tongued and grooved at the ends, and bronze pins and T-clamps were em ployed to hold the courses in place. Earlier travelers speak of statuary at Tiahuanaco. but these piece.. have been destroyed except a head, which belonged to a figure probably about 18 feet high. The building stone was transported from 15 to 40 miles and the dressing was done with bronze and stone tools. There is no reliable tradition as to the builders, who it is supposed were the Incas or Aymar5s, and no reason can be assigned for the location of the city on a bar ren plain at a great altitude, unless it be that the foundation was determined by religious ideas.
Consult Stiibel and le, Die Ruinenstatte von, Tiahaanaeo (Breslau, l802).