Making place: humans as dedications in Tiwanaku

Abstract

The character of dedication assemblages is frequently linked to the specific place and social context in which they are deposited. At the site of Tiwanaku, political and ceremonial center of a prehispanic state that influenced much of the South American Andes for several centuries (ad 500–1150), human dedications shaped the significance of built ritual environments. We compare the treatment and deposition of human remains in two ritual contexts at Tiwanaku: Akapana and Akapana East. In Akapana, some human remains took on the significance of human sacrifices and, in Akapana East, they appear to have been carefully curated ancestors. In the one, they represented élite bids for power and the encompassing identity of the emerging Tiwanaku community and, in the other, they embodied the common identity of a local residential group. Through human dedications, architectural constructions came to embody the identity of scaled social communities, ultimately uniting the diverse groups, élite and commoner, who inhabited and worshipped in the center of the emerging civilization.