Abstract
The ruins of Tiwanaku (A.D. 500–950), in the modern republic of Bolivia, present an archaeological challenge owing to intense looting during the colonial period that effectively demolished the site. One building in particular, known as the Pumapunku, was described by Spanish conquistadors and travelers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as a wondrous, though unfinished, building with gateways and windows carved from single blocks. Unparalleled in the pre-Colombian New World, the craftsmanship of this masonry has long been considered the architectural apogee of Andean pre-Colombian lithic technology. Unfortunately, during the last 500 years, treasure hunters have ransacked this building to the point that none of approximately shattered remains of 150 blocks of the standing architecture are to be found in their original place. Over the last century and a half, several different scholars have carefully measured the shattered architecture and even managed to join several fragments to form complete pieces. This research revisited these historic field notes with a view to transforming this century and a half of documentation into solid 3D form. These measurements were entered by hand into an architectural modeling program; the virtual form was subsequently printed in 3D form at 4% reduced scale. Unlike large architectural pieces — or notes or models on a computer screen — 3D-printed pieces can be manipulated quickly and intuitively, allowing researchers to try combinations and seek connections rapidly, turning over pieces and testing possible fits. This tactile engagement, along with the ability to quickly try out combinations of the 3D-printed pieces, led to fresh and often unexpected insights. Once refined and simplified, this methodology, was demonstrated to the indigenous site managers who were provided with a full copy of the printed architectural fragments with a view to continuing research and to present the work to visitors, stakeholders and other scholars.
Highlights
This effort represents a technological step back from recent efforts in the virtual assembly of fragmentary data through the use of advanced computer programing, and instead denotes an attempt to capitalize on the archaeologist’s learned ability to visualize and mentally rotate irregular objects in 3D space
The case study is the highly damaged pre-Colombian monument in the high Andes of Bolivia known as the Pumapunku (Gateway of the Puma or Jaguar)
Due to the quantity of ashlars that has been lost or remains unexcavated, a full reconstruction of this building is unlikely, at least for the moment; this research reconstructs enough of the building to understand the form of the building. Those interpretations are beyond the scope of the paper; in their place, for this publication we focus on the manner in which we can revalue previous fieldwork from the last century and created a novel, effective and non-invasive methodology of reconstructing shattered architecture that can be comprehensible to a wide range of stakeholders
Summary
This effort represents a technological step back from recent efforts in the virtual assembly of fragmentary data through the use of advanced computer programing, and instead denotes an attempt to capitalize on the archaeologist’s learned ability to visualize and mentally rotate irregular objects in 3D space. The intent of the project, was to translate the inconceivable into the conceivable, or in more precise terms, to translate the complex and cumbersome data that is difficult to visualize and test into something that both our hands and our minds could grasp. Unlike pottery or bone artifacts, which archaeologists are accustomed to handling and refitting due to their smaller size, the majority of the blocks were too large to move. To overcome this challenge, the project team tested a variety of field-recording techniques, Vranich Herit Sci (2018) 6:65
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