Redefining plant use at the formative site of Chiripa in the Southern Titicaca Basin

Abstract

In the Lake Titicaca Basin the transition from gathering and hunting to intensive agriculture occurred some time between 1500 BC to AD 500 and is coincidental with the group of archaeological cultures classified as Formative in Bolivia (equivalent to the Initial Period-Early Horizon in Peru). The placement of this important material and cultural change in a context of environmental and economic change is central to explaining the growth and intensive settlement of the Altiplano (capitalized here to specify the Lake Titicaca Basin region). The origin of the Tiwanaku manifestation with its conspicuous material cultural production and territorially wide distribution in the South Central Andes lies in the Formative. © 2006 Springer.