KALASASAYA

The main ceremonial platform at Tiwanaku is Kalasasaya, just north of Akapana. The platform measures 135 meters by 130 meters, and is surrounded by a retaining wall of dressed stone slabs filled with smaller masonry. Located along the edge of the platform are post holes, presumably for small hut like structures that may have served as shrines, or residences of priests residing at Tiwanaku.

Within Kalasasaya are massive stone blocks, or stelae, in the shape of pillar like people. These figures may represent elaborately costumed portraits of rulers, or priest from Tiwanaku. In one hand these figures hold a banded kero (drinking cup) against their chest, and a scepter like object in the other hand. It is suggested that the ritual content of the stela at Tiwanaku link agriculture, llama husbandry, and calendrics reflecting the social, ideological and ecological relationship between pastoralism and agriculture on the altiplano.

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