Browsing by Autor "Christophe Delaere"

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Gateway to the east: the Palaspata temple and the south-eastern expansion of the Tiwanaku state
(Cambridge University Press, 2025) José M. Capriles; Sergio Calla Maldonado; Julio Calero; Christophe Delaere
The nature and extent of the Tiwanaku state expansion in the Andes during the second half of the first millennium AD continues to be debated. Here, the authors report on the recent discovery of an archaeological complex 215km south-east of Tiwanaku, where a large, modular building with an integrated, sunken courtyard strongly resembles a Tiwanaku terraced platform temple and demonstrates substantial state investment. Constructed, the authors argue, to directly control inter-regional traffic and trade between the highlands and the eastern valleys of Cochabamba, the complex represents a gateway node that effectively materialised the power and influence of the Tiwanaku state.
Holocene variations in Lake Titicaca water level and their implications for sociopolitical developments in the central Andes
(National Academy of Sciences, 2023) Stéphane Guédron; Christophe Delaere; Sherilyn C. Fritz; Julie Tolu; Pierre Sabatier; Anne-Lise Devel; Carlos Heredia; Claire Vérin; Eduardo Queiroz Alves; Paul A. Baker
Holocene climate in the high tropical Andes was characterized by both gradual and abrupt changes, which disrupted the hydrological cycle and impacted landscapes and societies. High-resolution paleoenvironmental records are essential to contextualize archaeological data and to evaluate the sociopolitical response of ancient societies to environmental variability. Middle-to-Late Holocene water levels in Lake Titicaca were reevaluated through a transfer function model based on measurements of organic carbon stable isotopes, combined with high-resolution profiles of other geochemical variables and paleoshoreline indicators. Our reconstruction indicates that following a prolonged low stand during the Middle Holocene (4000 to 2400 BCE), lake level rose rapidly ~15 m by 1800 BCE, and then increased another 3 to 6 m in a series of steps, attaining the highest values after ~1600 CE. The largest lake-level increases coincided with major sociopolitical changes reported by archaeologists. In particular, at the end of the Formative Period (500 CE), a major lake-level rise inundated large shoreline areas and forced populations to migrate to higher elevation, likely contributing to the emergence of the Tiwanaku culture.
Reconstructing two millennia of copper and silver metallurgy in the Lake Titicaca region (Bolivia/Peru) using trace metals and lead isotopic composition
(Elsevier BV, 2021) Stéphane Guédron; Julie Tolu; Christophe Delaere; Pierre Sabatier; Julien Barré; Carlos Heredia; Élodie Brisset; Sylvain Campillo; Richard Bindler; Sherilyn C. Fritz
The context and meaning of an intact Inca underwater offering from Lake Titicaca
(Cambridge University Press, 2020) Christophe Delaere; José M. Capriles
As the Inca Empire expanded across the South American Andes during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries AD, Lake Titicaca became its mythical place of origin and the location of a pilgrimage complex on the Island of the Sun. This complex included an underwater reef where stone boxes containing miniature figurines of gold, silver and shell were submerged as ritual offerings. This article reports a newly discovered stone offering box from a reef close to the lake's north-eastern shore. The location, content and broader socio-cultural context of Inca sacrifices are examined to illuminate the religious and social meaning of underwater ritual offerings at Lake Titicaca.
The hydraulic network of the pre-Hispanic city of Tiwanaku (Bolivia): New insights from the integration of canal morphology, hydrogeological and palaeoenvironmental data
(Elsevier BV, 2023) Marc‐Antoine Vella; Grégory Bièvre; Christophe Delaere; Julien Thiesson; Roger Guérin; Claudia Rivera-Casanovas; Stéphane Guédron