ABSTRACT
Radical changes characterized Tiwanaku cultural development in Early Tiwanaku V. Ponce (1981) has characterized Tiwanaku V as a time of state expansion and imperial consolidation, a time when Tiwanaku military forces charged abroad to conquer and incorporate vast regions and polities, including Wari in the Ayacucho Basin of southern Peru. Yet ongoing research indicates that Tiwanaku never conquered Wari. In fact, the relationship between the two polities, most likely one of tense coexistence, remains enigmatic to this day. Further, many regions once thought to be under Tiwanaku political control and colonization, it turns out, were rather inhabited by local polities engaged in intense interaction with Tiwanaku. On a map, Tiwanaku would appear as so many modes and branches of influence and power rather than a contiguous territory of state expansion. Key areas of direct control included the southern Lake Titicaca Basin, focused on the contiguous valleys of Tiwanaku and Katari, the Cochabamba Valley to the southeast, and the Moquegua Valley, Peru, to the west.
