ABSTRACT
At Tiwanaku and Lukurmata most excavated Tiwanaku Period occupations rest on precultural soil (Bermann 1994; Ponce 1993). However, at both sites recent research demonstrates clear evidence for relatively smallscale Middle Formative occupation, in both cases distant from later monumental complexes. At Tiwanaku, abundant Middle Formative ceramics were found in Late Formative 1 occupation contexts in the Kk’araña area (Figure 3.3A). Although excavations here located no well-defined Middle Formative occupation, they also had stopped short of precultural soil. Recent surface survey in Mollo Kontu also revealed Middle Formative ceramics, alluding to contemporaneous settlement approximately two kilometers to the south (Blom et al. 2003).
