Dr. Andrew Roddick, Associate Professor of Anthropology, McMaster University, Ontario, Canada

The site of Tiwanaku, located on the edge of Lake Titicaca in the high plains or “altiplano” of the Bolivian Andes, has intrigued archaeologists for over a century. In recent years, however, we have seen an explosion of research at both Tiwanaku (475-1100 AD), and neighbouring earlier Late Formative (300 BC-475 AD) sites. I have been part of these efforts for almost 25 years, contributing to a more nuanced perspective to the environmental and historical processes prior to Tiwanaku. In this talk, I discuss some of the recent research on this Late Formative Period and our current understanding of Tiwanaku. I argue that while some of these social changes were gradual, there was a “big bang” – an explosion of politics, new economies, and creative endeavors - around the end of the 4th century AD. I present some of the current explanations for this “big bang” and discuss some of the processes that lead up to the first city in the highlands of Andean South America, and touch on current understandings of its downfall.