Visualizing the Late Formative (200 BC - 600 AD) at the World Heritage Site of Tiwanaku

FAIN: FEL-289777-23

Kathryn Jean Killackey
Unaffiliated independent scholar

Research, writing, and illustration leading to a web-based visualization of the World Heritage site of Tiwanaku, in Bolivia, during the Late Formative period (200 BC to AD 600). 

Images are crucial to archaeological research. While archaeologists have contributed to discourse on image production and called for centering visualization methodologies, few have applied more robust modes of visualization at the project level. I address this gap with my project, Visualizing the Late Formative (200 BC - AD 600) at the World Heritage Site of Tiwanaku, by using a more integrated visualization methodology to develop an interactive website about an important Bolivian archaeological site. This innovative approach uses visualization as a powerful tool for understanding complex excavation histories, creating new narratives around overlooked occupations, and sharing rich visions of the past with the public. The website will provide a window into Late Formative Tiwanaku and a record of the interpretive process. Digital publication in English and Bolivia’s national languages (Spanish and Aymara) will make it accessible to international audiences.

Associated Products

Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes: Reembodying Tiwanaku’s Sunken Temple (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes: Reembodying Tiwanaku’s Sunken Temple
Author: Andrew Roddick
Author: Kathryn Killackey
Author: Giles Morrow
Abstract: Scholars working in the Lake Titicaca region have mobilized increasingly precise radiocarbon dates to tease apart the timing of Tiwanaku. This work is shifting our visions of the ancient altiplano, demanding new ways of seeing the earliest phases of this urban center. Our current project uses visualization techniques to produce new knowledge about the Late Formative phases at "proto-urban" Tiwanaku. While reconstructions conducted in the 1960s froze the site as a timeless state capital, a number of under-analyzed archives are helping us to "unflatten" the emergent center. In this paper, we revisit the most well-known Formative space at Tiwanaku, the semi-subterranean temple. We present archival evidence, new photogrammetry results, and artistic renderings to query what is known and what remains uncertain about this under-examined enclosure.
Date: 11/26/2024
Primary URL: https://ncaae.org/
Primary URL Description: Home page of the 41st Northeast Conference on Andean and Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory.
Conference Name: Northeast Conference on Andean and Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory

Sketching Late Formative Tiwanaku (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Sketching Late Formative Tiwanaku
Author: Kathryn Killackey
Author: Andrew Roddick
Abstract: Our project, “Visualizing the Late Formative (200 BC - 600 AD) at the World Heritage Site of Tiwanaku”, uses an integrated visualization methodology to explore an important Bolivian archaeological site. This paper presents our ongoing efforts to thoughtfully use sketching to synthesize different data sets, highlight knowledge gaps, and raise new questions. Our aim is not a polished final image but rather to probe the role of informal sketches in the discursive process of interpretation and the generation of hypotheses. We also examine how researchers might carry these beneficial aspects of “sketchiness” forward into image creation for publication, unpacking (rather than masking) uncertainty for our colleagues and various publics. This approach uses sketching as a powerful tool for understanding complex excavation histories, creating new narratives around overlooked occupations, and sharing rich visions of past places with the public.
Date: 05/22/2024
Primary URL: https://tagsantafe.com/
Primary URL Description: Homepage of the 2024 meeting of the North American Theoretical Archaeology Group.
Conference Name: North American Theoretical Archaeology Group

Visualizing the Origins of Monumentality: the Case of Tiwanaku, Bolivia (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Visualizing the Origins of Monumentality: the Case of Tiwanaku, Bolivia
Author: Alexei Vranich
Author: Kathryn Killackey
Author: Andrew Roddick
Author: Erik Marsh
Abstract: Archaeologists examining early urban formations in the Andean Lake Titicaca basin have recently framed them as early “proto-urban” centers. In this paper, we reflect on our current understanding of the region’s proto-urbanism by deploying visualization methodologies to synthesize the evidence for Late Formative occupation at Tiwanaku (AD 200–600). While excavations and reconstructions conducted in the 1950s and 60s concentrated on the later remains and froze the site as a timeless state capital, a number of under-analyzed archives are helping us to “unflatten” the emergent urban center into various periods of development. In addition, scholars have recently used increasingly precise radiocarbon dates to tease apart what made such social and political formations unique, from their seasonality, trade interactions, visuality of material culture, and extended kin networks. Our work at Tiwanaku and other sites in the region, such as Khonkho Wankane, is shifting our visions of the ancient altiplano, demanding new ways of seeing these early centers. We discuss some of the results from this ongoing effort.
Date: 04/20/2024
Primary URL: https://core.tdar.org/document/497960/visualizing-the-origins-of-monumentality-the-case-of-tiwanaku-bolivia
Primary URL Description: The Digital Archaeological Record archive of the abstract for the paper "Visualizing the Origins of Monumentality: The Case of Tiwanaku, Bolivia"' from the Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting program.
Conference Name: Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting

The Parts Are More Than The Whole: uncertainty and the unknown in archaeological illustration (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: The Parts Are More Than The Whole: uncertainty and the unknown in archaeological illustration
Author: Kathryn Killackey
Abstract: Looking back through Dr. Lisa Trever’s book “Image Encounters: Moche Murals and Archaeo Art History”, I am drawn to her use of careful observation and multimodal imagery to create rich visions of the past at the archaeological site of Pañamarca, Peru. This approach resonates with some of the ways I’ve thought about and deployed archaeological illustration over my career, my preoccupation with integrating illustration with the research process, how one presents uncertain and changing interpretations, and ways of navigating the fragmented archaeological record. My current project, "Visualizing the Late Formative (200 BC - 600 AD) at the World Heritage Site of Tiwanaku", a collaboration between myself and an international group of Andean archaeologists, has been my chance to apply a more integrated visualization methodology to the development of an interactive website about the important Bolivian archaeological site. This is an image-led research project, based on close looking facilitated by sketching, the layering of many types of image, and the documentation of interpretive process. In this talk, I use my NEH-Mellon Foundation fellowship project as a case study to present my experimentations with multi-modal analysis and the benefits of careful observation to envision a more textured and nuanced past.
Date: 11/22/2024
Conference Name: "Representing The Unknown", the Bard Graduate Center 2023 Horowitz Book Award symposium for Dr. Lisa Trever's book, "Image Encounters: Moche Murals and Archaeo Art History"

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