Tiwanaku Empire Timeline and Description. The Tiwanaku Empire (also spelled Tiahuanaco) dominated portions of what is now Peru, Argentina, Chile, and Bolivia in South America for four hundred years (AD 550-950). The capital city, also called Tiwanaku, was located on the southern shores of Lake Titicaca, on the border between Bolivia and Peru. Tiwanaku Chronology Tiwanaku IV (Tiwanaku Period), AD 400-800 Tiwanaku V, AD 800-1150 The capital city of Tiwanaku lies in the high river basins of the Tiwanaku and Katari rivers, at altitudes between 4200 and 3800 meters above sea level. The basin floors on which the Tiwanaku lived were marshy and flooded seasonally because of snow melt from the Quelcceya ice cap.
Tiahuanaco: Gatway to the Gods. By Dan Eden for viewzone Ask most people who are the oldest civilization or where the oldest civilization lived and you'll here answers like Mesopotamia (Iraq), Egypt or Iran. While these cultures can be traced back to 4000 B.C., the mysterious ruins of Tiahuanaco, in Bolivia, could be 14,000 years old! Interactive Dig Tiwanaku - Revealing Ancient Bolivia. The prehistoric city of Tiwanaku is located on the southern shore of the famous Lake Titicaca along the border between Bolivia and Peru.
During the heyday of this city was between A.D. 500 and 950, religious artifacts from the city spread across the southern Andes, but when the conquering Inka arrived in the mid-fifteenth century, the site had been mysteriously abandoned for half a millennium. Even after its abandonment, Tiwanaku continued to be an important religious site for the local people. It later became incorporated into Inka mythology as the birthplace of mankind as the Inka built their own structures alongside the ruins.