Camelid pastoralism and the emergence of Tiwanaku civilization in the South‐Central Andes

Abstract

Abstract The Andean tablelands and valleys around and south of Lake Titicaca form a coherent cultural area with a history of development that is distinctive in the American context. Early camelid pastoralism and root crop agriculture, probably native to this high region, become the basis of an altitudinally or vertically oriented system of production from complementary environmental zones. From an early pattern of transhumance by hunters and gatherers, through pastoral nomadism and caravan networks, to a stylistically and economically integrated regional civilization, cultural development in the South‐Central Andes has an integrity of tradition that is dependent on camelids and their products.