Sun Island in Bolivia ’s Lake Titicaca was once the site of ritualistic offerings to supernatural deities in what was one of the other Andean states , a social club that hold up potentially more than a millennia before Incas arrived in the domain . The breakthrough pushes back our agreement of how and when ancient political State formed .
" People often link the Island of the Sun with the Incas because it was an important pilgrimage localisation for them and because they left behind numerous ceremonial buildings and offerings on and around this island , " aver study authorJose Caprilesin astatement . " Our research shows that the Tiwanaku people , who rise in Lake Titicaca between 500 and 1,100 AD , were the first people to offer items of value to religious deities in the area . "
Publishing their work inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , an international team of investigator conducted underwater archeological archeological site in the Khoa Reef using sonar and underwater three - dimensional photogrammetry in club to glance over and map out the Witwatersrand , as well as dredge the field to turn up archaeological relics . Found within the deposit layers were ceramic puma incense burners , evidence of sacrifice adolescent llamas , and ornamentation made of gold , shell , and stones .
" The finding , and specially the ceramic puma - form incense burners , are important because they help us win a broader understanding of the ritual demeanour and faith of the Tiwanaku nation – a society that preceded the Incas by several hundred days , " tell study co - author Christophe Delaere .
linchpin found near the offer sites suggest that those function the rituals may have dropped the offerings from aboard a ship to intentionally sink them . The generator note that the area was probably crucial given its rude looker and convenient fundamental location in the Andes Mountains .
" It was a strategic and ritually charge place , " explain Capriles . " At the Island of the Sun and the Khoa Reef , spiritual specialists could come together for sacred ceremonies . The ritual offerings they made here demonstrate the transitioning of guild from more local - based religious systems to something that had a more ambitious geopolitical and ghostly solicitation . "
The emergence of organized organized religion would have lead to the integration of group live around the lake , ultimately make the Tiwanaku commonwealth with a political hierarchy . In this case , the beliefs and recitation not only legitimized new political organisation but also incentivized people to chip in to lodge .
