Tiwanaku Sealings and Signet Rings: Authority Transmission in the Ancient Andes

Abstract

Sealings recovered from the Omo M10 temple, a provincial center of the Andean Tiwanaku state (AD 500–1100), and from the Muru Ut Pata neighborhood of the Tiwanaku capital, as well as a signet ring from the Akapana East complex of Tiwanaku's highland capital, shed light on the hitherto undocumented use of seals and sealings in Central Andean complex society. The identification of Tiwanaku sealings related to the signet ring seal has implications for understanding the transmission of identity, authority, and authenticity over time and distance in early Andean states.

A Review of Archaeological and Paleoecological Radiocarbon Dating in Bolivia

“…Similarly, the Jach'a Marka Project conducted excavations in Mollo Kontu, a mostly residential sector located towards the south of the Tiwanaku's ceremonial core and resulting in 13 14 C dates from two separate areas, which broaden the relatively small dataset associated with domestic contexts in this large urban center (Couture et al, 2008;Mattox, 2011). Other recent efforts include six dates from Kk'araña (Marsh, 2012b) and Muru Ut Pata (Goldstein et al, 2022) residential areas located outside the ceremonial center of the site. Additional dating from rural sites within the middle and upper Tiwanaku valley has contributed towards a better understanding of cultural dynamics beyond the urban capital (Nakajima & Yoshida, 2012;Roddick & Cuynet, 2020).…”