Tiwanaku collapse aftermath in the Andes

1150

Across the southern Andes, the long collapse of the Tiwanaku civilization around Lake Titicaca had left a landscape of smaller chiefdoms fighting for control of llama caravans, mineral deposits, and terraced fields. The power vacuum that the Incas would later fill was still forming. These warring groups built hilltop fortresses called pukaras, their cyclopean walls testifying to an era of endemic conflict among communities that had once shared a common culture.