Chiripa Archaeological site

Chiripa is a Formative Period site on the Taraco Peninsula overlooking Lake Titicaca in Bolivia, occupied from c. 1400 to 100 BC. Its artificial mound (60 x 55 m, 6 m high) supports a temple-storage complex of rectangular double-walled adobe buildings arranged around a central sunken court. Storage bins within contained quinoa and freeze-dried potatoes, while ceremonial trumpets and Yaya-Mama style stone sculptures attest to the site's ritual significance. Chiripa served as a prototype for later Pucara temple complexes and was central to the Yaya-Mama Religious Tradition that unified Lake Titicaca Basin populations for over a millennium.