Pucará, Puno

Pucará is a major pre-Columbian ceremonial center in the northern Lake Titicaca basin of Peru, flourishing between approximately 200 BC and 200 AD. The 4.2 km2 site features monumental stone-faced terraces supporting at least six U-shaped temples with sunken courts, oriented east toward the river. Its distinctive polychrome ceramics and stone sculpture expressed a powerful religious tradition later adopted by Tiwanaku. The economy relied on camelid herding, fishing, agriculture, and raised-field cultivation.