Pucará, Puno (

Aymara Aymara may refer to: Languages and people * Aymaran languages, the second most widespread Andean language ** Aymara language, the main language within that family ** Central Aymara, the other surviving branch of the Aymara(n) family, which today ...

and

Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several Indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, an Indigenous South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language ...

: ''Pukara'', which means

fortress A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from L ...

; Hispanicized spellings ''Pucará, Pucara'', also ''Pukará'') is a town in the

Puno Region Puno () is a department and region in southeastern Peru. It is the fifth largest department in Peru, after Cuzco, Madre de Dios, Ucayali, and Loreto. It is bordered by Bolivia on the east, the departments of Madre de Dios on the north, Cusc ...

, Lampa Province, Pucará District,

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. It is located to the north-west of

Lake Titicaca Lake Titicaca (; ; ) is a large freshwater lake in the Andes mountains on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It is often called the highest navigable lake in the world. Titicaca is the largest lake in South America, both in terms of the volume of ...

. The ancient archaeological site of Pucará, dated as early as 1,800 BC, is located to the west of the town. The site is very large, spread in the area of approximately 4.2 km2. This was the first large urban center in the region. The site also gave its name to what some archaeologists refer to as a distinct ''Pukara culture''.mincetur.gob.pe
"Complejo arqueológico de Pukara", retrieved on January 27, 2014 The site was declared a National Cultural Heritage ''(Patrimonio Cultural)'' of Peru by the

National Institute of Culture The Ministry of Culture (, MINCUL) is the government ministry of Peru in charge of the promotion of Peruvian culture and identity. It was created on 20 July 2010, during the Second presidency of Alan García. It replaced the National Institute ...

Ancient cultural center

This was an important highland administrative and religious center. There was a ceremonial sector and the urban sector or city. The ceremonial sector is composed of 9 pyramids of various shapes and sizes, the most important being the pyramid ''Kalasaya''. This structure is built of large monoliths of finely crafted stone, and includes some sculptures. In front of the pyramid, there is a staircase to the upper temple decorated with stelae. There are also figures of mythological beings of men and animals, such as frogs, snakes, fish, and pumas. There was also a large sunken central court containing carved stone steles.

Pukara culture

This was an influential culture north of Lake Titicaca, centred at Pukara. This culture incorporated earlier communities of the Chiripa period, and ultimately dominated the entire lake region by 200 BC. The Pukara engaged in agriculture, herding and fishing. The population lived in small towns and villages, which was ruled from central location.Initial Period Origins of Titicaca Basin Civilization
unm.edu Pukara ceramics are painted in various colours. They are finely made, and include many non-utilitarian forms, such as human and animal motifs. Pukara pottery and textiles are found widely in the middle Andean, and the coastal Pacific valleys, reaching out into Peru and Chile. The rise of

Tiwanaku Tiwanaku ( or ) is a Pre-Columbian archaeological site in western Bolivia, near Lake Titicaca, about 70 kilometers from La Paz, and it is one of the largest sites in South America. Surface remains currently cover around 4 square kilometers and in ...

may have contributed to the weakening of Pukara around 200 AD.

Qaluyu

The site of Qaluyu is 4 km from Pukara, and is the type-site of the Qaluyu culture that preceded the Pukara. Qaluyu is a moderate-sized mound (about 7 ha), and it was discovered by

Manuel Chávez Ballón Manuel may refer to: People * Manuel (name), a given name and surname * Manuel (''Fawlty Towers''), a fictional character from the sitcom ''Fawlty Towers'' * Manuel I Komnenos, emperor of the Byzantine Empire * Manuel I of Portugal, king of Po ...

, and was test-excavated in 1955 by Alfred Kidder and Ballón.Aimee M. Plourde and Charles Stanish (2005)
The emergence of complex society in the Titicaca Basin: the view from the north
academia.edu Qaluyu culture was the dominant early culture of the north Titicaca Basin, and it is dated traditionally to 1400–500 BC. There are Qaluyu occupations under the main temples at Pucara. There are also several Qaluyu period settlements around the towns of Arapa and Taraco, and also in the Huancane- Putina river valley that have been discovered recently. Some of them are about 20ha in size, much bigger than Qaluyu. These areas are located about 40–60 km to the west of Pukara. Near the town of Taraco, recent researchStanish and Chavez, 2004 uncovered a long Qaluyu and Pucara archaeological sequence. There are also a great number of Qaluyu and Pucara stelae.

Climate

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