Tiwanaku: Ancestors of the Inca
*Starred Review* Bolivia's Tiwanaku flourished between 200 and 1000 C.E. as a capital city that, at its height, housed 40,000, with a half-million in the surrounding area. Domestication of llamas and alpacas by nomadic herders, plus subsequent development of irrigated, raised-field agriculture, including fish raised in the canals, created a productive agricultural system. The resultant high culture, however, was lost by the sixteenth century because it lacked a writing system, and consequently knowledge of Tiwanaku comes from archaeological digs. This lavishly illustrated catalog examines the arts, with an emphasis on textiles, and culture in scholarly essays that also discuss the city's religion, layout, and architecture, as well as the contemporaneous Wari civilization in Peru. Photographs and drawings abound, including aerial views and documentation of portrait ceramics and gold discs. Despite its importance to Incan culture, Tiwanaku is too little known, a lack this surpassing volume will help correct.Whitney ScottCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved