Titicaca: The sacred lake reveals its secrets [View all]

17 June 2021
Last update:20 April 2023
Photos: Teddy Seguin / Université Libre de Bruxelles

Text: Katerina Markelova, UNESCO

It has been lying at a depth of six metres for nearly five centuries. Yet the Inca stone offering box found in Lake Titicaca in 2014 emerged almost intact from the water. Inside the box was a miniature shell figurine of a llama, and a rolled cylindrical gold sheet – signs of religiosity and power in the Inca Empire.

Located in the Andes mountains between Bolivia and Peru, at an altitude of 3,810 metres, Lake Titicaca occupied a central place in the mythology of two powerful pre-Columbian states – the Tiwanaku civilization, which reached its peak between 600 AD and 1050 AD, and the Inca Empire, which was at its height in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Since 2012, the lake has been the focus of underwater archaeological excavations by the Free University of Brussels (ULB) and an international team of archaeological divers led by Christophe Delaere.

Carried out with the support of the Bolivian authorities and in collaboration with the local inhabitants, the operations have led to the discovery of twenty-five new submerged sites – including shrines for offerings, ancient dwellings, and the earliest-known pre-Columbian port. Over 20,000 objects have been catalogued and studied.

More:
https://courier.unesco.org/en/articles/titicaca-sacred-lake-reveals-its-secrets#