The Andean altiplano was first occupied as early as 12,000 years ago. The early peoples roamed the Andean highlands and basins in small groups of hunters, gatherers, and fisher-folk. Excavations have revealed cave settlements dating to approximately 9,500 years ago. By 8,000 years ago, humans had dispersed across the Andes' many eco-zones, and had developed distinct ways of life adapted to these various regions. Highland-coastal interaction took place, as inhabitants participated in seasonal migrations between the lowlands and highlands.

Unfortunately, little archaeological research has been done in the Carangas region concerning early inhabitants; so many inferences have been drawn from similar, more thoroughly studied sites in southern Peru. The Peruvian site of Asana, dated to approximately 7,000 years ago, was a small open settlement of houses with stone foundations. At this same site, 5000 years ago, the buildings began to be clustered around a larger, central ceremonial building. Llama herding and transport became part of the economy, increasing trade and allowing people to specialize in certain types of production.

Complex societies began to develop in the altiplano around Lake Titicaca (Peruvian-Bolivian border) in the second and first millennia BC. At this time, village settlements appeared, reliant upon pastoral and agricultural ways of subsistence, and supplemented by hunting and fishing. Religious structures, temple complex architecture, and imagery that relates to natural forces and divine beings appeared around the same time. Decorated ceramics emerged in the Lake Titicaca basin around 1500 BC, with metallurgy following (between 1200 and 800 BC). To the south, in the wetlands around Lake Poopó, the Wankarani culture developed villages consisting of 15 to 700 circular buildings; Wankarani dwellings often included interior shrines as the focus of familial worship. Growing networks of settlements and agricultural facilities began to generate food surpluses, organized labor, and a farther-reaching system of trade.

The site of Tiwanaku, 15 kilometers southeast of Lake Titicaca, grew as a prominent center of a large society, developing a hierarchy of administrative centers between AD 600 and 1000. The Tiwanaku invested greatly in art and architecture as well as agriculture, exploiting lands and peoples in a system of labor taxes (Kolata 1993). Archaeologists have found little evidence of the Tiwanaku culture in the Carangas region.

The collapse of Tiwanaku around AD 1000 was followed by the rise of the Aymara Kingdoms. These kingdoms centered around heavily-populated towns and encompassed large territories of the altiplano in the areas near and to the south of Lake Titicaca. Terraced agriculture and herding were expanded. A new mortuary practice also began, as chullpas (large burial towers) were erected in clusters and used for the veneration of certain deceased members of society (i.e., ancestor worship) (Gisbert et al. 1996). The chullpas in the altiplano were constructed of adobe or stone and were sometimes elaborately decorated. The use of chullpas, some of which contained as many as 20 bodies, continued through Inca times. Monumental, walled, hilltop sites known as pukaras (forts) were also constructed at this time. Although many of these sites include chullpas, most scholars interpret pukaras as defensive sites providing protection against endemic warfare (Lecoq 1998).

Inca Occupation of the Altiplano-->