A joint team of Bolivian and international divers has located an underwater ritual site near the Island of the Sun in Lake Titicaca. The site yielded a trove of Tiwanaku-era artifacts, including gold medallions, incense burners shaped like pumas, and ceremonial stone boxes that had been lowered into the depths as offerings to the lake deities.
The high state of preservation in the cold, deep waters allows for new insights into the religious practices of the Tiwanaku state. The presence of artifacts from hundreds of miles away suggests that the lake was a pilgrimage destination for diverse groups across the Andes.