Abstract

ALEJO TICONA, Martha. Cultural continuity and change between Inca and Colonial periods (AD 1440-1534) in an urban context at the Copacabana Sanctuary. Textos Antropológicos [online]. 2018, vol.19, n.1, pp. 105-124. ISSN 1025-3181.

The Copacabana peninsula was an important sacred region duringprehispanic times, at leastfrom the Formative to the Inca period. Its religious significance transcended these periods, and even today the town of Copacabana maintains this character, which concentrates mainly in the Copacabana Sanctuary. Excavations carried out as part of the author’s undergraduate thesis degree research, in an urban context located in the southeast sector ofthe Copacabana Basilica, uncovered late prehispanic as well as early colonial occupations. Cultural materials found correspond to the Inca period included ceramics related to ritual and feasting activities and to American majolica from the seventeen century, located at the upper levels ofthe excavations. This data suggests an Inca occupation followed by a later Spanish presence, after the conquest ofthe Lake Titicaca region. The exploration ofchanges and continuities between both periods using written sources as well as the archaeological record let us know the lifeways ofnative populations before and after the Hispanic-indigenous contact

Keywords : Copacabana; Inca period; Colonial period; majolica; Bolivia.