Andrew Roddick

ANDREW RODDICK, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, was approved funding in October 2022 to aid research on “Unflattening Terminal Late Formative Tiwanaku.” This project used visualization techniques to produce new knowledge about the Late Formative (200 BC-600 AD) occupations at the Bolivian World Heritage Site of Tiwanaku. Drawing on an extensive archaeological archive, which includes field notes, sketches, and photography, we studied these under-analyzed archives to help clarify the initial founding and construction of Tiwanaku and answer questions about Late Formative time, materiality, and alterity. This potentially transformative dataset is helping a team of archaeologists and a scientific illustrator to “unflatten” the emergent urban center. Team members explored early occupation through a variety of visualization techniques, while also exploring ambiguity and uncertainty in archaeological interpretation. The project has produced new Andean archaeological data, contributed to research of emergent urban centers, and explored new possibilities in visual anthropology. We now have a database of archival images, bibliographic references, and links to resources not in the public domain. We are still working on our website component that will integrate 1) all image assets, 2) all English language text, and 3) results from the sketch cycle. Several publications are currently in preparation.