In 2005, the Denver Art Museum hosted a symposium in conjunction with the exhibition Tiwanaku: Ancestors of the Inca. An international array of scholars of Tiwanaku, Wari, and Inca art and archaeology presented results of the latest research conducted in Bolivia, Chile, and Peru.

With essays by Leonardo Benitez (University of Pennsylvania), Susan E. Bergh (Cleveland Museum of Art), Christiane Clados (Free University of Berlin), William J. Conklin (Field Museum of Chicago and The Textile Museum, Washington D.C.), Georgia de Havenon (Brooklyn Museum), John Hoopes (University of Kansas), William H. Isbell (State University of New York, Binghamton) and Patricia J. Knobloch (Institute of Andean Studies), Krzysztof Makowski Hanula (Pontifica Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima), Alexei Vranich (University of Pennsylvania), Patrick Ryan Williams (Field Museum of Chicago), R.T. Zuidema (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champagne).

The development of the ritual core of Tiwanaku / Alexei Vranich -- The power of an icon : references to the Gateway of the Sun from the 19th century to the present / Georgia de Havenon -- Descendants of the sun : calendars, myth, and the Tiwanaku state / Leonardo Benitez -- Tiwanaku iconography and the calendar / R.T. Zuidema -- New perspectives on Tiwanaku iconography / Christiane Clados -- The iconic dimension in Tiwanaku art / William J. Conklin -- Royal statues, staff gods, and the religious ideology of the prehistoric state of Tiwanaku / Krysztof Makowski Hanula -- SAIS, the origin, development, and dating of Tiahuanaco-Huari iconography / William H. Isbell and Patricia J. Knobloch -- Wari and Tiwanaku borderlands / Patrick Ryan Williams -- The bird and the camelid (or deer) : a ranked pair of Wari tapestry tunics / Susan E. Bergh -- From Tiwanaku to Machu Picchu : ushnus and the architecture of creation / John Hoopes.

In 2005, the Denver Art Museum hosted a symposium in conjunction with the exhibition Tiwanaku: Ancestors of the Inca. An international array of scholars of Tiwanaku, Wari, and Inca art and archaeology presented results of the latest research conducted in Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. This copiously illustrated volume, edited by Margaret Young-Sánchez of the Denver Art Museum, presents revised and amplified papers from the symposium.
Essays by archaeologists Alexei Vranich and Leonardo Benitez (both University of Pennsylvania) describe what their excavation and astronomical research have yielded at the site of Tiwanaku, in Bolivia. Georgia DeHavenon (Brooklyn Museum) surveys historical research and publications on Tiwanaku and its monuments. Christiane Clados (Free University of Berlin) and William Conklin (Field Museum, Textile Museum) each analyze styles and modes of representation in Tiwanaku art and arrive at provocative conclusions. R. Tom Zuidema reconsiders Tiwanaku iconography and sculptural composition, discerning complex calendrical information. Through a detailed analysis of Tiwanaku iconography, Krysztof Makowski (Pontifical Catholic University of Peru) examines the nature of Tiwanaku religious thought. Archaeologists and iconographers William Isbell (State University of New York, Binghamton) and Patricia Knobloch (Institute of Andean Studies) thoroughly discuss what they term the Southern Andean Interaction Sphere, which encompasses Tiwanaku, Wari, Pucara, and Atacama traditions. P. Ryan Williams (Field Museum) discusses the issue of identity and its expression at the territorial interface between the Tiwanaku and Wari states. Wari tunics and their imagery are examined by Susan Bergh (Cleveland Museum of Art), yielding evidence of ranking. And John Hoopes (University of Kansas) discusses both archaeological and ethnohistoric evidence of links between ancient Tiwanaku and the later Inca.

Bringing together current research on Pucara, Tiwanaku, Wari, and Inca art and archaeology, this volume will be an important resource for scholars and enthusiasts of ancient South America.