Metal clamps and interlocking stone blocks of Tiwanaku
Grapas metálicas y sillares ensamblados de Tiwanaku
- Date
- c. 600 · confidence low
- Place
- Tiwanaku, La Paz, Bolivia
- Credited to
- Tiwanaku culture
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Sandstone and andesite blocks cut with H- and I-shaped sockets to hold poured-metal clamps, so the blocks of Pumapunku are tied to one another without mortar. It is a precise assembly technique without precedent in the Andes.
The clamp sockets are clear; the clamp composition (copper-arsenic alloy) and Pumapunku's chronology within the Tiwanaku period (c. 500-1000 AD) are still under study. There are no written sources.
What it led to
- highly precise fitted-block masonry in the Andes
- structural use of copper alloys in building
- later influence on Inca fitted-stone masonry