Tilata is a small village site located in the modern community of Huacullani, not far from the eastern boundary of the survey area. The sherd scatter covers 3.56 ha, and contains ceramics from most periods in the regional sequence. It seems to have been continuously occupied from the EF2 Period through the Late Horizon.
The site is located on the lower slopes of the hills, facing to the North. The lakeshore is at present more than 1.5 km north of the site. The valley bottom adjacent to the site is occupied by a large swampy area containing the remains of numerous raised field agricultural features. Many of these were almost certainly worked during the Tiwanaku Period occupation of Tilata.
Roughly in the center of the sherd scatter the is situated a substantial mound construction, some 50x50 m. Atop this mound, which is certainly prehispanic in date, is a modern house belonging to the current owner of the site. The house itself contains numerous shaped stone blocks of both andesite and sandstone. These blocks were almost certainly recovered from the remains of prehistoric structures. The andesite, at least, probably dates to the Tiwanaku Period. This is a clear indication of at least a modest public architectural construction at the site. This was almost certainly located on the mound itself.
The mound seems to have been used as a cemetery in post-Tiwanaku times, and a number of looted stone cyst tombs are evident on the surface. The landowner showed me several complete vessels he had encountered while working the fields, including a complete Tiwanaku kero and a Late Horizon aryballoid vessel. He also informed me of a sculpted stone plaque, which from his cursory description may date to the MF or LF1 Periods. The piece was buried under a cache of dung fuel at the time of my visit, and I have been unable as yet to return to document the specimen. I should also note that both Cesar Callisaya and John Janusek have informed me on separate occasions that they had visited the site some years beforehand and had encountered stone tenon heads on the surface. I found none of these during my own inspection, however.
The site was initially occupied during the EF2 Period. It grew slowly through the MF and LF1 and LF2 Periods. Its growth continued during the Tiwanaku Period. Sector E has a population index of 190, up from 131 for the LF2 Sector D, an annual growth rate of 0.06%. This is somewhat below the phase average, though it must be remembered that this particular site was not surface collected, and that these sector size determinations are therefore provisional.
Finally, it must be noted that this site lies in the border zone between the Taraco Peninsula and the Pampa Koani. The Tiwanaku period city of Lukurmata (cf. [Bermann 1990,Bermann 1994,Janusek 1994]) is in fact visible from the site. I imagine, though I cannot at present demonstrate this, that Tilata fell within the economic and administrative orbit of Lukurmata. Settlement determinants in the Pampa Koani at this time (see [Janusek and Kolata 2002]) were very different from those on the Taraco Peninsula. In considering the settlement history of Tilata and nearby sites this fact cannot be forgotten.