15.9

The Ponce Monolith, named for Bolivian archaeologist Carlos Ponce S., was discovered at Tiahuanaco by his excavation team, in fill near the center of the Kalasasaya mound, where it was probably interred by seventeenth-century extirpators of idolatries. It is assigned to the third phase of Late SAIS iconography at Tiahuanaco by Agüero, Uribe and Berenguer (2003), and it is the stylistically earliest monument to represent the entire Late SAIS triad, Staff God, Profile Attendants, and Rayed Head. This photo, taken by W. H. Isbell in 1964, shows the statue in the excavation pit where it was discovered.