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Though the site is believed to have been in use since at least 1500 BCE, Tihuanaco did not truly become a city and urban center for another 2000 years, when it began to establish itself as the leader of one of the most important pre-Inca empires in South America. Located on the Southern tip of Lake Titicaca, in Bolivia, Tihuanaco would lead an empire spanning parts of Bolivia, Peru, and Chile. At its height, the city boasted 6.5km of land and up to 30,000 inhabitants, before its climate-based decline between CE 950-1000. The site of Huari meanwhile was at peak occupation from approximately CE 500-900, though existing in some form up to 1100. Encompassing a similar sized area of land, though located fully in Peru, there is still debate on whether the Wari culture group was even cohesive enough to be considered a true empire, or a set of loosely related polities (Shady, 2001).

While the two civilizations shared approximately 500km of border space, direct contact between the two has been hard to support through archaeological evidence. There is, however, enough of it to lead to the obvious conclusion that these people could not simply be living amongst one another with no contact whatsoever. The textile and ceramic production of both cultures, while clearly distinct, share some similar traits, including production methods and iconography. There is also evidence via analysis of Strontium level in recovered teeth that colonists from certain areas were moving during their lifetimes from one settlement to another. In one location, in the Moquegua Valley, direct contact between the two cultures is evident, with settlements of the two cultures located within close proximity.

It is believed that nearing CE 1000, both civilizations, nearing their collapse, regrouped into smaller polities, one of which would go on to become the Inka state, the largest and furthest reaching Pre-Columbian empire in the Americas. The reasons for the schisms and recombination are unclear, but may be related to a widespread drought in the region between 950-1050. This destabilization of the agricultural system of the Wari, as well as the lack of confidence in the Tiwanaku political leadership after the resettlements may be behind the subsequent and near simultaneous collapses.

For further reading regarding the subject, Stephanie Pavolini's argument has a great deal of good information as well.