The Casarabe culture (c. 500–1400 AD) was a pre-Columbian civilization in the Amazonas region. Traces of this civilization are found in the Llanos de Moxos in Bolivia.
The Casarabe culture developed in parallel with the Tiwanaku state. The architecture of the Casarabe culture is characterized by stepped platforms supporting U-shaped structures, rectangular platform mounds and conical pyramids made of rammed earth, reaching heights of up to 22 metres. The sites of Cotoca and Landívar were primary centres in the settlement network of the Casarabe culture.
A research team led by Heiko Prümers of the Commission for Archaeology of Non-European Cultures of the German Archaeological Institute demonstrated that people in the Amazon region also lived in an advanced agrarian society. Using lidar technology, a total of 67 settlements of the Casarabe culture have so far been surveyed in the Bolivian Amazon lowlands. In the study presented in 2022, lidar data demonstrated the existence of two large sites covering 147 and 315 hectares.
A total of 92 sites were located, 61 of which had defensive structures. Terraces, straight causeways, enclosures with checkpoints and water reservoirs were also recorded. Around 1,000 kilometres of canals and raised causeways documented so far connected the sites with one another.
The Casarabe culture area, spanned approximately 4,500 km², with one of the large settlement sites controlling an area of approximately 500 km². An area the size of England is said to have been used for agriculture, particularly maize cultivation, as well as hunting and fishing. A study of 125 skeletons found mortality rates comparable to those of pre-industrial and Neolithic civilizations. With a mortality rate of around 20% during the first year of life, average life expectancy was 21.9 years, with women having a significantly lower life expectancy of 20.6 years compared with 26.6 years for men. The usual age at death for people who survived childhood was between 30 and 40 years.
The partly newly discovered cities of the Casarabe culture in the Llanos de Moxos region have been compared with the monumental architecture of the Tiwanaku, Inca, Maya and Aztecs.
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