The principal focus of the Proyecto Jach'a Machaca has been the site of Khonkho Wankane, which is located in an inland portion of the Upper Desaguadero basin, approximately 25 kilometers south of Tiwanaku and on the southern foothills of an imposing mountain range. Khonkho Wankane was a major pre-Tiwanaku and pre-Inca center that peaked during the so-called Late Formative Period of the south-central Andes, from approximately AD 1 to AD 500.

Yet the project has conducted investigations at numerous settlements. Research at Iruhito (Irohito) is particularly important. Iruhito is a community located on the east bank of the Desaguadero River, approximately 30 km (about a day's walk) to the west of Khonkho Wankane. Community members identify as 'Uru,' an ethnic-like modality of identity grounded in specific productive and linguistic practices. The landscape they inhabit is home to an ancient and enduring settlement that has been occupied since at least 800 BC. A primary goal of our investigation is to compare Khonkho with Iruhito in light of their specific geographies, histories, and social identities.

Project member are also investigating later historical phases in the region. Vanderbilt Ph.D. candidate Jennifer Zovar targets her research on the Late Intermediate phases of occupation in Machaca, focusing in particular on the high-altitude site of Pukara de Khonkho, just north of Khonkho itself. Also important is the site of Kula Marka, located on a knoll just and south of Pukara de Khonkho. Excavations here revealed an important Inca regional settlement that, perhaps as early as 1538, was home to an early Spanish Colonial chapel.

Most recently, Jach'a Machaca has transformed into a collaborative project of archaeology and ethnography. In 2007, archaeologist John Janusek, archaeology principal investigator, and ethnographer Andrew Canessa, who had conducted ethnographic research in the Omasuyus region of Bolivia for over two decades, decided to join forces. Our trans-disciplinary research investigates the changing 'place' of the past in the always-shifting present of the southern Titicaca area.