David Browman, in a 1972 conference paper, broadened considerably the culture-historical context for interpretation of the Khonkho monoliths. Browman proposed four basic stylistic groupings for the pre-Tiwanaku monolithic traditions (further refined in later papers, see Browman 1995, 1997). He placed the Khonkho Wankane monoliths in the third of these, the Pajano style. The name Pajano Browman took from the term Pa-Ajanu, first used by Posnansky (1945) and derived from the Aymara for "two-faced," in reference to the fact that two anthropomorphic beings were depicted on opposite sides of a number of examples in the wider style. Chávez and Chávez (1975) later used the same feature of these examples to define the "Yaya Mama" style. Browman pointed to crossties with Paracas textiles (Ocucaje 10/Nasca 1) and Pukara ceramics to date the Khonkho monoliths and the monuments of the Pajano style generally to the Late Formative period, as well as to argue that the Pajano style was the product of early indigenous Titicaca Basin styles, such as Asiruni, subjected to sustained interaction with Paracoid ideas via the Peruvian highlands.

Figure 4: Dramatic view of the Jinchun Kala

Max Portugal Ortíz (1981), son of Maks Portugal Zamora, likewise placed the Khonkho monoliths in a wider context. He too used the term Pa-Ajanu, in this case to refer to what he defined as a very long but coherent tradition of religious art centered geographically on Lake Titicaca. According to Ortíz, this tradition began in Tiwanaku III times and continued through the sixteenth century. In a later work (1998), Portugal Ortíz would extend the origins of the Pa-Ajanu tradition back into the Chiripa period. Throughout, Portugal Ortíz followed his father's chronological placement of the Khonkho monuments. He saw them as marking a transition from Tiwanaku III to Classic Tiwanaku (Tiwanaku IV) styles; according to the most recent chronologies (Lémuz 2001; Janusek 2003). Our own research strongly suggests that this stylistic placement is correct, and that, more specifically, the monoliths from Khonkho span a period of use from A.D. 200 (or perhaps earlier) to about A.D. 450.

Figure 6: Tata Kala