For long before the Incas held dominion over the sweeping lands stretching from Colombia to Chile, an even more mysterious and ancient society inhabited this elevated Andean region.

This older empire was called the Tiwanaku state, whom we know even less about. At their peak, they may have only numbered 10,000 to 20,000 people.

What scarce details we do know about the Tiwanaku state come from archaeological finds, uncovering a trail of clues about the Tiwanaku people and their long-gone culture. Now, scientists have just announced the discovery of a big new piece of the puzzle.

In the first systematic archaeological dive and excavation conducted in the waters of the Khoa Reef, close to the Island of the Sun in Bolivia's Lake Titicaca, researchers found submerged evidence of ritual offerings made to supernatural deities – meaning religion existed in this part of the world a lot earlier than we thought.