Pucará, pre-Columbian site and culture in the southern highlands of present-day Peru in the northern basin of Lake Titicaca. The site is known for its unusual horseshoe-shaped temple or sanctuary of stone masonry. Pucará-style stone sculptures and Pucará pottery show resemblances to those of Tiwanaku, in the southern Titicaca basin. Because the earlier levels at Tiwanaku show Pucará-type pottery, it is apparent that the Pucará culture was a forerunner of the Classic Tiwanaku styles. The Pucará is generally dated to 300 bc to 300 ad, in the Early Intermediate Period.