Burial or funerary towers called chulpas (often spelled chullpas, the Aymara word for them) were commonly built by the Aymara and other indigenous people who lived in the altiplano regions of Peru and Bolivia to bury their dead. The Incas also adopted the technique when they colonised the region. Chulpas were generally used for rulers, nobles and other important people. In the southern altiplano of Bolivia adobe (mud brick) chulpas are the most common. In the Lake Titicaca area and northern altiplano (which has a damper climate, and also in Peru) stone chulpas tend to predominate.