The frieze of the Gateway's front-side shows SAIS ("Southern Andean Iconographic Series") Iconography. The figures and ornaments in the peripheral sections which do not show sharp lines like those of the central section were added later. It shows 48 (originally 30) subsidiary figures often called "attendants". There are 32 (originally 20) attendants with human heads and 16 (originally 10)
anthropomorphic figures with avian heads. All run towards the central motif: a human or human-like figure in
Staff God pose (a religious Andean icon) whose head is surrounded by 24 linear "rays", thought by some to represent rays of the
Sun. However, interpretations other than "rays of the sun" are possible. The vertical attribute the central figure is holding in its left hand is a stylized
Spear-thrower. Some historians and archaeologists suggested that the central figure could be the Inca god
Viracocha or the
Aymara weather god Thunupa. Others think that it is possible that weaponry may point to individuals of a non-supernatural nature. The spatial organization of Tiwanaku "Staff Gods" may indicate that the personages represent ritual practitioners. Scholars have drawn comparisons between the Inca and Tiwanaku icons as evidence of Tiwanaku influence had on Inca mythology and
iconography. == Historical depictions ==