GEOGLYPHS OF THE TARAPACA AREA

The site at Pintados is easily accessible from the main road through Chile. It is situated west of a big salt plain (salar) and comprises of several hills on which the enormous geoglyphs have been laid out. These geoglyphs are more sophisticated than the ones near Arica. Here at Pintados, the images have been constructed both by collecting stones and by removing stones from the surface. Some of the images occur at low level, but the majority is found at really high altitudes and are barely visible from the salt plain. They occur mostly in clusters. There are several clusters where images overlap older ones. The imagery predominantly consists of geometric forms, camelids and human figures. The anthropomorphic figures of the upper photo might depict humans in Inca-dresses, although the typical axe-head shaped head dresses resemble figures from northwestern Argentina, where such human figures are depicted holding big shields in front of them. The second photo shows a human figure with a similar axe-head shaped head, but this time the stones that once formed the figure have been removed exposing the darker patinated stones and gravel of the old surface. This was due to reconstruction works by an archaeological improvement scheme.

Here we see one of the more accessible hill slopes (the small paths to the figures are visible) at the north end of the Pintados geoglyph concentration. The imagery mainly consists of geometric figures such as Chacanas, circles and ladders, interspersed with camelids. There are many more Chacanas on the other hills. The one pictured in the second photo is enormous and is found near the top of a high hill. In my opinion, Chacanas represent a symbol indicating the verticality of the Andean landscape. The third photo depicts a human with outstretched arms and a camelid that has small piles of stones within the body, possibly representing dots, similar to the dots at the llama engraving at Tarapaca.

This is possibly the biggest geoglyph of Chile. It is found on the west slope of an isolated hill (Cerro Unita) in the middle of the Atacama, a short distance NW from the Tarapaca engraved boulders (see map). It is a human figure of about 100 metres high (here photographed in oblique view) that is only fully appreciated from the sky. It is called 'The Lord of the Atacama' and possibly represents the supremede Inca deity Wiracocha, although others suggest that it is Tunupa, another Andean god. The figure may also be related to the Staff-God of the Chavin culture.

An extensive boulder field just south of the village of Tarapacá with about 400 decorated stones.