Luis Briones-M.

A new review of the geoglyphs of the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile has allowed the author to dene a vocabulary of forms and show how these relate to particular groups of people crossing the desert from the mountains to the sea in the prehispanic period. Geometric, zoomorphic and anthropomorphic symbols mark routes, destinations and usage by particular llama caravans. The travellers were key players in society and were winning prominence in their region from AD 800. Keywords: Chile, geoglyphs, rock art, desert, lama, prehispanic, archaic, Inca

Introduction
This paper presents a summary of work carried out by the author and his colleagues over the past 30 years. A register of sites with geoglyphs, together with their associated cultural and environmental contexts, constitutes the most complete database known for northern Chile, offering new possibilities for interpretation of the geoglyphs. The already classic bibliographic references of Alberto Plageman, summarised in his work Los Pintados de Chile presented at the XIVth Congress of Americanists, and of Bollaert and OBrien in the nineteenth century on the geoglyphs of the northern desert, were our precursors, and served as stimuli for other investigators in the second half of the twentieth century to follow in their footsteps for example, Niemeyer, N un ez, Monstny, Bittmann; and, most recently, Clarkson, Briones, Chacama, Espinosa, Cerda and others. The rst systematic study of geoglyphs in Tarapac a was carried out by Lautaro N un ez (N un ez 1976), who presented an interpretation related to the trafc of caravans in the late period in the Chilean desert. Later, starting in 1978, and as a consequence of the deterioration of various sites around the Panamerican highway, a programme of appraisal and conservation was initiated in the valleys of Lluta, Azapa, Chiza, Tiliviche, Cerro Rosita, Cerro Unita and Cerros Pintados in the region of Tarapac a; and of Quillagua, Tranque Sloman and Chug-Chug in the region of Antofagasta. This process enabled us to discover new archaeological sites, carry out their exhaustive recording and documentation, and incorporate new background information on the geographical context and the landscape in which they occur. Together with previous observations (Boallaert 1860; N un ez 1976; Cerda et al. 1985; Mostny & Niemeyer 1983), this information has been gathered together to

Academic Associate, Departamento de Antropolog a, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales de Administraci on y Econom a, Universidad de Tarapac a, Arica, Chile (Email: lbriones@uta.cl)

Received: 1 March 2004; Accepted: 10 October 2004; Revised: 11 April 2005 antiquity 80 (2006): 924

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The geoglyphs of the north Chilean desert: an archaeological and artistic perspective

Geoglyphs of the north Chilean desert

form a new comprehensive database. Based on this corpus, I offer a rst analysis of regional groups and some preliminary interpretations (Figure 1).

Denition
The term geoglyphs was coined by Mostny & Niemeyer in 1983 to dene the large gures laid out on the hillsides and pampas of the desert, distributed over an area extending from the lower course of the Lluta valley in the north, to the river Loa in the south. Geoglyphs occur in similar geographic locations in southern Peru where, in the desert strip next to the Pacic, there are spectacular examples, studied by Reiche (1980), Reinhard (1983), Clarkson (1992, 1998) and others. Taking both groups together, their distribution in the sub-area of the Western Valleys (southern Peru, northern Chile) covers an area of 1000km in length and 150km in width. The geoglyphs are found alone, or in groups of what we call panels, some of which may contain more than 50 gures. The geoglyphs were made by taking full advantage of the geological and geographical characteristics of the desert. The majority were made by scraping the oxidised layer of the surface, producing a light design that contrasts with the darker material all around. This is dened as an extractive technique. We nd examples of this technique in the groups at Cerros Pintados 1, Cerro Mono, Cerro Sombrero, Santa Rosita, in the gullies of Tarapac a, Altos Ariquilda, Mapocho and others, or on the pampas of Bajada Iquique, Cerro Unita, etc. The other technique, found less frequently, involves bringing together surface material (stones) like a mosaic, and is known as the additive technique, in which the dark gures contrast with the lighter background of the desert oor. A third technique, which combines the two others, is known as the mixed technique, and makes it possible to produce a harmonious contrast in the geoglyphs through both extraction and addition of material. The result is a gure of more complex design such as at Cerros Pintados, Altos de Tamentica, Guatacondo, Cerro Rosita and elsewhere. One example of an atypical or even unique technique is seen in the geoglyph of Alto Sur at the mouth of the Camarones gully: it is a sun gure in a double mixed technique that is to say, it not only uses extraction and addition of surface material, but also red (liquid) paint. The red pigment has been analysed, and was found to be iron oxide mixed with seawater (Briones 1984). The geoglyphs of northern Chile have had a variety of interpretations related to their function, with an emphasis on the activities of groups of prehistoric caravans. From the rst explorations of the Atacama desert, humans were forced to adopt careful solutions for survival. Through the incorporation of the llama as a transport system, they were able to increase their knowledge of the regional geography and its various extreme environments like the puna, cordilleras, gullies, pampas and salt ats, and to reach points that were both remote and difcult. The accumulated knowledge included fundamentals such as the location of water resources and their quality. No less important was knowledge of the distribution of fodder in sufcient quantity to maintain the caravan system. Thus the people of the region eventually put together a complex network of paths to serve the specialised groups that crossed the different geographical regions of the desert. In the face of this challenging reality, people frequently turned naturally to religion, and laid down messages, memories and rites related to it, together with other cultural contexts:
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Figure 1. Geographic plan showing distribution of main geoglyph concentrations in northern Chile: regions of Tarapac a and Antofagasta.

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Geoglyphs of the north Chilean desert

Figure 2. Geoglyph panel of Chiza-Suca, commune of Huara.

the stopping place or paskana, a simple structure of stones arranged as a barricade to form a temporary camp; or that architectural structure which is better adapted as a habitation, and which in the Late Period was known as a chasquihuasi, the house of the chasquis, alluding to the Inca couriers; the markas or mounds of stones that stand out on the horizon, indicating the direction of the path; corral structures for animals; isolated human burials; emplantillados (dots made of stones laid side by side) very close to paths; and, in accordance with the view of N un ez, the importance and signicance of the apacheta (a ritual accumulation of stones along paths) as the maximum expression of what is understood as the cultural characteristic linked to the caravan (N un ez 1976). The most recent studies of geoglyphs (Clarkson & Briones 2001) have generally moved forward along these lines, and have managed to recover some components that are typical of intense and persistent caravan activities, such as fragments of ceramics, of minerals or semiprecious stones linked to rites, such as turquoise, malachite, etc. (relevant to the exchange of goods), remains of llama faeces around the same path, deposits of garbage or shells around campsites. The prehistoric routes have been reactivated and reused on a variety of occasions, even up to quite recent times by roads for vehicles that go to different villages. Figure 2 shows a modern road passing geoglyphs at Chiza-Suca (Huara).

Topographical location
The geoglyphs are mostly located in the topography in a way that reects the behaviourpatterns of the prehispanic societies that settled the territory. These behaviour-patterns are intimately bound to what scholars have called the perception of the environment or
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ethno-perception (Alvarez 1991), the appreciation of space that constituted an Andean view of the world. All of the sites with geoglyphs are linked to prehispanic roads and, for the most part, with stopping places or paskanas, some of them with corrals and some even with funerary monuments, linked by long-distance caravan trafc. In general, the geoglyphs are located on hill slopes, valley slopes, gullies, the coastal cordillera, isolated hills, mountain ranges, shores of salt ats and on intermediate pampas between valleys or gullies, these latter being on horizontal surfaces. The highest concentrations of geoglyphs are around the Pampa del Tamarugal in the region of Tarapac a and the River Loa in the region of Antofagasta. Other sites with geoglyphs are distributed in decreasing order of frequency as follows: Commune of Pozo Almonte, Huara, Mar a Elena, Pica and Arica and the rest, between the Communes of Camarones, Cami na, Iquique, Putre and the Loa.

Forms of geoglyph
The latest research has identied more than 5000 geoglyphs, among which geometric forms are hugely dominant, and then gurative forms, either anthropomorphic or zoomorphic, in broadly equal measure. Geometric geoglyphs range from simple conventional motifs to the most complex designs. Many resemble designs on textiles and ceramics, such as circles, concentric circles, circles with dots, rectangles, equal-sided crosses, arrows, simple parallel lines, complex parallel lines, spirals, simple and complex stepped rhombuses. They are found isolated or forming groups with or without apparent order. There are some noteworthy linear gures laid out on level, horizontal surfaces, some of them more than a hundred metres long, and also concentrations of circles, always around paths. Examples can be seen in Alto Ariquilda north, Alto Tarapac a north, Inernillo, Los Tambos, etc. (Figure 3). An important geometric form is the stepped rhombus, with its simple and complex variants, which is visible from a great distance, especially when it is located on the upper part of a hillside. This gure is made up of squares or rectangles laid out inside a regular rhombus; the result is a rhomboidal staircase with its different sections denoting head, body, arms and base. There are simple and symmetrical ones, with three squares per side; while the complex ones have an increasing number of squares from 4 to 15 per side, creating a greater extension of the gure in its horizontal axis than in its vertical. The complexity can also be seen in the head and base, where they display a revealing variable: their sides are concave, resembling bodies of human gures which characterise the Cerro Pintados style. They can be seen at Pica, Cerros Pintados, Yungay Bajo, Cerro Camello, Alto Huanillos, Alto Caramucho, Guatacondo, Man , Cerro Posada, Le on and Chug-Chug and elsewhere. The stepped rhombus is also found in other expressions of prehispanic Andean art, not only in architecture (as an ornamental motif with an important symbolic meaning and content as at Chav n, Tiwanaku, and Chan-Chan, among the great Andean urban centres), but also in the early textile designs of Alto Ram rez in Arica, or the basketwork and textiles of the Pica-Tarapac a complex in northern Chile. It appears with lower frequency in petroglyph sites such as Huancarane, Tarapac a and Tamentica. Because of its complex design, signicant frequency and spatial coverage, the stepped rhombus motif has been the subject of special analysis. N un ez stressed its importance and interpreted it, together with others, as the most
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Figure 3. Geometric geoglyph, Alto Ariquilda North, commune of Huara.

important symbol of the caravan people. Briones & Chacama (1995) emphasised its presence in the Tarapac a desert as an emblematic and ideological icon that marks the penetration of Tiwanaku into the desert, during the Middle Horizon. This so-called Andean cross links the Bolivian altiplano with at least two routes of integration with the Tarapac a desert, via Tarapac a and Pica, connecting with the longitudinal foothill route. The equal-sided cross motif presents a spatial distribution that is very similar to that of the stepped rhombus but occurs less frequently. In various sites they are found in association. Circles, with or without a central dot, are generally located on the horizontal plains, terraces and pampas, at an average height of 1500m above sea level they are found in the upper gullies of Honda, Guatacondo, Chipana, Tarapac a, Aroma, Inernillo and others. This geometric pattern is distributed sporadically on the main northsouth path, connecting a series of water holes, springs, oases and rivers that die out in the pampa of El Tamarugal. We consider another important diagnostic feature to be the arrow gure, which is found in association with other signs as at Ariquilda, Tarapac a, Quillagua, Cerros Pintados, Cerro Mono, Soronal, Yungay Bajo, etc. Its low formal variation uctuates from the simple arrow, made with the extractive technique, to a more complex version, made with the mixed technique, the arrow with a sectioned shaft and a triangular point, as found at Cerros Pintados or at Cerro Mono. These ideographic signs are closely linked to open or at spaces, characteristic of the desert landscape. Zoomorphic gures include camelids in pairs or in lines, gures of felines, birds of lakes, sea or land, such as amingos, seagulls, eagles, rheas, serpents, toads, lizards, foxes, dogs, monkeys and shes, especially open-sea species like dolphins or sharks. The pictures
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Figure 4. Geoglyph panel at the canyon of Los Pintados, commune of Pozo Almonte.

demonstrate a familiarity with a varied local fauna, linked to factors of utility and signicance. They can also be interpreted as territorial markers of human groups from the highlands or lowlands, occupying or travelling through the desert. An important component for any interpretation of the geoglyphs is the camelid gure (llama), often represented in large numbers in a caravan. There can be from 3-4 up to 80 animals in lines, as can be seen in the gullies of Los Pintados, Ariquilda, Guatacondo, Cuevitas, Tarapac a, Cerros Pintados, Cerro Mono, Soronal, Alto Barranco, Alto Huanillos, etc. In a spectacular example, a veritable garland of llamas advances towards the west, skirting the smooth rolling hills of the dry gully known as Los Pintados (Figure 4). In the gully of Tiliviche, a concentration of about 50 animals is seen heading westward, that is, to the coast, which is 40km away. Another signicant zoomorphic geoglyph is the lizard gure, which may be very large up to 50m long. These are located on the slopes of the mountain ranges, not only in the coastal environment but also in the foothills, facing the caravan paths that lead up to a pass or ravine, as can be seen at the sites of Cerro Lagarto, Yungay Bajo, Cerro Mono, gullies of Mapocho and Tarapac a, Cerro Negro, Cerro Longacho, Ariquilda, Cerro Colorado, etc. Lizards, toads or serpents feature in the Andean world-view as divinities which, in the context of the caravans, are linked to rituals around water, and concern the fertility of the land in the eyes of the farming community. The lizards and amphibians, with recognisable proportions of the body and limbs, are always represented in a plan view from above.
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Figure 5. Geoglyphs of the Lluta Valley, commune of Arica.

In general, in rock art and especially in geoglyphs, the human gure is a great challenge to conceptualise as an image. Some anthropomorphic geoglyphs are rather schematic, others more naturalistic. They are found isolated and combined, in pairs, expressing various ceremonial connections, in rows or in formations; they also represent human gures linked to various specic activities such as hunting, shing, trafc, religion, an organisation into a hierarchy through associated outts or objects such as bows, harpoons, rafts, llamas, staffs, caps, head adornments, pectorals, etc. There are scenes of couples engaged in obvious sexual acts and people with arms raised in an attitude of adoration. In the far north of the territory between the valleys of Lluta and Azapa, examples of geoglyphs made by the additive technique appear to represent human gures that reach an average length of 50m and which dene the Lluta Style (Figure 5). This type of gure has a head with cap in prole, no neck, a full body seen from the front, apparently no arms, straight legs and no depiction of feet. They appear static, and are so schematic that they are almost abstract gures. The idea of not incorporating into the design such subtle elements as the neck and the ankles gives the human gure a highly stylised appearance. All these aesthetic considerations of characteristics, from our point of view, make the style unique and exclusive to the coastal sector of Arica. As a chronological indicator, we can establish its association with the anthropomorphic designs in decoration on the polychrome pottery of the Gentilar phase of Arica, between AD 1000-1400.
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Figure 6. Cerros Pintados, denition of a style in the geoglyphs of northern Chile. Commune of Pozo Almonte.

By contrast, at the other extreme of the Tarapac a region and on the pampa itself, one nds the anthropomorphic gure of mixed technique, that denes the Cerros Pintados Style, equally interesting for its formal characteristics and links (Figure 6). It has a head with a forked crest, a body with concave sides, frontal, apparently without arms and feet. The most important diagnostic feature is the form of its body, known in the nightshirt textiles typical of the period of Local Developments (AD 800-1400). They are generally found in pairs or in lines of up to six, which suggests the presence of an established order in the thoroughness of its design and creation. Their distribution is not limited only to sites close to Cerros Pintados, but extends to Cerro Pan de Az ucar, Cerro Mono and Soronal, and south of the river Loa at the sites of Cerro Posada and Chug-Chug. They are also found in petroglyphs at Santa Barbara on the road to the area of San Pedro de Atacama and north-west Argentina (Berenguer 1996). The human gure with concave sides is reected in the depictions of stepped rhombuses, mentioned earlier. The geoglyphs offer no clearer association, at least from a formal point of view, than this. The distribution of this common feature, in both anthropomorphic and geometric form, suggests the identication of a human group that occupied these spaces of the Tarapac a desert both physically and symbolically. The majority of the gures appear to be static. Only the camelids, in a line and in prole, which form part of a caravan, in some cases tend to give an impression of movement; and the same is true of some scenes of people and/or animals taking part in a ritual dance, as in the Valley of Azapa (Arica) (Figure 7). In general, superimpositions are exceptional. Each gure is distinguished within a group of other gures, which suggests that this constitutes a composition or text. It is perhaps appropriate here to conrm that the great majority of the gures are perfectly visible from the ground and presumably were designed as such, except for in some cases where the orientation is clearly directed towards the space above them, as if they were pointed at the sky, the abode of the gods. This could be an allusion to messages addressed to deities present in the hananpaccha, in accordance with the Andean view of the world. Although the regions rock art does not display any intention to achieve drawings in visual perspective, the possibility does seem to exist in some cases, especially among the geoglyphs: for example,
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Figure 7. Geoglyph panel of dancers, Valley of Azapa, commune of Arica.

the gures of circles have designs that differ slightly from each other, depending on ones location and observation point.

Local histories
Having introduced the basic vocabulary of the geoglyphs, it is now possible to establish some correlation between the forms, their chronology and their distributions. For the time being it is very difcult to establish a chronological sequence; however, from the evidence of the use of the llama caravan and the great popularity of the geoglyphs, it is probable that geoglyph construction began in the Late Formative Period (Briones et al. in press), reaching a climax during the period of Regional Developments (c . AD 1000-1450), weakening in the Late Period, and then disappearing in the Contact Period (AD 1540-1550). After that time, there were only sporadic creations of historic geoglyphs such as crosses, stations of the cross and church towers. Regional variations in geoglyph investment reveal a number of different local histories (refer to Figure 1). What stands out in the Arica region is the total absence of geometric geoglyphs. The zoomorphic motifs include gures of eagle, heron, camelid, monkey and feline and are linked to the anthropomorphs through exclusive use of the additive technique. This unusual pattern of subject and technique is reinforced by the anthropomorphic geoglyphs that dene the Lluta style and probably derives from the Altiplano or the Amazon. The late nature of this style is conrmed by the similarity it displays to the
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decoration of ceramics and textiles in the Arica Culture (Santoro & Dauelsberg 1985; Mu noz 1981; Mu noz & Briones 1996). The zone of the gullies of Suca, Chiza, Camarones and Tiliviche is a relatively narrow strip bounded by the gully of Camarones, creating a natural obstacle that was difcult to cross. Here the most representative gure, unique for the region, is a geometric gure described as a double-outline square. The predominant feature is to be seen in the functional nature of the square gure, and which we interpret as a ritual corral. The double outline has a lling of ner gravel, in accordance with the Inca (or immediately pre-Inca) construction pattern, in which the walls are made with a double course of stones, inlled with small stones and mud. Within the sphere of regional archaeology, the gully of Camarones is well known, and represents an intense human occupation of sh-gatherers and farmers from the Archaic Period to the present, that is, over more than 12 000 years. The interrelationship with human groups from the highlands was always important, even during the twentieth century, when valley farmers reached the coastal sector, with their animals, in search of natural fertilisers derived from birds or seals. The Tarapaca region covers an area estimated at 200 000 sq km, from the gully of Cami na in the north to the middle and lower River Loa in the south. Together with the greatest variety of geoglyphs one nds here a large number of sites located in valleys, pampas, oases, woodland, salt ats, mountains and coastal cordillera. It is here that we nd the greatest network of prehistoric paths that cross the desert to all the cardinal points. The stepped rhombus gure, already described and dened above, in terms of its layout, its links and possible functions, is the best exponent of the style that we call Tarapaque no, seen at the sites of Santa Rosita, Cerros Pintados, Yungay Bajo, Cerro Mono, etc. The Toco region has a lower density of geoglyphs and is located close to the river Loa, from its middle course to its mouth. The most abundant motifs are characterised by a mixed technique creating spotted gures that are dened as abstract (they are sometimes confused with other spotted gures which are the remains of recent road construction). This region can also be considered transitional through the presence of the stepped rhombus motif that is found on the traditional route that connects the Middle Loa and San Pedro de Atacama with the Pampa del Tamarugal. The sites of Chug-Chug, Cerro Posada, Tranque Sloman and others mark transversal roads, with Quillagua as their central point of convergence (Figure 8). The Highland Sector (on the east side of Figure 1), with altitudes above 3000m, shows a sparse presence of geoglyphs, which means that it is difcult to dene any stylistic pattern here. However, some sites stand out such as Zapahuira in Arica, and in the middle and upper sector of the river Loa, with designs of geometric motifs and possible feline gures. But these are isolated sites with small concentrations of gures, unlike those known in lowland sectors on the pampa and coast, in the regions of Tarapac a and Antofagasta (Berenguer 1996).

Interpretations
The most important effort applied in the second half of the twentieth century to demonstrating the very existence of the desert geoglyphs, and interpreting them, can be found in the extensive work of N un ez (1976). He related them to the routes that the llama
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Figure 8. Geoglyphs of the hill of Chug-Chug, commune of Maria Elena.

caravans had followed in the desert, as they maintained their constant trafc between the altiplano, the intermediate oases and the coast. His interpretation, essentially, attributed to the geoglyphs in the desert zone a function as a route indicator, in a functional and also liturgical sense, especially in the Late Period. In the high-Andean zone, the shrines perform a similar practical role, in addition to their nature as votive structures. The geoglyphs, according to N un ez, constitute essential landmarks from the days when the caravans travelled from the highlands to the coast. He also points out that the technique, the repetition of themes and the geographical distribution all give the geoglyphs a cultural unity. Reinhard (1983) was inclined to believe in a relationship between the geoglyphs and the generalised cult of mountains, which played an important role in the beliefs of the Andean world; but, up to now, he has not proved any specic relationship between the cult of sacred hills and geoglyphs as complex as those known in our area. Besides, his conjectures are in contradiction with the presence of geoglyphs which are not associated with either hills or water sources, but which are linked to specic routes crossing the Chilean desert. Bittmann (1985), in her interpretation, supports the idea that these geoglyphs are heavily charged with ideology, the anthropomorphic gures being recognised as deities of Tiwanaku, Nazca or Cuzco. Chacama & Espinosa (1997) put forward an iconographic model based on local antecedents in the petroglyphs and geoglyphs of Tarapac a. According to them, Andean divinities and myths complement images present in rock art, reconstructing a symbolic route from the Great Lake to the Pacic coast. These icons include the big human with walking sticks, of which the example with the greatest symbolic weight is the man of Cerro Unita (Figure 9). When one incorporates the new scientic evidence that has emerged from the last decades explorations and systematisation, it becomes possible to conrm the relationship
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between geoglyphs, routes and the movement of complementary goods. Quite rapidly, once again in agreement with N un ez, we came to believe that the system of geoglyphs under study would have to be pushed back in time to the Middle Period, when the caravan trafc was extremely intensive. Briones et al. (1999), using ethnographic evidence, proposed a strong relationship between these reticulated geoglyphs and symbolic chacras used, for example, in the ritual of the cross of May in the locality of Huasqui na, in the interior of Tarapac a. They have been assigned to a category of depiction of agricultural rites linked to the exploitation of the landscape, natural resources and pilgrimages, in spaces that were specially suited to the religious scene; these were later brought upto-date by the Christian faith as an example of syncretism. What today represents indiFigure 9. Geoglyph of Cerro Unita, commune of Pozo vidual chacras, very close to the system Almonte. of private property that emerged from the sixteenth century onwards, were previously collective chacras in the system of community or ayllu (Figure 10).

Figure 10. Geoglyph with a chacra motif. Alto Tarapac a North, commune of Pozo Almonte.

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Other recent studies (Diaz & Mondaca 1999) looked into a geographical-cultural interaction of the desert landscape, specically that of Tarapac a, and the geoglyphs linked to the east. The marking of pampas and slopes in the desert with designs and symbols, quite apart from the specic functions they may have had, involves us in the symbolic categories of the phenomenon, and the perception of the environment and geographical landscape. The caravan people, by their very nature active and dynamic beings, were also important agents of the thought, ideology and religion of Andean society; they transformed themselves into the principal activators of the changes, introductions and modications in the whole sphere of material and immaterial culture. The desert, as landscape and also as ecological environment, taught them how to survive it and overcome it; they learned and assimilated the exploitation of the sparse resources it provided. This different way of seeing and feeling, in terms of what the desert is, is reected in the offerings and rituals of each geoglyph, all the more so when they are associated with the routes that cross the desert towards different destinations with interests that are likewise different. It is postulated that the geoglyphs are not merely signpost references, but also that they constitute an emblematic scheme of ethnic and cultural demarcation; they form a component part of the landscape, and were constructed by different ethnic groups that symbolically occupied this territory for example, the characteristic geoglyph groups in the styles of Lluta and Cerros Pintados. The stepped rhombuses, according to the theory of Briones & Chacama (1995), correspond hypothetically to this idea of an icon identifying some specic ethnic group coming from the altiplano, establishing a veritable circuit integrating goods and cultural traditions between the inhabitants of the highlands and lowlands of this part of the continent. Finally, a recent study explains and demonstrates how, in the transect from Altos de Pica to Alto Barranco, between the Andes and the Pacic to the south of Iquique, there is a series of caravan events in connection with sites that were used before being rendered sacred through geoglyphs. The occupation, even in the Archaic Period, of paskanas or transitory campsites at Cerros Pintados, Cerro Pan de Azucar, Cerro Mono, Salar de Soronal and Alto Barranco, marks the territorial possession by men, women and even children, with their trains of loaded llamas. The occupation reaches a climax during the Middle Late period and the Late Period (AD 800-1500), to which we attribute the great majority of the geoglyphs of the Tarapac a desert. The absolute dates obtained from occupation layers and bodies unearthed along this route make it possible to associate them with paths, sites and, hypothetically, the stylistic patterns present in the geoglyphs (Briones et al. in press).

Conclusion
We can conclude that the geoglyphs of northern Chile form a long tradition of rock art that may possibly have lasted until at least as late as the start of the Christian era. The presence of these expressions in the desert is linked to the emergence of agricultural sedentism and advances in social integration that are beginning to be envisaged in the Central South Andean macro-region. The precise reasons why certain groups of travellers who crossed the Atacama Desert felt the need to mark it, integrate it, recreate it or make it sacred by means
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of the geoglyphs are likely to remain an enigma. But the associated socio-cultural indicators prompt us to dene these manifestations as the product of a long intellectual process motivated by the desert landscape and inserted into selected places already been chosen by their predecessors. In this way the rising caravan activity in periods marked by profound changes (c . AD 800-1500), achieved the denitive consolidation of engraving the pampas and hills. The geoglyphs, as expressions of the creativity and thought of prehistoric Andean humanity, like other expressions known in rock art, were not uninvolved in the changes and the social and political transformations of the indigenous societies that used and inhabited the Chilean desert. From the point of view of the history of art, the topic of these geoglyphs, and of Andean rock art in general, has not been dealt with either globally or specically, except for a few supercial comments about function and interpretation. This is a subject which the author wishes to explore in more depth in the future, making the most of the valuable work that has been carried out in these last four decades. However, the artist(s) achieved the objective they set themselves of leaving behind a testimony at least from the viewpoint of our physical conceptions of truly monumental works of graphic art, regardless of their ideological content and the roles that they played at the time of their use. References
Alvarez, L. 1991. Etnopercepci on Andina. Valles Dulces y Salados en la Vertiente Occidental de los Andes. Revista Di alogo Andino 10: 9-20. Berenguer, J. 1996. Impacto del caravanero prehisp anico tard o en Santa Barbara. Actas del XIII Congreso Nacional de Arqueolog a Chilena (Hombres y Desierto 9). Antofagasta: Sociedad Chilena de Arqueolog a/Universidad de Antofagasta. Bittmann, B. 1985. Reections on geoglyphs from northern Chile. Rickmansworth (UK): Latin American Studies I. Boallaert, W. 1860. Antiquarian, ethnological and other researches in New Granada, Ecuador, Peru and Chile with observations on the Pre-Incarial and other Monuments of the Peruvian Nation. London: Tr uber & Company. Briones, L. 1984. Fundamentos metodol ogicos para el Relevamiento de los Geoglifos del Norte de Chile. Revista Chungar a 12: 41-56. Briones, L. & J. Chacama. 1995. Rutas y Sistemas de Arte Rupestre en el Desierto Tarapaque no, Norte de Chile. Ponencia al XIII Congreso Nacional de Arqueolog oa Chilena. Chile: Antofagasta. Briones, L., A. Diaz, C. Mondaca & P. Clarkson. 1999. Huasqui na, las chacras y los geoglifos del desierto: una aproximaci on al arte rupestre andino. Revista Di alogo Andino 18: 39-61. nez & V. Standen. 2005. Geoglifos Briones, L., L. Nu y traco prehispanico de caravanas de llamas en el desierto de Atacama (norte de Chile). Revista Chungara 37(2): 195-223. Cerda et al. 1985. Prospeci on de geoglifos de la provincia de Iquique. I Regi on de Tarapac a, norte de Chile, in C. Aldunate, J. Berenguer & V. CastroEstudios (ed.) Arte Rupestre. Santiago: Museo de Arte Precolombino. Chacama, J. & G. Espinosa. 1997. Arte rupestre en el desierto tarapaque no, norte de Chile. Bolet n SIARB 10: 41-51. Clarkson, P. 1992. The archaeology of the Nazca Pampa, Per u: environmental and cultural parameters, in A.F. Aveni (ed.) The Lines of Nazca. Memoir 183. Philadelphia, PA: American Philosophical Society. 1998. T ecnicas en la determinaci on de las edades cronol ogicas de los geoglifos. Revista Chungar a 28 (1-2) (1996, publ. 1998): 419-60. Clarkson, P. & L. Briones. 2001. Geoglifos, senderos y etnoarqueolog a de caravanas en el desierto chileno. Bolet n Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino 8: 35-45. Diaz, A. & C. Mondaca. 1999. Geograf a y geoglifos de la pampa de Tamarugal, antecedentes sobre geograa cultural y el arte rupestre andino. Seminario de titulo: Profesor en Educaci on media en Histortia y Geograf a. Arica: Universidad de Tarapac a. Mostny, G. & H. Niemeyer. 1983. Arte rupestre chileno. Serie Patrimonio Cultural Chileno. Santiago: Ministerio de Educaci on. Munoz, I. 1981. La aldea de Cerro Sombrero, en el per odo Desarrollo Regional en Arica. Revista Chungara 7: 105-43.

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Munoz, I. & L. Briones. 1996. Poblados, rutas y arte rupestre precolombino de Arica: descripci on y an alisis de sistema de organizaci on. Revista Chungar a 28 (1-2): 47-84. nez, Nu L. 1976. Geoglifos y tr aco de caravanas en el desierto chileno, in Homenaje al Dr. Gustavo Le Paige, S. J.: 147-201. Antofagasta: Universidad del Norte. Reiche, M. 1980. Geheimnis der W uste/Mystery on the desert/Secreto de la Pampa. Stuttgart: Heinrich Fink GMBH and Company. Reinhard, J. 1983. Las monta nas sagradas, un estudio etnoarqueol ogico de ruinas en las altas cumbres andinas. Cuadernos de Historia Universidad de Chile 3: 27-62. Santoro, C. & P. Dauelsberg. 1985. Identicaci on de indicadores tempoculturales en el arte rupestre del extremo norte de Chile. I Jornada de Arte y Arqueolog a 243-64. Santiago: Museo de Arte Precolombino.

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