Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e10

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Quaternary International
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/quaint

Rock art painting and territoriality in the precordillera of northernmost

Chile (South-Central Andes). Archeological and spatial approaches to
the Naturalistic Tradition
Marcela Seplveda a, *, Thibault Saintenoy b, Luis Cornejo c, Carole Dudognon d,
Francisco Espinoza e, Zaray Guerrero-Bueno f, Enrique Cerrillo-Cuenca g
a
Instituto de Alta Investigacio
lisis e Investigaciones Arqueom


n (IAI), Laboratorio de Ana etricas- Laboratorio de Arqueologa y Paleoambiente, Universidad
de Tarapaca
, Antofagasta 1520, Arica, Chile
b
Centro de Investigacio
n del Hombre en el Desierto (CIHDE-CONICYT), General Vela
squez, 1775, Arica, Chile
c
Departamento de Antropologa, Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Almirante Barroso 10, Santiago de Chile, Chile
d
Laboratoire TRACES UMR5608, Universit
e Toulouse Jean Jaures, Maison de la Recherche, 5 all
ee Antonio MACHADO, 31058 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
e
Berln 2248, Villa Hamburgo, Arica, Chile
f
Programa de Magister en Antropologa, Universidad de Tarapaca
e Universidad Cato
lica del Norte, Cardenal Caro 346, Casilla 6D, Arica, Chile
g
C/ Marconi 34, 06800 M
erida, Badajoz, Spain

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The distribution and location of Naturalistic Tradition rock art paintings from the Precordillera (western
Received 20 August 2016 foothills of the Andean Cordillera), in northernmost Chile, are discussed. Stylistic similarities in rock art
Received in revised form suggest a connection between different sites and the construction of a specic symbolic territory and
31 January 2017
cultural landscape, where information-ows played a signicant role. This process begun after the end of
Accepted 5 February 2017
Available online xxx
the Middle Archaic period (ca. 6000 BP) and during the Late Archaic (6.000e3.700 BP), when important
transformations took place in social organization, interaction, mobility, economy and ideology in the
whole South-Central Andes region. In the Precordillera changes related to camelid management were
Keywords:
Rock paintings
crucial, as shown by specic scenes of animals and human-animal interactions. The legitimation of this
Naturalistic Tradition space required a territorial denition and new social interactions. In addition to the study of settlement
Northern Chile patterns in the precordillera, this rock art study contributes to the further consideration of the social
Hunter-gatherers symbolic territory dimensions of the archaic highland communities.
2017 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction understand the links or co-existence between groups with, for

Rock art can be a relevant indicator, suitable for evaluating the
organization, mobility or interactions of a community, but also for
the information-ows, observed thanks to compositional or sty-
listic characteristics (Gallardo et al., 2012; Troncoso et al., 2016). In
addition, it can contribute to the detection of similarities and dif-
ferences with other regions and communities, and help to
* Corresponding author. Instituto de Alta Investigacio
n (IAI), Laboratorio de
Ana
lisis e Investigaciones Arqueome
tricas- Laboratorio de Arqueologa y Paleo-
ambiente, Universidad de Tarapac
a, Antofagasta 1520, Arica, Chile.
E-mail addresses: marcelaasre@gmail.com (M. Seplveda), tsaintenoy@gmail.
com (T. Saintenoy), lcornejo@uahurtado.cl (L. Cornejo), Carole.dudognon@dbmail.
com (C. Dudognon), franciscolivier@hotmail.com (F. Espinoza), zguerrerobueno@
gmail.com (Z. Guerrero-Bueno), enrique.cerrillocuenca@gmail.com (E. Cerrillo-
Cuenca).
example, different way of life: mobiles v/s sedentary; hunter-
gatherers v/s shepherds or farmers, connected nevertheless by
various kinds of exchange. Territoriality could be interpreted in
some specic context (Brandt and Carder, 1987; Ross, 2013;
Troncoso et al., 2014) where cross-checking data from various
archeological contexts is essential (Soler and Soler, 2015).
In the present paper, we discuss the notion that, after the end of
the Middle Archaic (6.000 BP) and during the Late Archaic phase
(6.000e3.700 BP), in the highland of northernmost Chile, the
Naturalistic Tradition based on shared stylistic principles and the
depictions of different human-animal relationships, helped to
organize specic practices regarding the control of animal re-
sources, especially camelids (domestication, particularly, and the
establishment of stockbreeding). At a time, between the end of
Archaic and the instaured Formative period or Andean Neolithic,

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2017.02.005
1040-6182/ 2017 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article in press as: Seplveda, M., et al., Rock art painting and territoriality in the precordillera of northernmost Chile (South-
Central Andes). Archeological and spatial approaches to the Naturalistic Tradition, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/
10.1016/j.quaint.2017.02.005
2 M. Seplveda et al. / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e10

since 2500 BP, when important social, economic, political and
ideological processes can be observed in the whole South-Central
Andean region -a social and historical territory including south-
ern Peru, eastern Bolivia, northern Chile and northwestern
Argentina e (Lavalle
e, 2006; Lumbreras, 2006), in the Precordillera
region rock art could serve as a landmark for creating a specic
territorial behavior and identity to legitimate the use of its re-
sources, manifested in a shared visual system.
The Precordillera (or foothills) of northernmost Chile is a high-
land region located between 2500 and 3800 masl, in the western
Andean Cordillera at the foot of the Altiplano. The region contains an
important number of archeological sites from prehispanic times,
predating the 16th century (Santoro et al., 2016; Saintenoy et al.,
2017, Fig. 1; left side). Within this plentiful archeological record
spanning more than 10,000 years (Osorio et al., 2017), from the end
of the Middle Archaic (6.000 BP) a long tradition of rock paintings
on the walls of rock shelters is particularly noteworthy (Fig. 2). In
most cases, these representations depicted camelids, as well as
other animals (felines, birds, North Andean deer and Andean cer-
vids) and also humans (Niemeyer, 1972; Santoro and Dauelsberg,
1985; Schiappacasse and Niemeyer, 1996; Seplveda, 2008, 2011;
Seplveda et al., 2010, 2013; Dudognon and Seplveda, 2015).
The various species of wild and domesticated camelids were of
primary importance for Andean people (Mengoni Gon ~ alons, 2008).
These animals provided food and several secondary raw materials,
such as fat, skin, bones, fur, etc, which were used to produce a
variety of artifacts, such as textiles. Finally, they were also used as
the only beast of burden in caravans before the arrival of Europeans
(Bonavia, 1996).
Research on rock paintings from Precordillera has revealed the
coexistence of two stylistic traditions, each with different formal,
technical and compositional attributes: a Naturalistic or gurative
Tradition (Figs. 3 and 4) and a rather more Schematic one
(Seplveda, 2008, 2011; Seplveda et al., 2013; Dudognon and
Seplveda, 2016). The Naturalistic Tradition is related to the occu-
pation of shelters by mobile groups of hunter-gatherers, from
approximately 6000 BP, during the Archaic period, which spans a
period from 10,500 to 3700 BP (Osorio et al., 2016; Santoro et al.,
2016). In neighboring regions, the end of the Archaic and the
beginning of the Formative period (3.700e1.500 BP) are related to
the consolidation of signicant processes of social, political, eco-
nomic and ideological transformations. Between them, an impor-
tant reduction in mobility has been identied. New economic
subsistence activities, such as agriculture and pastoralism, are
developed. However, in the Precordillera region, hunting and
gathering seem to continue unchanged as the principal subsistence
practices up to the Recent Formative period, around 1500 BP
(Seplveda et al., 2013). Although hunting practices continue,
camelid pastoralism is gradually introduced, as it can be recognized
in rock art panels from several sites of the upper River Lluta basin

Fig. 1. Map of Arica y Parinacota region in northernmost Chile (left side). Spatial distribution of rock art sites of THE Naturalistic Tradition in THE upper Azapa valley, around
Tignamar Valley (right side).

Please cite this article in press as: Seplveda, M., et al., Rock art painting and territoriality in the precordillera of northernmost Chile (South-
Central Andes). Archeological and spatial approaches to the Naturalistic Tradition, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/
10.1016/j.quaint.2017.02.005
 M. Seplveda et al. / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e10 3

Fig. 2. Site with rock art paintings: Pampa El Muerto 3 (left), Tangani 3 (right).

Fig. 3. Example of Paintings of THE Naturalistic Tradition. Detail of THE Vilacaurani site, from THE upper Lluta valley (draw by Carole Dudognon).

Please cite this article in press as: Seplveda, M., et al., Rock art painting and territoriality in the precordillera of northernmost Chile (South-
Central Andes). Archeological and spatial approaches to the Naturalistic Tradition, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/
10.1016/j.quaint.2017.02.005
4 M. Seplveda et al. / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e10
Fig. 4. Example of paintings of the naturalistic tradition: Pampa El Muerto 8 (left), TO-A-WF-2 (right).
(Dudognon and Seplveda, 2016).
The Archaic period is divided into three phases dened on the
basis of research on lithic collections and the zooarcheological re-
cord. The mobility of hunter-gatherers was seasonal and vertical
between different ranges of topographic heights (between 2800
and 3800 masl), towards the Altiplano to the east (over 4000 masl),
or towards the low valleys and coastal region, to the west (Santoro
and Chacama, 1982, 1984; Nun ~ ez and Santoro, 2011; Santoro and
Nun~ ez, 1987; Santoro, 1989; Santoro et al., 2016). In the last ten
years, we have carried out systematic research on rock paintings
and archeological context associated in the Precordillera region in
order to approach the social dimensions of archaic populations,
with a parallel revision of the settlement patterns. After our rst
studies, we proposed that the various stylistic groups in the
Naturalistic Tradition created a shared cultural landscape for the
different hunter-gatherer communities that inhabited the highland
region (Precordillera and Altiplano) in Northern Chile and Southern
Peru (Seplveda et al., 2013). At that time, ancient mobility implied
movement within these high-altitude levels. At the same time,
social interactions with other local groups as with other coastal
cultural traditions were developed and preserved during the whole
Archaic period (Castillo and Seplveda, 2017).
This paper aims to study the distribution and location of rock
paintings of the Naturalistic Tradition from the Precordillera in
northernmost Chile, at the end of Archaic period, according to the
process of territorial denition recognized in the whole South
Central Andes region. Thus, we focus on the evaluation of territorial
patterns among the mobile communities from the highlands.
2. Regional setting
Northern Chile is included in the environment of the Atacama
Desert. In this context, water represents a fundamental element for
life and human settlement. The Precordillera is situated in the Arica
y Parinacota administrative region, between 2500 and 3800 masl. It
occupies an intermediate position on a west-east transect: between
the wide desert plains and the coastal valleys (that lead to the
Pacic Ocean) to the West, and the Andean Cordillera and Altiplano
to the East. It can be described as a longitudinal fringe, about
25e30 km wide.
From a geomorphological point of view, the Precordillera cor-
responds to a fault area, whose origin is volcanic and tectonic. It
comprises a highly uneven relief, riddled with mountains and hills,
main and secondary ravines, where the water penetrates and forms
valleys (Naranjo and Paskoff, 1984; Niemeyer, 1989). The studied
rock art sites are located in the high basin of the Azapa valley,
around the Tignamar River. The basin has an average altitude of
Please cite this article in press as: Seplveda, M., et al., Rock art painting and territoriality in the precordillera of northernmost Chile (South-
Central Andes). Archeological and spatial approaches to the Naturalistic Tradition, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/
10.1016/j.quaint.2017.02.005
3000 masl and is demarcated from the Altiplano by a mountain
range, whose highest peaks reach 5000 masl. In the basin, the great
buttress of the mountain range is interrupted by deep ravines,
where the watercourse of the San Jose
river originates. The river
then ows through the Azapa valley down to the Pacic Ocean.
The climate is classied as marginal high-altitude semi-desert,
which allows for important thermal variations between day and
night, produced by the high altitude. Frost is common above 3000
masl. Abundant summer showers (a climatological phenomenon
locally known as invierno altipla
nico or Bolivian winter) provide
the hydrographic network with water, which allows the sprouting
of spontaneous xerophytic vegetation in the form of brushwood
and dry forests in the highlands (Villagra
n and Castro, 2004; Trivelli
and Valdivia, 2009). Two ecological thresholds are identied: the
Pre-Puna (2600e3200 masl) and the Puna (3200e5000 masl) re-
gions, the habitat of big wild mammals such as camelids, in
particular the guanaco (Lama guanicoe) and the North Andean deer
(Hippocamelus antisensis). Along with the puma (Puma concolor)
and some birds, these quadrupeds are widely depicted in the tock
art of the Andean foothills. The shape and size of the ravines, the
presence of protected and particular microenvironments and the
placement of highland wetlands, are some of the factors that shape
the distribution of Andean animals in the region.
The archeological record shows two important phases of occu-
pation. The rst, from 10,000 BP (Osorio et al., 2016) to 1500 BP
(Seplveda et al., 2013), reveals the early attractiveness of this zone
for hunter-gatherer collectives, due to the presence of biomass and
fauna located in better climatic conditions than the cold Altiplano.
A second important phase started at the beginning of the second
millennium of this era, with the development of a village-based
settlement pattern as the region became densely occupied. At a
macro-regional scale, the Precordillera became an ecological niche
for the agro-pastoralist economy in the context of Andean verti-
cality (Saintenoy et al., 2017). Finally, both phases of occupation
show the attractiveness and opportunities offered by the Pre-
cordillera in water resources and biomass, in the extremely arid
Atacama Desert.
3. Naturalistic rock painting and territoriality
3.1. Territorial function of rock art
From an archeological point of view, dening a territory basi-
cally implies identifying links between sites regarding material
culture as a proof of socioeconomic and/or cultural connections. In
fact, these relations allow one to evaluate the conguration of
ancient socio-spatial interactions that took place in a determined
 M. Seplveda et al. / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e10
region, the same interactions that shape a territory. Nevertheless,
dening a territory also means identifying the principles of terri-
toriality that connected the social collectives to certain places or
specic biophysical environments (Nieves Zeden ~ o, 2008; Troncoso
et al., 2014). Regarding the role of rock art in the construction and
identication of ancient territory, our research is based on the
proposal from Debardieux (2003), who dened A territory as the
arrangement of material and symbolic resources, capable of struc-
turing the practical conditions of the individual existence, and also
[capable] of providing information about their collective identity.
Conrming the existence of a symbolic territory (that is to say
an area of interactions based on a shared culture and identity
expressed through the construction of a cultural landscape) re-
quires being able, from a materialist perspective, to establish links
between places marked by shared material and visual symbols. In
this sense, stylistic or thematic similarities of rock art might
constitute a key element for this kind of reconstruction, because
rock art manifestations are often immovable visual references. They
are also evidence for the ow of information through a determined
area, as identied in other Chilean regions (Gallardo et al., 2012;
Troncoso et al., 2016). In a symbolic territory approach, the for-
mation of a territory implies founding places and dening spaces
(by setting their social, economic and ideological uses), through the
inscription of signs in rock art sites. These constitute evidence of
the representation of the cultural landscape shared by artists and
by those who frequented these sites. Thus, signs, symbols and
stylistic similarities become a type of codication. Both the pro-
duction and the use of them establish areas of inuence of a
determined cultural landscape at a specic moment and socio-
historical context. However, once established, the territory may
vary, without the sites losing their symbolic purpose: a re-
signication of the representations and places may occur, which
alter, re-interpret or challenge the specic logic that constituted it
in the rst place (Criado, 2013). Dening a territory means not only
exploring the specic localization of some depictions and specic
space, but also considering the interactions between these places
related to the structuration agency of movement (Bonnemaison,
1993; Ingold, 2000: 241; Saintenoy, 2013). Finally, in some spe-
cic historical context, it is also necessary to consider internal and
external social relations, for example, between mobile v/s seden-
tary groups (Retaille
, 1998) or between neighboring mobile com-
munities in different environment (see, for example Troncoso et al.,
2016). Movements in space are also related to the co-existence
between various communities with the same or different ways of
life and subsistence.
In consequence, dening a territory entails establishing the
social meaning and use of a given set of places, and also deter-
mining what kind of activities and movement may take place in this
set of settings (sensu Rapoport, 1990). Regarding the Andean
highland mobile hunter-gatherers, the management of animal re-
sources (i.e. camelids particularly) was undoubtedly, a highly
relevant activity, which was also subjected to changes over time. As
a product of mobility, rock art placement could have contributed to
the spatial planning of hunter-gatherer collectives, while its dis-
tribution makes possible the demarcation of specic places where
determined activities gained relevance. Meanwhile, stylistic simi-
larities are proof of variable information-ows and interaction
networks and also itineraries, which could have been permanent as
well as occasional. Art might have become a relevant activity for the
construction of social strategies that require collective actions
(Conkey, 1980; Gamble, 1982; Aldenderfer, 1987Ms; Whallon,
2006; Gallardo et al., 2012; Troncoso et al., 2016).
In this sense, we state that the groups of mobile communities
that inhabited the Precordillera dened and shaped a territory by
establishing a spatial planning for activities and movements, on the
Please cite this article in press as: Seplveda, M., et al., Rock art painting and territoriality in the precordillera of northernmost Chile (South-
Central Andes). Archeological and spatial approaches to the Naturalistic Tradition, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/
10.1016/j.quaint.2017.02.005
5
basis of the creation of symbolic relationships with a determined
environment and expressing this territoriality in rock art. Through
the information ow, expressly by stylistic similarities and not with
specic symbols or signs in our case, art would become evidence of
important internal social networks. Depictions of the new ways of
human-animal interactions were represented, because of their
impact on the lifestyle of highland Andean people. These processes
take their principal relevance in the context of the different social
and cultural changes visible in different societies of the South-
Central Andes region, after the beginning of the Late Archaic period.
3.2. The Naturalistic Tradition: depiction of a cultural landscape
The Naturalistic Tradition includes paintings in a wide variety of
red, orange and yellow shades. Most of the rock art panels present
only camelids, while several of them show an interaction between
them and humans. Camelids are represented with anatomical
features emphasized: the curvature of the belly, knees, feet
-sometimes, hoofs on front and hind limbs-a triangular head -with
or without the ears-, and the tail, depicted in different positions. In
this tradition, camelids are often painted in dynamic attitudes. In
contrast, the anthropomorphic gures are reduced to mere linear
traces and they can also be found isolated or accompanied. They are
generally painted in a static position, although some of them can
present more dynamic positions, in which case they are depicted
along with some representation of different kinds of throwing
objects. Thanks to these various characteristics, two different sty-
listic groups are identied. The rst is dened by scenes in which
the camelids have naturalistic features and the human gures are
depicted by mere linear traces. In these, animals are bigger than
humans. In the second group, the size of humans and animals is
more similar. The anthropomorphic gures are more common,
often depicted wearing some clothing (Seplveda, 2011; Seplveda
et al., 2013). Recent studies have made possible the research into
stylistic variability mentioned above, due to the presence of
particular compositions in which the capture of living animals
overlaps with hunting representations, an activity that, without
disappearing, now becomes of minimal importance in favor of
herding depictions (Dudognon and Seplveda, 2015, 2016).
These two stylistic groups of the Naturalistic Tradition, with the
overlapping of scenes, are dated to between approximately 6000
and 1500 BP, i.e. to the Late Archaic and Formative periods (Table 1),
the latter being linked to processes of Andean neolithisation. Dur-
ing this large timespan, relevant socio-cultural transformations
took place in various regions of the South-Central Andean region
(Lavalle
e, 2006; Lumbreras, 2006). These changes included the
intensication, specialization, diversication, and the increasing
complexity and transformation of hunter-gatherer societies
(Yacobaccio, 2006). While in some regions, the sedentary lifestyle,
agriculture and various agricultural innovations, connected to
changes in ideological and social organization, became important
transformation processes (Mun ~ oz, 2004; Lumbreras, 2006), other
groups favored an orientation towards herding. In the Precordillera,
a hunter-gatherer and mobile lifestyle seems to be maintained until
1500 BP (Seplveda et al., 2013), when camelid management
became a highly important activity. Accordingly, the rock art
belonging to these societies expressed progressive changes in
productive and economic activities. These groups, without aban-
doning hunting, progressively integrated the capture and man-
agement of livestock. Also, the more important presence of
anthropomorphic gures and their individualization through attire
(clothing or hair ornaments) reect social changes in the organi-
zation of highland social communities (Dudognon and Seplveda,
2015, 2016).
6 M. Seplveda et al. / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e10

Table 1
C14 DATES available for Naturalistic Tradition sites.

Site Code C14 years (BP) Material River References

Pampa El Muerto 8 UGAMS-3039 5750 30 Charcoal Azapa-Tignamar FONDECYT 11060144

Tangani 1 BETA-259167 5160 60 Charcoal Azapa-Tignamar FONDECYT 11060144
Pampa El Muerto 12 BETA-361537 4440 30 Sediment Azapa-Tignamar FONDECYT 1130808
Tangani 1 BETA-259166 4400 40 Charcoal Azapa-Tignamar FONDECYT 11060144
Los Dolmenes BETA- 335684 4300 30 Charcoal Azapa-Tignamar FONDECYT 1100354
Puxuma 1 I-11872 4240 95 Madera Lluta Santoro and Chacama 1982
Los Dolmenes BETA-319879 4210 40 Bones Azapa-Tignamar FONDECYT 1100354
Puxuma 1 BETA- 335687 4170 30 Charcoal Lluta FONDECYT 1100354
Tangani 1 BETA-259165 4170 40 Charcoal Azapa-Tignamar FONDECYT 11060144
Alero Los Tres BETA-441600 4160 30 Sediment Azapa-Tignamar FONDECYT 1130808
~ uta
Pin BETA-319883 4150 30 Bones Azapa-Tignamar FONDECYT 1100354
Puxuma 1 BETA-319886 4110 40 Charcoal Lluta FONDECYT 1100354
Puxuma 1 BETA-319885 4100 40 Charcoal Lluta FONDECYT 1100354
El Pareja BETA-428148 4080 30 Charcoal Azapa-Tignamar FONDECYT 1130808
Puxuma 1 I-11645 4010 100 Hueso Lluta Santoro and Chacama 1982
Los Dolmenes BETA-24355 4000 50 Charcoal Azapa-Tignamar Gayo et al., 2015
~ uta
Pin I-11832 3750 140 Charcoal Lluta Santoro and Chacama 1982
Alero Los Tres BETA-441599 3710 30 Charcoal Acapa-Tignamar FONDECYT 1130808
Puxuma 2 BETA- 335688 3540 30 Bones Lluta FONDECYT 1100354
Puxuma 2 BETA-24357 3510 80 Charcoal Lluta Osorio et al., 2016
Mullipungo 4 BETA 385126 2930 30 Charcoal Azapa-Tignamar FONDECYT 1130808
Puxuma 2 BETA-319887 2690 30 Human Bones Lluta FONDECYT 1100354
~ uta
Pin I-12834 2540 180 Charcoal Azapa-Tignamar Santoro and Nun ~ ez 1987
~ uta
Pin I-12833 2520 90 Charcoal Azapa-Tignamar Santoro and Nun ~ ez 1987
Pampa El Muerto 3 UGAMS-3043 2460 30 Charcoal Azapa-Tignamar FONDECYT 11060144
Pampa El Muerto 3 UGAMS-3042 2180 30 Charcoal Azapa-Tignamar FONDECYT 11060144
Pampa El Muerto 8 UGAMS-3040 1680 25 Msculo humano Azapa-Tignamar FONDECYT 11060144

3.3. Distributional and locational characteristics of rock art sites
Even if the rock art sites identied so far are dispersed all over
the Precordillera, most of them are found in the upper section of the
Lluta and Azapa valleys. Out of 109 known or recently discovered
rock art sites in the region, 74 are located in the high basin of the
Azapa valley, along the Tignamar River. Of these, 58 are decorated
with paintings, 9 have engravings and 13 present both paintings
and engravings, overlapped in the same panels or in different
panels. For this study, 63 sites were taken into consideration. These
sites were properly recorded by eldwork. Among these sites, 30
present depictions belonging to the Naturalistic Tradition, related
to hunter-gatherer groups (Fig. 1, right side).
Research carried out elsewhere in the far north of Chile
conrmed that painting was not a common practice in rock art in
the region below 2500 masl (Oyaneder et al., 2012-2014;
Valenzuela et al., 2015). Also, over 3800 masl, in the Altiplano, no
site with rock paintings has been documented up to the present.
Thus, according to the evidence collected, most rock paintings are
located between 2800 and 3800 masl, in the Precordillera (Fig. 5).
There, the biggest concentration of rock art sites is found in the
upper Azapa-Tignamar basin, while other rock painting sites are
found at the top of the Lluta and Camarones valleys (Niemeyer et al.
1972e1973; Garca, 2015). To the north, in the sierra of Peru, at a
similar elevation, rock painting sites, most of them with stylistic
similarities to the Naturalistic Tradition dened in the Precordillera,
are recognized but it is impossible to specify their number as sys-
tematic studies are non-existent (Ravines, 1967; Muelle, 1970;
Guffroy, 1999; Klarich and Aldenderfer, 2001; Ayca, 2004; Suarez,
2012; Klarich, 2016).
Systematic surveys performed in the upper Azapa basin
conrmed the overall concentrated distributional pattern of rock
art. In fact, sites, regardless of the stylistic pattern or tradition used,
tend to concentrate around certain locations. Such is the case of
Pampa el Muerto (18), Tangani (13), Mullipungo (13) and Pampa
Oxaya (11). Few isolated rock art sites have been identied (Fig. 1).
The sites with rock paintings of the Naturalistic Tradition tend to
concentrate in the north of the basin (in Pampa El Muerto and
Tangani locations), near the upper Lluta valley where most of the
rock painting sites present the same naturalistic style, with a sig-
nicant number of overlaps (Dudognon and Seplveda, 2016).
Although there are a great number of zones left to survey in the
upper Azapa basin, it is still possible to see that the distribution of
rock paintings is not random, but rather, it follows a specic logic
depending on who created them. This is how the geo-
environmental situation of the sites conrms that most of them
are located between 2800 and 3800 masl, at the intersection be-
tween the Pre-puna and Puna ecological altitude levels (Fig. 5). This
altitudinal situation facilitates access to the different natural re-
sources of these complementary ecological thresholds in a rela-
tively short time (around 2 h of walking). In fact, camelids and
cervids inhabiting the region also consume resources from both
ecological thresholds, according to a seasonal mobility system.
In addition to studying the geographical distribution of rock art
sites, we evaluated the locational characteristics of these sites. In
order to do this, geospatial analyses based on a high resolution
digital elevation model were performed to evaluate the physio-
graphic location, viewsheds and the topographic prominence of
rock art sites.
Viewsheds could help to test a hypothesis for explaining the
choice of locations of rock paintings. The locations chosen for rock
paintings correspond mostly to rock shelters or vertical walls that,
nonetheless, present reduced spaces capable of providing shelter
and protection. However, not all the sites from the Archaic period
have rock paintings. From a physiographic point of view, most of
the rock painting sites are located on hillsides, ravines or at the
bottom of valleys, where shelters are available. A different loca-
tional pattern is followed in the Tangani locality, where the rock art
sites are located in prominent topographic positions: over the rocky
headlands of plateaux.
Because the hunting of wild camelids (Lama guanicoe) requires
understanding their mobility patterns and implies the thorough
observation of their movement from a distance, visibility of the
landscape could explain the selection of sites to contain rock

Please cite this article in press as: Seplveda, M., et al., Rock art painting and territoriality in the precordillera of northernmost Chile (South-
Central Andes). Archeological and spatial approaches to the Naturalistic Tradition, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/
10.1016/j.quaint.2017.02.005
 M. Seplveda et al. / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e10 7

Fig. 5. Altitude distribution of rock art sites between pre-puna and puna THRESHOLDS.

paintings. Thus, the rock art sites, which tend to depict groups of
animals in movement, might coincide with strategic places related
to their observation. Nevertheless, the viewshed analyses per-
formed to test this hypothesis indicate that the majority of the rock
painting sites do not represent optimal lookout points. These sites
offer only an average of 11% visibility of their surroundings in a
1 km radius (Table 2). In fact, most of the sites present a panorama
restricted only to their respective ravine, allowing observation of
activities (individuals and/or animals) close to the site.
In addition, regarding the hypothesis of spatial and, possibly,
territorial signicance of rock art sites, their location in relation to a
potential landmark was evaluated. The topographic prominence
(relative height) of the sites was calculated in order to evaluate
their visibility and singularity in the landscape. The results showed
that, besides being placed on a peak or at the bottom of a valley
and/or ravine, most of the sites are not placed on positive micro-
reliefs (convex landforms pointing upwards) (Table 2).
In short, geospatial analyses of viewsheds and topographic
prominence conrm that visibility and visualization were not taken
into consideration with respect to select the rock painting sites.
Conversely, the hypothesis stating that the artists selected sites
rather hidden or protected might be considered. The same
situation is observed in the Ilave valley (Southern Peru) where rock
painting sites of the Archaic Period are also found in narrow ravines
(Klarich and Aldenderfer, 2001). This feature might be part of one of
the specic intentions of the authors. The lack of visibility and
protection of rock art sites, then, might lead one to take into
consideration principles of territoriality and space representation/
construction related to in situ social practices and representation of
the cultural landscape, rather than an in visu representation of
cultural landscape based on landmarks (sensu Roger, 1998).
Finally, the location of rock art sites is also related to the exis-
tence of shelters and, therefore, to their distribution in the region.
Thus, in the eastern part of the upper Azapa basin where rocky
outcrops are scarcer than in the western part, few rock art sites
have been identied. In fact, terrains in the eastern part are more
suitable for agriculture and concentrate human occupation after
the development of the village-based communities at the begin-
ning of the 2nd millennium of our era, while the more arid western
part is only occupied by small farms (Saintenoy et al., 2017). Future
research will have to assess the problem of this apparently segre-
gated distribution of rock art: the two principal rock art complexes,
Tangani and Pampa el Muerto, and also the Mullipungo and Pampa
Oxaya areas, are found in regions where agricultural practices are
impossible: biomass is very scarce and recent human activity is
limited to traveling and hunting. Following this preliminary hy-
pothesis, the distributional pattern of rock art should be evaluated
from a perspective of a certain territorial partition in the use of
space, although this partition still needs to be explained in the pre-
agricultural context of the Archaic period.

Table 2
Results of geomatic analysis.

District N sitesa Topographic position Topographic prominence Viewshed

Ridge Steep slope slope canyon Mean Max Min Mean Max Min

PampaMuerto 13(18) 2 11
1,1 0,0
1,9 3% 7% 1%

Tangani 7(13) 2 1 2 2 0,2 1,2
1,1 12% 18% 4%
Chapiquina 1(3) 1
1,3
1,3
1,3 3% 3% 3%
Belen 3(5) t 2 1
0,1 0,3
1,0 14% 23% 3%
Mullipungo 2(11) 2 2 0,1 0,9
0,7 21% 43% 4%
Tignamar 4(13) 2 0,3 0,3 0,3 17% 27% 7%
All sites 30 (63) 2 3 8 17
0,4 1,2
1,9 10% 43% 1%
a
In brackets total number of rock art sites in the region.

Please cite this article in press as: Seplveda, M., et al., Rock art painting and territoriality in the precordillera of northernmost Chile (South-
Central Andes). Archeological and spatial approaches to the Naturalistic Tradition, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/
10.1016/j.quaint.2017.02.005
8 M. Seplveda et al. / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e10
4. Discussion
During the Archaic period, more precisely during the Late
Archaic period (6000e3700 B.P.) and during the beginning of the
period known as Formative in neighboring regions (3700e1500
B.P.), the Precordillera region was widely occupied by mobile
hunter-gatherer communities, as stated in previous and recent
research on the region (Santoro, 1989; Osorio et al., 2011, 2016;
Seplveda et al., 2013; Santoro et al., 2016). Evidence of settle-
ment since 6000 BP demonstrated a more intensive use of re-
sources, and also a more restricted mobility over time (Seplveda
et al., 2013; Osorio et al., 2016). Associated archeological contexts
conrm several logistical, seasonal and short-term occupations,
with activities related to consumption practices, tool preparation
and resting, among others. Along with rodent consumption, an
intensication of animal management, mainly camelids, is
perceived (Castillo, 2016). At the same time, they managed plant
resources found in the immediate environment (Garca and
Seplveda, 2011; Seplveda et al., 2013; Osorio et al., 2016). With
a constrained mobility, the diffusion of local styles of projectile
points, for example, might constitute important identity indicators,
during periods when a greater socio-political differentiation be-
tween groups existed (Klink and Aldenderfer, 2005: 53). The
presence of foreign goods conrms specic social interaction and
the construction of interaction networks with cultural traditions
from other regions. At another level, the production of and need for
more individual goods also indicates a clearer differentiation and
distinction within groups (Castillo and Seplveda, 2017). Thus,
during this period, several piece of evidence revealed a more
important circumscription, spatial demarcation and mobility of the
groups. At the same time, new forms of interaction emerged with
the social re-organization of communities.
From a certain point of view, the occupation of the Precordillera
region might have implied a strategic use of geographical space
according to activities related to the management of resources,
especially camelids. The sites seem not to be connected to a func-
tion directly linked to the hunting and butchering of animals, as
activities related to manufacturing or repairing hunting tools are
identied at the shelters (Osorio et al., 2016), A pattern that is only
supplemented with further practices linked with animal-capture at
open-air settlements (Llanos, 2014). It is possible that during the
Archaic period hunter-gatherers from the Precordillera would have
settled on camelid routes, aiming to observe their behavior and
being able to capture them to intensify progressively the human/
animal interaction and contribute to their domestication (Wheeler,
1998; Dransart, 1999; Yacobaccio, 2003; among others). Regarding
these practices, certain paintings depict rows of anthropomorphic
gures surrounding camelids, with the purpose of capturing them
(Dudognon and Seplveda, 2013). However, these depictions
should not necessarily be interpreted as the hunting of camelids,
but, perhaps, as their capture in life for later management of live-
stock. These were not only changes at an economic level, but also at
an organizational, political and ideological level of the hunter-
gatherer communities. In the Andean highlands, societies had to
structure new ways for groups to inter-relate, as well as new
mechanisms of interaction between different groups in their own
process of change.
The Asana site, in Southern Peru, enables one to understand the
activities performed in the area located between 2900 and 3800
masl, due to the evidence of knapping of hunting tools, artifacts
linked to leather working and, during the Late Archaic period, clear
evidence related to the development of herding (Aldenderfer,
1990). Thus, trapping might have been related not only to meat
consumption, but also to obtaining secondary raw materials, being
intended for their own consumption and to be traded with other
Please cite this article in press as: Seplveda, M., et al., Rock art painting and territoriality in the precordillera of northernmost Chile (South-
Central Andes). Archeological and spatial approaches to the Naturalistic Tradition, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/
10.1016/j.quaint.2017.02.005
groups inhabiting the coastal region or the Altiplano, over 4000
masl. In this context, the Asana site was progressively provided
with new structures related to a rather more public ceremonial
purpose (Aldenderfer, 1990, 2001), where groups might have
congregated, always maintaining a mobile lifestyle, but increas-
ingly restricting their mobility when herding practices became
more signicant. The building of ceremonial temples conrms
great changes in the social organization of these groups. So, the
settlement pattern at this time was conformed by different types of
sites with complementary activities.
These social differentiation processes in highland regions are
particularly relevant if we understand that a sedentary lifestyle is
established in neighboring regions. For example, after the Middle
Archaic period on the Pacic coast and the low valley region, a
climatic uctuation implied an important demographic growth in
the Chinchorro Tradition, a culture settled on the Pacic coast of
southern Peru and northern Chile. This community had to create
new ways of dening its own territories, with funerary behavior
being the most representative practice and way of occupying the
space (Marquet et al., 2012; Santoro et al., 2012; Standen et al.,
2014). At the same time, in the Altiplano, monumental construc-
tions appear, indicating new forms of hierarchical societies and
revealing deep changes in ideological, economic and political di-
mensions (Aldenderfer, 2001, 2010; Craig et al., 2010). In both re-
gions, different forms of social organization related to a more
sedentary lifestyle emerged, related, in turn, to new productive and
intensive practices: agriculture, herding or shing, and also their
combination. Improvement of goods production also appeared as
an important activity, to establish new structured interaction
through exchange (Castillo and Seplveda, 2017). Thus, during the
Late Archaic period and at the beginning of the Formative, the
different communities in the South-Central Andes area seemed to
have created different and new mechanisms of territorial demar-
cation, to legitimate their use and the exploitation of their different
resources.
In consequence, we understand that macro-regional processes
during the Late Archaic and Formative periods undoubtedly
required a specic territorial ordering in the Precordillera region, as
observed in neighboring regions. In this regard, rock art could play
a central role by creating a specic territory, where the manage-
ment of camelids and the new ways of human-animal interaction
implied the creation of new ways of social organization and inter-
action, both within and between groups. The stylistic variability, so
characteristic of the Naturalistic Tradition, beside possible temporal
variation, conrms the occasional information ow that took place
between them.
5. Conclusions
The study of the location and distribution of rock art painting
sites in the Precordillera makes possible a further understanding of
the social organization of the hunter-gatherer communities that
inhabited this Andean region during a period of great socio-cultural
changes in the South-Central Andes. This paper aimed to evaluate
the territorial function of rock art. As shown by the results of the
geospatial analyses, rock painting was not linked with monumen-
tality or landscape architecture. The artists selected protected lo-
cations with a certain degree of intimacy to paint and share their
representation of their cultural landscape. Thus, if rock art had
communicated principles of territoriality, it did it by means of
establishing settings for social practices aimed at sharing infor-
mation about the cultural landscape depicted in shelters.
At the scale of the western Andean slope of the Cordillera, the
symbolic territory dened by the geographical distribution of rock
art of the Naturalist Tradition - the highland region located
 M. Seplveda et al. / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e10
between 2800 and 3800 masl-makes sense from an ecological
perspective. Located at the intersection of two ecological zones -
the Pre-Puna and Puna-this area undoubtedly forms an attractive
environment for mobile hunter-gatherer communities and later
livestock groups, for several reasons. Firstly, rock art distribution in
the western Andean slopes seems closely related to one of the
seasonal habitats of the animals depicted. Secondly, this area
allowed access to the two different zones with complementary
resources in a short time. Finally, the rough relief of the Precordillera
provided favorable and protective conditions for long-term settle-
ment, unlike the Altiplano, over 4000 masl or the desert plains,
below 2500 amsl. The great number of shelters in the Precordillera
permitted a logistical camp to stay overnight and provided pro-
tection for some individuals following a mobile lifestyle.
Because of the socio-historical changes that took place in the
Southern Central Andes macro-region, people created new ways of
dwelling in the highlands. This practice is indicated by organiza-
tional and social changes of the groups which, undoubtedly, were
affected by their settlement and mobility pattern, progressively
making it more and more restricted. In this sense, further research
on archaic sites will contribute to enriching our knowledge of these
groups, with regard to the different communities and their capacity
to face transformation processes that affected the inhabitants of the
macro-region, where rock paintings, with the support of informa-
tion ows, also allowed the denition of new identities, similar
process to these recognized in other part of the world.
Acknowledgments
We thank Claire Lucas, Emmanuelle Honore
, Stephane Petrog-
nani, and Eric Robert for a very interesting symposium on Symbolic
Territory celebrated at the XIX International Rock Art Conference
IFRAO, Caceres, Spain. This work was carried out and nanced and
by the FONDECYT 1130808 project. We are also grateful the Con-
venio de Desempen ~ o Universidad de Tarapaca
- MINEDUC. Finally,
we thank the Laboratorio de Ana
lisis e Investigaciones
Arqueome
tricas (LAIA) of the Universidad de Tarapaca
, which
offered the ArcGIS software licence for geomatic analysis. Finally,
our innite thanks to Paul Bahn for his valuable review of the last
english version of this manuscript.
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