Carro Quemado Stone-Circle Geoglyphs (Valle de las Pinturas, La Pampa)
Valle de las Pinturas Lines · Carro Quemado Pampa Alignments
Late Holocene (Patagonian hunter–gatherer, Araucanized)·Tehuelche / La Pampa foothill hunter–gatherers·🇦🇷 La Pampa Province, Loventué Department, Valle de las Pinturas meseta, Carro Quemado, Argentina
About
About Carro Quemado Stone-Circle Geoglyphs (Valle de las Pinturas, La Pampa)
Endemic pampa stone geoglyph province: 70+ low stone circles, 12–25 m 'rondas', 30–90 m linear stone alignments and 4–6 m cairn 'chenque' extensions on basalt meseta above the Valle de las Pinturas rock-art gorge, western La Pampa. CONICET–UNLPam 2010–2022 survey recorded circles formed by single-coursed basalt cobbles with bleached calcrete interior, associated with Tehuelche–Araucanized ceramics (800–1600 CE) and guanaco drive funnels. Pattern resembles Patagonian 'apariciones' but altitude and orientation to winter-solstice sunset over Lihué Calel suggest ceremonial drove-way marking for autumn guanaco hunts. Sheep estancia tracks cut several circles.
Why it mattersOnly documented Northern Patagonian pampa stone-geoglyph province.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Circle versus drove-way relation
Theories
- 01Communal guanaco hunt ritual
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.800 – 1600 CE
- Period
- Late Holocene (Patagonian hunter–gatherer, Araucanized)
- Culture
- Tehuelche / La Pampa foothill hunter–gatherers
- Builders
- Pampa–Patagonian mobile hunter–gatherers
- Purpose
- Guanaco drive ceremonial way and clan circle shrines
- Abandoned
- c.1650 CE (horse adoption)
- Rediscovered
- 2010 CONICET survey
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
800
Earliest rondas with ceramics
2022
CONICET closes 70-circle gazetteer
On the ground
Structures & features
36.5000° S · 65.3500° W · 320 m · 2 mapped features
Ronda Stone Circle (18 m)
geoglyph18-m single-course basalt circle on meseta edge
36.4980° S · 65.3480° WLinear Drive Alignment (70 m)
geoglyph70-m cobble line guiding to rock-art gorge
36.5020° S · 65.3520° W