Cerro Unita Giant

The largest pre-Hispanic anthropomorphic geoglyph in the world: an 86-m tall frontal figure with rayed headdress, square torso and stepped legs etched on Cerro Unita's west slope above the Tamarugal pampa. Executed by combined clearing and stone-piling between 900-1450 CE by Tarapaca caravan groups, the figure's head incorporates a 2-m stone cairn altar and aligns to Cerro Rosita summit and June solstice sunset when viewed from the valley floor trackway.

The giant anchors a 20-km geoglyph corridor linking Guatacondo oasis to the Pica mat. Technique contrasts with Pintados' dark-varnish clearing: here additive dark stones outline limbs on light salina slope, preserving crisp edges despite Atacama wind. Radiocarbon on associated hillslope middens places peak elaboration to Pica-Tarapaca phase (1200 CE). Magnetometry 2022 revealed a 30-m processional apron below the feet, indicating ritual ascent, not purely navigational marking.