Sihuas Valley Geoglyphs
Sihuas–Majes Geoglyphs · Arequipa Desert Lines
Middle Horizon to Late Intermediate (Wari–Chuquibamba)·Siguas / Wari / Chuquibamba·🇵🇪 Arequipa Region, Castilla Province, Sihuas tributary of Majes, Peru
About
About Sihuas Valley Geoglyphs
On bluff-top pampas above the Sihuas River, a 12-km line of cleared geoglyphs — 25–45 m anthropomorphs with rayed headdresses, feline profiles and 150-m arrow-like trapezoids — extends along the desert margin parallel to the Toro Muerto boulder field but executed in pavement-clearing technique rather than petroglyph. The geoglyphs complement the adjacent Toro Muerto petroglyphs (Wari–Chuquibamba) and are dated to Middle Horizon–Late Intermediate (600–1200 CE) by associated Siguas, Wari and Chuquibamba ceramics. UNSA 2017–2021 UAV orthomosaics documented 22 figures feeding a natural pass toward the Majes–Sihuas confluence, indicating inter-valley caravan signalling.
Why it mattersOnly case where petroglyph boulder art and cleared-pavement geoglyphs coexist, illuminating functional complementarity.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Relation to Toro Muerto rock art chronology
Theories
- 01Caravan pass markers
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.600 – 1200 CE
- Period
- Middle Horizon to Late Intermediate (Wari–Chuquibamba)
- Culture
- Siguas / Wari / Chuquibamba
- Builders
- Sihuas valley oasis communities
- Purpose
- Pass marking and caravan signalling complementing rock art
- Abandoned
- c.1350 CE
- Rediscovered
- 1958 Linares mapping; 2017 UNSA drone survey
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
600 CE
Earliest rayed-head figures with Wari sherds
2018
UNSA maps 22 geoglyphs by UAV
On the ground
Structures & features
16.0500° S · 72.4200° W · 1150 m · 2 mapped features
Rayed-Headdress Anthropomorph
geoglyph38-m rayed figure on northern bluff
16.0450° S · 72.4180° WArrow Trapezoid
geoglyph150-m arrow-like trapezoid pointing to pass
16.0550° S · 72.4230° W