Salar de Tara Stone Geoglyphs (Licancabur Salars)
Tara Cathedrals Geoglyphs · Licancabur salar lines
Archaic to Formative (Tulán–Puripica)·Atacama caravan (Tulán, Puripica, early Atacameño)·🇨🇱 Antofagasta Region, El Loa Province, Salar de Tara, Los Flamencos National Reserve, Chile
About
About Salar de Tara Stone Geoglyphs (Licancabur Salars)
Rare high-salar (4,316 m) geoglyph field on ignimbrite terraces above the Salar de Tara 'cathedrals' (eroded ignimbrite towers) in the Licancabur corridor. Atacama Desert Foundation–CEA 2015–2020 documented 20 figures: 10–30 m camelid profiles with exaggerated necks, 25-m solar discs with ray extensions, and 100-m convergence lines pointing to the Jama pass. Figures exploit dark scoria pavement; interiors cleared to salmon-pink tuff. Association with Tulán–Puripica pastoral ceramics (1200 BCE–1000 CE) and obsidian from Laguna Blanca indicates trans-Andean caravan hub toward Argentina. Salt-flats lithium brine roads now bisect two lines.
Why it mattersHighest Andean salar geoglyph field, marking Jama trans-Andean pass.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Solar disc ray meaning
Theories
- 01Tulán trans-Andean route
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.1200 BCE – 1000 CE
- Period
- Archaic to Formative (Tulán–Puripica)
- Culture
- Atacama caravan (Tulán, Puripica, early Atacameño)
- Builders
- Licancabur high-puna caravan herders
- Purpose
- Jama pass caravan beacon and solar shrine
- Abandoned
- c.1100 CE
- Rediscovered
- 2015 Atacama Desert Foundation drone
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
1200 BCE
Earliest scoria figures with Tulán ceramics
2020
CEA maps 20 figures
On the ground
Structures & features
23.0374° S · 67.2782° W · 4316 m · 2 mapped features
Solar Disc with Rays (25 m)
geoglyph25-m disc with 8 ray extensions on scoria terrace
23.0360° S · 67.2770° WCamelid Row X (18 m)
geoglyph18-m stylized camelid with exaggerated neck
23.0390° S · 67.2800° W
Gallery