Vitor Valley Pampa Geoglyphs (Corire–La Cano Sector)
Geoglifos del Valle de Vitor · Pampa de Vitor Lines · La Cano Desert Etchings
Sihuas–Wari to Late Intermediate·Vitor–Sihuas valley people·🇵🇪 Arequipa Region, Castilla & Arequipa Provinces, Vitor Valley pampa N bank, Peru
About
About Vitor Valley Pampa Geoglyphs (Corire–La Cano Sector)
Pampa table (1,180 m) on north bank of Río Vitor (upper Quilca) between La Cano and Huañamarca, 42 km west of Arequipa city, directly between Toro Muerto (Uraca 42 km NW) and Sihuas–Majes geoglyph corridor. 21 etched figures 12-45 m: 30 m trident anthropomorph, 22 m falcon, 18 m camelid caravan, and 100-220 m radial avenues converging on spring-fed bofedal at pampa edge. Technique is desert pavement clearing with gypsum-tinged subsoil, identical to Sihuas Pampa Colorada but on Vitor ignimbrite rather than Majes alluvium.
Surface ceramics: Sihuas Collota + Wari polychrome (600-1000 CE). Radial avenues function as processional paths to bofedal ritual wetland. Threatened by Vitor–Majes irrigation canal seepage and vineyards.
Why it mattersVitor as missing link between Sihuas and Toro Muerto geoglyph provinces; radial wetland ritual.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Radial avenue bofedal function vs caravan wayfinding
Theories
- 01Wari vs Sihuas authorship
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.600-1100 CE
- Period
- Sihuas–Wari to Late Intermediate
- Culture
- Vitor–Sihuas valley people
- Builders
- Vitor pampa caravaneers
- Purpose
- Radial processional marking of Vitor bofedal spring wetland and valley caravan fork
- Abandoned
- c.1200 CE
- Rediscovered
- 1982 Linares Vitor survey; 2015 Arequipa GIS project
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
1982
Linares maps Vitor radial avenues
2015
Arequipa GIS orthomosaic 21 figures
On the ground
Structures & features
16.4800° S · 71.9800° W · 1180 m · 2 mapped features
Vitor Trident Anthropomorph
geoglyph30-m trident-head anthropomorph on ignimbrite pampa
16.4780° S · 71.9780° WVitor Radial Avenue North
earthwork188-m radial avenue converging on bofedal spring
16.4820° S · 71.9820° W
Gallery