Atacama Desert Art and Archaeology
Landscape art befits the world's driest desert, where disturbance of rocks and desert patina provides not only contrast but, perhaps more importantly to even the artists, permanence of message. In extreme deserts even footfalls leave an enduring visual trace, the art is particularly vulnerable, and identification and documentation are important for protection. Dry deserts are also an asset to archaeology, conserving the past particularly well so the full temporal range of human impact since the first arrival of humans should be in evidence with a more complete sample size than in other environments.
Aerial imagery is a non-intrusive method for enjoyment of the significant amount of landscape art and ancient traces spread across this vast region. This placemark collection highlights the best-known and many other spectacular artworks, both geoglyphs and rock art along with other archaeological sites. The placemarks feature photography in the Panoramio layer selected to best represent the sites from an art and archaeology perspective. A growing mass of online imagery facilitates the study of archaeology to a degree previously undreamed. This file aggregates and organizes network resources into an accessible guide to the region's geoglyphs and associated art and archaeology.
Crowd sourcing online photography, in particular the geolocated imagery in the Panoramio layer of Google Earth, both provided a substantial new amount of information to me with reliable ground truthing of geoglyphs. The research also provided a means of locating geoglyphs visited by an expert on the ground. John Brüning's collection of photos is both comprehensive and excellent photography, a very educational body of work. Many of the geoglyphs do not have other networked images. John's work alone broadens the scope of visual data linked herein. Everyone networking their photography online deserves a great shout out from researchers of archaeology and other interests alike. Online photo-sharing presents a growing new global treasure trove of geolocated visual information for geography and other sciences. .
This file version replaces the original, now deprecated version and the revision necessitated after Google deleted the panoramio.com domain. This update once again embeds the panoramio.com images from the Internet Archive. Regarding my site labels, the five-letter code terms are unique identifiers in a global database of archaeological sites and, when entered into my research application, represent the associated latitude and longitude. This placemarks file is organized geographically from north to south by current political divisions which also equate to major valleys and rivers. This follows and continues southward my placemarking pattern of Peru Coastal valleys. The geography of many parallel rivers draining from high elevations, even from glaciers past and present, across dry deserts organized human settlement into discrete linear oases and coastal deltas. Folder contents are ordered alphabetically. Click the site name in the Places menu to display balloons with photography, double-click to fly to the placemark, or explore the placemarks by clicking them in map view. Additions and feedback appreciated.
Cite as: Atacama Desert Art and Archaeology Placemarks
v2023 by James Q. Jacobs, http://www.jqjacobs.net/andes/kml/atacama.kml
Read more at About.com: The Geoglyphic Art of Chile's Atacama Desert
Ancient Monument Placemarks - jqjqcobs.net
Hundreds of Geoglifos Discovered in the Amazon

camana

tomup
Toro Muerto Petroglyphs
-16.224459
-72.502121
Web Archive

quilca

quilq

trchp
Trompin Chico Petroglyphs
-16.552225
Web Archive

Sillar Petroglyphs

geoglyphs

geoglyph

geoglyph?

lines

lines
several lines along slope
age?

line n-s
Is this an artifact of image stitching or an actual ground line?

ruins

cemetery?
apparent illegal digging for artifacts

quadrangle

ruins?

terraces

routes

route
llama caravan traces

trace
caravan route?

trace
llama caravans?

trace

traces

trail

moquegua

cheng
Chen Chen Geoglyphs
Web Archive

tacna

campa
Campaycata

micup
Miculla Petroglyphs

ppicc
Punta Picata Circle

qalap
Qalachata Petroglyphs

toquc
Toquepala Cave
approximate

vilav
Vilavilani
location approximate
Beautiful and ancient Vilavilani cave paintings left unprotected
March 23, 2015 by Hillary Ojeda

arica

aplla

aricg
Arica Geoglyph

atocg

circle

circles

csagg
Cerro Sagrado Geoglyphs

geoglyphs
Cerro Sombrero Geoglyphs

hill ring

lluta
Lluta Geoglyphs

llutg
Lluta Geoglyphs

lrana
La Rana Geoglyphs

ltrog
La Tropilla Geoglyphs

rosap
Rosario Petroglyphs

sorap
Sora Petroglyphs
approximate

tarapaca

ariquilda

areqg
Arequilda Geoglyphs

ariqc

ariql
Ariquillda Lines

ariqp
Ariquilda Petroglyphs
approximate

ariqt
Ariquilda Triangle

fields
Irrigation Plots

asteg
Asterisk Geoglyph

atage
Atacama Geoglyph

cairn circles
Several stone circles with center cairns amidst geoglyphs.

cerro monos

cmong
Cerro Mono Geoglyphs

cerros pintados
Geoglifos Cerros Pintados
Pampa del Tamarugal National Reserve.
Numerous panels of geoglyphs across a range of slopes.

alpig

cpinc
Cerros Pintados Cross

geoglifos
Cerros Pintados geoglyphs

Pintado Geoglyphs

Pintados Geoglyph

pinta
Pintados Atlatl

pintg
Pintadas Geoglyphs

tamag
Tamarugal Geoglyphs

cesol
Cerro El Sol

chaca

chizg
Chiza Geoglyphs

circles
20.371233

circles
Concentric Circular Pattern

Rock Circles

cunid
Cerro Unidas

cunit
Cerro Unitas

enclosure

fields

fields
Remant of terrace with flood irrigation plots

fields or mining?
Vast grid pattern, age unknown
mining?

geoglyph
Linear Geoglyph

Camelid Geoglyphs
-19.937832°
-69.497657°

caravan tracks

Chiza Geoglyphs

Geoglyphs

Numerous geoglyphs on plateau

ghuar
Geoglifos de Huara

grid pattern
Possible historic mining?

hauag
Hauara Geoglyphs

huarg
Huara geoglyphs

longc
Longacho Circle

pisav
Pisagua Viejo

road 8269m

ruins
Walls and field lines

tarab
Tarapaca Big Bird

tarag
Tarapaca Geoglyphs

tarar
Tarapata Rectangle

Tarapata Geoglyphs

tilig
Tiliviche Geoglyphs

unida

unitc

antofagasta

ancient road
Apparently a camelid caravan route. Modern use too?

caravan route

chacg
Chacarilla Geoglyphs

chalg
Challacollito Geoglyphs

chugg
Chug Chug Geoglyphs

Rock circle geoglyph

cruzg
Cruz Geoglyph

damaged geoglyphs
Road damaging geoglyphs

Pozo Almonte, Tarapacá, Chile
traces of past irrigation plots

Geoglyph adjacent to trail

Guatacondo Geoglyph

Pozo Almonte geoglyphs

Geoglyph on a ridge

Geoglyph near to trail

maria elena

gcrat
Gran Crater

Quillagua Geoglyphs

Calartoco Geoglyphs

grllg
Great Llama Geoglyph

maelg
María Elena Geoglyphs

quilg
Quillagua Geoglyphs

palmg
Pozo Almonte Geoglyph

pchiu
Pucara de Chiu Chiu

pdazg line 616
Pan de Azucar Geoglyphs

picag
Pica Geoglyphs

pukaq
Pukara de Quitor

ruinas

ruta
Retracing a portion of an ancient trail

tamep
Tamentica Petroglyphs

tocog
Tocopilla Geoglyphs

tocop