Azapa Cerro Grande Geoglyphs (Mid-Azapa Terrace)
Cerro Grande Azapa Figures · Mid-Azapa Hill Geoglyphs
Middle to Late Intermediate (Maitas–Gentilar)·Azapa valley folk (Maitas–Gentilar)·🇨🇱 Arica y Parinacota Region, Azapa Valley km 14 Mid-Valley Terrace, Chile
About
About Azapa Cerro Grande Geoglyphs (Mid-Azapa Terrace)
Mid-valley terrace on the north bank of Río San José, Azapa km 14 (380 m), 2 km east of San Miguel de Azapa museum. Hosts 28 hillside figures on 18° south-facing slope above olive groves: 15–32 m anthropomorphs with feathered headdresses, 22 m camelid caravan (8 animals), 45 m geometric ladder, and unique 11 m condor with additive white caliche eye fill distinct from Sombrero styles. Dark basalt colluvium cleared to pale caliche; wind deflation preserves high contrast. Dated 800–1400 CE (Maitas–Gentilar) with Cabuza-Inca sherds. Adjacent to AZ-67 tumuli field, suggesting valley-floor cemetery to hillside shrine continuum.
Why it mattersMid-valley locus linking hillside geoglyphs directly to tumuli funerary landscape.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Condor vs local raptor—highland vs coastal iconography
Theories
- 01Cemetery shrine terrace
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.800 – 1400 CE
- Period
- Middle to Late Intermediate (Maitas–Gentilar)
- Culture
- Azapa valley folk (Maitas–Gentilar)
- Builders
- Azapa mid-valley farmers–caravaneers
- Purpose
- Hillside shrine overlooking Azapa tumuli cemetery and oasis farmland
- Abandoned
- c.1450 CE
- Rediscovered
- 1969 Focacci AZ-67 tumuli survey; 1980s Briones Azapa mapping; 2019 museum trail
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
800 CE
Earliest camelid caravan lines
1969
Focacci records adjacent AZ-67 tumuli field
On the ground
Structures & features
18.5280° S · 69.7850° W · 380 m · 2 mapped features
Cerro Grande Feathered Anthropomorph
geoglyph32-m figure with feathered headdress and white eyes
18.5260° S · 69.7840° WAzapa Condor Eye
geoglyph11-m condor with additive white caliche eye fill
18.5300° S · 69.7860° W