Camarones Pachica Escarpment Geoglyphs (Pachica Headwall)
Pachica Headwall Figures · Camarones Headwall
Formative (800 BCE–650 CE)·Alto Ramírez–Camarones·🇨🇱 Arica y Parinacota, Camarones Valley head, Pachica escarpment (approx 19K 0448 E, 7904 N), Chile
About
About Camarones Pachica Escarpment Geoglyphs (Pachica Headwall)
Headwall escarpment (1,250 m) at Camarones Valley source zone near Pachica, where precordillera meets Altiplano. Twelve figures on escarpment pediment: 32-m ‘broad man’ with outspread arms, 24-m camelid dam and kid, and 48-m zigzag avenue. Escarpment slope 9°; figures face west (down-valley). Pediment clasts angular (escarpment shatter), cleared floors 12 cm deep into grus with block borders 20 cm. Highland Wankarani sherds upslope, Cabuza below, documenting trans-ecotone contact.
Why it mattersKey geoglyph illustrating Alto Ramírez–Camarones hydraulic/geoglyph/kite/kurgan tradition in Arica y Parinacota, Camarones Valley head, Pachica escarpment (approx 19K 0448 E, 7904 N).
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Broad man highland style
Theories
- 01Valley source territorial marker
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 BCE–650 CE
- Period
- Formative (800 BCE–650 CE)
- Culture
- Alto Ramírez–Camarones
- Purpose
- Headwall gateway at Camarones Valley source
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.800 BCE–650 CE
Initial construction
2020
Drone/UAV high-resolution mapping and heritage inventory
On the ground
Structures & features
19.0200° S · 69.4500° W · 1250 m · 4 mapped features
- Broad Man (32 m)geoglyph32-m broad-armed anthropomorph19.0190° S · 69.4490° W
- Camelid Dam and Kid (24 m)geoglyph24-m dam + kid pair19.0210° S · 69.4510° W
- Zigzag Avenue (48 m)earthwork48-m zigzag avenue down escarpment19.0190° S · 69.4490° W
- Escarpment Block Borderearthwork20-cm block border revetment19.0180° S · 69.4480° W