Pampa Dos Palmas Geoglyphs (Pica – Matilla Corridor)
Geoglifos Pampa Dos Palmas · Matilla Palm Grove Lines · Pica–La Tirana geoglyphs south
Late Intermediate (Pica–Tarapacá)·Pica–Tarapacá oasis farmers·🇨🇱 Tarapacá Region, Pica Commune, Pampa between Pica oasis and Matilla, Chile
About
About Pampa Dos Palmas Geoglyphs (Pica – Matilla Corridor)
Pampa sheet (1,320 m) between Pica oasis and Matilla village, 6 km west of Pica on the Pica–La Tirana track. 24 figures on white abandoned salar crust: 18-30 m geometrics (rhombus, stepped fret), 22 m anthropomorphs with plume hats, and 80-260 m multi-lane avenues (four parallel) marking the Pica water-mining socavón route. Unlike coastal geoglyphs, Dos Palmas figures are oriented to gallery-forest relict Prosopis (tamarugo) shade patches, not sea. Sediment OSL 1250±60 CE directly on cleared floor. Adjacent puquio shafts (subterranean galleries) tapped Pica aquifer—hydraulic-geoglyph pairing identical to Nasca puquio-geoglyph nexus. Threatened by Pica avocado greenhouses graveling pampa.
Why it mattersGeoglyph–puquio hydraulic pairing as Nasca analogue in Tarapacá; pampa water technology.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01OSL date reliability on salar crust
Theories
- 01Pampa orientation to tamarugo shade vs astronomical
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.900-1450 CE
- Period
- Late Intermediate (Pica–Tarapacá)
- Culture
- Pica–Tarapacá oasis farmers
- Builders
- Pica puquio collectives
- Purpose
- Pampa marking for puquio gallery alignment and oasis-tirgo caravan route
- Abandoned
- c.1450 CE
- Rediscovered
- 1990s Pica project; 2017 puquio mapping UTA–CNRS
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
1996
Picaطار project maps Dos Palmas 24 figures
2017
UTA–CNRS puquio–geoglyph correspondence published
On the ground
Structures & features
20.4850° S · 69.3350° W · 1320 m · 2 mapped features
Pampa Dos Palmas Rhombus
geoglyph26-m stepped-rhombus geometric on salar crust
20.4830° S · 69.3340° WPampa Dos Palmas Four-Lane Avenue
earthwork240-m four-parallel cleared avenues toward Matilla
20.4870° S · 69.3370° W
Gallery