Salar de Huasco North Bofedal Geoglyphs (Northern Peatland Terrace)
Huasco Norte Geoglyphs · Northern Huasco Terrace Figures
Late Archaic to Formative (3000 BCE–800 CE)·Tarapacá altiplano foragers to caravan·🇨🇱 Tarapacá Region, Pica Province, Salar de Huasco North Shore Bofedal (Collacagua–Huasco), Chile
About
About Salar de Huasco North Bofedal Geoglyphs (Northern Peatland Terrace)
1 km north of main water body where fossil alluvial terrace meets modern peat. 16 large figures on saline crust–peat transition: 18–31 m paired anthropomorphs with rayed headdresses (Atacama giant lineage), 72 m arrow pointing north toward Collacagua pass (4,200 m) and 3 cairn rectangles (4×6 m) marking former lake strand. Figures employ excavated saline crust to expose dark bofedal peat then bordered with salt-crust blocks — inverse technique due to white substrate.
Perched middens with Late Archaic stemmed points (3000–1800 BCE) underlie figures, recut Formative 900 BCE–800 CE. Arrow aligns to inter-salar route to Salar de Coposa. 2022 peat coring shows figures postdate 2800 BCE lake highstand. Threatened by peat cutting and vicuña trampling.
Why it mattersOnly bofedal inverse-technique geoglyphs on altiplano — white salt crust cut to peat.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why rayed anthropomorphs occur only on north terrace
Theories
- 01Collacagua pass wayfinding ancestor vs caravan clan emblem
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.3000 BCE (midden) – 800 CE (geoglyph)
- Period
- Late Archaic to Formative (3000 BCE–800 CE)
- Culture
- Tarapacá altiplano foragers to caravan
- Builders
- Collacagua–Huasco bofedal groups
- Purpose
- Northward route beacon to Collacagua–Coposa corridor and peatland ritual marking
- Abandoned
- c.900 CE
- Rediscovered
- 2022 UTA–Tarapacá peat coring and drone survey
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
3000 BCE
Archaic midden at terrace
900 BCE
Salt-crust figure cutting
2022
Drone maps 16 figures north bofedal
On the ground
Structures & features
20.2450° S · 68.8650° W · 3810 m · 2 mapped features
North Terrace Rayed Anthropomorph Pair
geoglyph18–31 m paired rayed-head anthropomorphs on salt–peat edge
20.2440° S · 68.8640° WCollacagua Arrow (72 m)
earthwork72-m arrow with salt-block border pointing north to Collacagua pass
20.2470° S · 68.8660° W
Gallery