Salar del Sur North Pampa Geoglyphs (Pampa Salar Sur Norte)
North Salar del Sur Lines · Salar Sur Norte Avenues
Late Intermediate (Atacama Tarapacá)·Atacameño (Likan Antai) caravan·🇨🇱 Antofagasta Region, El Loa Province, Salar del Sur North Margin, Chile
About
About Salar del Sur North Pampa Geoglyphs (Pampa Salar Sur Norte)
North-margin pampa field 4 km north of Salar del Sur playa (2,450 m) on Antofagasta deflation plain. Documents 24 geometric pavement figures over 1.8 km: 40–95 m parallel avenues, 18 m rhombuses, 12 m circles, and distinctive 32 m 'lizard' with tail avenue. Built by removing varnished Atacama gravel to expose gypsum-white crust; pampa stone circles buffer wind. Ceramics link to Loa tarapacá 900–1400 CE oasis caravan network connecting Calama to Sierra Gorda nitrate offices. 2021 UCN drone shows avenues converge at playa-edge apacheta cluster aimed toward Tulán transect.
Why it mattersNorthern entry marker to Salar del Sur caravan salt corridor.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Lizard figure—local vs tropical iconography
Theories
- 01North-gate apacheta complex
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 – 1400 CE
- Period
- Late Intermediate (Atacama Tarapacá)
- Culture
- Atacameño (Likan Antai) caravan
- Builders
- Loa–Sierra Gorda caravaneers
- Purpose
- Salt-flat pampa wayfinding and apacheta ritual at north entry to Salar del Sur
- Abandoned
- c.1450 CE
- Rediscovered
- 2014 Sierra Gorda survey; 2021 UCN drone mapping
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
900 CE
Earliest rhombus avenues
2021
UCN drone reveals playa apacheta convergence
On the ground
Structures & features
23.8200° S · 69.1200° W · 2450 m · 2 mapped features
North Parallel Avenues
earthworkThree parallel 95-m avenues converging at apacheta
23.8180° S · 69.1180° WSalar Norte Lizard
geoglyph32-m lizard with tail continuing as 20-m avenue
23.8220° S · 69.1220° W