The rugged terrain of Chile’s Atacama Desert is adorned with giant images of llamas, cats, fish, birds, and humans. These geoglyphs harken back to when the barren expanse of sand and rock served as a trade route linking the coastal lowlands to the high mountains.
These geometric, zoomorphic, and anthropomorphic figures may not be as famous as their Peruvian counterparts, the Nazca Lines, but they are protected Chilean monuments. However, they face serious threats from human activity, said the local cultural activists.
In the Alto Barranco area of the Tarapacá region, located in the far north of Chile, the most persistent damage comes from motorcycles and 4x4 vehicles, whose tire tracks are erasing the geoglyphs. The Atacama Desert Foundation, a group dedicated to protecting the park’s archaeological and natural sites, voiced its concerns on September 1, publishing a statement criticizing the behavior of local bikers and jeepers.
“The geoglyphs of Alto Barranco have more than a thousand years of history and have survived thanks to the natural conditions of the Atacama Desert,” the foundation said. “However, their current destruction by bikers and jeepers seriously threatens their millennial existence. Where you leave your mark is your decision, don’t do it on the geoglyphs.”
In a social media post, the Atacama Desert Foundation shared aerial images of geometric and zoomorphic figures from Caramucho, an area south of the regional capital Iquique, that had been driven over by countless vehicles. The extent to which the bikers and jeepers are knowingly destroying the geoglyphs remains unclear, partly because of the scale of the work—some stretch more than 100 feet, making them difficult to spot from ground level.
Regardless of intention, such damage to national monuments is a crime, said Luis Pérez, the director of the Regional Museum of Iquique. Pérez, who is partly responsible for reporting these damages, described the situation as desperate. “This behavior has been formally reported to the Prosecutor’s Office since 2021,” Pérez said. “It’s very serious; this damage is irreversible—it cannot be restored.” To date, no formal complaints regarding the geoglyphs at Alto Barranco have been brought before Chile’s First Environmental Court, the body tasked with handling national monument damage cases.
Spread over an area of roughly 100 square miles, the more than 5,000 Atacama Desert geoglyphs were created by pre-Hispanic peoples between 1000 C.E. and 1540 C.E. Often made on the sides of hills, they were created by removing the top layer of rock to reveal a lighter underlying soil. It is believed they served as guides for passing travelers.
Sayart / Kelly.K pittou8181@gmail.com
