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Pukara
site of the culture Chinchorro |
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 Pukara de Quitor is located next
to the town of San Pedro de Atacama, in
the Antofagasta department of Chile in
the southern part of the Atacama desert.
It takes his name from the pre-Hispanic agrarian
grouping, the “Ayllu of Quitor”, whose
fields of cultivation are born on the
foot of the Pukara Quitor, fortification
erected in the 12th century, as an
answer to the expansionistic intentions
of their Aymaras neighbors. |
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Pukara
site above San Pedro de Atacama |
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Pukara
site above San Pedro de Atacama |
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Pukara
site |
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Pukara
site above San Pedro de Atacama |
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 The Pukara de Quitor was declared National Monument
in 1982. Pukara de Quitor is built
from stone and adobe atop a hill as a
fortification with a perimeter defensive
wall. The ruins of the Pukara de Quitor
are located on an inclined plane, and in
a bend of the gorge whose channel flows
into the river San Pedro rio Grande (big
river).
In the Pukara de Quitor site, almost all
the basic constructions are of stone,
generally without a previous
elaboration. The stone was
extracted from the liparita bank, on
which it is seated. The houses,
small attached silos, defensive
enclosures and walls, store houses and
watchtowers, number more than 160
structures, covering and area 6.18
acres. The site covers an
elevation of approximately 229 feet.
The ceilings of the structures were
generally flat or with very little
inclination: The same techniques have
been used so much in Quitor as in Lasana:
beams of chañar or carob tree, branches,
straw of Ichu, with mud (adobe) covers.
Pukara de Quitor is just 1.86 miles (10
minutes) from San Pedro de Atacama.
The Pukara de Quitor was build as a
defensible fortress, strategically
located: it is defended from the back by
an insurmountable precipice and infront
by high defensive walls.
In the center of the complex is a
semicircular tower.
In 1540, Francisco de Aguirre, attacked
the fortress with 30 horse mounted
soldiers, covered in armor, carrying
firearms and supported by around 1,000
yanaconas. The natives were unprepared
for the Spaniard's armor, horses, or the
devastating roar of the rifles.
This allowed the Spaniards to breach the
first defensive wall, forcing the
defenders to surrender. The local
caciques were beheaded.
In 1981 the Pukara de Quitor was
rediscovered, resuming archaeological
activity in 1992 with contributions from
the International Spanish Agency of
Cooperation. |
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Map of the
San Pedro de Atacama region |
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