Resumen

VALENZUELA R., Daniela. PAISAJE, SENDEROS Y ARTE RUPESTRE DE QUESALA, PUNA DE ATACAMA. Chungará (Arica) [online]. 2004, vol.36, suppl., pp.673-686. ISSN 0717-7356.  http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0717-73562004000400012.

This paper presents the results of a rock art study carried out at Quebrada Quesala on the eastern border of the Salar de Atacama basin (Antofagasta, second region in northern Chile). The study is focuses on the relationship between the rock art and its surrounding space, emphasizing the location of the rock art within the context of the natural and cultural features of the landscape. A recurring association was identified between the rock art and five wider sections of the generally narrow canyon of Quesala, which is connected to complementary ecological zones. As well, the rock art was linked to specific cultural features such as trails, stone structures of transitory camps, and the intentional grouping of copper bearing stones, among others. Based on these finding, I propose that the rock art was located along the wider section of the canyon of Quesala to denote or because of its particular geographic attributes, and that the choice of location was a cultural response to the conditions of passage of mobile prehistoric human groups. This rock art was possible made between the Formative Period and Middle Period (ca. 1.000 a.C.-900 d.C.).

Palabras clave : Rock art; setting; landscape; passage; mobility; atacameña area.