Abstract

TRONCOSO, Andrés. Images out of place: late period antropomorphous figures in the rock art of central Chile. Intersecciones antropol. [online]. 2011, vol.12, n.1, pp.221-230. ISSN 1850-373X.

Anthropomorphous figures with clothing stand out among the most frequent representations in the rock art of Northwestern Argentina and Northern Chile. Their ubiquity in both areas has been considered as an indicator of the dynamics of interregional interaction during late prehistory. Antropomorphous with concave sides (sensu Montt 2005) are but one expression of these popular type of representations, and at least in some cases are associated with "shield-man" of the Santa María style. Even though it has been stated previously that for the western Cordillera de los Andes the southernmost dispersion of this type of anthropomorphous figure is the San Pedro de Atacama area (Montt 2005), in this paper we present three such figures recently recorded in the rock art of the Illapel valley, in the Choapa Province, north-central Chile (30°LS). We will discuss the chronology, affinities and relations between these anthropomorphous figures and their northern counterparts and evaluate why they are present in places so far away from their original spatial distribution pattern. Also we discuss the relations between these designs and the image circulation realized by the Tawantinsuyu.

Keywords : Antropomorphus with concave side; Central North of Chile; Illapel valley; Late Rock Art.

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