The archaeological site of San Pedro de Atacama is a Tiwanaku Empire outpost, located in a desert oasis some 800 kilometers from the capital of the Tiwanuku empire, and at 2430 meters above sea level in the foothills of the Andes mountains in the Atacama desert of extreme northern Chile.
Evidence for occupation at San Pedro begins 11,000 years ago; the first Tiwanaku artifacts appear about 700 AD. The site has been investigated by a number of archaeologists, including Max Uhle, Gustavo LePaige and Myriam Tarrago; emphasis has been placed on the enormous number of burials and their grave goods, particularly with respect to the presence of Tiwanaku related ceramics and other artifacts.
Sources
See Geoglyphs of the Atacama Desert about the geoglyphic drawings of the desert near San Pedro.
This glossary entry is part of the About.com Guide to the Tiwanaku Empire and the Dictionary of Archaeology.
Briones-M, L. 2006 The geoglyphs of the north Chilean desert: an archaeological and artistic perspective. Antiquity 80:9-24.
Gallardo, F. and H. Yacobaccio 2005 Wild or Domesticated? Camelids in Early Formative Rock Art of the Atacama Desert (Northern Chile). Latin American Antiquity 16(2):115-150.
Knudson, K. J. 2007 La influencia de Tiwanaku en San Pedro de Atacama: Una investigación utilizando el análisis de isótopos del estroncio. Estudios Atacameños: Arqueología y Antropología Surandinas 3:37-24. Free download
Oakland Rodman, A. 1992 Textiles and ethnicity: Tiwanaku in San Pedro de Atacama, North Chile. Latin American Antiquity 3(4):316-340.
Torres-Rouff, C. 2002 Cranial Vault Modification and Ethnicity in Middle Horizon San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. Current Anthropology 43(1):163-171.
Torres-Rouff, C. and M. A. Costa Junqueira 2006 Interpersonal Violence in Prehistoric San Pedro de Atacama, Chile: Behavioral Implications of Environmental Stress. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 130:60-70.
