A team of iresearchers from the National Institute of Anthropology and History of Mexico (INAH) is carrying out a systematic and comprehensive research on rock art found in the mountains surrounding the Tastil archaeological urban center, jumpwhere did it exist the largest pre-Hispanic village in what is currently the Argentine Republicto.
Located in 3,200 meters above sea level, in the pre puna call, 100 kilometers west of the city of Saltait is estimated that the engraved stones that are scattered in Santa Rosa de Tastil are around approximately 8,000a huge collection that Mexican researchers will try to map through the baptized “Tastil Rock Art Project” which has the support of the Department of Heritage of the province of Salta and the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (Conicet).
In addition, in this great archaeological challenge of world interest also collaborate plastic artists and archaeologists of the national universities of Córdoba and Salta, as well as the University of Seville, Spain, the Grupo El Abra Foundation and representatives of the Tastil Site Museum, who estimate that the study will take about five years.
As explained by the specialists during the IV Virtual Colloquium Boca de Potrerillos- space that the INAH Center of the town of Nueva León allocates to the promotion and dissemination of studies on this kind of indigenous cultural manifestations-, the main objective of the baptized “Tastil Rock Art Project” is power delve into the large number of petroglyphs that are scattered on the tops of at least 11 hills that are above the 3,200 meters high above sea level and that they are connected with the old settlement that has 17 hectares of surface.
Although until now, the punctual registration was carried out in the areas of Corral Negro, El Duraznito and Los Canchones, the project also includes the regions of Abra Romero, Agadita, Cerro del Medio, Cerro Negro, Cortaderas, El Bordo, La Covacha and Loma Negra.
“We are in the initial phase of the registration process, since we still do not have specific statistics on the techniques and styles used in the designs, some more schematic and others more naturalistic; the quantity and type of figures that are concentrated in each one of the blocks”, explained the INAH archaeologist, Luis Alberto Martos López.
“In the last year and a half, 3,400 blocks with petroglyphs have been documentedmany of them with representations of camelidsscenes of caravanning and grazing, in which the so-called camayoc or llama keeper, Who printed these graphic motifs to the area in an important commercial and ceremonial centerwhose life revolved around caravan traffic of pack animalsmostly callseven in pre-Inca periods (600 BC / 1000-1450 AD)”, concluded the specialist.
