Pukará de Quitor
Stone hillside fortress of the Lickanantay people above the San Pedro river valley.
The pukará is a fortified settlement built by the Lickanantay, or Atacameño, people on a steep rocky slope about three kilometres north of San Pedro de Atacama, commanding the valley of the San Pedro river and the oasis below. Dry-stone walls of stacked volcanic rock form some two hundred terraced enclosures used as dwellings, storerooms and defensive positions, stepping up the hillside behind a perimeter wall. It is one of the best preserved fortified sites in the Atacama.
The complex was in use before the Inca expansion into the region and was later absorbed into the Inca sphere. In 1540 it was taken by a Spanish force under Pedro de Valdivia, an episode commemorated on the hill today. The site was declared a national monument in 1982, and it is managed by the Atacameño community of Quitor, which maintains the paths, viewpoints and interpretation along a marked route to the upper terraces.
Highlights
- Around two hundred dry-stone enclosures stepped up the hillside
- Viewpoints over the San Pedro oasis and towards the Licancabur volcano
- National monument managed by the Atacameño community of Quitor
- Marked walking route climbing through the fortified terraces
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