This is a handmade and handpainted ceramic pendants with emblematic replicas of some of the almost 5,000 geoglyphs in the Atacama desert of northern Chile. Like the Nazca lines in southern Peru, the geoglyphs were created by means of accumulating and placing dark-coloured rocks to define the borders of the image and contrast with the lighter coloured surrounding terrain, and removing the superficial layers of the earth to create another visual contrast between the excavated area and its surroundings. Although the oldest date back to 1,000 BC, most were made by successive prehispanic cultures between 800 AD and the fifteenth century.The geoglyphs consist mostly of:

-          anthromorphic figures such as the “The Giant of Atacama”, the largest prehistoric anthromorphic geoglyph in the world at 119 metres in length and believed to be an image of the deity Tarapacá, a local variant of the Andean creator god and also the name of the region of administrative region of northern Chile in which the geoglyphs are located.

-          zoomorphic ones of birds, llamas and other four-legged animals.

The exact reason for the creation of these geoglyphs is uncertain. Some believe that they marked and reflected local cultural affinity, while others believe that they indicated region ritual, ceremony and astrotheology. Certainly, some of the shapes correspond to those of Andean interpretations of stellar constellations, and others were even believed to have served as lunar calendars. What is certain is that they were located and distributed along prehispanic llama caravan routes and supporting infrastructure, and that the geoglyphs of camelids are particularly prevalent. This suggests that the geoglyphs were somehow connected to these trade routes, perhaps serving to guide the caravans by means of signposting the route of even indicating nearby water sources or pastures for respite. Accordingly, we have added a cord in llama wool to this pendant.