Ancient artwork: A digital restoration of what the geoglyphs at Alta Barranco in Chile looked like before the damage. Preservationists say governments at all levels have failed to prevent authorised and illegal off-road racers from driving through the geoglyphs. — Photos: ©2024 The New York Times Company
EVERY year, hundreds of racers from around the world gather in northern Chile with their all-terrain motorcycles, Jeeps, quads and buggies. They race in circuits for hundreds of miles around the Atacama Desert, carving tyre tracks into one of the driest places on Earth.
What many of those racers potentially ignore is that the Atacama was once a canvas for ancient indigenous peoples of South America. Starting 3,000 years ago, those indigenous people carved vast figures of animals, humans and objects on the desert’s slopes. Known as geoglyphs, the specimens at Alto Barranco in the Tarapacá region stand out for their remarkable preservation.
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Damaged drawings
An image provided by Reyes showing damage to a geoglyph at Alto Barranco.
The damage to the geoglyphs comes at a high cost for those who rely on income from guiding archaeological tours of Alto Barranco. (Luis PŽrez Reyes via The New York Times)
Authorised and illegal off-road racing have marred 3,000-year-old figures of animals, humans and objects on the desert slopes of Alto Barranco.
Tracks from both authorized and illegal offroad racing have marred 3,000-year-old figures of animals, humans and objects on the desert slopes of Alto Barranco in the Tarapac‡ region of Chile. (Gonz‡lo Pimentel via The New York Times)
