The Atacama Desert – an achingly arid , weedy strip show of desert that lines the west coast of South America – is the dry place on planet Earth . It ’s an environment that ’s so otherworldly that researchers use it tounderstand other planetsand even to preparation spaceman for crew delegation to Mars .
Nevertheless , yard and thousands of years ago , it was home to a wealthy and deeply complex group of hunter - gatherers with a earnestly safe predilection for jewel , drug , and solid food . As report in the journalAntiquity , Chilean and Gallic archeologists have recently been root around an ancient ceremonial complex , recognize as Tulán-52 , that blossomed in the Atacama Desert around 3450 BCE to 2250 BCE .
It appears that Tulán-52 was an important hub at the dawn of the Neolithic historic period in the Atacama Desert . The late reanalysis has also suggested that the site divvy up some decided similarities with a much more late ceremonial building complex located less than a kilometre ( 0.62 miles ) away , Tulán-54 , which date to around 1250 to 650 BCE .
“ There are converging lines of grounds for the reinterpretation of Tulán-52 as a prototype of a ceremonial center , limit , together with Tulán-54 , a long - hold out and original tradition , specific to the Circumpuna de Atacama , ” indite Catherine Perlès , from Paris Nanterre University , and Lautaro Nuñez , from Chile ’s Universidad Católica del Norte , in their study .
" The stone structures partake in similar canonic structure radiation diagram with vertical slab embedded in sterile ground or over former occupational garbage , " they added . " At both website , the social organisation are build with large vertical and capping slabs , up to 1.5 m [ 5 foot ] in stature . "
While Tulán-52 is the older of the two tie in sites , Tulán-54 doubtlessly has a more telling hoard of artifacts . Along with the vast stone structure , the more late land site hold a treasure trove of Au and alien materials – such as obsidian volcanic glass and seashells – from both the Amazonian and the Pacific region . One of the most impressive artifact is a Au - plot wooden vulture head with inlaid green gemstone eyes radiocarbon see to 690 to 540 BCE . Grinding slabs around the site also suggest the use of hallucinogenic drug made from the seed of cebil and lemon yellow , both imported from north - east Argentina .
Of course , there were also bone there too . The site mainly take the skeletal stiff of llamas and other similar camelids , but the squad also set up grounds of baby burials at the site . This is important , as it suggest that the location contain some kind of spiritual or cultural implication .
