lookout. There are loopholes from six to eight inches square, so that one can see the slope from within, and they would also be useful for a defensive fight. On the inside of each door is a “curtain” of stone, a spur wall built out to make the en- trance more tortuous, so that anyone who assaulted the door and broke it in could not see inside and would be subject to attack from stones thrown over the curtain. Inside some of the ruins are round, smooth, river-rolled stones that must have been brought from the bed of the river or from adjacent allu- vium and carried within to serve the purposes of defense. Upon some of the floors are a number of round holes about four feet in diameter lined with stone, possibly for storing food and concealing or protecting water jars. They are covered with flat slabs of stone. The slope of the hill on which the ruin stands overlooks the valley, and the whole is admirably situated for observing the cultivated fields from a distance and for mutual protection. The place is called Pucara; but the name in Quechua means a fort or fortified place, so that it ts more proper to speak of it as a pucaré than Pucard, and it is not to be confused with the famous pucaras of Rinconada or Andalgala described in Chapter XVI.
Other interesting relics of the ancient population are found in the petroglyphs of the region. Petroglyphs which exhibit a certain similarity are found throughout the Central Andes, all the way from central Peru to the southern end of Atacama, but there are local variations.[1] Beyond these limits some of those from the north of Peru are like those from north- western Argentina, and vice versa. The llama is the principal beast represented. From the proximity of some petroglyphs and frescoes to ruins, as at the Pucaré of Rinconada in north- western Argentina, it is supposed that they pertain to the same historical period, although this does not mean absolute con- temporaneity; only that the same race and the same culture
- ↑ A systematic account of the localities in which petroglyphs and pictographs are found throughout northwestern Argentina, the Desert of Atacama, and the intervening cordillera is given by Plhgzemann: Uber die chilenischen “Pintados,” Internationaler Amerik.-Kongress Vierzehnte Tagung, Stuttgart, roo4. Petroglyphs and pictographs are widely distributed in South America. A comparative study of their distribution such as Erland Nordenckiéld has carried out for several cultural features of South American Indian life is suggested as an interesting line of investigation.
