Pucará de Tilcara

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The ruins of Pukara de Tilcara

The Pucara de Tilcara is one of the most important archaeological sites in northern Argentina, created from the archaeological site of an ancient Indian village of Tilcara armed Indians. It is on a very good strategic point above the Quebrada de Humahuaca of the Inca road crosses. It is located at an altitude of 2450 meters, one kilometer south of the town of Tilcara on a hill 80 m above the Rio Grande in the province of Jujuy.

Before the colonization of the Spaniards, it was one of the most important and famous places of the Quebrada de Humahuaca with an extent of 8 to 15 acres and an age of about 900 years. In addition to various residential complexes there was a cemetery enclosure for animals and a place for various sacred ceremonies.

Discovery and reconstruction

It was discovered in 1908 by ethnographers J. B. Ambrosetti and his student S. Debenedetti. In three summers they brought more than 3,000 artifacts to light. This provided information on the living conditions of the indigenous people before the Spanish colonization.

After 1911, the idea of Debenedetti was to reconstruct the ruins. With the approval of Abrosetti ( in his time director of the Ethnographic Museum of the University of Buenos Aires ) 2000 m² of ground were cleaned and rebuilt the walls up to one meter above the ground.

In 1929 after the death of Ambrosetti Debenedetti was director of the museum and wanted to finish the restoration. He led by a renewed exploration of the place, this time with his student Eduardo Casanova. By his death the following year, the project was cut.

In 1948, Casanova took the project up again and finished the reconstruction with the help of the University of Buenos Aires. The Government of the Province of Jujuy, donated the land on the condition that an archaeological museum is to be built. This requirement was met in 1966 with the opening of the first part. Two years later, the project was completed. Next to the museum, a botanical garden was built.

Pucara de Tilcara Museum

The museum now consists of 10 rooms, 3 of which are for temporary exhibitions, a library and the administrative area. The seven permanent rooms house more than 5000 valuable historic pieces from different Indian cultures. One of the most valuable is a mummified body was very well preserved with complete clothing in the Atacama desert found.

• Room 1 is dedicated to Argentina and neighboring countries, Chile and Bolivia. There, among other things, the mummified body of San Pedro de Atacama is issued.
• Hall 2 deals with the Indian culture in Peru. It is shown pottery of Nazca, Mochica and Chimú Indians.
• Room 3 shows pieces from the period before the arrival of the Spaniards in South America.
• The halls 4 and 5 show pieces from the Puna and Jujuy. A major attraction is the reconstruction of the cemetery of the Aymara Indians.
• Room 6 shows pieces from Pucara / Tilcara.
• Hall 7 shows further pieces from the Quebrada de Humahuaca.