Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino

Cultures > Arid North > Alto Ramírez

History

The Alto Ramirez people inherited the horticultural and seafaring traditions of the Azapa and Faldas del Morro groups, respectively. The moist climate prevalent during this period, coupled with the skillful management of their environment, enabled this group to practice more extensive farming in the valleys and thereby establish settlements near their fields. Their development was strongly marked by ideological and technological influences of the Peruvian Bolivian Altiplano, reflected mainly in the images that decorated their textiles, which were similar to those of the ceramic art and rock sculptures of the Pukara, Chiripa and Wankarani cultures of that region. Around the middle of the first millennium, the agricultural societies of Alto Ramírez began to be affected by the powerful influence of the State of Tiwanaku, which expanded into the north of Chile, bringing with it all kinds of cultural changes.