Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino

Cultures > Arid North > Azapa

History

The Azapa people were the heirs of the coastal Archaic tradition and retained an economy based on marine resources, but they also introduced a new horticultural way of life and in the process were influenced by groups from distant lands. Some of the crops they adapted were first domesticated in the tropical lowlands, while new weaving techniques, cuneiform cranial deformation and serpent motifs on their textiles tell us of a possible cultural relation with the Parakas culture of the southern coast of Peru. As agricultural activities gained prominence among these groups with coastal economies, their way of life and ideology gradually shifted, giving way to a new cultural phase in the far north of Chile, known as Alto Ramírez.