In this paper, we describe and analyze the panel with pictographs of Punta Chomache, located on the coast of the Atacama Desert, between Iquique and the mouth of the Loa River. The panel has geometric and conventional designs, mainly of fish, birds, and camelids, which are painted with white pigment and red additions. A chronological and cultural transitional affiliation during the Early Pica-Tarapacá Complex (650-900 to 1450 AD) is suggested, probably associated with a low density coastal occupation and possibly with a dual residence pattern. It would be a peripheral enclave integrated into the caravan networks coming from the oasis of Pica and Guatacondo/Tamentica. The panel is interpreted as a visual and ritual sign regarding the recurrence of exceptional fish stranding events, which caused feasts, social interactions, and transfers of surpluses to the fertile interior nodes.

We present the characterization of five metallic objects from the sites of Talleres-Cocheras del Metro and Salvador 1, both located in the Santiago basin. Morphological, microstructural, and chemical composition analyses indicate that the objects from the first site are an unalloyed copper horseshoe manufactured by casting, two iron horseshoe fragments and a copper- tin alloy chisel, whereas the artefact from Salvador 1 is a chisel made of a copper-tin alloy. The results are compared to contemporary pieces from central Chile and the semiarid north, concluding that the chisel from Salvador 1 might be part of a pre-Inka tradition, characteristic of the southern sector of the semiarid north, while the Talleres-Cocheras chisel may be the product of a later tradition, with technological influences from northwestern Argentina that had been spread by the Inka. In addition, the copper horseshoe was probably manufactured in central Chile following a pre-Hispanic technological style typical of the southern Andes, suggesting a possible continuity of this metallurgical tradition under Spanish rule.

This paper presents a transcription of an unpublished lecture given by the German Andean archaeologist Max Uhle (1856- 1944) at Universidad de Chile in 1914. Here, Uhle presents his main assumptions on the ancient history of Chile, which he developed during his three years of residence and research in the country and which are also supported by his extensive research in the Central and Southern Andes. The lecture offers empirical and theoretical knowledge elaborated by Uhle to give account of the formation of cultures in the Chilean territory, namely: the distinction between anthropometric and civilizational evidence, the use of linguistic marks for cultural analysis, the development of time sequences from stylistic comparisons, the application of diffusionist notions to the phenomenon of historical and cultural contacts, and the identification of two types of “influences” on the nations of the current Chilean territory – “hordes” from the East and “civilizations” from the North, the latter being clearly distinguished by their Tiahuanaco and Inca “horizons”, allowing him to postulate the idea of “regional developments” in the Chilean territory.

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