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Cited by 30Archaeology and Cultural HeritageLatin American history and cultureHistorical and Architectural Studies

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 12 of the 15 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 58 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

El Qhapaqñan en el Alto Loa, norte de Chile: Un estudio micro y macromorfológico

Open access
Berenguer R, José, Cáceres R, Iván, Sanhueza T, Cecilia, Hernández V, Pedro·2005·Estudios atacameños
DOI 10.4067/s0718-10432005000100002
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Abstract

This paper gives the results of a 125 km-long full-coverage survey of the Inca road, carried out on foot in the Upper Loa river basin, between the locations of Miño, to the north, and Lasana, to the south (21°39' -22°20' Lat. S). We describe: 1) the building characteristics and course of the road in relation to the topography and nature of the terrain it goes across; 2) the road markers and sites with enclosures they are associated to; 3) relationships with evidences of earlier, contemporary and later roads; and 4) the relationships with rock art sites. We discuss these results in connection with questions about the regional prehistory, and we critically evaluate the notion that the Upper Loa’s Inca road is a segment of the so-called “Royal Road of the Coast”.

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

A full-coverage pedestrian survey of 125.07 km of Inca road in the Alto Loa, northern Chile, maps nine segments between Miño and Lasana and shows the road runs on the eastern valley side from Miño to Desencuentro, then crosses the Loa and continues on the western side to Lasana. The road is a modest ~4 m-wide feature, mostly simple stone clearing or linear depressions, with associated settlements and stone markers but no rock art, and the authors question its identification as a single “camino real de la costa.”

Key findings

  • The Inca road was traced for 125.07 km from MI-2 in Miño (3932 m.a.s.l.) to RP-29 in Lasana (2677 m.a.s.l.), with nine segments. The northern sector (Miño–Desencuentro, segments 1–3) runs along the eastern side of the Loa and totals 47 km; after crossing the Loa at Desencuentro, the southern sector (Desencuentro–Lasana, segments 4–9) runs along the western side and totals 78 km.
  • Construction is modest compared with monumental Inca roads elsewhere: average width is 4 m, usually made by clearing stones to the sides; in sandy areas the road is a shallow linear depression. A trench at CG-13 showed a depression 6.5 m wide and 26 cm deep, but only the central 3 m was actually compacted by traffic.
  • The survey recorded 285 points of interest, 35 sites with enclosures, and 63 artificial stone markers. Settlements included 20 minor, 4 medium, and 11 major sites; markers included 54 simple piles and nine complex types. No rock-art site was found along or immediately next to the road.
  • Surface ceramics and dating indicate the route was used before the Inca road: Los Morros, Vaquerías, and Negro Pulido Clásico ceramics suggest use since the Formative, with a stronger Middle Intermediate period presence; the road itself is Inca-built and used during the Late Horizon. Eleven radiocarbon and 20 thermoluminescence dates are reported, 21 of which fall between AD 1400 and 1600.

Methods

  • Intensive, total-coverage pedestrian survey of the Miño–Lasana trayecto, conducted in four expeditions between 2001 and 2003, using combined micromorphological and macromorphological approaches.
  • Field recording used two forms (55 entries for roads, 72 for associated sites/features), GPS coordinates, Brunton compass bearings, digital photography, and a photomap of overlapping vertical aerial photographs; data were entered into a DBF database and GIS built on 1:250,000 IGM cartography.
  • Surface ceramic collections were made at points of interest, with ceramic analyses by Uribe and Cabello; the study also incorporates 11 radiocarbon and 20 thermoluminescence dates to assess chronology and use.

Limitations

  • The paper states that space limits prevent a detailed description of the route and that only some of the 285 points of interest appear in Table 1.
  • The authors state that security conditions, including warnings of explosives, prevented field verification of some hypothesized segments, such as PH-2 near the Loa–San Pedro confluence and a possible variant near Cerro Añil; they also could not locate a connection to Conchi Viejo/El Abra.
  • Evident from the text: the study is primarily a pedestrian survey, with settlement excavation results largely deferred to other publications, and several route connections, variants, and enlaces remain hypothetical and require further field verification.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.4067/s0718-10432005000100002

Cites

12 of 12 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

0 of 58 cited sources checked · 0 supported · 0 flagged

Show all 66 claims

  • Probably not a substantial claim. 28
  • It may state two separate claims as one. 58
  • The quote only partly states this claim. 1
75 of 75

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    El Alto Loa es un área aislada y desolada, con excelente conservación arqueológica y componentes incaicos evidentes, debido a que las influencias culturales locales son mínimas.

    “Y éste es, sin duda, el caso del Alto Loa.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Desde la perspectiva de los recursos hídricos, el Alto Loa se halla muchísimo mejor dotado que sectores situados en latitudes equivalentes del Desierto de Atacama.

    “c) que desde la perspectiva de los recursos hídricos, el Alto Loa se halla muchísimo mejor dotado que sectores situados en latitudes equivalentes del Desierto de Atacama, lo que no es un dato irrelevante en términos de logística del tráfico;”
2 of 2

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.

  • NA-7 and CG-9 are both medium and major settlements

    Major

    The table labels NA-7 and CG-9 as medium settlements, whereas the settlement discussion includes both among the major settlements.

  • LR-1 is both a medium and a major settlement

    Major

    The settlement discussion includes LR-1 among the major settlements, but the table classifies it as medium.

  • Settlement-size counts exceed the stated total

    Minor

    The reported 20 minor, five medium and 11 major settlements add to 36, rather than the stated 35 sites with enclosures. The closing summary instead gives four medium settlements.

    Reported 35 · recomputed 36

  • RP-29 has different coordinates and elevations

    Minor

    The table and concluding summary give different eastings, northings and elevations for the same endpoint, RP-29.

  • CH-1 has conflicting settlement-size classifications

    Minor

    The table classifies CH-1 as minor, but the settlement discussion lists it among the medium settlements.

  • Cerro Colorado-1 is assigned two site codes

    Minor

    The proposed site hierarchy calls Cerro Colorado-1 SBa-62, while the paper otherwise identifies it as SBa-162.

  • Listed summits exceed the stated altitude range

    Minor

    The text says the highest Andean summits reach 5000-6000 m, then lists several above 6000 m, including Aucanquilcha at 6176 m.

7 of 7

Citations

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Show all 15 references

3 of the 15 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 16

  1. --1999. El evanescente lenguaje del arte rupestre en los Andes atacameños / The vanishing language of rock art in the Andes of Atacama. En Arte rupestre en los Andes de Capricornio / Rock art in the Andes of Capricorn, J. Berenguer y F. Gallardo (Eds.), pp. 9-56. Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino / Banco Santiago, Santiago.
  2. Instituto Boliviano de Cultura, La Paz. CAÑETE y DOMINGUEZ, J. V., 1974 [1797]. Documento nº 2 del Partido de Atacama. Norte Grande 1 (2): 243- 251.
  3. CASTRO, V. y V. VARELA, 2000. La dimensión ceremonial en los caminos del Inka: Una reflexión desde la etnogra- fía. Actas del XIV Congreso Nacional de Arqueología Chilena, pp. 815-839. Copiapó.
  4. CORNEJO, L., 1995. El Inka en la Región del río Loa: Lo local y lo foráneo. Actas del XIII Congreso Nacional de Arqueología Chilena, pp. 203-212. Antofagasta.
  5. EARLE, T., 1991. Paths and roads in evolutionary perspective. En Ancient road networks and settlement hierarchies in the New World, C. D. Trombold (Ed.), pp. 10-16. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
  6. GALLARDO, F., C. SINCLAIRE y C. SILVA, 1999. Arte rupestre, emplazamiento y paisaje en la precordillera del Desierto de Atacama. En Arte rupestre en los Andes de Capricornio, J. Berenguer y F. Gallardo (Eds.), pp. 57- 96. Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino / Banco San- tiago, Santiago.
  7. GARCILASO DE LA VEGA, I., 1995 [1604]. Comentarios reales de los Incas. Fondo de Cultura Económica, Méxi- co D. F. GUAMAN POMA DE AYALA, F., 1980 [1616?]. El primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno, J. Murra y R. Adorno (Eds.). Siglo Veintiuno Editores, México, D. F. HYSLOP, J., 1984. The Inca road system. Academic Press, Orlando.
  8. --1991. Observations about research on prehistoric roads in South America. En Ancient road networks and settlement hierarchies in the New World, C. D. Trombold (Ed.), pp. 28-33. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
  9. HYSLOP, J. y M. RIVERA, 1984. An expedition on the Inca road in the Atacama Desert. Archaeology 37 (6): 33-39.
  10. LLAGOSTERA, A., 1976. Hipótesis sobre la expansión incaica en la vertiente occidental de los Andes meridio- nales. En Homenaje al Dr. R. P. Gustavo Le Paige, L. Núñez (Ed.), pp. 203-218. Universidad del Norte, Antofagasta.
  11. Geoglifos y tráfico de caravanas en el desierto chileno. En Homenaje al Dr. R.P. Gustavo Le Paige, L. Núñez (Ed.), pp. 147-201. Universidad del Norte, Antofagasta.
  12. POLLARD, G. C., 1970. The cultural ecology of Ceramic- Stage of the Atacama Desert. Ph.D. Dissertation, Colum- bia University, University Microfilms Int., Ann Arbor.
  13. ROMERO, C., 1978. Caminos de ayer y de hoy. En Tecnolo- gía andina, R. Ravinés (Ed.), pp. 627-640. Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, Lima.
  14. --2004. "Medir", "amojonar", "repartir": Territorialidades y prácticas demarcatorias en el camino incaico de Atacama (II Región, Chile). Chungara 36 (2): 483-494.
  15. TROMBOLD, C. D., 1991. An introduction to the study of ancient New World road networks. En Ancient road networks and settlement hierarchies in the New World, C. D. Trombold (Ed.), pp. 1-9. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
  16. VITRY, C., 2002. Apachetas y mojones, marcadores espacia- les del paisaje prehispánico. Revista Escuela de Historia 1 (1): 179-191.

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Metadata

Authors
Berenguer R, J., Cáceres R, I., Sanhueza T, C., & Hernández V, P.
Venue
Estudios atacameños
Publisher
Universidad Catolica del Norte - Chile
Published
2005
Issue
29
ISSN
  • 0716-0925 (ISSN-L)
  • 0718-1043
DOI
10.4067/s0718-10432005000100002
OpenAlex
W1978707509
Semantic Scholar
2b467f109def0fa848e91b730b53e890ff443e6c
Cited by
27
References
15
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 2
FWCI
17.78
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Estudios Atacameños Arqueología y antropología surandinas (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Americanae (AECID Library) (publishedVersion)
  • LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • Redalyc (Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Americanae (AECID Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • Americanae (AECID Library) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Redalyc (Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology (arts and humanities) › Archaeology and Cultural Heritage
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Latin American history and culture
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology (arts and humanities) › Historical and Architectural Studies
Keywords
Inca road system, Andean roads, road construction techniques, roadbed compaction

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