Tourism, January 10, 2008
A tour around the cultural past
The civilizations of yore that have left a mark on Argentina are the target of the country’s cultural tourism.
The pre-Columbian culture
From the Pachamama myth to the Quilmes ruins and the Llullaillaco mummies, Argentina’s northern region offers a unique journey visiting the societies that existed before the discovery of America.
Música: Ricardo Vilca
From the Pachamama myth to the Quilmes ruins and the Llullaillaco mummies, Argentina’s northern region offers a unique journey.
As the word reveals, the pre-Columbian culture is a generic name for the Spanish American civilizations that existed before 1492. As of that year, the meeting of these two worlds – the old and the new continent – brought about a radical change in the nature of our territory and its inhabitants. Nevertheless, we still tread on the path toward the genesis of our culture.
If we visit Argentina’s northern region, which still preserves certain traces of its ancestral people, we will be fully exposed to the ways of life of our original ancestors.
The pre-Columbian world
The name originates in the quechua language and means Mother Earth. In the civilizations influenced by the Inca empire it is perhaps the most popular myth and the longest-lasting one in the northern region. The day of the Pachamama is celebrated in August, when a kettle full of cooked food, coca leaves, alcohol, wine, cigars and other offerings is buried, with the intention to feed Mother Earth
182 km from San Miguel de Tucumán, the Diaguitas resisted during more than 130 years the siege they were laid to by the Spanish conquerors. The ruins that were restored a few years ago are the best monument to a civilization that is considered to be the largest pre-Hispanic settlement on present in Argentine. Diverse elements that can be seen in the field bear witness to its advanced culture
The three mummified bodies found on the slopes of the Llullaillaco volcano are part of a project to analyze the Inca culture. The two girls and the boy were found in a state of conservation that heretofore is unique in the world. When the remains were taken to the city of Salta, their frozen condition was intact and, thus, their internal organs were also in a perfect state of conservation
Pucará de Tilcara, 84 km away from San Salvador de Jujuy, is one of the most imposing pre-Columbian buildings of the country. It was built by Indian people from Humahuaca 500 years ago and it was discovered by the ethnographer Juan Ambrosetti and his disciple Salvador Debenedetti in 1908. An unforgettable adventure in Quebrada de Humahuaca
