Tastil is an

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...

near

Santa Rosa de Tastil Santa Rosa de Tastil is a rural municipality in Salta Province in northwestern Argentina.Ministerio del Interior

Salta Province Salta () is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the east clockwise Formosa, Chaco, Santiago del Estero, Tucumán and Catamarca. It also surrounds Jujuy. To the north it borders Boliv ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Overview

Located around 2.5 km (1.5 mi) northwest of the settlement are the Ruins of Tastil. Built by the

Atacameño The Atacama people, also called Atacameño, are indigenous people from the Atacama Desert and altiplano region in the north of Chile and Argentina and southern Bolivia, mainly Antofagasta Region. According to the Argentinean Census in 2010, 13,93 ...

people, Tastil thrived during the 15th century, and grew to perhaps 400 households and over 2,000 inhabitants prior to a siege by the invading troops of the

Inca Empire The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, (Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The admin ...

. Subsisting on

quinoa Quinoa (''Chenopodium quinoa''; , from Quechua ' or ') is a flowering plant in the amaranth family. It is a herbaceous annual plant grown as a crop primarily for its edible seeds; the seeds are rich in protein, dietary fiber, B vitamins, and ...

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

, and

llama The llama (; ) (''Lama glama'') is a domesticated South American camelid, widely used as a List of meat animals, meat and pack animal by Inca empire, Andean cultures since the Pre-Columbian era. Llamas are social animals and live with othe ...

husbandry, the ''Tastileños'' built their community out of

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

, and without the use of mortar. The labyrinthine layout of Tastil included

catacomb Catacombs are man-made subterranean passageways for religious practice. Any chamber used as a burial place is a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman Empire. Etymology and history The first place to be referred ...

s and plazas, and the central square was built around a ''wanka'' (a sacred stone).Museo de Antropología de Salta: Tastil y los Inkas
The ruins were rediscovered by

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...

Eric Boman Eric Boman (June 5, 1867 – November 29, 1924) was a Swedish Argentine archaeologist. Life and work Boman was born in Falun, Sweden, in 1867. He relocated to Argentina in 1889, and completed his secondary schooling in Buenos Aires and Catam ...

in 1903, and were cataloged and restored in 1967 by a team from the

University of La Plata The La Plata National University ( es, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, UNLP) is one of the most important Argentine national universities and the biggest one situated in the city of La Plata, capital of Buenos Aires Province. It has over 90, ...

led by Dr. Mario Cicliano. Tastil was declared a National Historic Monument in 1997. The Moisés Serpa Regional Museum of Tastil, located in Santa Rosa de Tastil, was inaugurated the same year, and displays artifacts found at the site and surroundings, including a

mummy A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay fu ...

dating from the 13th century.

References

Indigenous topics of the Andes Archaeological sites in Argentina National Historic Monuments of Argentina Former populated places in Argentina Buildings and structures in Salta Province {{coord, 24, 27, 08.14, S, 65, 57, 25.72, W, display=title.