Pukara de La Compañia is an archaeological site containing the remains of a promaucae fortress, later used by the

Incas The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The Inca civilisation rose fr ...

, located on the large hill overlooking the village of La Compañia, a village in the commune of

Graneros Graneros is a Chilean commune and city in Cachapoal Province, O'Higgins Region. Demographics According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Graneros spans an area of and has 25,961 inhabitants (12,992 men and 12,969 women) ...

, Chile. It is the southernmost building which remains of the

Inca Empire The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The History of the Incas, Inca ...

. As such it is an important landmark on what is known as "

The Chilean Inca Trail The Chilean Inca trail (''El Camino del Inca en Chile'') is a local and popular term among local tourism initiatives and Chilean anthropologists and archaeologists for the various branches of the '' Qhapak Ñan'' (the Inca road system) in Chile and ...

", and has been declared a

National Monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a sp ...

by the Chilean government.

History

There are three main historical periods during which the site was occupied: *Between the years 1380 and 1450 A.D., the hill was apparently occupied by local promaucaes or

picunche The Picunche (a Mapudungun word meaning "North People"), also referred to as ''picones'' by the Spanish, were a Mapudungun-speaking people living to the north of the Mapuches or Araucanians (a name given to those Mapuche living between the Itat ...

s during their resistance to the

Inca The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The History of the Incas, Inca ...

invasion. *Most of the structures and remains of the hill date to the Inca occupation, namely between the years 1430 and 1450 A.D, approximately. *Once again the local indigenous population occupied the fortress during their resistance to the Spanish

conquest Conquest involves the annexation or control of another entity's territory through war or Coercion (international relations), coercion. Historically, conquests occurred frequently in the international system, and there were limited normative or ...

. The evidence of this event is its documentation in Spanish

chronicle A chronicle (, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events ...

s which later guided

archeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes. Archaeol ...

s there, allowing them to rediscover the Pukara only a few decades ago.

Architecture

Description

The remains of the pukara consist of the bases of 7 circular structures, a major construction and other nearby buildings that may have been observation posts. In addition, the flat summit of the hill is surrounded by defensive perimeter walls.

Current situation

Pukara La Compañia was declared a Chile National Monument by Decree No. 1191, dated 11 March 1992. Nonetheless, the site lacks suitable access for tourists, and is neither maintained nor adequately protected by the authorities. This lack of respect for the archaeological heritage of the pukara is the evident in the installation of a large antenna of

cellular telephony Mobile telephony is the provision of wireless telephone services to mobile phones, distinguishing it from fixed-location telephony provided via landline phones. Traditionally, telephony specifically refers to voice communication, though t ...

on the summit of the hill. The installation of this antenna, carried out in 1997, consisted of building an access road and movement of earth, which destroyed of one of the defensive walls. As of 2012, O’Higgins Tours had enlisted the skills of graphic designer Eduardo Galdames for an archaeologically based digital reconstruction of the site. The project is ongoing, will be for educational purposes and was partially funded by the Chilean government.

References

External links

Cerro de La Compañía Google Maps

Official website of Pucará de La Compañía del Consejo de Monumentos Nacionales de Chile.

M. T. Planella, B. Tagle, R. Stehberg y H. Niemeyer; ''Achievements and failures in the stage of recovery of a historical damaged patrimony: the case of the strength(fortress) of the Big Hill of The Company ". Chungará, sep. 2004. Pucará de La Compañía
official site of the Municipality of