Every year, hundreds of racing drivers gather in northern Chile with their off-road motorcycles, jeeps, ATVs and buggies. They compete on circuits for hundreds of kilometers around the Atacama Desert, leaving tire tracks in one of the driest places on Earth.
According to the criteria of
What many don’t know is that the Atacama was once a canvas for the ancient indigenous people of South America. Starting 3 thousand years ago, they carved enormous figures of animals, humans and objects on the slopes of the desert. Known as geoglyphs, the specimens in Alto Barranco, in the Tarapacá region, stand out for how remarkably preserved they are.
But it is in that precise place where both authorized and illegal off-road racing has occurred.
Images taken with drones and published last month by Gonzálo Pimentel, president of the Atacama Desert Foundationhighlighted the damage to what he calls “the history book of the desert.”
“When we saw the drone footage, we couldn’t believe it,” Pimentel said, noting that several key figures were now barely recognizable.
Faced with the growing destruction of art in the Alto Barranco and possible damage to other desert regions of archaeological importance, activists say that governments at all levels of the country are not doing enough to preserve them.
“It is a tragedy,” said Luis Pérez Reyes, director of the Regional Museum of Iquique, who credits his love of geoglyphs as a child with inspiring him to become an archaeologist.
The damage comes at a high cost to those who rely on income from offering archaeological tours. Luis Araya, a resident of Tarapacá, said that there are more than 30 families.
Marcela Sepúlveda, president of the Chilean Archeology Society, said large signs had been placed in archaeological areas to prevent damage, so drivers have to be aware of where they are going.
“The geoglyphs are gigantic,” he said. “No one can say they didn’t see them.”
Pérez Reyes began filing formal complaints in 2017 about damage caused by racing. Since then, he and the residents of Tarapacá have gathered evidence, monitoring pilots who venture too close to the ancient figures. But he said the Government was still approving racing events.
The organizers of a great race, the Atacama Rally, denied any responsibility for the damage in the Alto Barranco, near which they last held a race in 2022.
Gerardo Fontaine, race director, said all participants knew the route, were tracked by GPS and alerted if they deviated from it. He added that the routes were approved by regional authorities.
“The real problem is motorcyclists who drive rented motorcycles in the desert without permission,” he said. “No one tells them anything.”
Daniel Quinteros Rojas, a regional official, approved the 2022 rally with the condition that the runners follow pre-established paths. But he said rally organizers did not hand over the drivers’ GPS records after the race, so officials could not determine whether the drivers could be linked to any harm. Since then, no races have been approved in Tarapacá. Fontaine responded that the cost of turning over GPS records to authorities was prohibitive for both the race and the government.
“The authorities are welcome to sit with us during the race and check that the competitors are following their maps,” he said.
Currently, those who damage archaeological sites in Chile can face more than five years in prison and fines equivalent to more than 14,500 dollars, says the Ministry of National Assets. But José Barraza, director of cultural heritage of the Tarapacá region, said that in many cases the complaints were dismissed or investigation folders were left open due to lack of evidence. “There are no license plates or faces,” Barraza said.
For now, the Government is calling on experts to develop strategies to raise awareness among desert racing enthusiasts, to protect the geoglyphs that remain intact.
Pérez Reyes said that several of the geoglyphs would soon cease to exist. But he said he believed displaying the grim images in his museum could help raise awareness about the ancient treasure.
“The intention was never to do it this way, to create a ‘never again’ museum”said.
#Riders #motorcycles #jeeps #ATVs #allterrain #buggies #ruin #ancient #geoglyphs #deserts #Chile