Search

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the discussion about the presence of christian iconography, like crosses and chapels, in the plastic manifestations in the southern Andes, from the highlands of the Atacama colonial. We will approach this problem from a case study located in the Puna at the provincia de Jujuy (NW Argentina). Particularly we will focus in a rock shelter in the site of Licante, which presents several “chullpas” and rock art, making it up as a sacred place. The temporal depth that presents this space dates back to prehispanic times and reaches late colonial period in which we will concentrate in the analysis. The maintenance of the interventions in this space shows the persistence of its significance. At the same time, we will investigate the role that overtook the Indian agents when appropriate, transform, materialize and disseminate new concepts with a new symbolism associated with christian doctrine.