Tilcara

Tilcara stands at the meeting of the Grande and Guasamayo rivers in the Quebrada de Humahuaca. Above the valley rises its great pre-Hispanic settlement, the Pucará, home to the Tilcara people and one of the largest settlements in the gorge. Its stone enclosures were linked by paths, with burial grounds apart from the dwellings.

Under Inca rule, Tilcara became the centre of the province of Omaguaca. The inhabitants and imperial authorities remodelled houses and plazas and built administrative and ceremonial spaces. Workshops produced metalwork and ornaments from semiprecious stone, some destined for other parts of the empire. Objects from distant regions suggest that settlers or officials from elsewhere in the Inca realm also lived here. The settlement was connected to sacred places by routes forming part of the Qhapaq Ñan.