Hispano-Argentine team to investigate possible new Andes geoglyph next December
Archaeologists from Argentina and Spain will mount a field mission in December to examine a recently identified stone structure in the Andes that may be a previously unknown geoglyph.
A collaborative team of Argentine and Spanish scholars plans a December ascent to study a stone arrangement in the Andes that could represent a new geoglyph. The feature was first noticed by climber Carlos Gobbi while examining Google Earth images, and later confirmed during a four-day trek that reached the location after earlier attempts failed due to harsh conditions. The structure includes over-30-metre stone corridors and piled mounds, but surface surveys found no ceramics or food remains.
Lead investigators Cristina Prieto-Olavarría and Horacio Chiavazza say the site is unprecedented in Mendoza and may date to the 15th-16th-century Inca era, though other periods remain plausible. The team will employ high-precision terrain analysis, drone mapping, geochemical testing and geoarchaeology to reconstruct past environmental conditions and human activity.
Why it matters
Understanding the site could reshape knowledge of high-altitude Andean cultures and their landscape use.
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