Travel Guide Pukara De Turi

On the edge of the great fertile plain called Ayquina or Turi rise, towards the northwest, the ruins of the pukara of Turi, this ghost town that was once an Inca city witnessing the passage of lama caravans. Built on fairly low buttresses, not exceeding 25 m, it differs from the Quitor or Lasana pukaras with the highest gradients. Covering an area of 3.5 hectares, it was the largest of the Atacama villages. The low gradient has favoured a more conventional or orderly architecture, where dwellings of about 5 by 4 m are mixed with adjoining silos, small patios, interior courtyards and community enclosures. The latter were undoubtedly one of the most important elements in a community that was more pastoral than agricultural. There are some small circular constructions, 2 m in diameter and 1.30 m high. These buildings, whose use has not been fully clarified, stand in groups of three or four. And in a higher area of the pukara, six of these torreones form a circle of 14 m in diameter. The materials used to build them are considered to be the best and they have stood the test of time the best. The most commonly used material for housing is volcanic stone, which is more difficult to work and shape. It was only towards the end of the 15th century, with the conquest of the Incas, that the use of adobe was introduced in Turi, which here was limited to only a few houses. The largest of these, which is also the best preserved, measures 9 by 26 m. It is located next to a fairly large square, isolated from the rest of the village by a defensive wall. Known as Casa del Inca (the house of the Inca) and also known as the church, its magnificence and isolation remind archaeologists that it should have fulfilled important functions related to the Inca administration of this Andean region. By Turi passed the section of the Inca Trail that went down from the Altiplano. The site was occupied by the Spanish in the middle of the 16th century and then depopulated. Note the wall surrounding the perimeter of the fortress, which is one metre thick.