Abstract
We present preliminary results obtained from a spatio-temporal analysis of mountain worship directions at the Atacama Indian community of Socaire, northern Chile (23°35'28''S, 67°52'36''W, 3,274 masl). These results can be linked to cultural, geographical, climatic, psychological and astronomical information from ethno-archaeological data. We propose a"system of offering to mountains" that includes concepts such as ceque (straight line), mayllku or mallku (mountain lord or ancestor), and pacha (space and time), which is understood as the projection of a left human hand in the visible horizon (Tumisa, Lausa, Chiliques, Ipira and Miñiques Mountains) (PAH-Triad). This system regulates annual activities such as planting (August 1st), harvesting (May 1st), cleansing of irrigation channels (October 24-26th), and the Catholic rituals and festivities of Saint Bartholomew (August 24th), Saint Barbara (December 4th), Christmas-Summer solstice (December 25th), Carnival (between February and March), Holy Cross (May 3rd), and Saint John-Winter solstice (June 24th). More importantly: it gives a basis for Socaireños' worldview including categories of"above, here, and down";"right and left";"female and male";"noon and midnight";"north and south";"visible and non-visible", along with the Andean concepts of center (ushnu);"two, three, four and five division"; and"humanized landscape".
