MUSEO ARCHEOLÓGICO DE SAN MIGUEL DE AZAPA

Created in 1967 and housed in an old olive mill, it is undoubtedly one of the best museums in the region. It exhibits petroglyphs from the Azapa Valley and a collection of Andean fabrics, ceramics and basketry. The exhibition, very well done, informs us about the way of life of the natives of the coast and the valleys. But it is above all the Chinchorra mummies (there are 300 in all), the oldest in the world, that will hold your attention, as well as the explanations of the mummification process. This civilization practiced mummification 2,000 years before the Egyptians! In 2017, these mummies were transferred to the National Museum of Natural History of Chile in order to perform CT tests: the aim was to understand and study some of the characteristics of these mummies. Absolute archaeological rarities, these mummies were inscribed on the Unesco World Heritage list in July 2021. Finally, the traditional techniques of olive oil extraction will no longer hold any secrets for you thanks to a large 18th century press on display a little further on. Behind the museum are the San Miguel burial mounds, which were formed into mounds by the successive accumulation of layers of sand and vegetable fibres. They belong to the cultural stage known as Alto Ramirez (400 BC - 400 AD). Leaving the museum, you can go to the village of San Miguel.