Satellite imagery has revealed 76 ancient stone hunting traps and hundreds of previously unseen settlements in the high-altitude Andes of northern Chile—evidence that hunting and gathering persisted at the center of Andean life long after agriculture appeared. The discovery, led by Dr. Adrián Oyaneder of the University of Exeter and published in Antiquity, contradicts centuries of assumptions that hunting in the Andes had disappeared thousands of years ago.
Oyaneder examined a 4,600-square-kilometer stretch of the Camarones River Basin using publicly available satellite imagery. What he found were long, V-shaped stone walls—some stretching 150 meters (roughly 500 feet)—which funneled into circular stone enclosures roughly two meters deep. These structures, known as chacus, were sophisticated traps used to capture vicuñas, wild relatives of alpacas.
Until now, only a few chacus had been recorded in the Andes, most in Peru and in connection with Inca “royal hunts.” The 76 newly discovered traps are an unprecedented concentration in one region, pointing to a far older and more widespread tradition of hunting that may even predate the Inca. All of them were built on steep slopes over 9,000 feet, within the natural range of vicuñas. Their strategic placement suggests deep ecological knowledge and collaborative planning by early hunters.
Oyaneder also found nearly 800 miniature stone settlements near the traps, ranging from solitary huts to clusters of several buildings. GIS mapping revealed that most of them were located within five kilometers of chacus and formed a network of seasonal campsites likely used by groups of hunters passing through the mountains. The pattern suggests a mixed way of life combining hunting, herding, and small-scale farming over millennia.
The findings contradict earlier archaeological models that suggested foraging declined around 2000 BCE when domesticated animals and plants predominated. Historical tax records from Spanish times between the 16th and 19th centuries, however, mention “Uru” or “Uro” people—groups of foragers that lived in the highlands and had little contact with colonial authorities. The new research provides physical evidence that such groups persisted much longer than previously assumed.
Incidentally, Oyaneder’s discovery also has parallels on the same scale in Middle Eastern and Central Asian traps, known as “desert kites.” Though built independently, they share the same funnel shape and purpose: driving herds of wild animals into enclosures for capture. Here is an astonishing example of “technological convergence,” where human populations faced with the same challenges developed almost identical solutions despite being worlds apart from one another.
Oyaneder’s findings present a portrait of adaptability and resilience. Between approximately 6000 BCE and the 18th century, the population of northern Chile maintained a lifestyle that enabled them to thrive in a hostile, changing environment. Their stone campsites and hunting traps demonstrate that hunting never really disappeared but rather remained alongside agriculture and herding for thousands of years.
The discovery upends archaeologists’ understanding of the Andes—not as a landscape that simply transitioned from foraging to farming, but as one where diverse ways of life intersected and endured. The chacus of the Camarones Basin stand as silent proof of this continuity.