This is a Gigapixel image I took of an exposed Chinchorro cemetery on a steep north-facing slope of the Morro, which overlooks the northern city of Arica. My friend and colleague, Bernardo Arriaza, asked me to take this photo to help protect this area from development. This is just one of many cemeteries still waiting to be excavated on the Morro. Apparently the problem is less about funding the excavation as it is having storage for the excavated material.
Standing in this location and looking north out over the city, it is easy to see why this site would have been chosen for a burial and occupation site. The steep slopes provide a strategic defensive position and the views are unparallelled in the area - at least when looking northwest to northeast. They also had easy access to the ocean and rivers, for food, water and wetlands filled with the all important reeds they used for mats, windbreaks, and wrapping their dead prior to burial.