page_title: La Silla Observatory
section_title: Signs of a pre-Hispanic culture
hierarchical_section_title: La Silla Observatory / Signs of a pre-Hispanic culture
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Pétroglyphes visibles à La Silla.
context_page_description: La Silla Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Chile with three telescopes built and operated by the European Southern Observatory. Several other telescopes are located at the site and are partly maintained by ESO. The observatory is one of the largest in the Southern Hemisphere and was the first in Chile to be used by ESO.
  The La Silla telescopes and instruments are located 150 km northeast of La Serena at the outskirts of the Chilean Atacama Desert, one of the driest and most remote areas of the world. Like other observatories in this geographical area, La Silla is located far from sources of light pollution and, like the Paranal Observatory, home to the Very Large Telescope, it has one of the darkest night skies on the Earth.
context_section_description: Hundreds of rock engravings, also called petroglyphs, can be found all around La Silla. These are attributed to the El Molle culture. The El Molle culture have their origin as hunter-gatherers that developed a new way of life based on horticulture and village life. They are known for their pottery and body ornaments, such as necklaces and the tembetás.
  There are three types of petroglyph designs at La Silla: human and animal figures, abstract geometrical designs and purely ornamental ensembles. Beside the petroglyphs there exists also a stone circle near La Silla, which is suggested as a astronomical tool. Three rocks aligned during the El Molle culture with Alpha Carinae, Beta Carinae and Alpha Centauri or Beta Centauri. This alignment occurred during late April and during May and could signal the beginning of the cold season. Farmers could have used this tool to determine when to move their herds, mostly camelidae, into their villages. There are signs of illicit excavations at La Silla since the 1990s and in 2017 some vandalism was discovered.
  Another ESO site with archaeological testimonies in its vicinity is the ALMA site.
caption: The delicate central spiral symbolizes a serpent while the rest of the space is taken up by strange little figures, together with some simple geometric motifs and quadrupeds.[42]
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