The Fortress of the Stars. Argentina

Archaeological sites are attractive to tourists. There are many reasons for this, ranging from the historical value of such places to their banal beauty. Pucara de Tilcara is no exception to this rule. The name of this place translates as "the fortress of the stars" and it was founded in the XII century AD.

This fortress is located in the province of Jujuy, Argentina. To be more precise, 130 kilometers from the central city of the province, but since Pucara de Tilcara is an archaeological site, the way to it is easy to find.

The Fortress of the Starsfall is located on a hill that stands above the Rio Grande River. In its heyday, the Pucara de Tilcara was home to two thousand inhabitants. The indigenous people who lived there were the Omaguaca people.

The buildings in the Fortress of the Starshine are mostly small stone buildings with no windows at all. In addition to dwellings, this ancient city had farm buildings, ritual places and, of course, pens for cattle. Thanks to the findings of archaeologists, we can say that the indigenous population of Pucar de Tilcara was engaged in various crafts, such as weavers and potters, and they also made their own armor and weapons.

However, the Omaguaca were not forever the masters of Pucar de Tilcara. It was only three hundred years after the city was founded, and in the fifteenth century it was conquered by the Incas. The reason was that the city was located on the trade routes, and its capture was profitable from an economic point of view. However, the Incas did not dominate the Fortress of Starshine for long. The year 1598 was the year of the fall of Pucar de Tilcara and its destruction by the Spaniards.

It was at the beginning of the last century that Juan Bautista Ambrosetti began to undertake archaeological excavations in the area. It is thanks to his work and more than a hundred years of painstaking work by restorers and archaeologists that tourists today can enjoy the Pucara de Tilcara in all its glory.