Sajama Lines

[1] Scholars at the University of Pennsylvania describe: While many of these sacred lines extend as far as ten or twenty kilometers (and perhaps further), they all seem to maintain a remarkable straightness despite rugged topography and natural obstacles.

The sheer number and length of these lines is often difficult to perceive from ground level, but from the air or hilltop vantage points, they are stunning.

That same decade, anthropologist Alfred Metraux brought the lines and associated structures to the attention of scholars when he published ethnographic fieldwork about the Aymara and Chipaya people of the Carangas region.

In recent years, organizations such as the Landmarks Foundation have studied and mapped the Sajama Lines to create a database to help protect the landscape from threats of erosion, unchecked internationally financed development and tourism in the area, and other dangers that come from the absence of a management plan.

With proper preservation and management, responsible development, erosion prevention and measures to minimize vandalism the Sajama Lines can be protected to the benefit of tourists from all over the world as well as the local people.