Rock paintings from Toquepala, Moquegua Department, Peru. Traces of human settlement were found in the caves of Toquepala, which have been dated to around 10,000 years ago using the radiocarbon method. However, this does not prove that the paintings – some of which overlap – are equally old. Although they may well be attributed stylistically to a Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer population, they could also have been created by later peoples, given that various tribes in Patagonia and southern Chile remained at a comparable cultural level right up to modern times. - Book: Picture 57 - Peru - 1976