Cactus spines used as knitting needles. Atacama Desert, Chile. - Book: Picture 138 - Chile - 1976

The photograph shows the impressive Cuesta de Lipán in the province of Jujuy in north-western Argentina, on the road from Purmamarca up to the Salinas Grandes. The barren, spectacular high-mountain landscape is characterised by hairpin bends, eroded mountain ranges and distinctive candelabra cacti (cardones) lining the roadside. – Argentina – 1975

The archaeological site of Santa Rosa de Tastil in the province of Salta, Argentina, features the well-preserved, pre-Inca stone foundations of one of the country’s largest pre-Hispanic settlements. The complex consists of compact stone houses without windows and narrow alleys. The ruins cover 17 hectares in the Quebrada del Toro gorge at an altitude of around 3,200 metres and form part of the Qhapaq Ñan (Inca road system), which is protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The settlement is thought to have been inhabited between the 14th and 15th centuries, prior to the full-scale Inca expansion, and could have accommodated up to 3,000 inhabitants. – Argentina – 1975

The flowering tip of a large columnar cactus, native to the high Andes of Chile, Bolivia and Argentina. – Argentina – 1975

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