The natural arch
A wide entrance.
Man77 — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Cristina Tolesano & Claudio Elias — Public domain · Cristina Tolesano & Claudio Elias — Public domain
The Inti Huasi cave is a broad volcanic grotto in the San Luis hills, near the gold-mining village of La Carolina and about a hundred kilometres from the provincial capital, and one of the most important prehistoric sites in South America. Its name, «house of the sun» in Quechua, was given after the Spanish conquest; what its first inhabitants called it is unknown. A wide natural arch shelters two shallow hollows, forming a dry, bright entrance hall that sheltered hunter-gatherers for thousands of years. A walkway lets visitors see inside without harming it, and a museum and interpretation centre nearby displays stone tools found in the excavations. It opens every day and is free to visit, drawing some twenty thousand visitors a year. Pair it with La Carolina.
A wide entrance.
Inside the cave.
Stone tools.
Near La Carolina, San Luis hills, about 100 km from San Luis
«House of the sun» in Quechua, a name given to the cave after the Spanish conquest.