Tastil Ruins

About this place

Tastil is the largest pre-Columbian town in what is now Argentina, on a hill at about 3,200 metres in the Quebrada del Toro, on the road from Salta toward Chile. Researchers estimate that more than two thousand people lived there at its height in the late fifteenth century, and it was declared a National Historic Monument in 1997. Among cacti and hillside stones lie the foundations of some four hundred and forty houses built of stone slabs without mortar, raised winding streets that meet in a central plaza, grinding sites for quinoa and maize, and llama corrals. The town was abandoned before the Spanish arrived, after the Inca empire expanded into the area. The hilltop gives wide views over the valley and mountains. At the foot of the hill a small site museum opened in 1975 shows finds from the excavations, and entry to it and the site is free. It lies on the road to San Antonio de los Cobres, so the two pair in one trip.