There are several motifs and images that have an unexpected rare occurrence in the rock art of the Desert Andes of South America. One such a motif is the Stepped Design that is ubiquitously depicted on ceramics, textiles and in other artefacts, as well as in architectural art. However, the Stepped Design is an anomaly (in several ways) in the rock art of coastal Chile and Peru. This study explores the distribution and attempts at explaining those anomalies.

By Maarten van Hoek

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The Stepped Design

An Anomaly in Desert Andes Rock Art

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Maarten van Hoek

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Cover Photo. Chimú Gold Headdress (note the numerous Stepped- and Stepped-Wave Designs), stored at the Larco Hoyle Museum in Lima. Photograph © by Maarten van Hoek.

Click on any illustration to see an enlargement.

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Introduction

Having studied and scanned numerous ancient Andean art expressions, I noticed that there is often a discrepancy between the images sculptured or painted on the (adobe or stone) walls of ancient temple complexes, on artefacts, like textiles and ceramics (Manifestation Type 1), and the even more numerous rock art motifs (Manifestation Type 2). Motifs that are frequently found in Manifestation Type 1 are often very rare (sometimes even absent) in rock art (and vice versa, of course). For instance, representations of sculptured fish occur regularly in the adobe art of Chan Chan, the ancient capital of the Chimú Kingdom, right on the Pacific Coast of northern Peru. One enormous frieze at Chan Chan even displays a row of numerous fish that are framed by a long row of nested Stepped Designs (Figure 1), while more sculptured Stepped Designs (including birds; see last page) occur elsewhere in the city of Chan Chan.

Figure 1. Part of a frieze at Chan Chan, northern Peru. Photograph © by Maarten van Hoek.

Also other ancient structures have examples of the Stepped Design. For instance, an enormous monolith at the Temple Complex of Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley, high up the slope (how did they get it there?), features three large, sculptured Stepped Designs in a vertical row, of which the left part is standing out (Figure 2A). At the same site is a large block of solid stone, three-dimensionally sculptured as a Stepped Design (Figure 2B).

Figure 2. Megalithic stones featuring Stepped Designs at Ollantaytambo, Sacred Valley, Peru. Photographs © by Maarten van Hoek.

In Peru there are more ancient structures that show the Stepped Design, but those structures (like temples) are absent south of the Nasca Territory of southern Peru. In that southern part of the Desert Andes we “only” have artefacts decorated with Stepped Design patterns, which – in general – are much more common on  artifacts in the whole of the Desert Andes. Outside the Desert Andes we have visited only one monumental megalithic temple complex featuring large dressed blocks of stone with deeply recessed Stepped Designs. These are found at the impressive Tiwanaku – Puma Punku Complex on the Altiplano of Bolivia.

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Variations of the Stepped Design

The simplest and also the commonest representation of the Stepped Design comprises a pattern that has a horizontal base, a vertical, straight back, and a diagonal, stepped side. In this study I label this pattern the “Single Unit” (Figure 3A). In fact, all other Stepped Designs may be regarded as manipulations of the Single Unit. A “Double Unit” for instance, is formed when two Single Units are joined, back-to-back (Figure 3B). The “Quadruple Unit” consists of two Double Units joined together base-to-base, forming the so-called rhombus or “diamond” pattern (Figure 3C). The latter unit is not the same as a simple outlined cross-shape. With these three basic patterns many – often nested – alternatives can be realised, sometimes even by drawing just one line, or by adding other elements.

Figure 3. The basic Stepped Design variations. Drawings © by Maarten van Hoek.

There is one specific combination of a Stepped Design with another element that may explain the meaning of a specific type of Stepped Design. It concerns the combination of a Single Unit with a simple (curvilinear or rectilinear) spiral-like element that most likely represents a wave in Andean iconography (Figure 3D). This element also occurs in isolation; not associated with a Stepped Design. This specific amalgamation seems to express the Mountain-Wave duality (Van Hoek 2004). The Stepped Design mainly occurs two-dimensionally, on ceramics and textiles, but also more three-dimensionally carved from wooden snuff-boards (especially those from the southern Atacama Desert). Moreover, three-dimensional Nasca-Style (Figure 4) and Moche-Style ceramics (Van Hoek 2001: Fig. 6) symbolising the Mountain-Wave have also been recorded. Importantly, the Stepped Designs and the Mountain-Wave symbols occur in several Andean Cultures, like Paracas, Salinar, Moche, Chancay and Chimú (Van Hoek 2017: Fig. 8).

Figure 4. Nasca ceramic probably symbolising the Mountain-Wave concept. Drawing © by Maarten van Hoek, based on a photograph by Rebecca Stone-Miller (1995: Fig. 51).

The idea that the Stepped Design – especially Variation B – symbolises a mountain, seems to be confirmed by the scene on a Nasca ceramic (Figure 5). Personage #2 is – in my opinion – the “Warrior” who decapitated the victim(s). He seems to “address” the (invisible) ancestors and/or gods on top of a Sacred Mountain. Figure #1 is the (female?) shaman, possibly impersonating the Andean “Staff God”, his or her rituals being focussed on the transportation of the souls of the deceased (the victims?) to the top of the Sacred Mountain. The actual conveyance of the souls is not done by the shaman (who remains standing at the foot of the Sacred Mountain), but via the magical flight of a feline (front part only!?), apparently aided by an (inverted – dead?) bird, both located at the very summit of the Sacred Mountain (is #4 an altar?).

Figure 5. Drawing of a ritual scene on a Nasca double-spout bottle. Drawing © by Maarten van Hoek (subjectively coloured-in), based on Uhle (1959: Abb. 1); in: Proulx (2001: Fig. 6.16).

The important role of felines and birds in Andean cosmology – also in relation to the concept of the “spiritual flight” of souls to the top of a Sacred Mountain – is also confirmed by the study by Scott Smith who argues (discussing specific Tiwanaku imagery) that “The use of a puma effigy vessel for ritual at the summit of the sacred Step Mountain makes sense when we recall that felines were the mediators between the earthly and spiritual realms.” (2012: 48), and also that “… birds were conceptualized as being able to transgress the boundaries between the earthly and spiritual realms.” (2012: 51). In this respect Smith illustrates several Tiwanaku-Style Sacred Mountains with feline or bird heads (2012: Figs 9, 12 and 25).

Also in Moche iconography Stepped (Mountain) Designs – some associated with ritual decapitation scenes of captives, again aided by birds, while also anthropomorphic figures with a bird’s head and wings – have been reported. It is scientifically accepted that in Andean worldview shamans can transform into animals (especially into felines and raptors) in order to communicate with their ancestors and gods, who very often reside on top of a Sacred Mountain.

The impact of the Stepped Design on Andean life is still noticeable in modern times. For instance, the Stepped Design is used in several Peruvian logos and websites (often just as decoration). However, the best evidence of recent use of the Stepped Design we witnessed in Trujillo in 2012, watching a colourful procession of people dressed in supposedly traditional Moche garments. Several participants wore dresses adorned with Stepped Designs (in many variations). Most impressive were the high-status male official who was carried around in a seat (the Stepped Designs indicated by the yellow arrows in Figure 6), and the female high-status person who carried around on a seat in the shape of a Stepped Design. In the parade also warriors demonstrated their skills swinging their spears and war-clubs, while shouting, One person in the parade frequently blew the traditional Moche “Concha” trumpet (YouTube Video)

Figure 6. Five of the participants (only four visible) of the impressive 2012-parade in the city-centre of Trujillo, located in the Moche Valley of northern Peru and very near the impressive Huaca de la Luna, and (further north on the coast in the Chicama Drainage) Huaca El Brujo. Both archaeological Moche sites feature many sculptured and colourfully painted scenes that probably offered the inspiration for the designs on the dresses and for the artifacts (like weapons) used in the 2012-parade. Photograph © by Maarten van Hoek.

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The Stepped Design in Rock Art

In view of the numerous examples of the Stepped Design and all its abundant variations in Andean iconographies in temple complexes, like Huaca de la Luna near Trujillo, and (above all) the most important metaphorical meanings of the Stepped Design (expressing in general the Mountain Concept, and especially the Mountain-Wave duality, and the Sacred Mountain concept), it is strange that those authoritative and meaningful metaphors are so hugely underrepresented in Desert Andes rock art. Yet there are a few anomalies regarding the distribution of the Stepped Design.

For instance, despite the plentiful fish-and-Stepped-Designs combination at Chan Chan, the Chimú capital in the Moche Drainage of northern Peru (see Figure 1), both images of fish and representations of the Stepped Design are very rare in Desert Andes rock art; surprisingly also in the rock art of the Moche Drainage. I do not know of any example of fish, nor of the Stepped Design, in the rock art repertoire of the Moche Drainage (although at the rock art site of Alto de la Guitarra – just outside the Moche Drainage in Virú – a few fish petroglyphs have been recorded; but – as far as I know – Stepped Designs are absent).

Other rock art images of fish have been recorded at, for instance, Quebrada de Pay Pay (2x) in the Jequetepeque Drainage, at Santa Rita (1x) in the Chao Drainage, and at Callanco (2x), Huaca Blanca (one fish-skeleton) and at Cerro Mulato (a few), all three in the Reque Drainage. But in the Reque Drainage only at Cerro Mulato some petroglyphs of the Stepped Design have been noticed by me, though not associated with fish imagery. The other sites mentioned in this paragraph do not have the Stepped Design (as far as I know) and therefore I will start with Cerro Mulato (for the locations of the relevant rock art sites see Figures 23 and 24 at the end).

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Cerro Mulato

Cerro Mulato is an isolated hill almost completely covered with numerous boulders, of which at least 500+ bear petroglyphs. Yet only three boulders feature the Stepped Design. Single Units of the Stepped Design do not occur at the site, but on Boulder CMg-188 is an outlined example of the quadruple Stepped Design, measuring 34 cm across (Figure 7).

Figure 7. Quadruple Stepped Design on Boulder CMg-188 at Cerro Mulato in the Reque Valley of northern Peru. Photograph and drawing © by Maarten van Hoek.

The other two examples concern biomorphic petroglyphs that incorporate the Double Unit of the Stepped Design. The first of those two is the petroglyph of an apparent lizard on Boulder CMf-132  of which the sides form a stepped pattern (Figure 8). On Boulder CMn-226 is an image of a head or a mask measuring about 30 cm in width, of which the mouth (?) is shaped like a negative double unit of the Stepped Design (Figure 9). On the same boulder is a possible MSC-Style head petroglyph, and if so, it dates from the Andean Formative Period.

Figure 8. Petroglyph of a large lizard incorporating a Double Unit Stepped Design on Boulder CMf-132 at Cerro Mulato in the Reque Valley of northern Peru. Photograph and drawing (based on several photos) © by Maarten van Hoek.

Figure 9. Head or mask petroglyph incorporating the “negative” pattern of a Double Unit Stepped Design on Boulder CMn-226 at Cerro Mulato in the Reque Valley of northern Peru. Photograph and drawing © by Maarten van Hoek.

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The Remainder of Northern Peru

As far as I know only two more sites feature the image of the Stepped Design. On Panel YON-026A at Yonán in the Jequetepeque Valley of northern Peru (77 km SSE of Cerro Mulato), is an unusual Double Wave Unit of the Stepped Design (Figure 10). It is unknown to me whether the biomorphic figure on the left, the serpentine groove on the right and the pecked disc hovering above the Mountain, are part of the symbolism. The second example is a rather small example Unit (17 cm) of the Quadruple on Boulder SRB-018 at Santa Rita in the Chao Valley of northern Peru, 148 km SSE of Yonán (Figure 11).

Figure 10. Petroglyph of a unique Double Wave Unit Stepped Design on Panel YON-026A at Yonán in the Jequetepeque Valley. Photograph and drawing © by Maarten van Hoek.

Figure 11. Petroglyph of  a Quadruple Unit Stepped Design on Boulder SRB-018 at Santa Rita in the Chao Valley of northern Peru. Photograph and drawing © by Maarten van Hoek.

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Southern Peru

The next site featuring examples of the Stepped Design is Chillihuay in the Ocoña Drainage of southern Peru (skipping an area of 1015 km SE of Santa Rita; see the void in Figure 23). No fewer than six examples have been recorded at Chillihuay; two (drawn on one panel) being part of impressive warrior-like anthropomorphs (Figures 12 A and C; Van Hoek 2014). In both cases the Stepped Design represents a facial element. One element depicts a Single Unit; the other a Double Unit, the latter comparable with the Stepped Design incorporating the mouth of a Paracas anthropomorphic figure (Figure 12B). When travelling to Chillihuay, a large area – also including the Paracas-Nasca Territory – was skipped; an area very rich in rock art where – as far as I know – no rock art images of the Stepped Design have been recorded. This void is again an anomaly, because the Paracas-Nasca iconography includes numerous examples of the Stepped Design (see for instance Figures 4 and 5). The other four Single Unit Stepped Designs at Chillihuay together form a fragmented and abstracted face (Figure 13).

Figure 12. A and C: Petroglyphs of warriors (?) at Chillihuay with a Stepped Design as facial element. Drawings © by Maarten van Hoek, based on photographs by Rainer Hostnig. B: Paracas textile showing an anthropomorphic figure with a Double Unit Stepped Design as a mouth-element. Drawing © by Maarten van Hoek (subjectively coloured-in), based on a drawing by Mary Frame (2001: Fig. 4.10.C).

Figure 13. Petroglyphs at Chillihuay, Ocoña; and detail. Drawings © by Maarten van Hoek, based on illustrations by Huashuayo Chávez (2022: Figs 8 and 10; 93).

Two sites in the same area, Río Caravelí Centre in the Caravelí Drainage, and – much further east – La Caldera in the Vítor Drainage, have petroglyphs of snake-like creatures that have a head possibly intentionally shaped like a Double Unit Stepped Design (Figure 14A and B respectively). In the centre of the same area – at Toro Muerto in the Majes Valley – is the unique petroglyph of a Rectangular Bird with a Single Unit Stepped Design as a wing (Figure 15).

Figure 14. A: Caravelí Centre. B: La Caldera. Drawings © by Maarten van Hoek, A: based on a photo by Mario Antonio Casas Berdejo, and B: based on a photo by Grupo Andaray.

Figure 15. Petroglyphs on Panel TM-Sw-106B at Toro Muerto, Majes Valley. The Rectangular Bird with a Stepped Design wing is seen at the left. Photograph courtesy of and © by Karolina Juszczyk of the Proyecto Arqueológico Toro Muerto.

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The Sihuas Anomalies

In the previous section I presented nine petroglyphs that involve the Stepped Design in southern Peru. In view of the scarcity further north, nine examples seem quite a lot. Moreover, in the Sihuas Valley (located between Majes and Vítor) are two groups of large geoglyphs that have been created almost opposite each other, high up the steep slopes of the canyon. Altogether there are six examples of the Stepped Design. Two isolated examples are found on the east slope (“A” in Figure 16: at 16°20’59.74″ S and  72° 7’18.44″ W in Google Earth 2025), and four joined examples on the west slope (“B” in Figure 16: located at 16°19’25.42″ S  and  72° 7’51.62″ W in Google Earth). It may be significant that both sets are found in a row and that all examples involve the Single Unit Stepped Design. Strikingly, the two examples in Group East actually concern variations of the Mountain-Wave design, while the row on the west bank starts and ends with a Mountain-Wave design.

Figure 16. The two groups of geoglyphs in the Sihuas Valley of southern Peru. Illustrations © by Maarten van Hoek, based on Google Earth (and therefore my drawings may be slightly inaccurate; W means Wave).

The Sihuas geoglyphs are in one respect anomalies, because in this area that is relatively rich in geoglyphs, no further geoglyphs depicting the Stepped Design are known to me to have been recorded. However, further upstream in the Sihuas Valley is an enormous geoglyph with a border-pattern that may be related to the Double Unit Stepped Design. Another anomaly is that the Sihuas Stepped Designs are the only examples of the Mountain-Wave designs. The Mountain-Wave design is – as far as I know – absent in the rock art of the Caravelí-Vítor area.

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Northern Chile

Travelling SE from La Caldera in Vítor in Peru across a very large area (with many rock art sites, but no known representations of the Stepped Design; see Figure 23) we arrive in the Codpa Valley of northern Chile (360 km SE of Vítor). At the rock art site of Calaunsa is Boulder CAL-087 with two rectangles bisected by a zigzag line that might have been intended to create two nested Single Unit Stepped Designs. The bisecting lines do not create right-angled corners, but sharp-angled corners. The same sharp-angled pattern is repeated (one time) as a petroglyph and (possibly two times) as rather distorted pictographs (1 and 2 in Figure 16) at the Ofragía Complex, further upstream in the Codpa Valley.

Figure 17. Rock art at Ofragía. Stepped Designs 1 and 2 are pictographs, the rest are petroglyphs (sometimes painted-in). Photograph and drawing © by Maarten van Hoek.

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The Diamond Anomaly

Further south in northern Chile, in the Camarones Drainage, is the rock art site of Quebrada de Chiza (also known as the Angostura de Chiza). On a large boulder is a considerable collection of (often vandalised) petroglyphs. One of these images involves a specific variant of the Quadruple Unit of the Stepped Design (Inset in Figure 18); labelled the Diamond Design in this study. In fact the design represents an anomaly, because it is only found regionally, in the southern part of the Desert Andes, while the Single Unit Stepped Design is – as far as I know – only recorded at Tarapacá-47. Moreover, it is uncertain if indeed the Diamond Design is related to the Stepped Design recorded north of Quebrada de Chiza.

The Diamond Design in rock art is characterised by the pecked squares or rectangles defining the outer contour; again with various variations in the layout. Remarkably, almost opposite the rock art site of Quebrada de Chiza is a modest geoglyph site with a (much larger and more complex) similar pattern (Figure 18). It proves that there are more geoglyph sites south of the Quebrada de Chiza, where such Quadruple Unit Stepped Designs have been recorded (in some cases also geoglyphs of Double Unit Stepped Designs). To name a few geoglyph sites (some marked on the map in Figure 24): many examples occur at Los Pintados (including a few Double Unit Stepped Designs); Chug Chug (several examples, including at least two Single Unit Stepped Designs); Salitrera (a Double Unit Stepped Design); Cerro Mono (at least two examples); Salar de Soronal (altogether at least eight examples) and Alto de Barranco (two examples). Near the geoglyph complex of La Encañada (with two examples) is the petroglyph site of Calartoco with the unfinished (?) image of a possible Stepped Design (Van Hoek 2024: Fig. 13; not included in the statistics of this study because of the uncertainty).

Figure 18. The Quadruple Unit Stepped Designs at Quebrada de Chiza (see Figure 23 for the location). Inset: Drawing of the petroglyph (isolated from all other images). Photo: the Diamond Design geoglyph (note the bird geoglyph to the left). Photograph and drawing © by Maarten van Hoek, the drawing based on a photograph by Horacio Larrain Barros (website).

Although petroglyphs of the Diamond Design are much rarer than the geoglyphs of comparable layout, there is one site that has at least five examples of the Quadruple Unit Diamond Design (Figure 19) and two examples of the Double Unit Diamond Design (one fully pecked; the other half a Diamond Design). It concerns the petroglyph site of Tarapacá-47. Interestingly, at this site – on Boulder TAR-124 – is also a row of four petroglyphs depicting fully pecked Single Units of the Stepped Design; possibly the only examples of the Single Unit in this part of Chile.

Figure 19. Two of the five Quadruple Unit Diamond Design petroglyphs at Tarapacá-47. Photographs courtesy of and © by Dennis Slifer.

Interestingly, only a short distance to the NNE of Tarapacá-47 is the petroglyph site of Pachica (location: Figure 24), which includes an enormous outcrop panel with (almost) uncountable images. One of those images seems to represent a Double Unit of the Stepped Design, but in this case it is topped by an object (?) that may represent a Tumi, the ritual Andean knife.

A short distance south of Tarapacá-47, in the Quebrada de Tambillo, is a rock shelter that features a collection of pictographs including one outlined Double Unit, and one complex design showing at least three Double Units joined in a row. The southernmost example of the Stepped Design (that I know of) is found at the rock art site of Tambores (NW of San Pedro de Atacama) at the southern edge of the Desert Andes. It concerns an anthropomorphic figure of what looks like a warrior, its legs and the negative space in between looking like three Double Units of the Stepped Design (see Figure 25 above the Acknowledgements; on Page 22). Whether this layout is intentional and related to the Stepped Design proper, is unknown to me.

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The Chillayza Anomaly

This study clearly demonstrates that the Stepped Design – in whichever variation – is in fact very rare in Desert Andes rock art. However, I realise that I will certainly not have seen every rock art image in the Desert Andes, and therefore the numbers mentioned here only represent the minimum numbers. So far only 35 rock art examples of whichever variation of the Stepped Design have been mentioned in this study, starting at Cerro Mulato in the far north of Peru, to Tambores in the Atacama of northern Chile (a distance of roughly 2150 km as the crow flies). Compared with the many ten-thousands rock art images in the Desert Andes, 35 is an extremely low number. This number increases slightly to 41 when also counting the six geoglyphs of the Stepped Design in the Sihuas Valley, and, when adding the number of geoglyphs depicting the Diamond Design, the number may increase even more. Yet again, even 35 is still an extremely low number, and represents a true anomaly in the Desert Andes.

However, regarding statistics, it is also a striking anomaly to see that there is one site in the Desert Andes that has more rock art images of the Stepped Design than the whole of the remainder of the Desert Andes. It concerns the petroglyph-pictograph site of Chillayza near Camiña in the valley of the Quebrada de Tana, located just south of the Camarones Drainage.

No less than 75+ Stepped Designs (including the negative examples), both pictographs and petroglyphs, have been recorded at Chillayza. One almost vertical panel at that site has no less than 21+ Single Units in several rows (all painted in shades of red) and because the Stepped Designs have their negative spaces (light-blue in Figure 20), the number of 21 increases to at least 37+. Above the pictograph panel is another pictograph panel with altogether 32 Stepped Designs (again painted in shades of red, again some with their negative Stepped Designs) and images of archers (Figure 21). Moreover – at the foot of the same cliff – is a panel with two petroglyphs of framed Single Units. Because of their negative spaces the panel has in fact four Stepped Designs. Another panel nearby has one framed Single Unit Stepped Design; thus again with a negative example (resulting in two more examples). At the other side of the valley is also one very complex petroglyph depicting the Diamond Design. Chillayza has altogether at least 76 examples of the Stepped Design; twice as much as the total of all the other rock art examples in the whole of the Desert Andes. Therefore, Chillayza is a true anomaly in this respect!

Figure 20. The lower pictograph panel at Chillayza, Quebrada de Tana, Chile. Sketch © by Maarten van Hoek, based on several photographs. My sketch is incomplete and inaccurate, because parts of the panel are hidden behind other rocks and several elements have faded much. All petroglyphs and faint pictographs have been omitted. All colours are subjective.

Figure 21. The upper pictograph panel at Chillayza, Quebrada de Tana, Chile. Sketch  © by Maarten van Hoek, based on several photographs. My sketch is incomplete and inaccurate because parts of the panel are hidden behind other rocks and several elements are much faded. Note the several sharp-angled Stepped Designs, the negative space examples (white), and the inverted, negative space Double Unit (green). All colours are subjective.

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The Desert Andes Anomalies

Regarding the motif of the Stepped Design there are several unexpected anomalies in the rock art of the Desert Andes. It is not only a rare design in Desert Andes rock art (in itself an anomaly); especially its distribution shows several inconsistencies.

Anomaly 1: Indeed, in general there is a remarkable discrepancy between the extremely low number of Stepped Designs in Desert Andes rock art, and the very large number of Stepped Designs seen in all other forms of Andean art (like in architectural art, and especially in textiles, ceramics and other artefacts). Thus the use of the numerous Stepped Designs in artefacts does not match at all with the rare examples in the rock art of any area in the Desert Andes.

Anomaly 2: The area in Peru between the (often lavishly decorated) adobe temples in the Reque Drainage (in which only the rock art site of Cerro Mulato has three examples of the Stepped Design) and the adobe temples in the Grande Drainage of the Paracas-Nasca Territory, has – despite the numerous Stepped Designs in especially the many artefacts – only five rock art images of the Stepped Design. All five examples are found quite some distance inland, thus not near the coast; separated (intentionally?) from the architectural monuments. However, in the rock art of the area south of the Chao Drainage (with the rock art site of Santa Rita), and especially in the whole of the Paracas-Nasca territory, the Stepped Design has – so far – not been recorded at all, while many cultures in that area (like the Paracas and the Nasca) frequently used the Stepped Design in their artefacts.

Anomaly 3: Remarkably, all nine examples of the Stepped Design in the Majes Cultural area of southern Peru (the area between the Caravelí and Vítor Valleys) are part of a biomorphic petroglyph (two as facial elements of two [Paracas-Nasca?] anthropomorphs, four forming a fragmented face, two heads of snakes and one [Wari?] bird-wing). This may reflect foreign influences (Paracas-Nasca and Wari). No examples of the Single Unit Stepped Design have so far been recorded in the rock art of this area; unless one takes geoglyphs into account.

Anomaly 4: Indeed, it is an anomaly that geoglyphs depicting the Single Unit Mountain-Wave Design only occur in the Majes Cultural area. It concerns two rows of geoglyphs (Figure 16), which both are found close together in the Sihuas Valley. These two rows of geoglyphs also comprise the only three geoglyphs depicting the Single Unit Stepped Design in the biggest part of the Desert Andes (from Cerro Mulato in northern Peru, to the Codpa Valley in norther Chile). The only two (+?) exceptions (another anomaly) that I know of, are the Single Unit Stepped Designs recorded among the numerous geoglyphs at the site of Chug Chug in the far south of the Desert Andes (Figure 26), where the Diamond Design dominates.

Anomaly 5: The Diamond Design, a variation of the Quadruple Unit Stepped Design (using pecked squares and/or rectangles), occurs only in northern Chile and only south of the Codpa Drainage. It is also remarkable that only very few rock art images of the Quadruple Unit Diamond Design have so far been recorded in that area, in contrast with more frequently occurring geoglyphs featuring that design.

Anomaly 6: We have noticed that each site in the Desert Andes featuring the Stepped Design, has one or only a few examples of that specific image. It is therefore a remarkably anomaly to notice that the rock art site of Chillayza in the Tana Drainage of northern Chile has an excessive number (75+) of Stepped Designs (mainly involving pictographs; only a few petroglyphs).

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Conclusions

It is beyond any doubt that the Stepped Design once was a most powerful symbol that was used by many Andean cultures that emerged, thrived and disappeared in a large area of the Desert Andes. The Stepped Design most likely symbolised the concept of the Sacred Mountain; a striking physical and powerful spiritual element in their ritual landscapes, which often dominated the worldview of those cultures. Importantly, their deities and ancestors are often believed to reside on top of those Sacred Mountains.

Moreover, the Mountain-Wave Stepped Design (see the Cover Photo and Figures 3D and 10) probably also symbolised the most important Ocean-Highland duality, between which intensive contacts exist(ed). Both the fish-rich ocean and the mountains were most important for the survival of many people. However, the ocean often triggered a serious threat during severe El Niño’s, when torrential rains caused severe floods. The Wave-Element might therefore symbolise an El Niño as well.

But when the Stepped Design symbolised such important concepts in many Andean Cultures, why then is this powerful symbol so strikingly underrepresented in the rock art of the Desert Andes? The Stepped Design is definitely not just a decorative element (see Figure 6), even when it sometimes seems to be interpreted as such in our modern minds. Unfortunately, because of the lack of informed knowledge regarding those Andean Cultures, we can only guess why there is such a remarkable discrepancy between the cultural use of the Stepped Design and its occurrence in the rock art of the area. I can only offer some suggestions.

Is it possible that there is a difference in status between the officials and artists who created the adobe temples and the numerous artifacts (often deposited in the burials of their high-status individuals), and the people who manufactured the rock art images? The temple complexes involved the static religious centres where high-status people ruled, while the rock art often indicated the routes along which goods and ideas were transported. Were those transportations undertaken by people of lower status? Was rock art created by traders and locals at quite a distance from the religious centres; to be safe to be criticised or punished?

Is it possible that there once was a kind of religious taboo regarding the creation of certain images? Only officials and approved artists would then be allowed to manufacture those sacred symbols at designated spots. Is it possible that at rock art sites specific “forbidden” motifs were intentionally created as a kind of protest against the officials of the ruling religious centres? It thus seems that rock art was used not only to entrench social norms, but also to challenge them.

Is it for that reason why often so many abstracts, animals and featureless anthropomorphic figures have been created? Most of those rock art motifs would thus be acceptable. Possibly for the same reason complete images of MSC-Style biomorphs are very rare in Desert Andes rock art, but instead isolated elements (especially heads, eyes an mouths) of those biomorphs occur more often. Those “unrelated” images were possibly considered to be “safe” (that is: not exactly or only marginally violating a possible taboo).

Finally, it is unknown whether the suggested symbolic meanings of the Stepped Design in the iconography of Peru – the Sacred Mountain and the Mountain-Wave – is the same as the (unknown) symbolic content of the Diamond Design of northern Chile. Although rock art motifs often diffuse to other (distant) areas, it is not certain whether – in this case – layout and meaning travelled as a team. Yet, it seems to be logical to accept that there will have been a difference in the symbolic meaning between the Quadruple Unit Stepped Design at Cerro Mulato in Peru (Figure 22A), the two joined yet Single Line Single Unit Stepped Design example at the rock art site of Parque Diaguita (Figure 22B), the vertically arranged complex Stepped Design at Palancho (Figure 22C) and the largest at Talampaya, all in western Argentina (at the eastern side of the watershed across the High Andes; see Figure 23 for locations).

Figure 22. A: The Stepped Design at Cerro Mulato, northern Peru. B: The two interlocking  Stepped Designs at Parque Diaguita in western Argentina. C: The complex Stepped Designs at the rock art site of Palancho, also in western Argentina (the latter about 2863 km SSE of Cerro Mulato; see Figure 23 for the locations). Photographs © by Maarten van Hoek.

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Location Maps

Figure 23. Map of the Desert Andes showing the very approximate locations of the rock art sites with Stepped Design (and two sites outside the Desert Andes). Map © by Maarten van Hoek, based on the map © by OpenStreetMap – Contributors.

Below is a map (Figure 24) of the relevant Chilean part of the Desert Andes showing the approximate locations of some rock art sites (green squares; four sites having variations of the Stepped Design; see the text) and geoglyph sites (marked with blue squares). Map © by Maarten van Hoek, based on the map © by OpenStreetMap – Contributors.

Figure 24. Map of the relevant Chilean part of the Desert Andes. Map © by Maarten van Hoek, based on the map © by OpenStreetMap – Contributors.

Figure 25. Petroglyph at Tambores, northern Chile (see Figure 23 for the location). Drawing © by Maarten van Hoek, based on illustrations kindly shared with me by Mario Giorgetta.

Figure 26. Part of the enormous Geoglyph Complex of Chug Chug, northern Chile (indicated are the two Single Unit Stepped Designs; note the several variations of the Quadruple Unit). Drawing © by Maarten van Hoek, based on Google Earth 2025.

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Acknowledgements

The author is indebted to the following people for sharing with him their photos or other illustrations, and their much appreciated permission to use their material: Rainer Hostnig from Cusco, Peru; Mario Antonio Casas Berdejo from Arequipa, Peru; Grupo Andaray from Arequipa, Peru; Dennis Slifer from the USA; Mario Giorgetta from Switzerland; and Karolina Juszczyk from Poland. Last – but certainly not least – I thank my wife Elles for her much valued assistance during our rock art surveys, and of course for her support at home.

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References

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Proulx, D. A. 2001. Ritual Uses of Trophy Heads in Ancient Nasca Society. In: Ritual Sacrifice in Ancient Peru. Eds. Elizabeth P. Benson and Anita G. Cook. Chapter 6: pp. 119 – 136. University of Texas Press, Austin.

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