About 80 kilometres north-east of Iquique, on a barren hill near the village of Huara, lies the largest pre-Columbian human figure on earth. The Gigante de Atacama is 86 metres tall, etched into the desert by clearing dark stones from the lighter ground beneath. Created between roughly 1000 and 1400 CE by the indigenous peoples of the Tarapacá, the figure carries a staff and is crowned with rays that probably tracked the moon for agricultural and ceremonial purposes.
The site is reached by an unmarked dirt track off the main road north — most visitors come as part of a desert tour from Iquique. There is no fence and no entry fee; just a wide silent landscape and a colossal stone figure best appreciated from the small viewing area at the foot of the hill.