Atacama desert is interesting due to the wealth of copper, while the immidietaly pre-colombian people were of simple stock the much, much earlier industry is of more interest.

In the tail end of the Pleistocene epoch the desert saw extensive mining of copper which was integral to many technologies of that time, in fact much of what is known of pre-deluvial South America by the North American circles was uncovered in Atacama.

Miners would at times punch into much older tunnels and structures, perfectly preserved equipment, bodies, examples of writing and tools gave the Americans a very good idea of the sophistication of these ancient peoples.