La Mina de Plata Huantajaya de Tarapacá, Chile: La Ruta de la Plata en los Andes Centrales del Sur y el Rescate de las Antiguas Identidades Mineras y Tradiciones Artesanales en Plata.

This article presents the first stage of a research and intervention project related to the old prehispanic and colonial silver mine located in the Desert of Tarapacá, Chile, and how the local communities are working to rescue the heritage values of this site and recovering the symbolic importance for the history of the region and its population. In the silver mine of Huantajaya settled many thousand people from different origins in extremely hard conditions, who developed an essential part of the cultural identity of Tarapacá, that was the basis of the salt peter or nitrate mining industry of XIX century that make famous the region in the world. Nowadays the mining town disappeared and only exist some archaeological remains, mine shafts excavated in the hills and the memories of its past as a legend, together with many archives forgotten in Spain, Perú, Bolivia and Chile. Despite the above, some of the local population want to put in value this heritage and rescue some of its traditions to enrich their cultural identity.