List of caves in Chile

A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, ^{[1] [2]} specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word cave can also refer to much smaller openings such as sea caves, rock shelters, and grottos, though strictly speaking a cave is exogene, meaning it is deeper than its opening is wide, ^[3] and a rock shelter is endogene. ^[4]

List of Caves in Chile

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Name	Location	Picture	Notes
Cueva Fell	Chico, near the Argentina–Chile border		Cueva Fell is a natural cave and archaeological site in southern Patagonia. [5] Cueva Fell is in proximity to the Pali Aike Crater, another significant archaeological site. Cueva Fell combined with the nearby Pali Aike site have been submitted to UNESCO as a possible World Heritage Site. [6] Fell's Cave was discovered by Junius Bird. It came to his attention because arrow points and flakes were found on the surface. The cave was originally called the Río Chico shelter, but was later renamed by Bird to Fell's Cave in honor of the Fell family who owned the Estancia Brazo Norte, the North Arm Station, where the cave is located. [7] Excavation of the site began in 1936.
Cueva del Milodón Natural Monument	about 3 km from Eberhard Fjord, Última Esperanza Province		Cueva del Milodón Natural Monument is a Natural Monument located in the Chilean Patagonia, [8] 24 km (15 mi) northwest of Puerto Natales and 270 km (168 mi) north of Punta Arenas. The monument is situated along the flanks of Cerro Benitez. [9] It comprises several caves and a rock formation called Silla del Diablo (Devil's Chair). The monument includes a cave which is notable for the discovery in 1895 of skin, bones and other parts of a giant ground sloth called Mylodon darwini . It is also part of the End of the World Route, a scenic touristic route.
Cueva de los Pincheira	about 65 km southeast of Chillán		Cueva de los Pincheira is a shallow cave located about 65 km southeast of Chillán, in Ñuble Region, Central Chile. The cave is famous for being a hideout of the Pincheira brothers, a royalist outlaw gang. During high season there are reenactments in the cave. [10] The cave lies in the foothills of the Andes near Laguna Huemul. [11] In the 1820s the cave was one of the Pincheira brothers main encampments together with other locations also close to Chillán. Up to a thousand people are reported to have gathered at the site during the heydays of the Pincheira brothers. [11]
Cueva del Pirata	Quintero		Cueva del Pirata, Spanish for "Cave of the Pirate" is a sea cave in the town of Quintero, near Valparaíso, Chile. In Valparaíso folklore associates the cave with Francis Drake. One version says that when Drake sacked the port he became disappointed over the scant plunder. Drake proceeded to enter the churches in fury to sack them and urinate on the goblets. [12] However he still found the plunder to be not worth enough to take it on board his galleon, hiding it in the cave. [12]

References

1. Whitney, W. D. (1889). "Cave, n.1." def. 1. The Century dictionary: An encyclopedic lexicon of the English language (Vol. 1, p. 871). New York: The Century Co.
2. "Cave" Oxford English Dictionary Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) © Oxford University Press 2009
3. Moratto, Michael J. (2014). California Archaeology. Academic Press. p. 304. ISBN   9781483277356.
4. Lowe, J. John; Walker, Michael J. C. (2014). Reconstructing Quaternary Environments. Routledge. pp. 141–42. ISBN   9781317753711.
5. Heusser, 2003
6. "Fell and Pali Aike Caves - UNESCO World Heritage Centre". Unesco.org. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
7. Bird, 1988, p.137
8. Ciudad de Puerto Natales: Cueva del Milodon Archived 2009-10-18 at the Wayback Machine
9. C. Michael Hogan, Cueva del Milodon, Megalithic Portal, 13 April 2008
10. "Cueva de los Pincheira". Lonely Planet . Retrieved 2020-04-20.
11. Arnaboldi, Teresa (2011). "La reivindicación de los Pincheira". Revista Hacer Familia, n.º 186. October 13, 2011. Retrieved January 31, 2014.
12. Montecino Aguirre, Sonia (2015). Mitos de Chile: Enciclopedia de seres, apariciones y encantos (in Spanish). Catalonia. pp. 196–197. ISBN   978-956-324-375-8.