Talampaya

Declared in 1997, it protects a canyon of red sandstone walls reaching 200 metres high, carved over millions of years by wind and water out of sediments laid down some 200 million years ago, when the region was part of the supercontinent Pangaea. The canyon holds petroglyphs more than 2,000 years old made by indigenous peoples, and its palaeontological value — alongside neighbouring Ischigualasto — is exceptional: between them they preserve one of the most complete Triassic fossil sequences in the world, including some of the earliest dinosaurs known to science. Talampaya and Ischigualasto have shared a single joint UNESCO World Heritage listing since 2000.