Los Dedos paleontological site in the commune of Caldera is especially meaningful due to its historical importance and the remarkable abundance and diversity of fossils. Located 12 km to the south of Caldera, this site is featured by many terraced gullies in which thousands of fossil bones of 8-million-year extinct vertebrates emerge: fish, sharks, penguins, giant birds, many kinds of cetaceans, crocodiles, and marine sloths, among others. The site was also intensively exploited by mining and illegal trade of fossils until the first years of this millennium, so it also has an historical and patrimonial importance.

In the year 2004, the Council for National Monuments established a 159-hectare protected area including the site of the paleontological park. That sector has been gradually expanded and it will be under the management of the corporation, whose primary missions include the provision of facilities enabling essential services as well as upgrading of the route, signals, museography and perimeter closing of the site. This way the tourists’ experience and the protection of this important site of the region of Atacama will be enhanced.