Nazca Lines: Mysterious Geoglyphs in Peru

The animal mounds were found in a region famous for a series of ancient geolyphs, called the Nazca Lines, which are now considered a World Heritage Site in the Nazca Desert in southern Peru. Here, Nazca Lines resembling a humming bird, as viewed from a plane.

The Nazca (also spelled Nasca) Lines are geoglyphs placed in an arid coastal place of Peru that cowl an estimated 170 square miles (450 square kilometers).

Scratched on the ground, they number in the thousands and depict creatures from each the natural world and the human imagination. They include animals such as the spider, hummingbird, monkey, lizard, pelican and even a killer whale. Also depicted are plants, trees, flowers and oddly fashioned outstanding figures. Also illustrated are geometric motifs such as wavy lines, triangles, spirals and rectangles.

How old are they?

The large majority of the lines date from 200 BC to 500 AD, to a time when a people referred to as the Nazca inhabited the region. The earliest lines, created with piled up stones, date as far back as 500 BC.

Who made them?

The Nazca people were an ancient prehistoric tradition that was successful in the use of engineering techniques to convey underground water to the floor for irrigation. Some of the theories concerning the reason of the lines join them to this want for water.

One of their biggest settlements is Cahuachi, a location of ceremony that overlooks some of the lines. It contains greater than 40 mounds, including pyramids made of adobe.

When were they “discovered”?

Peruvian archaeologist Toribio Mejia Xesspe was the first to study and report the Nazca Lines in detail after coming across them, on foot, in 1927. In the 1930s as air traffic in the area increased, the strains became better known, eventually attracting a regular stream of tourists.

Giant spider lines : mysterious geoplyphs in peru

It’s often noted that the strains can only be viewed from the air; however, this is a myth. A 2007 study that appeared at 1,500 drawings in the Palpa region found that “each and every geoglyph” can be noticed from the ground.

Theories and significance

The purpose of the lines continues to elude researchers and remains a count of conjecture. Ancient Nazca culture used to be prehistoric, which means they left no written records.

One idea is that they are linked to the heavens with some of the strains representing constellations in the night sky. Another idea is that the lines play a position in pilgrimage, with one walking throughout them to reach a sacred place such as Cahuachi and its adobe pyramids. Yet every other idea is that the lines are related with water, something vital to life yet tough to get in the desert, and may have played a part in water-based rituals.

In the absence of a firm archaeological conclusion a number of fringe theories have popped up, such as the idea that the Nazca people used balloons to observe the lines from up high, some thing which there is no archaeological evidence for. 

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