The Mystery of the Nazca Lines
The Nazca Lines are a series of geoglyphs (designs or motifs carved into the ground) in the Peruvian Coastal plain about 250 miles (400 km) south of Lima, Peru, in South America. These geoglyphs created by the ancient Nazca people depict flowers, animals, human figures, and lines. Owing to their larger-than-life size, the 2,000-year-old Nazca Lines can only be truly appreciated, or even viewed, from the air. Despite being studied for nearly a century, researchers, historians, archeologists, and scientists still don’t know precisely why the Nazca people covered the vast desert with these geoglyphs.
What are the Nazca Lines?
The Nazca Lines comprise three basic types: straight lines, geometric shapes, and figures.
More than 800 straight lines stretch across the Nazca desert, some for as far as 30 miles (48 km). In addition, there are more than 300 geometric shapes, including squares, triangles, trapezoids, spirals, arrows, zig-zags, and wavy lines.
Perhaps the most famous of the Nazca Lines are those depicting animals and plants. Some of which span 1,200 feet (3,700 meters) across. These figures include a spider, hummingbird, cactus, monkey, llama, whale, dog, flower, duck, tree, and lizard.
The ancient Nazca people also crafted human images, hands, and other now indecipherable geoglyphs. One such humanoid figure is nicknamed “The Astronaut,” an elongated figure with a hand upraised over its bulbous head filled with large staring eyes.
How did the Ancient Nazca People Create the Nazca Lines?
Researchers believe that the Nazca culture, which began around 100 BCE and flourished from about 1 A.D. to 700 A.D., created most of the Nazca geoglyphs. The Chavin and Paracas cultures, which predate the Nazca, may have also contributed to Lines.
The Nazca Lines are located in the desert plains of the Rio Grande de Nasca river basin, which is covered with a layer of iron oxide-coated pebbles. When the first 12 to 15 inches of deep rust-colored rocks are removed, the lighter-colored sand is revealed beneath. The Rio Grande de Nasca is one of the driest places on earth. Given the low wind and rain, the geoglyphs have remained well preserved for centuries. But this begs the question, how did ancient peoples create these lines without modern technology?
CREATING THE LINES
Math. They used math, the position of the sun, markers, ropes, a grid formation, and an x- and y-axis. Astounding, I know. A Cornell University class recreated two of the Nazca Lines on their campus quad to prove that ancient peoples were more than capable of creating these massive geoglyphs all by themselves.
Study of the Nazca Lines
In 1926, Toribio Mejia Xesspe, a Peruvian archaeologist, began a systematic study of the Lines. However, they didn’t receive worldwide attention until 1930, when an American pilot flew over them. Since then, experts have debated their purpose.
The Astronomy Theory
Paul Kosok, an American historian, studies the lines from the ground and the air from the 1930s to the 1940s. He found that one of the lines had a position that coincided with the winter solstice and concluded that the lines had an astrological purpose, like a giant star chart or calendar.
Not long after, Maria Reiche, a German archeologist, and translator, similarly concluded that the lines had a calendrical purpose. She further believed that the animal geoglyphs represented constellations.
Ancient Trade Routes?
Some researchers have speculated that the lines delineate ancient trade routes to and from coastal areas like signposts or mile markers.
Alien Theory
Some far-out folks believed the lines created beacons and runways for alien spacecraft. They concluded that there was no way ancient people could have made the lines without extraterrestrial assistance due to their vast size.
Agricultural Theory
More recent research suggests that the Nazca Lines are related to water, a priceless commodity in the desert landscape. The geoglyphs weren’t for irrigation or a guide for locating water but rather a part of a ritual for the gods, a prayer for rain.
Some scholars point to the animal figures, some of which represent water and fertility, discovered at other ancient Peruvian archaeological sites on pottery to support this theory.
In 2015, researchers presenting at the 80th annual meeting of the Society for American Archeology argued that the purpose of the Lines changed over time. At first, they led pilgrims to temples as ritual processional routes.
New Discoveries
With around a thousand lines and figures spread across the desert floor for a couple of thousand years, it’s hard to imagine that there’s still more to find.
In 2011, a research team from Japan, using satellite imaging, discovered over 140 new geoglyphs. One new image depicts a decapitation and is around 14 feet (4.2 meters) high and 10 feet (3.1 meters) wide which is relatively small compared to other lines. The Nazca people were known to take what are believed to be “trophy heads” from outside groups, perhaps from war or rituals. However, research in 2009 found that graves with individuals buried with “trophy heads” were chemically similar to those they were buried with (the study looked at particular elements in the tooth enamel and discovered that the heads contained the same isotopes as those buried normally). This means that they were taken from people within Nazca society, not from outsiders.
The Japanese team also devised a theory of their findings. Many prominent figures of animals and humans which lay flat had pottery vessels smashed around them, perhaps as offerings. The team surmised that these geoglyphs were for worship. The geoglyphs carved into the side of hills were made be te seen.
By 2018, Peruvian archaeologists discovered more than 50 previously undetected geoglyphs in the area using high-definition drone video.
Preservation Issues
While the Nazca Lines are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, preservation in modern times has proven tricky.
In 2009, the typically arid desert experienced unprecedented rainfall. Heavy rainfall flowing off the Pan-American Highway, which connects most South American countries, deposited large amounts of clay and sand onto one of the geoglyphs.
In 2014, Greenpeace activists damaged part of the hummingbird in a media stunt. While laying down a large sign that called for renewable energy, they trampled through part of the forbidden archaeological site, damaging the geoglyphs.
Then in 2018, a commercial truck driver was arrested after driving through the area. The incident called for greater surveillance.
