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Introduction to Nazca Lines

Nazca Lines are the most outstanding group of geoglyphs in the world. Etched in the surface of the desert Pampa sand about 300 hundred figures made of straight lines, geometric shapes and pictures of animals and birds - and their patterns are only clearly visible from the air. Don't believe???? See it for yourself. I am granted with some of the usage rights from National Geographic photographer who was ready to share his work with me - Lucky!

About 1500-2000 years ago the Nazca people inhabited this area. They might not be quite so well known today if it weren’t for the particular geological and climatic features of their homeland. Most people learn about the Nazca because of the famous Nazca lines etched in the desert between the Ingenio and Nazca river valleys. The desert formed an enormous drawing board for the Nazca upon which they etched huge lines, trapazoids, and animal figures by removing the dark colored surface stones and top soil to expose the lighter colored sand underneath. Spread out across several hundred sq kilometers (about 3-4x the size of Manhattan island) of the arid Peruvian desert, these drawings have been remarkably preserved. In any other climate, these drawings would have been obliterated in months, but the Nazca is one of the driest and most windless regions on earth. 

Since their discovery in the 1920s, the lines have been variously interpreted, but their significance remains largely shrouded in mystery. The American historian Paul Kosok observed the lines from an airplane in 1941 and hypothesized that they were drawn for astronomical purposes. María Reiche, a German translator who spent years studying the site and lobbying for its preservation, also concluded that it was a huge astronomical calendar and that some of its animal sketches were modeled after groupings of stars in the night sky. In 1967, however, the American astrophysicist Gerald Hawkins found no correlation between changes in the celestial bodies and the design of the Nazca Lines.

Facts about the Nazca Line

• They cover an area of some 50 miles, and were supposedly created between 200 BC and 700 AD by the Nazca Indians.

• The area of the Peruvian desert in which the Nazca Lines were drawn is called the Pampa Colorada. It is 15 miles wide and runs some 37 miles parallel to the Andes and the Pacific Ocean.

• They designed them by scraping away the copper colored rocks of the desert floor to expose the lighter-colored earth beneath.

• The lines have managed to remain intact for hundreds of years thanks to the region’s arid climate, which sees it receive little rain or wind throughout the year.

• Some of the lines span distances of 600 feet, and they depict everything from simple designs and shapes to characterizations of plants, insects, and animals.

• Scientists know who made the Nazca Lines and how they did it, but they still don’t know why?
• The most popular and reasonable hypothesis is that the lines must have fugured in the Nazca people's religious beliefs, and that they made the designs as offerings to the gods, who would've been able to see them from the heavens.
• Other scientists argue that the lines are evidence of massive looms that the Nazcas used to make textiles.

Myth and Mysteries of Nazca Lines
1. First of all, these things are large in size and it's enormity is such that The Nazca Lines were meant to be         made for an  aerial view only. The Nazcas passed on the story or folklore that these labyrinths were               created for gods to see - the "Gods" who descended form the sky; the gods who taught them socializing,       farming, building structures, and taught them the language of passing on the information.

2. So let's see what various archaeologists, geographers, archaeometrists, and other cult based pseudo             enthusiasts have to say about our lines.

3. Prof. Clive Ruggles of Leicester University said: "Unlike some of the famous zoomorphic (animal) figures,       its irregular form provides no reason to speculate that it might have been intended to be viewed from the       air".

4. Since their discovery in the 1920s, the lines have been variously interpreted, but their significance remains       largely shrouded in mystery. The American historian Paul Kosok observed the lines from an airplane in        1941 and hypothesized that they were drawn for astronomical purposes.

5. The Nazca Lines are featured in the book "Chariots of the Gods" by Erich Von Daniken that discusses his     belief that the Nazca Lines were created by aliens and used as landing strips.

He felt that the designs were to complex and covered such a large distance that they could not have been created by humans due to the size of the lines, lack of tools plus they had no ability to view the lines from the air.

6. There are people who believe they are remains of ancient airfields, used by a technologically advanced           civilization. The biomorph of a human figure, which some believe is actually a drawing of an ancient               astronaut is often sited as evidence for this theory.

Also, there are researchers like Johan Reinhard who has his own theory to explain the mystery behind the construction of the giant lines.

7. Johan Reinhard detailed various ancient traditions, according to which the mountain-gods took to the skies     in the form of eagles or condors.

Here's a small video for you lovers, the video is small and provides the introduction to the Nazcas:

How were the Lines created?
Scientists believe that:

1. The rocks which cover the desert have oxidized and weathered to a deep rust color, and when the top 12-15 inches of rock is removed, a light colored, high contrasting sand is exposed.
2. Because there's so little rain, wind and erosion, the exposed designs have stayed largely intact for 500 to 2000 years.

However, according to Dr. Persis Clarkson, an archaeologist and geoglyph expert at the University of Winnipeg, "It was not a difficult technology, all you need is the will". To prove this, a group of 10 Earthwatch volunteers helped an astronomer and anthropologist, Anthony Aveni, in a study of the Nazca Lines. In just hour and a half, without a printed plan, they created a straight line winding into a spiral 35 meters long and one meter wide. It is fairly conclusive that it was not necessary for the Nazca to have possessed great mathematical or engineeirng skills to create the figures in the desert.

Its been proposed that a rock been put at a certain place in Pampa will remain intact upon your next visit without moving an inch.

The lines according to the latest research were said to be the walkways for Nasca people, the lines were meant to be followed during certain rituals. Also, some theory suggests that they were runway for Nazca people

"No single evaluation proves a theory about the lines, but the combination of archeology, ethnohistory, and anthropology builds a solid case", says Reinhard. Add new technological research to the mix, and there's no doubt that the world's understanding of the Nazca Lines will continue to evolve.