The Nazca Lines are a group of very large geoglyphs formed by depressions or shallow incisions made in the soil of the Nazca Desert in southern Peru. Some scholars believe the Nazca Lines were created by the Nazca culture.

1. NAZCA LINES OF PERU

2. NAZCA LINES
The Nazca Lines are a group of very large geoglyphs formed by depressions or shallow incisions made in the
soil of the Nazca Desert in southern Peru. The high, arid plateau stretches more than 80 km (50 mi) between
the towns of Nazca and Palpa on the Pampas de Jumana, approximately 400 km (250 mi) south of Lima. Some
scholars believe the Nazca Lines were created by the Nazca culture.
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3. HISTORY
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 The first published mention of the Nazca Lines was by Pedro Cieza de León in his book of
1553, and he mistook them for trail markers.
 In 1586, Luis Monzón reported having seen ancient ruins in Peru, including the remains
of "roads". Although the lines were partially visible from the nearby hills, the first to
report them were Peruvian military and civilian pilots.
 In 1927 the Peruvian archaeologist Toribio Mejía Xesspe spotted them while he was
hiking through the foothills. He discussed them at a conference in Lima in 1939.
 Wooden stakes have been found in the ground at the end of some lines, so Nazca
people probably used simple tools and surveying equipment to construct the lines.
 The discovery of two new small figures was announced in early 2011 by a Japanese
team from Yamagata University.
 The discovery of 143 new geoglyphs was announced in 2019 by Yamagata University and
IBM Japan, using machine learning based methods.

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There are three basic types of Nazca Lines: straight lines, geometric designs and pictorial representations.
There are more than 800 straight lines on the coastal plain, some of which are 30 miles (48 km) long. Additionally, there
are over 300 geometric designs, which include basic shapes such as triangles, rectangles, and trapezoids, as well as
spirals, arrows, zig-zags and wavy lines.
The Nazca Lines are perhaps best known for the representations of about 70 animals and plants, some of which measure
up to 1,200 feet (370 meters) long. Examples include a spider, hummingbird, cactus plant, monkey, whale, llama, duck,
flower, tree, lizard and dog. The Nazca people also created other forms, such as a humanoid figure (nick named “The
Astronaut”), hands and some unidentifiable depictions.
In 2018, Peruvian archaeologists announced they had discovered more than 50 new geoglyphs in the region, using drone
technology to map the landmarks in unprecedented detail.
Despite being studied for over 80 years, the geoglyphs—which were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994—
are still a mystery to researchers.
What Are the Nazca Lines?

5. The Spider The Tree The Hummingbird The Whale
The Condor The Giant Hands The Flower The Monkey

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Anthropologists believe the Nazca culture, which began around 100 B.C. and flourished from A.D. 1 to 700, created the
majority of the Nazca Lines. The Chavin and Paracas cultures, which predate the Nazca, may have also created some of
the geoglyphs.
The Nazca Lines are located in the desert plains of the Rio Grande de Nasca river basin, an archaeological site that spans
more than 75,000 hectares and is one of the driest places on Earth.
The desert floor is covered in a layer of iron oxide-coated pebbles of a deep rust color. The ancient peoples created their
designs by removing the top 12 to 15 inches of rock, revealing the lighter-colored sand below. They likely began with
small-scale models and carefully increased the models’ proportions to create the large designs.
Most of the known geoglyphs were formed by removing rocks from only the border of the figures (creating a kind of
outline), while others were formed by removing rocks from the interior.
Given the low amount of rain, wind and erosion in the desert, the geoglyphs have remained largely unscathed
throughout the centuries.
How the Nazca Lines Were Created?

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Anthropologists, ethnologists, and archaeologists have studied the ancient Nazca culture to try to determine the
purpose of the lines and figures. One hypothesis is that the Nazca people created them to be seen by deities in the sky.
Paul Kosok and Maria Reiche advanced a purpose related to astronomy and cosmology, the lines were intended to act
as a kind of observatory, to point to the places on the distant horizon where the sun and other celestial bodies rose or
set in the solstices.
In 1985, archaeologist Johan Reinhard theorized that the lines and figures were part of religious practices involving the
worship of deities associated with the availability of water, which directly related to the success and productivity of
crops. He interpreted the lines sacred paths leading to places where these deities could be worshiped.
Henri Stierlin, a Swiss art historian specializing in Egypt and the Middle East contended that the people may have used
the lines and trapezes as giant, primitive looms to fabricate the extremely long strings and wide pieces of textile that
are typical of the area. By his theory, the figurative patterns (smaller and less common) were meant only for ritualistic
purposes.
Purpose of the Nazca Lines

8. NAZCA LINES AND ALIENS?
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Toribio Mejia Xesspe, a Peruvian archaeologist, began a systematic study of the
lines in 1927, but the geoglyphs only gained widespread attention when pilots
flew over them in the 1930s.
In the late 1930s and early 1940s, American historian Paul Kosok studied the
geoglyphs from the ground and air. Based on the relative position of one of the
lines he studied to the sun around the winter solstice, he concluded that the
geoglyphs had an astronomy-related purpose.
Soon after, María Reiche, a German archaeologist and translator, also concluded
that the designs had an astronomical and calendrical purpose.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, however, other researchers, including American
astronomer Gerald Hawkins, examined the Nazca Lines and disagreed with the
astronomical explanation for the geoglyphs. They also poked holes in other far-out
explanations, such as those relating to aliens or ancient astronauts.

9. Accidents over Nazca Lines
Air Nazca Cessna came down close to the ancient Nazca Lines ground
markings, about 240 miles (385km) south-east of Lima.
All four passengers killed in aircraft crash near one of Perus leading tourist
attractions have been confirmed as British. The planes Peruvian pilots also
died.
A Cessna 206 carrying three Chileans and four Peruvians crashed in
February, killing everyone on board.
Another crash in April 2008 killed five French tourists, although their pilot
survived.
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