One such stake was carbon-dated and was the basis for establishing the age of the design complex. Archaeological surveys have found wooden stakes in the ground at the end of some lines, which supports this theory. Scholars have theorized that the Nazca people could have used simple tools and surveying equipment to construct the lines. Archaeologists, historians, and mathematicians have all tried to determine the purpose of the lines.ĭetermining how they were made has been easier than determining why they were made. They proposed that the figures were designed as astronomical markers on the horizon to show where the sun and other celestial bodies rose on significant dates. Schaedel from the United States, and Maria Reiche, a German mathematician and archaeologist from Lima, to try to determine the purpose of the Nazca Lines. He was joined by archaeologist Richard P. He began to study how the lines might have been created, as well as to try to determine their purpose. Another chance observation helped him see how lines converged on the horizon at the winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere. While in Peru in 1940–41 to study ancient irrigation systems, he flew over the lines and realized that one was in the shape of a bird.
Paul Kosok, an American historian from Long Island University in New York, is credited as the first scholar to study the Nazca Lines in depth. He discussed them at a conference in Lima in 1939. In 1927, Peruvian archaeologist Toribio Mejía Xesspe spotted them while he was hiking through the foothills. Īlthough the lines were partially visible from nearby hills, the first to report them in the twentieth century were Peruvian military and civilian pilots. In 1569, Luis Monzón reported having seen ancient ruins in Peru, including the remains of "roads". The first published mention of the Nazca Lines was by Pedro Cieza de León in his book of 1553, and he described them as trail markers. In this area, the most notable geoglyphs are visible. The main concentration of designs is in a 10 by 4 km (6 by 2 mi) rectangle, south of the hamlet of San Miguel de la Pascana. The main PE-1S Panamericana Sur runs parallel to it. 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. They were designated in 1994 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Scholars differ in interpreting the purpose of the designs, but in general, they ascribe religious significance to them. Hundreds are simple lines and geometric shapes more than 70 are zoomorphic designs, including a hummingbird, arachnid, fish, condor, heron, monkey, lizard, dog, cat, and a human. As of 2012, the lines are said to have been deteriorating because of an influx of squatters inhabiting the lands. Extremely rare changes in weather may temporarily alter the general designs. Because of its isolation and the dry, windless, stable climate of the plateau, the lines have mostly been preserved naturally. The largest ones are about 370 m (400 yd) long. The shapes are usually made from one continuous line. Some of the Nazca lines form shapes that are best seen from the air (at around 500 m ), although they are also visible from the surrounding foothills and other high places. In some places they may be only 30 cm (12 in) wide, and in others reach 1.8 m (6 ft) wide. The width of the lines varies considerably, but more than half are slightly more than 33 cm (13 in) wide. They were made by removing the top layer of reddish-brown ferric oxide–coated pebbles to reveal a yellow-grey subsoil. The lines are typically 10 to 15 cm (4–6 in) deep. The combined length of all the lines is more than 1,300 km (800 mi), and the group covers an area of about 50 km 2 (19 sq mi). Most lines run straight across the landscape, but there are also figurative designs of animals and plants. In the years leading up to 2020, between 80 and 100 new figures had been found with the use of drones, and archaeologists believe that there are more to be found. There are two major phases of the Nazca lines, Paracas phase, from 400 to 200 BC, and Nazca phase, from 200 BC to 500 AD. They were created between 500 BC and 500 AD by people making depressions or shallow incisions in the desert floor, removing pebbles and leaving different-colored dirt exposed.
The Nazca Lines ( / ˈ n ɑː z k ə/, /- k ɑː/ ) are a group of geoglyphs made in the soil of the Nazca Desert in southern Peru. Aerial photograph of one of the Nazca lines, taken in July 2015, that shows the design known as "The monkey"