The Nazca geoglyphs
Without a doubt, one of the major attractions of Peru are the mysterious geoglyphs in the region of Nazca city. On an area of about 500 km², hundreds of straight lines and geometrical forms, which have been carved on sand dunes and rock, give shape to 70 spectacular graphics representing animals or men. By talking a walk it is difficult to understand the immensity of the site; moreover, flying over it will make these incredible forms to become more noticeable. The other surprising detail it is the incredible preservation of those lines. The Climate, heat and dry, has inhibit the evolution of vegetation. A climatic particularity caused that there has not been wind crossing the dunes, and rain is so rare that nothing came to erase those marks left by a pre-Inca culture, 2000 years ago.
Therefore, there are a lizard of 180 m large, a monkey with a spiral tail, a condor of 130 m large, a hummingbird, a spider, a whale, an arrow, a flower, a tree and even an astronaut.
At the beginning of the 20th century, a German archaeologist, Max Uhle, started to investigate the site that was subject of rumors. But it was in 1939, when the first plane flied over the area, that the scientists took conscience of the magnitude of their discovery. We have to thank the German mathematician and astronomer Maria Reiche who did almost all the entire discoveries and first explanations about the origin and use of the site. Maria dedicated 50 years of her life to study, photograph, and measure, analyze and protect the site from vandals.
According to Reiche, the Nazca lines are apparently from 900 to 600 B.C. and would have been drawn by the Paracas and the Nazca cultures. They would represent an immense astronomic calendar, indicating the positions of different major stars, that they used to orient the agricultural activity. Her analyzes have been refuted in the aftermath. Then, Tonu Morisson exposed the theory of a religious connotation, the representation of the divinities world, or maybe those lines would have served for irrigation, or even they could have been staging areas for aliens…. The experts do not manage to reach an agreement, but one thing is sure, the magnitude and precision of these lines carved by an ancient population continue to be a good surprise for those who fly over.
