The Nazca Lines are located only two hours from Ica, 50 square km of desert floor were covered centuries ago by enormous drawings, figures of mammals, insects and deities. Discovered in 1927, are one of the most extraordinary legacies left by a culture that grown in 300 BC. The lines are a series of complex designs, some up to 300 meters long, which can only be seen in their real dimension from the sky. The Nazca culture is not to believe they were capable of flight. However, the question remains as how they created the drawings, what kind of technology they used and to what purpose the lines were designed.
There are a lot of theories abound regarding these mysterious etchings, ranging from landing strips for aliens to a giant seismograph. The most probable theory is from Maria Reiche, a German researcher who dedicated her life to studying the lines. Ms Reiche believed that the lines were part of a vast astronomic calendar whose figures marked different solar phases.
Ms Reiche, affectionately nicknamed the Angel of the Plains by the local inhabitants, was the first to discover the ancient technique of digging into the tough and dry desert floor and covering the track with stones brought from distant sites. The component of natural plaster existing in the area, helped to preserve for thousands of years the drawings: the hummingbird, the spider, the condor and the monkey, among the more than 30 figures etched into the plain.
The Nazca Plains (there are four areas in total: Palpa, Ingenio, Nazca and Socos) lie in the department of Ica, some 460 km south of Lima. Like embroidery of the gods. UNESCO has declared the lines that decorate the desert floor a Mankind Heritage Site, and the ancient mystery of the figures still waits to be unraveled. |