The Nazca Lines

The famous and mysterious Nazca lines, are found in the pampas of Jumana, formed by the pampas of Nazca, Palpa, Ingenio, and Socos in the desert of Nazca between the provinces of Nazca and Palpa in Peru. It is a reddish and blackish land that turns violet at night. In this zone the surface has a light dark layer over a clear subsoil and that is why we can get a easy visual contrast. The soil of the region, which is one of the driest desert in the world, is brown, but under the first layer hides another yellow. When walking, a footprint leaves a lasting white spot.

Nazca is a city of Peru, capital of the province located in the department of Ica, bathed by the river Nazca. It is world famous for hosting on its territory to the Nazca culture, a pre-Inca culture that reached its height occurred between the sixth centuries BC and AD This culture noted for its pottery and stylized symbolic figures, which dominates the picture colors . Are formed by many figures, from simple designs like lines to complex anthropomorphous figures (human appearance), zoomorphic (animals), phytomorphic (vegetables) and geometrics that appear in the surface of this arid desert.

The amazing thing of this lines is that they can just be observed totally from the air flying over the desert that has pop up many questions about the intentions and skills of the builders.

The depth of the lines never pass 30cm and some are simple scratches in the surface, even though they can be recognized with there is not much sun and the relief is accentuated.

In 1927, archaeologist Mejia Xespe-disciple of Julio C. Tello, the Father of the Peruvian-Archeology was informed about the presence of some mysterious geoglyphs or lines on the ground in the Peruvian coast but at that time it wasn´t given much importance. They were more attracted to other archaeological sites like the majestic Machu Picchu in Cuzco and the fascinating cultures of Chavin and Chan Chan among others.

The same year, 1927, another researcher arrived to Peru, Dr. Paul Kosok, he was very attracted to these cultural pre-Columbian expressions. In one of his first trips to the south of the country, he stopped at the top of a plateau and saw extensive lines on both sides of the road near the mountains. After some onsite research, he was amazed to find that one of the figures had the unmistakable shape of a bird flying.

In 1946, Kosok returned to his country but not before suggesting to Maria Reiche, who had assisted him on the investigations, to continue studying the Nazca line drawings that he had begun to decode. María devoted her life to this work.

Maria Reiche, studied the Nazca line drawings for 50 years. She explained how these lines were used by ancient peruvian astronomers as if they were a gigantic solar and lunar calendar, nestled in the sand, legends and myths of the locals.In 1970 the INC declared Nazca as a protected zone in order to avoid the deterioration of the lines.