The Nazca Lines

The world is full of mysterious places that have outlived the history of their construction. These are the pyramids, citadels, stone circles and statues that are much written about and are visited by hordes of tourists. One of these is known as the Nazca lines. These are gigantic lines and figures etched on the plateau of Ingenio 400 kilometers south of Lima, Peru, between Nazca and Palpa, in an area of 350 square kilometers. The Nazca lines were made many centuries before the rise of the Inca empire and they are one of the most important legacies of ancient pre-Inca Peruvian culture.

Pilots first noticed them in the 1920s. Because of their huge size, the only way to appreciate the lines and images is from the air. Neither carved nor painted, those images represent artistry of another medium. By bearing away the dark rust-colored surface stones (accomplished by sweeping & brushing, or removing by hand or foot), and exposing the light colored sub-soil beneath, marvelous patterns were created in the contrasting soil. We see lines everywhere. Thousands of crisscrossing, zigzagging radiating, oscillating, and parallel lines. 　　　 Figures of fanciful birds - 18 different kinds create a veritable aviary in the mixed menagerie that prowls the pampa. To gain a sense of the enormity of scale picture a football field: the giant curly-tailed monkey would fill it. The long creeping lizard is twice the monkey's length. And the spider, small by comparison crawls about, in 150 feet of desert pavement. One of the largest creatures, a curious bird with a zig-zag neck, points a laky beak across 600 feet of desert scape. Other figures included a dog, plants, fish and two piles of rocks in the shape of llamas on steep hillsides. Depictions of human figures keep their eternal vigil over the master work on the plain below.　

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What could have been the purpose of all these diverse lines and geoglyphs? Since the Nazca Lines were discovered in the 1920s, not one single theory has been put forward to explain all of the marks on the desert plain. A prominent scientist has called it "one of the most baffling enigmas of archaeology". Because the figures are huge, they can best be appreciated only at a great distance above, in the air. This automatically poses the question: did ancient cultures have a means of flying? Authors such as the German scientist Erich von Däniken latched onto this idea, and have used this site as the cornerstone of their Ancient Astronaut hypothesis. According to Daniken, the lines were treated as signals and landing strips for alien spacecraft. He floated the idea that airborne extraterrestrials might have laid out the lines as runways for their aircraft.

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However, Erich von Däniken’s imaginative theory ran into a number of problems. First, it is claimed that the soil is not hard enough to sustain repeated landings of heavy aerial craft. Secondly, why did the alleged extraterrestrials not design something far more sophisticated? Thirdly, many lines are only 3 feet wide - too narrow for aircraft. In addition, von Daniken has failed to explain the meaning or purpose of the animal geoglyphs.

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The German mathematician María Reiche has dedicated more than half a century to decode these "desert’s mysteries". How does Maria Reiche explain the purpose of the Nazca Lines? Although Reiche admits not to have reached a definite conclusion, she leans heavily towards the theory that they represent an astronomical calendar. She claims that the Nazcans used the lines and figures to measure the key points of the solar year to assist with agricultural planning.

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However, Reiche's theory, like von Daniken's, has collapsed under the overwhelming weight of logical argument stacked against it. How else then, might we explain the Nazca Lines? They were certainly not Inca roads, since many lines begin and end in mid-desert, and they were certainly not irrigation canals, since most of them do not lead to sources of water. With all possible practical purposes exhausted, many writers have begun to focus on the symbolism of the lines and figures. All manner of religious cults have now been suggested - ancestor cults, water cults, fertility cults and mountain cults.

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The cult theory suggests that the Nazcans worshipped the mountains, and that there was a widespread belief amongst ancient Andean cultures that various gods - whom they revered as their ancestors - resided in the mountains. These gods controlled the weather and hence the water supply which determined the fertility of crops and livestock. The mountain-gods took to the skies in the form of eagles or condors. This explains the single most significant aspect of the Nazca Lines: the figures can be best seen only from the air, to enable the mountain deities – such as appearing as birds or in the form of the flying feline -- to oversee the area. Could this be a vital clue towards solving the mystery?

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