What miracles does ancient history contain? How many mysteries have not yet been solved, and how many of them will never be solved! However, as people step into the future, they understand the past more and more deeply and replace guesses and myths with real history. Thus, it is believed that archaeologists have already finally solved the mystery that the Nazca Desert concealed. The outskirts of Peru became famous back in 1947, when the first scientific publications about strange lines and mysterious drawings appeared. Later the idea arose that these were alien runways. Many inhabitants of the planet perceived this idea with interest. This is how the myth was born.
The Mystery of the Geoglyphs
For decades, scientists and amateurs have tried to explain the origin of geometric patterns in the desert, which occupy an area of almost 500 square kilometers. Although at first glance the history of their origin in Southern Peru is quite clear. For several centuries, the Nazca Desert served as a canvas for the ancient Indians, on which for some reason they painted mysterious signs. There are dark stones on the surface, and if they are removed, light sedimentary rocks will be exposed. This sharp contrast of colors was used by the Peruvians to create geoglyph drawings: the background for the images was the dark color of the soil. They decorated desert areas with straight lines, trapezoids, spirals and huge animal figures.
Nazca Desert. Coordinates of the drawings
These signs are so huge that they can only be seen from an airplane. However, anyone today can admire the mysterious symbols without leaving home; just run any program on your computer that displays satellite images of the Earth. The coordinates of the desert are 14°41"18.31"S 75°07"23.01"W.
In 1994, the unusual drawings were included in the list of monuments that constitute the World Cultural Heritage. And then the whole world knew where the Nazca Desert was. People wondered who the mysterious gallery was intended for. To the gods in heaven who read human souls? Or maybe in this ancient country aliens once built a cosmodrome, and so the markings remain? Or is this the first astronomy textbook where the course of the planet Venus represents the wing of some bird? Or maybe these are family signs that clans used to mark the territories they inhabited? It was even suggested that in this way the Indians designated the flow of underground streams, supposedly this was a secret map of water sources. In general, there were a great many hypotheses, the best minds competed to interpret the meaning of what was written, but no one was in a hurry to select the facts. Almost all assumptions were made speculatively - rarely anyone dared to go to the utter distance. So the Nazca Desert (photo below) remained one of the most mysterious places on the planet, and its ancient inhabitants remained one of the most interesting cultures of pre-Columbian America.
The path to the solution
From 1997 to 2006, scientists from a variety of disciplines conducted extensive research in the Peruvian desert. The facts that they collected completely debunked all the explanations of the esotericists. There are no cosmic secrets left! The Nazca desert turned out to be quite earthly. Her drawings also speak of the earthly, even too earthly. But first things first.
Expedition to Peru
In 1997, an expedition organized by the German Archaeological Institute began to study geoglyphs and the culture of the Nazca inhabitants in the vicinity of the settlement of Palpa. The place was chosen based on the fact that it is located in close proximity to the villages where the ancient Indians lived. “To understand the meaning of the drawings, you need to look closely at the people who created them,” the scientists said.
Landscape exploration
As part of the project, the climatic features of the area were studied. This clarified the origin of the symbols. Previously, in the place where the Nazca Desert now lies, there was a flat steppe area. It was formed from a basin separating the Andes and the Coastal Cordillera (another mountain range). During the Pleistocene, it was filled with sedimentary rocks and pebbles. Here is the ideal “canvas” for applying all kinds of drawings.
A couple of thousand years ago, palm trees grew here, llamas grazed, and people lived as if in the Garden of Eden. Where the Nazca Desert stretches today, there used to be even heavy rains and floods. But around 1800 BC. e. The climate became much drier. The drought burned the grassy steppe, so people had to settle in river valleys - natural oases. But the desert continued its advance and came close to the mountain ranges. Its eastern edge moved 20 kilometers towards the Andes, and the Indians were forced to leave for mountain valleys located at an altitude of 400-800 meters above sea level. And when the climate became even drier (around 600 AD), the Nazca culture disappeared completely. All that remained of her were the mysterious signs inscribed on the ground. Thanks to the extremely dry climate, they survived for thousands of years.
Nazca Desert. Drawings
Having studied the living environment of the creators of the mysterious geoglyphs, the researchers were able to interpret them. The earliest lineages appeared about 3800 years ago, when the first settlements arose in the area of the city of Palpa. Southern Peruvians created their “art gallery” in the open air, among the rocks. They carved and scratched various patterns on the brown-red stones, chimeras of both people and animals. The “Revolution in Art” took place in the Peruvian desert around 200 BC. e. Artists, who previously covered only rocks with paintings, began to paint the largest canvas given to them by nature itself - the plateau stretching before their eyes. Here the masters had room to expand. But instead of figurative compositions, artists now gave preference to lines and geometric shapes.
Geoglyphs - part of the ritual
So why were these signs created? Certainly not for us to admire them today. Scientists believe that the drawings were part of the “sanctuary”; these are so-called ceremonial figures that have a purely mystical meaning. Geophysicists examined the soil along the lines (their depth is almost 30 centimeters) and found that it was highly compacted. 70 geoglyphs depicting some creatures and animals are significantly trampled, as if crowds of people had been walking here for centuries. In fact, various festivals related to the cult of water and fertility were held here. The drier the plateau became, the more often the priests performed magical ceremonies in order to call for rain. Of the ten trapezoids and lines, nine are facing the mountains, where the saving precipitation came from. Magic helped for a long time, and the clouds carrying moisture returned. However, in 600 AD the gods became completely angry with the people who settled in this region.
Debunking the myth
The largest paintings in the Nazca Desert appeared at a time when the rains almost stopped. Most likely, people thus asked the stern Indian god to heed their suffering; they hoped that at least he would notice such signals. But God remained deaf and blind to the prayers. It didn't rain. In the end, the Indians left their native land and went to look for a prosperous country. And after a couple of centuries, when the climate became milder, the Nazca desert regained its inhabitants. People settled here who knew nothing about the previous owners of these lands. Only the lines on the ground stretching into the distance reminded us that once here a man tried to speak to the gods. However, the meaning of the drawings had already been forgotten. Now only scientists are beginning to understand the reason for the appearance of these writings - huge signs that seem ready to survive eternity.
Mysterious drawings of the Nazca desert
Have you ever seen 120-meter monkeys and condors? What about a 180-meter lizard? And what about the “small” hummingbird bird measuring 50 meters in size? What about a 46-meter spider? Who painted them and why on a huge canvas called the Nazca Desert?Between the northern part of Chile and the south of Peru there is a plateau - a completely deserted plain where the wind rarely blows, and rain occurs once every few years. This is the Nazca Desert. Its length is 25 and its width is 8 kilometers. More than 100 geoglyphs were discovered here - giant images of famous plants and animals, simply geometric figures, a scattering of incomprehensible, unrelated straight lines, which turned the Nazca desert into a giant art gallery - another mystery of our planet. Who is the artist? Why was such titanic work needed? After all, the drawings are difficult to grasp even from a bird’s eye view! Then the question arises: what is the feasibility of the work carried out? What value - economic, religious, military - did these drawings represent for the people of antiquity? Or maybe not for people? This is where many theories and versions have appeared trying to explain this. However, everything remains only at the level of assumptions, and the true purpose of the images remains a mystery of the Nazca desert.
All patterns are formed by light lines resulting from the removal of fine gravel from the surface of the soil, darker than the ground below it. They mainly depict animals - flying birds, a spider, a fish, a monkey. But there are also geometric patterns: rectilinear stripes and symbolic figures, triangles, trapezoids, the meaning of which is difficult to decipher. In 1927, an airplane flew over the plateau in search of water sources. Water will be found there later, and then a Peruvian pilot discovered giant images. Interestingly, mention of the Nazca Lines dates back to the 16th century. In 1548, the book “Chronicle of Peru” appeared, written by the Spaniard Pedro Cieza de Leon. Here the Nazca Lines received the name: “guideposts for wanderers.” But only in the 20s of the twentieth century, the “father of Peruvian archaeology” Julio Tello was the first to copy the drawings. True, they did not become the object of serious research. Archaeologists then suggested that these were the remains of an ancient irrigation system. Everything changed only when, interested in what he saw, Paul Kosok, an archaeologist from the University of Long Island (USA), who had previously studied ancient irrigation systems in Mesopotamia, came to Peru. Seeing Nazca from the plane, he was shocked. But there was no sensation then. The Second World War began, and there was no time for drawings. It was only in 1946, when Kosok passed on his notes to Maria Reiche, who was interested in ancient observatories, that a “canonical” history of drawings of the Nazca desert was established, and Reiche became the main expert on this problem, devoting 40 years to it. What did she install? The whole difficulty is not in creating the drawings themselves, but in the calculations. There are no approximate measurements here, since this could lead to distortion of the proportions of the drawings, and, apparently, the ancient Peruvians had some kind of equipment that does not exist today. Reflecting on the size and perfection of proportions, Reiche argued that “ancient artists” could have created this if they could fly. During her research, she discovered 60 figures and lines, and in 1986, the Peruvian pilot de la Torre, in a little-explored area in the San Jose Pampa, saw previously unknown drawings: 87 photographs he took depicted images of animals, plants and people.
Nazca paintings date back to 500 BC. e. - 500 AD e. - before the formation of the Inca Empire. The people living here then did not leave any written sources about themselves. All known facts about them were obtained by studying the burial sites and the objects found there. Official science believes that this “gallery” belongs to the pre-Inca Indian culture Nazca, which flourished between 300-900 AD. e. Historians and archaeologists believe that the drawings were made by hand, removing stones and laying them out in rollers along the edges of the figures. When marking, poles and elliptical mirrors were used, and giant images were made from small sketches. Indeed, such sketches have been discovered. Various hypotheses were expressed regarding the purpose of the figures: either totemic or ritual signs, and the lines, P. Kosok believed, were used as an astronomical calendar for household needs. Researcher D. Hawkins drew attention to the huge number of vessels with a convex bottom found in the area of the drawings, which are difficult to use in everyday life. But, in his opinion, during a religious holiday these vessels were inserted into the grooves of the design, and then something flammable contained in them was set on fire. After all, many ancient peoples, as is known, attached great importance to fire. Continuing this idea, the Russian ufologist M. Gershtein suggested that this happened at night and contributed to the appearance of mirages in the sky. According to I. Koltsov, this desert was an ideal place for burials with “ensuring incorruptibility,” and the vessels were the “container of the soul” of the deceased. The drawings were chosen according to the importance of the person and his totemic name (Spider, Monkey, Swan...).
However, there is a very strange circumstance. Local residents take clean drinking water not from Lake Nazca, but from wells located exactly along the lines of the drawings, and the irrigation system here, based on a system of artificial underground canals, two of which pass directly under the bed of the Nazca River, is very perfect and productive. American scientists S. Mabi and D. Proulx believe that some of the lines are indicators of underground water sources. It was noted that the designs in the desert and on clay vessels are almost identical. From here it was concluded that these symbolic drawings pleased the deities of natural forces - sky, earth and water, in order to receive a lot of water and a good harvest. This is probably where the scientific evidence ends. The agricultural calendar hypothesis was criticized by astronomer D. Hawkins. It was not confirmed by computer calculations. Moreover, estimates based on data from the Hawkins Expedition indicate that such a large-scale effort would require 100,000 man-years, even if the entire estimated population worked 12 hours a day. Who would get their daily bread? A more reasonable version was proposed by the Englishman T. Morrison. He believed that the drawings and lines were symbols of various religious groups or nationalities living in the Andes. They had a tradition of burying relatives and fellow tribesmen at the very edge of the roads, so that the graves were easier to access. Here they prayed and meditated. In this regard, Morrison believes that the Nazca paintings could serve as caste, religious and social symbols for local residents. However, ritual objects must first of all affect people's feelings! This is where another mystery arises: drawings from the ground are not perceived, they can only be seen by rising into the air. In this regard, the American D. Woodman in 1977 put forward a hypothesis that the Indians knew how to make balloons, rising into the air during ritual ceremonies. This allowed them to fully appreciate the mystical meaning of the drawings. There is confirmation of this. An image of a hot air balloon was found in one of the Nazca tombs. While exploring this circumstance, the American B. Sporer came across an old Incas legend about a little boy who helped them in battle, flying over enemy fortifications and reporting the location of enemy troops. There are images of flying people on many Incan fabrics. In addition, by examining four pieces of fabric discovered in a looted grave near the drawings, Sporer found that the ancient Nazca inhabitants used a better weave than that used in the manufacture of parachutes, and stronger than in modern balloon fabrics. .
Before moving on to the next hypothesis, it should be noted that the Nazca desert complex is just part of the phenomenon. Ground figures similar in execution technique are found in the middle zone of the Andes along the entire Pacific coast of South America, and in this regard they cannot in any way belong to one local Indian culture, such as the Nazca culture. One can, of course, assume that the drawings were created manually, but if we take the overall picture, considering that the sizes of the figures range from 30 to 300 meters with a contour line width from 15 centimeters to 3 meters... And besides, it is difficult to assume that when creating Such giant objects by hand, the rest of the surface would be completely undamaged. But no such damage was found. In this regard, radio physicist Alla Belokon claims that the drawings could only be made from the air by a stream of directed energy of an unknown nature, and some of their asymmetry resembles the distortions that are obtained when projecting at an angle to the surface. In addition, she believes that the distortions are three-dimensional in nature, and therefore the drawings could not be simple enlargements from sketches on a plane. The most fascinating hypothesis was put forward by the Swiss Erich von Däniken, who connected the images of Nazca with extraterrestrial civilizations. He proposed to consider them as landmarks of a cosmodrome built by aliens. This idea is prompted by the image of a trident discovered on a 350-meter mountain slope near the city of Paracas on the Pacific coast, named the “Paracas candelabra” because of its similarity with a candlestick. From it, through the mountains and valleys to Nazca, there stretches a straight white line, visible only from a height, along which there are images of jumping creatures. This and a number of other lines are very reminiscent of runways. Däniken believes that Nazca could serve as a refueling site for spaceships, since the release of unknown energies was recorded here: several points were discovered where the compass needle “goes crazy,” and the pilots saw straight lines of many kilometers from above, giving ultra-precise landmarks on the sides of the horizon. Be that as it may, the art gallery in Nazca is one of the most amazing attractions on our planet. But the mystery of the desert is not alone. 1,400 km away, at the foot of Mount Satari, a giant, 120-meter tall statue of a man was discovered, surrounded by lines and signs similar to the Nazca drawings. There are also mysterious drawings in the USA (Ohio), England, Kazakhstan, the Southern Urals, Africa (south of Lake Victoria), Ethiopia and a number of other places. Thus, in 2003, in the Sajama Natural Park in western Bolivia, on an area 16 times larger than the Nazca Desert, scientists discovered more than 400 geoglyphs drawn with lines 1-2 meters wide, and in some cases up to 20 kilometers long. In their opinion, giant drawings bring some important information to humanity, but, apparently, our consciousness has not yet “grown” to the level of its perception. So questions about the most famous art gallery in the Nazca desert and others like it are still open to the curious.
How to get there
The main settlement of the Nazca area is logically named Nazca. The most convenient way to get here is by bus, this indispensable Peruvian transport. Buses depart from all major cities in the country; the fastest way to Nazca is from the city of Ica, the center of the southern coast of Peru - the journey will take 2-3 hours and cost about 30-40 PEN. Buses from Cusco and Arequipa also arrive in Nazca; in the first case, you will have to spend about 14 hours on the road, in the second - “only” nine, both buses depart from their starting points at night, arriving at the place in the morning. A ticket from Cusco will cost about 90-100 PEN, from Arequipa - about 75-85 PEN. The trip from Lima will take approximately 6-8 hours depending on the route. If you want to see the Nazca Lines, but are based in Lima, it is most convenient to purchase a sightseeing tour from one of the agencies in the Peruvian capital. Tourists set off at 4 am, visit the cities of Ballestas and Nazca itself (including its attractions), and also fly around the Nazca lines in a light aircraft. Return to Lima around 10 pm the same day. The cost of the excursion is about 800-900 PEN. Prices on the page are as of June 2016.
How to get around
You can get around the city of Nazca on foot - it is quite small. A taxi ride to any distance within the city will cost no more than 3 PEN, and a trip to the airport (from where the light-duty cars with tourists take off) will cost no more than 4 PEN.
Plateau Nazca is located in the south of the state of Peru. Due to its dry climate and lack of water and vegetation, the area is also called the Nazca Desert. The name of the plateau is associated with
Pre-Columbian civilization,
existed in these places in the time period of 500 years. BC . and 500 g. AD Its fame plateau Nazca received thanks to geoglyphs - huge drawings drawn on the ground, which can only be seen from the air.
Discovery of the Nazca geoglyphs.
Mysterious drawings in the desert plateau became known back in 1553 from the Spanish priest Pedro Cieza de Leon. Traveling through the territory of the modern state of Peru, he wrote in his notes about the many lines drawn on the ground, which he called the “Inca Road,” and about certain signs also drawn on the sand. The first to see these signs from the air was the American archaeologist Paul Kosok, who was flying over the vast plateau in 1939. A major contribution to the study of Nazca paintings was made by the German archaeologist Maria Reiche. In 1947, she flew over the plateau in an airplane took a photo geoglyphs from the air.
Description of the drawings on the Nazca plateau
Geoglyphs measure several tens of meters in size, and the Nazca lines extend for many kilometers and sometimes even go beyond the horizon, crossing hills and dried up river beds. Images are applied to the surface by extracting soil. They form furrows about 135 cm wide and 30 -50 cm deep. The drawings have survived to this day due to the dry semi-desert climate. Today we know about 30 drawings depicting geometric figures, animals, and only one depicts humanoid a creature about 30 meters high, similar to an astronaut. Among the animal images, the most famous are the spider, hummingbird, whale, condor and monkey. The geoglyph depicting a condor is one of the largest in the desert. Its length from beak to tail is 120 meters. For comparison: the size of a spider is 46 meters, and a hummingbird is 50.
Mysteries of the Nazca Desert geoglyphs
The mysterious drawings have left archaeologists and historians with many questions. Who created them? How and for what purpose? It is impossible to see geoglyphs from the ground. They are visible only from the air, and there are no mountains nearby from which these lines and drawings could be seen. Another question that arises is that next to the drawings and lines there are no traces of ancient artists, although if a car passes over the surface, traces will remain. It is noteworthy that the monkey and whale depicted on the geoglyphs do not live in this area.
Exploring the Nazca Plateau
Some scientists believe that geoglyphs had ritual significance for the ancient inhabitants of the valley. Since they could only be seen from the air, only the gods, whom people addressed with the help of drawings, could see them. Many researchers adhere to the hypothesis that the Nazca images were created by the civilization of the same name, which lived in these places in the 2nd century BC. Explorer Maria Reiche believes that geoglyphs were first made on small sketches, and only then applied to the surface in full size. As evidence, she provided a sketch found in these places. In addition, at the ends of the lines depicting the drawings, wooden posts driven into the ground were found. They could serve as coordinates of points when drawing geoglyphs. The research results showed that the images were created at different times. The intersecting and overlapping lines indicate that ancient painting covered the land of the valley in several stages.
Various versions of the origin of Geglyphs
Many historians and archaeologists adhere to astronomical versions of drawings. The ancient inhabitants of the Nazca Desert may have been well versed in astronomy. The created gallery is a kind of star map. This version was supported by the German archaeologist Maria Reiche. American astronomer Phyllis Pitlugi cites in favor of this version the fact that the geoglyph depicting a spider is a drawing showing a cluster of stars in the constellation Orion. However, British researcher Gerald Hawkins is confident that only a small part of the lines and patterns of the Nazca Desert are associated with astronomy. Some ufologists suggest that the drawings were a guide for landing alien alien ships, and the lines of the Nazca Plateau served as runways. Skeptics do not agree with this version, if only because alien spaceships capable of traveling tens of light years do not require acceleration to take off. They can rise into the air vertically. Jim Woodman, who studied the Nazca plateau in the 70s of the last century, came to the conclusion that the ancient inhabitants who created these drawings could fly in a hot air balloon. He explains this by the depiction of this flying object on clay figurines preserved from ancient times. To prove it, Woodman made a balloon from by-products that could only be obtained in the immediate area. Hot air was supplied to the balloon and it was able to fly a fairly long distance. The German archaeologist Maria Reiche, mentioned above, called the geometric figures and lines of the Nazca plateau an encrypted text, similar to a set of letters and signs.
There is still no consensus on the origin and purpose of the mysterious geoglyphs. The Nazca Plateau remains one of the greatest mysteries on our planet...
Pampa Colorada Desert(Spanish: Desierto de la Pampa Colorado; “Red Plain”), located south of the Nazca River in, is more often called "Nazca Plateau"(Spanish: Nazca). This is a waterless and deserted desert plain, surrounded by low spurs of the Andes, stretching 450 km southeast of the Peruvian capital, (Spanish: Lima).
The vast, elongated plateau area with an area of about 500 km² stretches from north to south for more than 50 km, from west to east - from 7 to 15 km. The valley was long mistakenly considered lifeless. The flat terrain with undulating relief in places is separated from other flat areas by clearly defined ledges.
Photo gallery hasn't opened? Go to the site version.
The name Nazca also refers to an ancient civilization that flourished from 300 BC. to 500 AD Perhaps it was this culture that created the mysterious “Nazca Lines”, the ancient ceremonial city of Cahuachi and the extensive system of “puquios” - unique underground aqueducts.
An important component of the region, in addition to the famous plateau, is the city of the same name, founded by the Spaniards in 1591. At the end of the last century, in 1996, the city of Nazca was razed to the ground by a powerful earthquake. Fortunately, there were few casualties (17 people died), since the rampant underground disaster occurred at noon, but about 100 thousand people were left homeless. Today the city has been rebuilt, modern multi-storey buildings have been erected here, and its center is decorated with a wonderful square.
Climate
The sparsely populated area has a very dry climate.
Winter on the vast plateau lasts from June to September; throughout the year the temperature in the desert does not drop below +16°C. In summer, the air temperature is stable and stays around +25°C. Despite the close location of the ocean, rain is extremely rare here. There are also practically no winds here; there are no rivers, lakes or streams surrounded by the plateau. The fact that these lands once saw water flows is told by numerous beds of long-dried rivers.
Mysterious geoglyphs (Nazca Lines)
However, this Peruvian region is notable primarily not for the city, but for the mysterious geoglyphs - unusual lines, geometric shapes and bizarre designs that decorate the surface of the plateau. For the modern scientific community, these drawings have been presenting more and more mysteries for centuries. Dozens of minds have been struggling for many years trying to answer numerous questions regarding the mysterious images.
Shape Map
In total, about 13 thousand different lines, more than 100 spirals, over 700 geometric shapes or areas (triangles, rectangles, trapezoids) and 788 images of people, birds and animals were discovered on the desert plain. The images of the plateau are long grooves of varying widths, 15 to 30 cm deep, dug in the top layer of soil - a mixture of clay and sand. The length of the longest lines reaches 10 km. The width of the drawings is also striking, in some cases reaching 150 - 200 m.
There are drawings here that resemble the outlines of animals - llamas, monkeys, killer whales, birds, etc. Single drawings (about 40) depict sharks, fish, lizards and spiders.
The figures amaze the imagination with their gigantic size, but people have still not been able to unravel their true purpose. The answer may lie in the depths of the desert. This means that in order to find out who created these amazing works of art and why, archaeological excavations are necessary, which are prohibited here, since the plateau is protected by the status "Sacred Zone"(related to the Divine, heavenly, otherworldly, mystical). So, to this day the origin of the Nazca drawings remains a secret behind seven seals.
Geoglyphs of the Nazca Plateau were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1994.
But no matter how “sacred” the territory is, no one has yet canceled the dominant human trait - curiosity, which stimulates humanity to overcome any difficulties.
The first extremely curious person who became interested in these forbidden lands was Mejia Toribio Hesspe(Spanish: Toribio Mejía Xesspe), an archaeologist from Peru who in 1927 studied the Nazca Lines from the foothills surrounding the lifeless plateau. In 1939, the unusual plateau gained worldwide fame thanks to a Peruvian scientist.
In 1930, anthropologists studied the mysterious desert area with mysterious lines by flying around the plateau in an airplane. The attention of archaeologists around the world was focused on the desert in the early 40s of the 20th century. So, in 1941, the American historian, professor of hydrogeology Paul Kosok (English Paul Kosok; 1896-1959) made several reconnaissance flights over the desert in a small plane. It was he who determined that gigantic lines and figures cover a vast territory stretching over 100 km.
Scientists were able to study the unique plateau more closely only in 1946, although this was not a targeted government program funded by the authorities, but individual expeditions of enthusiastic researchers. It turned out that the ancient “designers” created the Nazca trenches by removing the dark surface soil layer (the so-called “desert tan”) - clay saturated with iron oxide and manganese oxide. The gravel was completely removed from the line section, underneath which lay light-colored soil rich in lime. In the open air, the limestone soil instantly hardens, forming a protective layer that perfectly prevents erosion, which is why the lines are so striking and have retained their original shape for 1000 years. Despite the technical simplicity of execution, such a solution required excellent knowledge of geodesy. The durability of the drawings was also facilitated by the usual calm here, lack of precipitation and stable air temperature throughout the year. If the local climatic conditions had been different, then, undoubtedly, the drawings would have long ago disappeared from the face of the earth.
They continue to puzzle generations of researchers from all over the world.
Mystical civilization
Official science claims that all the images were created during the heyday of the ancient Nazca Empire, which had a very developed culture. The civilization was founded by the archaeological culture (Spanish Paracas), the indigenous Indians of southern Peru of the 2nd half of the 1st millennium BC. e. Many scholars agree that most of the lines and figures were created during a period of 1,100 years, during the “Golden Age” of the Nazca civilization (100-200 AD). The ancient civilization sank into oblivion at the end of the 8th century, the reason for this, presumably, was the floods that befell the plateau at the end of the first 1000 years. People were forced to leave their land, which was settled after several centuries.
If we assume that the mysterious drawings were created by an ancient people, then why and, most importantly, how the aborigines were able to do this remains a mystery. Even using modern technology, it is extremely difficult to draw a perfectly straight line across the surface of the earth, even 3-5 km long.
According to the scientists' findings, all this was done in a short time. Over the course of a couple of centuries, the Nazca Plateau turned from a lifeless valley into the most bizarre territory on the planet, dotted with geoglyphs. Unknown artists crossed the depressions and hills of the desert, but at the same time the lines remained perfectly regular and the edges of the grooves strictly parallel. How unknown masters created the figures of various animals, which can only be seen from the height of a bird’s flight, is completely unclear.
46 meter spider
For example, the image of a hummingbird reaches a length of 50 m, a condor bird - 120 m, and a spider, similar to its relatives living in the Amazon jungle, has a length of 46 m. Interestingly, all these masterpieces can be seen only by rising into the air or climbing on a high mountain, which are not observed nearby.
It is obvious that the people who inhabited the plateau during the period of the emergence of art did not have flying machines. How could people create drawings with pinpoint precision without being able to see the full picture of the work done? How did the craftsmen manage to maintain the accuracy of all the lines? To do this, they would have needed a whole arsenal of modern geodetic equipment, not to mention the most perfect knowledge of mathematical laws, given that the images were created both on flat areas of land and on steep slopes and almost vertical cliffs!
Moreover, in the area of the Nazca desert valley there are hills (Spanish: Palpa), the tops of some of which are cut off as if by a giant knife at one level. These huge sections are also decorated with patterns, lines and geometric shapes.
Maybe it’s generally difficult for us to understand the logic of our distant ancestors. Children do not understand their parents, much less understand the motives of people who lived 1000 - 2000 years ago. It is quite possible that the images of the plateau do not have any practical or religious component. Maybe the ancient people created them in order to show their descendants what they were capable of? But why waste a lot of energy and time on self-affirmation? In general, questions, questions to which there are no answers yet.
Alien intervention?
Scientists who are confident that the mysterious drawings were created by man are no more likely than those who believe that it could not have happened without the intervention of aliens. According to the latter, the images on the plateau are alien runways. This version, of course, has a right to exist; it is only unclear why the alien aircraft did not have a vertical take-off system and why it was necessary to make runways in the shape of zigzags, spirals and terrestrial animals.
Another interesting thing is that many scientists believe that complex designs in the form of bizarre animals, birds and insects were applied much earlier than simpler geometric shapes, circles and lines. The conclusion naturally suggests itself that first unknown mysterious masters made complex forms, and only then earthly people began to practice creating straight lines.
Other hypotheses
Maria Reiche (German: Maria Reiche; 1903-1998), a German mathematician and archaeologist, who from 1946 for more than 40 years (until her death at the age of 95) methodically and meticulously studied the Nazca figures, believed that their the lines are a giant ancient calendar. In her opinion, many of the drawings are accurate representations of the constellations, and the lines correspond to the movement of the sun or are oriented towards the moon, planets of the solar system and some of the constellations. For example, a drawing in the shape of a spider, according to Reiche, reproduces a cluster of stars in the constellation Orion. Based on her astronomical calculations, she was the first to announce the time when the drawings were created - the 5th century. Later, radiocarbon analysis of a wooden marking peg found at the site of one of the geoglyphs confirmed the date indicated by M. Reiche.
There is another interesting theory regarding mystical drawings. The famous American archaeologist Johann Reinhard, professor emeritus at the Catholic University of Santa Maria (UCSM, Peru), believes that the giant Nazca lines were built to carry out certain religious rites. The figures of animals, birds and insects were presumably associated with the worship of deities. With the help of drawings, people pleased the Gods and asked them for water to irrigate their land. Some archaeologists believe that the lines and intricate designs represented sacred paths along which local priests walked during ritual ceremonies. As in any pagan religion (the ancient people were obviously followers of this faith), the cult of the gods occupies a central place not only in religion, but also in the life of people. But the question again arises: why did the ancient Peruvians decide to turn to deities in this remote place where there had never been cultivated land?
There is also a hypothesis that in ancient times Indian athletes ran along giant lines and stripes, which means that the South American sports Olympics were held on Nazca. Straight lines, of course, could be used as treadmills, but how can you run in a spiral and along images of birds or, for example, a monkey?
There were also publications that huge triangular and trapezoidal platforms were created for some ceremonies, during which sacrifices were made to the gods and mass celebrations took place. But why then did archaeologists, who searched all the surroundings of the plateau, not find a single artifact confirming this version?
There is even such an absurd idea that gigantic work was done solely for the purpose of a kind of labor education. To keep the idle ancient Peruvians busy... Another hypothesis says that all the drawings are a giant loom of ancient people who laid out the threads along the lines. It was also argued that this is a colossal encrypted map of the world, which so far no one has been able to decipher.
In recent years, voices have increasingly begun to be heard that incredible drawings are just the result of someone’s falsification. But then a whole army of counterfeiters had to work on the production of the largest counterfeit in the history of mankind for decades. Yes, at the same time it was still necessary to keep everything secret. The question is - for what?
Today, unfortunately, the main attention of scientists from all over the world is focused not on the Nazca drawings, shrouded in mystery, but on the serious environmental threat hanging over the mysterious plateau. Deforestation, harmful emissions into the atmosphere, environmental pollution - all this is not changing the stable climate of the desert for the better. It rains more and more often, leading to landslides and other problems that have a destructive effect on the integrity of images.
If nothing is done in the next 5-10 years to overcome a serious threat, amazing drawings will be lost to humanity forever. Then there is no doubt that answers to the countless questions that concern us will NEVER be received. We will never know WHO and WHY created these unique creations.
Archaeological sites of the region
The capital and main ceremonial center of the Nazca civilization was the ancient settlement of Cahuachi. The city was a concentration of adobe residential buildings and outbuildings. In its center stood a pyramidal structure - the Great Temple, built on a hill about 30 m high. Around the main Temple there were squares, palaces and tombs.
In addition to Cahuachi, several other large architectural complexes of ancient civilization are known. The most unusual of them is “Bosque Muerto” (from Spanish “Dead Forest”) Estaceria, which consists of rows of 240 pillars up to 2 m high, mounted on a low platform. To the west and south of the platform there are pillars of smaller sizes, and they are arranged not in rows, but in chains. Near the “dead forest” there rose a stepped hill with 2 rows of terraces.
On the territory of Estaceria there are many burials in which preserved parts of robes were discovered. Based on the found fragments, the clothing of the Nazca people was recreated: long capes with a wide border and traditional South American ponchos - a rectangular cloth with a slot for the head. It is noteworthy that the color range of fabrics is unusually extensive, numbering up to 150 different shades.
The culture of the ancient civilization amazes with its unique polychrome vessels of excellent quality, while the Indians were not familiar with the potter's wheel. Cups, vases, figured jugs and bowls were painted with paints of 6-7 colors, which were applied before firing.
The mysteries of Nazca do not end there. If the surface of the valley is decorated with gigantic drawings that are still incomprehensible to the human mind, then in its depths lurk even more inconceivable puquios (Spanish Puquios; from Kech. source, spring) - ancient aqueduct systems near the city of Nazca. Of the 36 giant puquios, which are granite pipes of underground water pipes, most of them are still functioning normally. Today's Peruvian Indians attribute the creation of puquios to a divine creator (Quechua Wiraqucha, Spanish Huiracocha or Viracocha). Who, when and why created these titanic water structures under the ancient Nazca plateau are also part of the realm of eternal mysteries.
Curious facts
Nazca Drawings are located on Nazca Plateau- one of the most mysterious places on Earth. It is located 450 km south of the capital Peru, between cities Nazca And Palpa. Here the entire territory is 500 sq. km. covered with lines and drawings of unknown origin. They are nothing special if you look at them standing next to them.
Map of Nazca drawings
In 1553 Cieza de Leon was the first to report the Nazca drawings. From his words: “Through all these valleys and through those that have already been traversed, the beautiful, great Inca Road runs along its entire length, and here and there among the sands signs are seen to guess the route laid.”
ABOUTMonkey, Nazca drawing
The drawings were noticed in 1939, when an airplane flew over the plateau American archaeologist Paul Kosok. A huge contribution to the study of mysterious lines belongs to the German doctor of archeology Maria Reiche. Her work began in 1941. However, she was able to photograph the drawings from the air only in 1947, using the services of military aviation.
In 1994, the Nazca Geoglyphs were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Tree and handsNazca drawing
Nazca Plateau occupies 60 kilometers and approximately 500 sq. m of its territory is covered with a pattern of strange lines folding into bizarre shapes. The main mystery of Nazca is geometric figures in the form of triangles and more than thirty huge drawings of animals, birds, fish, insects and people of unusual appearance. All images on the Nazca surface are dug into sandy soil, the depth of the lines varies from 10 to 30 centimeters, and the width of the stripes can reach as much as 100 meters. The lines of the drawings stretch for kilometers, without changing at all under the influence of the relief - the lines rise up hills and descend from them, while remaining almost perfectly smooth and continuous. Who and why created these drawings - unknown tribes or aliens from outer space - there is still no answer to this question. Today there are many hypotheses, but none of them can be a solution.
Dog, Nazca drawing
Whale, Nazca drawing
Hummingbird has a length of 50 meters, spider — 46, condor extends from beak to tail feathers for almost 120 meters, and heron has a length of up to 188 meters. Almost all the drawings are made on this huge scale in the same manner, when the outline is outlined by one continuous line. Ideally straight lines and stripes go beyond the horizon, crossing dry river beds, climbing hills and without deviating from their direction (although modern geodetic methods do not allow drawing a straight line up to 8 kilometers long on rough terrain so that the deviation does not exceed 0, 1 degree). The true form of the images can only be observed from a bird's eye view. There is no such natural elevation nearby, but there are half-mountain humps. But the higher you rise above the plateau, the smaller these drawings become and turn into incomprehensible scratches.
Hummingbird,Nazca drawing
Spider, Nazca drawing
Condor, Nazca drawing
Heron, Nazca drawing
What scientists have been able to establish more or less accurately is the age of the images. Based on ceramic fragments found here and data from analyzes of organic remains, they established that in the period between 350 BC. and 600 AD there was a civilization here. However, this theory cannot be accurate, since objects of civilization could have been brought here much later than the appearance of the images. One theory is that these are works of the Nazca Indians, who inhabited areas of Peru before the formation of the Inca Empire. The Nazcas did not leave anything behind except burial places, so it is unknown whether they had writing and whether they “painted” the desert.
"Astronaut", drawing by Nazca
The Nazca Lines pose many questions to historians: who created them, when, why and how. In fact, many geoglyphs cannot be seen from the ground, so we can only assume that with the help of such patterns the ancient inhabitants of the valley communicated with the deity. In addition to the ritual, the astronomical significance of these lines cannot be ruled out.
