The Nazca geoglyphs in Peru, created many centuries before the rise of the Inca Empire, are the most important evidence of the existence of the mysterious ancient culture on the territory of Peru. These lines and geoglyphs, drawn in one continuous line, are located on the Nazca plateau and reach tens of meters in length, so they are only visible from the air.
The German scientist Von Daniken, in his book “Answer to the Gods,” claims that these lines were created as signals for the landing of alien spaceships. And the German doctor of archeology Maria Reiche called these patterns a strange confirmation of the existence of the ancient Peruvian culture:
“The Nazca Lines are nothing less than the documented history of ancient Peruvian science. The ancient inhabitants of Peru created their own alphabet to describe the most important astronomical events. The Nazca Lines are pages of a book written in this strange alphabet.”
From the air you can observe various shapes such as large giant spiders, lizards, llamas, monkeys, dogs, hummingbirds, etc., not to mention zigzags and geometric designs. There are many unanswered questions regarding these lines. For example, how they remain intact after hundreds of years, or how they were created in such sizes, accurately recreating all the proportions
In 1927, Mejia Hespe, a student of the famous Julio Tello, the father of Peruvian archaeology, reported mysterious, incomprehensible geoglyphs on the territory of the Peruvian plateau. Initially, this was not given any importance; scientists were studying other more significant areas, such as Machu Picchu
In the same year, US researcher Paul Kosok arrived in Peru, who was very attracted ancient history Peru. On one of his first trips to the south of the country, he stopped at the top of a plateau and saw vast lines on both sides of the road. After careful examination, he was amazed to discover that one of the figures depicted perfect shape bird flight. Kosok spent almost 20 years researching the Nazca Lines; in 1946, he returned home, offering to study the drawings of the Nazca tribes to the German doctor of archeology Maria Reiche. Maria devoted her whole life to this work
Maria Reiche studied Nazca lines for 50 years. She explained how these lines were used by ancient Peruvian astronomers - they were a giant solar and lunar calendar, buried in sand, legends and myths local residents
The lines themselves are applied to the surface in the form of furrows up to 135 centimeters wide and up to 40-50 centimeters deep, while white stripes form on the black rocky surface. The following fact is also noted: since the white surface is heated less than the black one, a difference in pressure and temperature is created, which leads to the fact that these lines do not suffer in sandstorms.
The hummingbird has a length of 50 meters, the spider - 46, the condor stretches from beak to tail feathers for almost 120 meters, and the lizard has a length of up to 188 meters. Such enormous sizes of the drawings are admirable; almost all the drawings are made on this huge scale in the same manner, when the outline is outlined by one continuous line. 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 medium-sized hills. But the higher you rise above the plateau, the smaller these drawings become and turn into incomprehensible scratches.
Among other animals captured by Nazca are a whale, a dog with long legs and tail, two llamas, various birds such as herons, pelican, seagull, hummingbird and parrot. Reptiles include alligator, iguana and snake.
All geoglyphs are located on the map, with detailed names. Click to enlarge
So who created it anyway? Nazca geoglyphs? Locals or aliens? This is a giant solar and lunar calendar or landmarks spaceship? It is impossible to know the answers to these questions, since the Nazca lines are one of the most big secrets in the world.
The Nazca Desert is located in the Ica department in the south of Peru, between the Ingenio and Nazca rivers. This is an area of 500 square kilometers, covered with huge images of people and animals, lines, spirals and geometric shapes, the size of which reaches up to 300m in length. 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 demonstrates satellite images Earth. The coordinates of the desert are 14°41"18.31"S 75°07"23.01"W.
The mystery of the Nazca Desert was discovered in 1927, when a Peruvian pilot flying over a desert valley in southern Peru saw that the ground was lined with long lines and painted with images of animals. Such geometric designs appeared on the Nazca plateau during the Nazca civilization. It belongs to pre-Columbian civilizations, II-IV centuries BC.
Geoglyphs are a big mystery, because no one knows why representatives of the disappeared without a trace ancient civilization The Indians painted huge pictures, visible only from the air. The images seem to have been scratched into the poor, rocky desert soil. At first glance, they are barely distinguishable and represent a chaotic interweaving of lines drawn by someone on the reddish surface of the desert, but from a bird's eye view this chaos takes on meaning.
Despite the fact that geoglyphs were discovered in the last century, the purpose of these amazing drawings is still unknown. Researchers A. Krebe and T. Mejia consider them to be part of an ancient irrigation system. T. Mejía also later suggested that the images were associated with the Incan holy path. Some features, such as mounds of stones at the intersections of lines, indicate that the figures were used for cult purposes.
P. Kozok, who visited the Nazca Valley in 1941, drew attention to special role lines in the rays of the setting sun during summer solstice and called these lines the largest astronomy textbook on earth. This theory was later developed in her research by the German researcher M. Reiche. In her opinion, part geometric shapes symbolize the constellations, and the images of animals symbolize the location of the planets.
The study of astronomy for ancient civilizations had makes a lot of sense. Among other things, it also had a practical function - it helped to predict rainy periods important for agriculture, but archaeologist H. Lancho suggested that the drawings were maps indicating the way to vital places, for example, to underground water sources.
The most incredible and at the same time the most popular theory belongs to the famous Swiss researcher Erich von Däniken. He suggested that images are nothing more than markings on earth's surface for aliens from other planets.
No less surprising is another hypothesis, according to which representatives of the ancient Nazca civilization mastered aeronautics, which is why the drawings are visible only from above. In support of this theory, several dark spots that are present on the surface of the plateau are interpreted as traces of fire pits on the sites for balloons. In addition, on the pottery of the Nazca Indians there are patterns reminiscent of balloons or kites.
The exact age of the geoglyphs is unknown. According to the results of archaeological research, the images were created in different periods. The earliest, straightest lines probably appeared in the sixth century BC, the latest - drawings of animals - in the first century AD.
Scientists have proven that the figures were created by hand. The drawings were applied to the surface of the desert in the form of furrows 130 cm wide and 50 cm deep. On dark soil, the lines form white stripes. Since the light lines heat up less than the surrounding surface, a difference in pressure and temperature occurs, which leads to the fact that the lines do not suffer during sandstorms.
Who and why painted these pictures on the surface in ancient times, visible only from a great height, still remains a mystery. It was put forward huge amount theories, but none of them have yet received scientific confirmation.
Looking at the huge drawings on the surface of the Earth, photographs of which were taken from the air, the question arises: could people have done this? The most mysterious place on the planet is considered the Nazca plateau, which surprised scientists 100 years ago with its mysterious drawings. Until now, scientists have put forward various theories about the appearance of these drawings, but none of them gave an exact answer about the origin of these masterpieces.
Let's follow the scientists' research a little and try to find some explanation for these drawings.
The Nazca plateau or pampa, as it is called, is located 450 km from the capital of Peru - Lima. Its length is 60 km and 500 sq. meters is covered with various mysterious lines that make up mysterious drawings. The drawings present in this area are images of geometric shapes, animals, insects and amazing people appearance. The drawings can only be seen from the air, as they are huge images.
When examining the area, it was found that the drawings were dug into sandy soil to a depth of 10-30 cm, and the width of some lines could be up to 100 meters (!). The lines of the drawings can be several kilometers long, while literally not changing from the influence of the shape of the terrain. The lines rise and fall from the hills, but their continuity and perfect evenness are not broken. The question immediately arises: who is the creator of such a picture in the desert - peoples unknown to us or aliens from distant space? But scientists have not yet been able to find an answer to this question.
To date, scientists have been able to accurately determine the age of this “painting.” Scientists carefully examined the remains of plant and organic origin found in the places of the drawings and found that the drawings were created in a period of time starting from 350 BC. to 600 BC
But this fact is not an accurate proof of the date of appearance of the drawings, since these objects could have come here after the creation of the drawings. There is also another scientific theory that says that the drawings are the work of the Nazca Indians, who could have inhabited this region of Peru (even before the arrival of the Incas). After the disappearance of this people, not a single historical mention of them remained on Earth, except for burials. And therefore, scientists cannot say for sure about the involvement of this people in the drawings.
Let's take a look into historical sources, which mention Nazca drawings. They were first mentioned by Spanish researchers in their manuscripts, which date back to the 15th – 17th centuries. In our time, these information sources have attracted the attention of modern scientists, but the most interesting discoveries became available when the first aircraft, since the lines of the drawings form a single whole and reveal their secret only from a bird's eye view.
The first scientist to discover the Nazca paintings themselves was the Peruvian archaeologist Mejia Xesspe, who saw part of them from an elephant in one of the mountains in 1927. They began to really explore Nazca in the 40s, when the first photographs of drawings taken from an airplane appeared. These studies were led by the American historian Paul Kosok. But in fact, in anticipation of the first photographs of the Nazca drawings, they were discovered by pilots who were searching for water sources in the desert. We were looking for water, but we found the most mysterious mystery of our planet.
Kosok at one time put forward one of the many theories that suggested that the drawings were nothing more than a huge astronomical calendar. For clarity, he cited similar drawings from the starry sky. It turned out that some lines show the direction of the constellations and indicate the point of sunrise and sunset. Kosok's theory was developed in the work of mathematician and astronomer Maria Reiche, who devoted more than 40 years to systematizing and studying the Nazca paintings. She managed to find out that the drawings in the Nazca desert were made by hand.
The first figures drawn were birds and animals, and then on top of these drawings were drawn different lines. The scientist also managed to find sketches, which were later realized in full size. Ancient “artists” used coordinate poles to more accurately navigate the terrain and draw up accurate drawings. These landmarks were located at some points of the figures. If the figures can only be observed from a high altitude, then the conclusion suggests itself that the people who put them on the surface of the earth could fly. Thus a new theory emerged that the creators of the Nazca paintings were an extraterrestrial civilization or created an airfield for aircraft.
It subsequently turned out that Nazca is not the only place that has such images. 10 km from the plateau (near the city of Palpa) there are similar drawings and lines, and at a distance of 1400 km near Mount Solitari there is a huge statue of a man surrounded by lines and drawings similar to the Nazca drawings. On the territory of the Western Cordillera in the immediate vicinity of Nazca there are two painted labyrinths of a spiral shape, with in different directions turns. What’s most surprising is that a cosmic ray hits this area 1-5 times a year and illuminates this area for 20 minutes. There is even a claim by local residents that if you get into this beam, you can be cured of various diseases. Similar drawings were found in various countries of the world - Ohio (USA), England, Africa, Altai and Southern Urals. They are all different, but one thing they have in common is that they are not intended for earthly viewing.
While conducting excavations in the Nazca territory, scientists found new mysteries for themselves. Drawings were found on the shards, which showed evidence that the inhabitants of this area knew about penguins. Scientists could not find another explanation for the found drawing of a penguin on one of the shards. Archaeologists also managed to find many underground passages and tunnels. Part of these structures is an irrigation system, and the other part belongs to the underground city. There are tombs and ruins of underground temples here.
One of the theories is the hypothesis of the origin of the Nazca paintings associated with the activities of alien civilizations. This hypothesis was first put forward by the Swiss writer Erich von Däniken. He claimed that aliens visited our planet in the Nazca region, but he is not sure that the drawings were their work. According to his theory, the drawings are intended to summon aliens who have left our planet. The triangles informed the alien pilots about the presence of crosswinds, and the rectangles informed the landing site.
Straight lines in the form of recesses could be filled with a flammable substance and serve as an indicator of the direction of the landing strips. This theory is fantastic and is not taken seriously in scientific world, but even the writer managed to sow doubts in scientific theories origin of the Nazca paintings. This is where the theory of energy flows arose, which testifies to the connection between humanity and alien intelligence. One example is a huge image of the “Paracas candelabra,” a design on a mountainside on the Peruvian Paracas Peninsula.
Scientists believe the candelabra is information source about our planet. The left side of the picture contains information about the earth's fauna, and the right side about the flora. The general image is made in the form human face. Where the top of the drawing is located, the ancient inhabitants of Nazca installed a pointer, which is a scale of civilization development. According to the same theory, there is an opinion that our civilization was created by aliens from the constellation Leo. Perhaps the composition of straight lines was created by aliens to mark the runway for their ships.
There is other evidence for this theory. Scientists from England managed to study the component muscle mass Inca mummies. And the results were simply amazing. The blood of the Incas had no analogues with the blood groups of the inhabitants of the Earth historical period. This blood type is a very rare combination...
But of course, the truth is born in a dispute. And that’s why those who reject all alien theories found it. In the early 80s, a group of students, taking wooden shovels with them, created an “elephant” that resembles the Nazca drawings. But their conviction did not have much influence, and in our time there are many supporters of alien participation in the creation of huge drawings.
Options for theories of the appearance of large drawings on Earth:
Animal drawings were created as a memory of the global flood.
Nazca drawings are one of the ancient zodiac calendars.
The drawn figures are created for ritual ceremonies of the water culture, and the lines represent the direction of the aqueducts.
The trajectory of the drawings was used for sprint races (though this is hard to believe).
Nazca lines and drawings are an encrypted message, a kind of code. It contains Pi, radian degrees (360°), decimal number system, etc.
The drawings were drawn by shamans under the influence of strong hallucinogens (admittedly, the theory is funny).
No matter how much they advance different theories the origin and purpose of the Nazca drawings, but the mystery remains unrevealed. Besides this mysterious plateau presents humanity with new mysteries. New researchers are constantly being sent to this area of Peru. This area is accessible to both scientists and tourists, but will a person be able to open the curtain of mystery that hides the true purpose of the drawings from us?
Geoglyphs on the Nazca Plateau, like the famous lost city of the Incas Machu Picchu, are one of the most mysterious attractions of Peru. Giant geometric figures depicting triangles, spirals, lines, constellations, as well as a monkey, a spider, flowers, an astronaut and a hummingbird with a wingspan of more than two hundred meters were created between the 1st and 5th centuries AD. Unanimous opinion There is still no information about the origin of patterns made with deep furrows and the purpose of their creation, despite many years of research.
The Nazca Lines were first noticed in 1939 by American archaeologist Paul Kosok, who was flying over the plateau. He saw that the lines recorded the phases of the moon and indicated certain constellations. It was impossible to detect such parallels from the ground; The figures can only be distinguished to this day only from the air. Subsequently, Maria Reiche was engaged in their research, and many drawings were discovered with her help. According to Reiche, geoglyphs in the desert are the largest calendar of the starry sky under open air in the world. In total, on the Nazca plateau you can find about thirty designs, 788 different geometric shapes, including trapezoids, triangles and spirals, and thousands of lines and stripes. In 1994, geoglyphs were included in the List World Heritage UNESCO.
To travel to the Nazca plateau, choose light, light-colored clothing and closed shoes with hard soles. Best time to view geoglyphs in the desert - from December to March, when you can count on clear sunny weather. The temperature during this period does not fall below +27°C. Even when setting out early in the morning or at dusk, do not forget about sunscreen and a hat.
In addition to the geoglyphs, there are several other interesting sights on the Nazca Plateau. In particular, you can visit the ruins of Cahuachi - the most important and powerful city of ancient civilization, where excavations are still ongoing. 5 kilometers east of Nazca are the Cantayoc aqueducts, and 30 kilometers south is the necropolis of Chauchilla (El cementerio de Chauchilla), most of the burials date back to the 5th-6th centuries. The mummies were found in the first half of the last century, but the necropolis was recognized as an archaeological site only in 1997.
How to get there
The Nazca Plateau is located 380 kilometers southeast of Lima. The path runs along the picturesque Pacific coast, along Highway 1S. The most convenient way to get from the capital to the city of Nazca is with a transfer to Ica; The average bus journey takes seven and a half hours. Tickets must be purchased in advance, at least one day in advance. Be careful: from Lima, buses from different transport companies (Oltursa, Cruz del Sur, TEPSA) depart from different terminals; for example, TEPSA flights depart from the terminal of the same name, located on Avenida Javier Prado. However, starting points are not always located in the city center. One-way fares range from 65 PEN (~$20.8) to 140 PEN (~$44.8) per person. Buses depart several times a day, including late in the evening and at night.
The best way to see the geoglyphs on the Nazca Plateau is to take one of the small Cessna plane tours offered by local agencies. In good weather, most designs and lines can be seen from the air; guides navigate the desert's most famous sites, including those featuring monkeys, spiders, hummingbirds and other animals.
The routes start from the cities of Nazca and Lima. Excursions should be booked in advance: the number of seats on planes is limited (usually no more than five passengers), and it is unlikely to be possible to organize such a trip on the spot. Their cost from the city of Nazca, for example, starts at $150 per person; The price includes transfer from the hotel to the airfield, flights and the services of a local guide. These tours operate daily, mostly in the morning, but departure times and travel duration depend on the number of flights scheduled for the day and weather conditions. On average, the excursion takes a little over half an hour.
Organized excursions from Lima will cost more; their prices start at $350 per person. This price includes transfer to the Nazca airfield, watching a short film about the desert lines, flight, as well as lunch in a traditional restaurant and a visit to the observation deck on the way back.
Helicopter excursions over the Nazca plateau are organized by several specialized travel companies. The cost of such a trip starts from $350 per person; flights operate daily. The duration of the excursion is 40 minutes, including the flight time - 25 minutes. Minimum quantity passengers - two people.
Another option for viewing the Nazca Lines is the observation deck on the Panamericana Highway (El Mirador). The cost of visiting is 2 PEN (~$0.6) per person. In this case, due to the great distance of the drawings, it will be possible to see only two of them.
Location
The Nazca Plateau is located in the province of the same name in the Ica region, which lies almost in the center of the Pacific coast.
“Geo” translated from Greek, as we know, means “earth”. And a “glyph” is a “concave line.” The Nazca geoglyphs are huge, beautiful and mysterious. They are surrounded by a seemingly chaotic network of lines and contours. Scientists have no doubt that these images and lines appeared in the pre-Columbian era. Their clear time barrier has also been determined - until the 12th century, when the Incas, who had a completely different culture, entered the territory of present-day Peru. But regarding the framework of the beginning and end of the period in which the main Nazca geoglyphs were created, there are different points vision. Archaeologists, knowing that fragments of Nazca ceramics contain the same geometric elements, as on earth, and the heyday of this civilization is from the 100s. BC e. to the 700s n. e., insist on these dates. To this, their opponents object that the images were not necessarily created during this entire period. Objections are based on analysis of manganese and iron oxides at the edges of the lines. These oxides in Nazca, in conditions of almost complete anhydrity, form the so-called desert tan of sandy soil, a kind of crust that has formed over thousands of years. Beneath it is sandstone. That is why the Nazca lines are so clearly visible: the dark crust and light sandstone contrast sharply and clearly with each other. And they are nothing more than witnesses of time. According to this concept, the Nazca geoglyphs are attributed by geologists mainly to the 1st century. n. e., and the latest - to the 6th century. n. e. However, neither a purely archaeological nor a purely geological approach can be considered exhaustively reliable; there are still too many unanswered questions in each version.
The history of the discovery of Nazca geoglyphs began only in the 20th century, because they can be seen in their entirety only from a bird's eye view. Until airplanes appeared here, Nazca remained “terra incognita” for the world. Although the shepherds, and then the travelers, of course, saw and understood that the lines on the ground were clearly of man-made origin: the trenches were smooth, lined with pebbles along the edges. In 1553, Ciesade Leon (1518/1520-1554), a Spanish priest, geographer and historian, reported about them this way: “Through all these valleys and along those that have already been passed, along the entire length there is a beautiful, great Inca road , and here and there among the sands you can see signs to guess the path laid out.” Archaeologists Alfred Krebe and Toribio Mejia Xesspe in 1927 suggested that this was a system of irrigation structures; Xesspe, however, later changed his mind, agreeing with Leon. Even then it was noticed that the furrow lines were laid strictly in a straight line; they did not bypass any elevations or dry river beds. But the scale of the drawings itself remained unknown. Until the American archaeologist Paul Kosok (1896-1959) flew over them on an airplane in 1939. And when, in 1941, the German Maria Reiche (1902-1998), a mathematician by profession, began to collaborate with him, a new meaning was revealed, and what a new meaning. She believed, and Kosok agreed with her, that all these contours and lines are nothing more than an astronomical calendar: straight and spiral figures symbolize the constellations, and symbolic animal figures symbolize the positions of the planets. The movement of planets and constellations in the sky could be associated with calculations of the rainy season. And also have sacred meaning- a message to the heavenly rulers of the forces of nature with a request to send life-giving moisture or, who knows, not only about that. About something purely spiritual, judging by the truly artistic inspiration with which the images were created. If we remember that their creators could not fly into the air on anything, and the contours are drawn in continuous lines, then one cannot help but bow our heads respectfully before the power of their imagination and the accuracy of the execution of their plans.
In 1994, the Nazca Desert geoglyphs were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The Nazca Plateau is a sandy, arid plain in the southern part of Peru, in the province of the same name in the Ica region, which lies approximately in the center of the country's Pacific coast and 40 km from the ocean, 380-440 km southeast of the country's capital city. In this region they retreat from the coast, and the topography here is mostly flat and level, with minor elevations. The plateau extends between the small cities of Palpa in the north and Nazca in the south, almost 60 km from north to south and has a width of 5 to 7 km from west to east. The Andes spurs approach it from the east. The Pan-American Highway passes through the Pampa de Nazca, as the plateau is called in Peru.
Hypotheses about the origin and purpose of the Nazca geoglyphs, from mathematical to ufological, have long since acquired the character of an avalanche of disputes, in which no one has yet been able to put a weighty and irrefutable point.
But there are still counterpoints in this flow.
Geological and hydrological studies have established that 62 “radial centers” are located on elevations from which river beds (mostly dry today) are visible. Many lines pass exactly over faults and, therefore, aquifers, especially in the east of the pampa, closer to the Andes. That is, in the complex it could well be a map of the distribution of groundwater.
Maria Reiche, who spent more than 40 years studying the Nazca geoglyphs, also found small copies of them, sketches. And therefore, she concludes, ancient artists knew how to scale an image, that is, they understood the laws of mathematics and physics (optics), albeit not in theory, but as they manifest themselves in nature. These guesses by Reiche are shared by the Italian archaeologist Giuseppe Orefici (b. 1946), today the world's most authoritative expert on Nazca, as well as the adjacent pyramidal structures of the city of Cahuachi. And he doesn’t just separate them, he checks them using computer programs. He also has his own impressive hypothesis. Studying Cahuachi since 1982, he came to the conclusion that the Nazca civilization was generally much more highly developed than commonly thought, and put forward a hypothesis about its existence until approximately the middle of the 1st century. n. e. on the plateau big city called Suashi. He modeled this city in 3D graphics, based on multispectral analysis of the soil and archaeological finds, in particular in the Nazca necropolises. All the people buried there were without weapons, which means they lived peacefully. And when a person lives in the world, he develops his intellect and talents. The Nazcas did not know writing, but they designed their pyramids perfectly, built them up to 20 m high, they even had a water supply system with multi-level wells, like the kariz in Central Asia, which we write about in the same issue. ( Amazing coincidence- evidence that human intelligence develops according to general laws.) On the Orefici monitor, a city built up with temples and pyramids appeared, which went underground as a result of two natural disasters at once - an earthquake and a flood: in that era, Nazca was not as dry as it is now. Orefici's calculations showed that only 20% of geoglyphs could be related to observations of starry sky, and that is hypothetical. And mistakes among the pyramid builders, although rare, did occur; after all, it is human nature to make mistakes. But aliens from other planets, who, according to some versions, are the true authors of geoglyphs, would hardly be mistaken; their level of knowledge, by definition, should have been much higher.
And yet, no scientific conclusions can compare in popularity among the general public with the flight of fancy of supporters of the theory of the participation of extraterrestrial civilizations here. Based on the book of the Swiss ufologist Erich Däniken (b. 1935) “Chariots of the Gods,” in 1970 Harald Reinl made the film “Memories of the Future,” which is documentary in form, but is distinguished by an extremely arbitrary interpretation of the filmed material and conjectures arising from it. This film is widely known in the world. He made millions of people seriously believe that the Nazca geoglyphs are runways for aliens from other planets and were most likely created by them (as well as Egyptian pyramids, and statues of Easter Island, and other famous grandiose and mysterious structures on the planet). Many times these conclusions have been disputed by serious and responsible scientists, but this film and other ufological works are still taken on faith.
One thing is certain: the Nazca Desert will open up many more unexpected and extremely interesting things for all of us.
General information
Images of the Nazca Plateau in Peru.Administrative affiliation: Ica region, Nazca province.
Official language in Peru: Spanish.
Currency of Peru: new salt.
The US dollar is also the most widely used currency.
The largest river of the Nazca plateau: El Ingenio (drying).
Nearest airport: Jorge Chavez (international) in the capital of Peru, Lima.
Numbers
Area of the Nazca Plateau: about 500 km 2 .Population of the Nazca Plateau: about 20,000 people.
Population density: 40 people/km 2 .
Width of trench lines- up to 135 cm, depth - up to 50 cm, on average - 35 cm.
Climate and weather
Subtropical dry, semi-desert.Average annual temperature: +22°С.
Average annual precipitation: about 180 mm.
Economy
Tourism.Transport services(Pan American Highway).
Attractions
■ More than 30 images, the most famous of which are “Astronaut” (a person in clothes similar to a spacesuit) - 30 m long, “Hummingbird” - 50 m, “Spider” - 46 m, “Monkey” - 50 m high and more than 100 m wide , “Condor” - 120 m, “Lizard” - 188 m, “Heron” - 285 m. Other images - flowers, trees, real and fantastic animals.■ Straight, long and short lines (about 13 thousand, long ones stretch for a distance of several kilometers).
■ About 780 geometrically correct figures - triangles, spirals, trapezoids, located both separately and in various combinations with other figures and lines (zigzags, “ray centers”).
■ Research Center named after. Maria Reiche(her former house).
■ Archaeological Museum of Antonini(finds by J. Orefici).
■ Nearby: geoglyphs of the Palpa plateau, ruins of Cahuachi - Great Temple and other buildings (II century BC - VIII century AD), Cantajok aqueducts - spiral wells (IV-VII centuries AD), necropolis Chauchilla, open graves, mummies (presumably III-IX centuries).
Curious facts
■ In 2011, Japanese scientists from Yamagata University announced that they had discovered previously unnoticed images on the Nazca plateau, presumably created in the period from 400 AD. BC e. to 200 BC e. These are two figures whose “faces” are clearly visible, that is, the points of the eyes and mouth. The left one measures 13x7 m, the right - 9x8.5 m. The head of the right figure is separated from the body. Yamagata University cultural anthropology professor Masato Sakai has suggested that the scene depicts a ritual execution.■ The image of the “Monkey” reveals a harmonious mathematical combination. Two long axes drawn near it form an oblique cross, similar to an X. The axis of symmetry drawn through the intersection point passes exactly between the monkey's legs. The angle between the oblique lines is 36°. And if the monkey’s figure is repeated on exactly the same scale relative to point X, then we get 10 monkeys, forming a closed circle without any stretch. Moreover, the center of the spiral of the tail of each monkey coincides with the center of the head of its next double.
■ Early in the morning, Maria Reiche, the first explorer of geoglyphs, often found various fruits and nuts in baskets on the ground near the tent or adobe hut where she lived. The Indians brought them at night. They treated her with irony mixed with respect and sympathy, and nicknamed Maria “The Crazy Gringa.”
■ Nazca geoglyphs have analogues. The most famous of them are located nearby - on the Peruvian plateau of Palpa. They are not that large, but there are more of them. They are located mainly on the flat tops of hills, and these peaks give the impression of being cut horizontally on purpose, while the nearby hills have a natural cone shape. Humanoid figures are often found on the hillsides of Palpa. In Peru, near the city of Pisco, there is a single geoglyph “Andean candelabra”. A landmark of the Atacama Desert in Chile is the “Giant”, an image of a man (86 m). There are several geoglyphs similar to Peruvian ones near the city of Blythe in California (USA). Terrestrial imagery has also been found in Ohio; in England (" White horse", "Giant"); on the Ustyurt plateau in Kazakhstan; in the Southern Urals (“Zyuratkul Elk”); in Africa (south of Lake Victoria and Ethiopia); in Australia (“Murry Man”, the largest geoglyph on Earth, 4.2 km long).
■ If we continue the clearest straight lines of Nazca, it turns out, as some researchers prone to the so-called paranormal versions believe, that they point to the capital Ancient Egypt Thebes, ancient city in Mexico, the period of greatest prosperity of which falls on 250-600. n. e. Both there and there, as you know, there are pyramids. The third line is directed to the pyramidal-shaped burial mounds... in China, in the province of Shaanxi, and another one is directed to the pyramid-like natural mountainous formations of the flagrons in Europe, in Bosnia. With equal success, you can find any other objects on imaginary lines, which have much in common.