Sunday Special – Nazca Lines, Peru

Nazca, Peru is a city on the southern coast of the country and best known for the the Nazca Lines – massive drawings etched into the ground whose entirety can be seen only from a plane. These lines fill up a giant arid plateau and are a combination of geometric shapes, lines, animals and plants.Some of the designs are massive – up to 370m / 1,200ft. Due to the dry and stable climate of the plateau they have been preserved by nature. Although it is not know why these lines were made, it is believed they were formed by the Nazca culture between 500 BCE and 500 CE. The lines were “discovered” in the early 1900s when a plane flew over the area. Years later they were studied by historians and archaeologists. The how has been easier to figure out than the why. It is speculated that simple surveying tools of the Nazca people explain the former. The latter, however, is still a mystery. Theories range far and wide, from irrigation systems, for astronomy purposes, religious reason or even alien contact. It is something we probably will never find out, however, they do look rather stunning.

By Unukorno (Own work) [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

By Unukorno (Own work) [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons