Nazca geoglyphs in Peru: photo, description and geographic coordinates of mysterious lines. Nazca desert
The Nazca culture is considered the successor of the Paracas culture. Here, a similar "design" is used to make fabrics, household items, and jewelry. The kids, as was customary in Paracas, continued to deform the skull by squeezing the forehead and the back of the head. Some adults were sometimes trepanned skulls - but not in such a massive manner, as was the case with their predecessors.
It is curious that the attitude of society towards these people (or rather, heads) has changed dramatically. Apparently, all the "trepanned" were on a special account. And when they died, their heads were separated from the body, and a headless body with a small pumpkin attached to it was placed in the burial! Dangerous (or especially valuable?), apparently, the heads were buried separately, in special caches.
This seemingly strange fact can serve as a proof of L.P. Girmak about the attempts of ancient Americans to achieve an altered state of consciousness with the help of neurosurgical intervention. People who underwent trepanation became "sorcerers" or clairvoyants and inevitably occupied a special position in society. It is quite obvious that in Paracas there were excellent surgeons and many clairvoyants. In Nazca, for reasons unknown to us, this tradition is gradually being lost. It may very well be that new government decided to get rid of witchcraft practices, for which the heads of the dead (possibly killed) sorcerers began to separate from the bodies. As you know, the violation of the integrity of the body during burial, according to the beliefs of many peoples, predetermines the impossibility of reviving the deceased...
However, we will not dwell on the description of this culture, but move on to one of the biggest mysteries of archeology, history, anthropology and many other related ones. It will be about mysterious drawings of the Nazca plateau.
These drawings were discovered by accident, thanks to aviation, since they can only be seen from an airplane or from a high altitude. First saw giant geometric figures from an airplane in 1920 by an American explorer Paul Kosok. The scientist peered with amazement at this incredible kaleidoscope of trapezoids, triangles and spirals that dotted the plateau over a vast territory. In addition, there were images of over 100 known plants and animals, as well as a scattering of incomprehensible, unrelated straight lines.
These lines especially struck the scientist. They cut through the desert in all directions without any apparent order, were absolutely straight and ran over the horizon, completely ignoring the unevenness of the terrain - through the hills and valleys.
The 60 km long sandy plain of Nazca is located 400 km south of the Peruvian capital Lima, between the cities of Nazca and Palpa. In these places, the earth does not see moisture for years. Drops of rare rain, falling on a hot rocky surface, immediately evaporate. This lifeless space is an ideal place for incorruptible burials. Later, studying all the drawings on the spot, Paul Kosok saw that the technology for their execution was surprisingly simple. It was only necessary to move the stones and the turf beneath them, exposing the soft earth, and lay them in a row. Of course, this took many years. But on the other hand, images created with great care could be preserved in this waterless arid place for thousands of years!
The themes of the drawings, as already mentioned, can be divided into two categories: these are figures and lines, and the latter are either paired, like tram tracks, or form geometric shapes. And since in many places the lines are drawn over the drawings, it is obvious that it was the drawings that were made in the beginning. The lines are very straight, and it remains a mystery how the draftsmen managed to stick to the idea so precisely and achieve the effect. straight lines over such great distances.
Since the discovery of the mysterious drawings, scientists have been haunted by questions about their creators and purpose. The theories put forward are diverse and fantastic - from space aliens to the control system of the earth's population. Each new enthusiast of solving the mystery of Nazca adheres to one theory: astronomical, geometric, agricultural or irrigation, utilitarian-geographical (roads) and creative (art and). Other hypotheses are put forward, but so far none of them has a significant advantage. Even in determining the age of the desert drawings, researchers cannot come to a consensus: some believe that they were created around 200 BC. e., according to others - in 1700 BC. e.
Let's take a closer look at some of the theories regarding the Nazca drawings.
The very first - astronomical, she came up with the discoverer of the drawings, Paul Kosoku. On June 21, 1939, the scientist took the first step towards unraveling the "mystery of Nazca". At sunset, he saw how it was setting exactly at the intersection of one of the straight lines with the horizon. Observations in the following days convinced Kosok of the correctness of his guess: he found the line of the winter (in the southern hemisphere, winter corresponds to our summer) solstice. In addition, Kosok drew attention to the fact that the drawings and lines indicate the presence of certain cosmic bodies (stars and constellations) in the sky in astronomical terms. significant days(full moons, etc.).
But to reinforce the hypothesis, it was necessary to identify all the figures of the Nazca desert with celestial phenomena. This most difficult task required great efforts, time and full dedication. Paul Kosok was lucky. He found such an assistant in the person of a modest Spanish translator who accompanied him on trips around the world. South America, German by birth Maria Reiche. It was to her that the scientist handed over the fate of his extraordinary discovery and never later repented of it. It took seven years to draw up the first approximate maps and topological plans of the plateau.
Only in 1947, with the assistance of the Ministry of Aviation of Peru, Maria was able to use a helicopter. The first time she flew, hanging overboard: she was tied with ropes, and she held the camera in her hands. Then a familiar engineer designed a special suspension for her - it became relatively safe. She worked alone, and therefore things went slowly. the first detailed diagram images in the Nazca desert, Maria finished only in 1956.
“For the ancient peoples, the positions of the Sun served as a calendar,” said Maria Reiche. - It was used to determine the arrival of spring and autumn, seasonal fluctuations in the water regime, and, consequently, the timing of sowing and harvesting. That is why we found so many lines. It is difficult to talk about the exact meaning of animal images. I only know that some of them represent entire constellations. Most of all, I want to penetrate into the way of thinking of the ancients, who left us such unusual writings. And it is also extremely important to understand how people who did not know how to fly over the pampas (the local name for the desert) could design and transfer to its surface a many times enlarged picture starry sky?..»
The hypothesis of the astronomical calendar was shared by most scientists around the world for decades, until the well-known American astronomer took up its verification. Gerald Hawkins, author of the monograph "Unraveling the mystery of Stonehenge". With the help of a computer, Hawkins brilliantly proved that the famous Stonehenge - a mysterious structure on the Salisbury Plain - is nothing more than an astronomical observatory.
Applying the same technique, corrected for the latitude of the Nazca Plateau, Hawkins made sure that only 20% of the lines on the Nazca Plateau point to the Sun or Moon. As for the stars, here the accuracy of the directions does not generally exceed the random distribution of numbers. “The computer has smashed the theory of the star-solar calendar to smithereens,” J. Hawkins was forced to admit. “With bitterness, we abandoned the theory of the astronomical calendar.” However, Hawkins's research gave positive result, since it was he who first noted the strange feature of the Nazca drawings: they were all made one line without break, which does not intersect anywhere.
The next version of the mysterious Nazca drawings is alien, it is now the most common. And it was first put forward Erich von Daniken(he also studied the English Stonehenge). He is sure that these drawings served as runways for interplanetary alien ships. His confidence in the cosmic purpose of signs is based on the fact that the drawings have correct forms, and the lines are perfectly straight, and can only be detected from the air.
Why are these drawings located in places where no one can see them from the ground? Or were they intended directly for gods unknown to us?
Those who watched went around the world documentary"Memories of the Future" remembers the landing of a sports plane on one of these runways. But as soon as they are visible only from an airplane, a natural question arises: "Could the ancient inhabitants of the Cordillera - the Incas - know how to fly?". It is worth remembering here ancient tradition Incas, which speaks of "golden ship" who arrived from distant stars: “They were commanded by a woman named Oryana. She was destined to become the foremother of the earthly race. Oryana gave birth to seventy earthly children, and then returned to the stars.
This legend reports on the ability of the "sons", the Incas, "to fly over the earth on golden ships." Perhaps there is some connection between these legends and the reports of the English anthropological journal Maine, which, in particular, says: “Analysis of the muscle tissues of the preserved Inca mummies showed that they differ sharply from the local population in terms of blood composition. They have been found blood group of the rarest combination. In our time, such a blood composition is known only in two or three people in the whole world.
Developing further the discovery of J. Hawkins, who was the first to discover the continuity of the lines of the drawings, scientists drew attention to strange additional lines. Being absolutely alien to the main image, they were, however, connected to the beginning and end of the contour (groove), as if connecting the drawing to a certain Nazca mega-system. The conclusion is that the drawings resemble electrical circuits, made by one conductor, which can neither be crossed (short circuit) nor interrupted (open circuit).
Paying attention to the connection lines, scientists clearly saw the parallel and series connection of the drawings and suggested that the groove lines of the Nazca plateau, apparently, were filled in antiquity with some kind of phosphor. This substance was capable of glowing under the influence of an electric current, similar to the inscriptions and drawings of the current gas-light advertising. Thus, in confirmation of the alien theory, the “runways” did their job, and the luminous drawings, visible from the air for tens of kilometers, did theirs. ”
Another version that has an alien basis. The key to unraveling the mystery of the Nazca desert can be a huge drawing applied to the 400-meter mountain slope of the Paracas Peninsula (Peru). The drawing is known as the Paracas Candelabra, or "Andean Candelabra". Its “branches point in the direction of the Nazca desert. Like the figures of the Nazca desert, the lines of this image are notches that reach the bedrock - red porphyry.
The age of the Candelabra is at least two millennia, and the history of its origin is a mystery behind seven seals. According to the bold hypothesis of some Russian researchers, the "Candelabra of Paracas" is nothing more than a "passport of the Earth." This picture contains all the information about our planet. Left side figure represents the fauna, the right - the flora. And the picture is the whole face of a person. Near the top of the mountain there is a mark resembling a nail in shape. This is a scale showing the level modern development civilization” (there are six in total). If the "Candelabra" is speculatively rotated by 180 °, then a crucifixion will turn out. This is a kind of symbol - a warning that our planet may die from unreasonable human activities.
Further, the authors of this idea try to explain that this information we were delivered by some super-civilization from the constellation. Referring to a large number of sculptural images of a lion on Earth and in all earthly religions in particular, the authors prove that modern earthly civilization is the work of aliens from the constellation Leo.
To space hypotheses, one can add a cheerful idea that perhaps star tourists simply left a trace of their visit to the Earth in this way, like “Vasya was here.” It should be noted that such interpretations of the Nazca drawings are born in all parts of our planet every day, if not every minute. But even the most insane of them should not be dismissed without considering in detail.
I would like to tell you about another version that appeared relatively recently - this is an artificial system of underground water channels located in the bowels of a mountain plateau. In the city of Nazca with a population of 10 thousand people, the river of the same name flows. In terms of its composition and "fragrance", it is not inferior to the sewers of large cities, but at the same time, the inhabitants of Nazca do not lack fresh and clean water. It is taken from a system of wells, which are located exactly along the lines of mysterious drawings. And what is especially striking is that two of these underground channels run directly under the bed of the Nazca River. A general system irrigation canals Nazca simply cannot but arouse admiration - it is so perfect and productive. It should be noted that the source of the prosperity of the people who inhabited Nazca was precisely, therefore, this version has a real basis. But who, when and how could build such canals?
It is curious that the drawings were discovered from an aircraft that flew over the plateau specifically in search of water sources. And only after some time they found wells with water. Thus, the pilot coped with his task brilliantly, although he offered historians one of the most difficult puzzles of the 20th century - the Nazca drawings.
Time passes, and the Nazca drawings only become more mysterious. Not far from the desert, in the mountains, similar images were found that were not previously known. And in this case, the drawings do not indicate the location of underground water channels.
And 1400 km from the Nazca plateau, at the foot of Mount Solitari, a giant statue of a man was discovered. They named it the Giant of the Atacama. It reaches a height of 120 meters, and it is surrounded by lines and signs similar to the Nazca drawings. Such mysterious finds every year it becomes more and more, which confuses researchers and stimulates dreamers who put forward more and more new versions of the purpose of the Nazca drawings.
Questions, questions... So far, none of them about these mysterious objects has been answered satisfactorily (http://www.inca.nm.ru/Nasca.htm).
New drawings in the Nazca desert
Andrey Zhukov, Candidate of Historical Sciences
Today, almost everyone who is fond of the mysteries of the ancient history of mankind knows about the drawings of the Nazca desert. Scientists more than twenty years ago decided on the dating of this mysterious phenomenon, placing it around the middle of the 1st millennium AD. and attributing its creation to the local Indian culture of the same name - Nazca. But the paradox is that after 60 years of research into this ancient phenomenon, scientists are no closer to solving this greatest of mysteries. human history, which are images in Nazca.
The Nazca Plateau, or as it is called in Peru, Pampa Nazca- This is a desert plateau, indented by numerous channels of long-dry rivers. It is located 450 km south of the capital of Peru, Lima. The total area covered with drawings stretches for more than 50 km from north to south and 5-7 km from west to east. Mysterious lines cover the surface of the desert with an area of approximately 500 square meters. km. Such images made on the surface of the earth, scientists call geoglyphs. Main riddle Nazca are the lines and stripes themselves, of which there are about 13,000! In addition, about 700 geometric figures are also known on the plateau, primarily triangles and trapezoids and about 100 spirals.
But well famous drawings there are very few animals, birds, fish and insects here - just over thirty. All these images in Nazca are made, as it seems at first glance, enough in a simple way, they are dug into the surface of the desert plateau. Those. and drawings, and lines, and stripes - the essence is just grooves in the sand and pebble soil. Their depth varies from 10 to 30 cm. But the width of individual lanes can reach 100 m, and in exceptional cases even 200 m. And the length of some lines reaches 8-10 km!
Today, there are more than thirty hypotheses trying to explain the origin of these geoglyphs, but none of them can give an intelligible answer to two main questions: how and why this gigantic "drawing board" was drawn.
Modern geodetic methods do not allow drawing a straight line up to 8 km long on rough terrain so that the deviation does not exceed 0.1%. And the ancient creators of the Nazca drawings, whoever they were, did it. Moreover, straight lines stretching for kilometers simply ignore the folds of the relief. They descend into ravines, rise to the tops of hills, and at the same time their geometric correctness and parallelism of the lateral borders are not violated at all.
Moreover, the Nazca plateau is not the only area in Peru covered with mysterious images. Just a dozen kilometers from Nazca is the small town of Palpa, around which on a plateau called Palpa Pampa are thousands similar stripes, lines and patterns.
These geoglyphs on the Palpa plateau became known to the general public after the publications of Erich von Däniken only in the early 90s of the last century. The Palpa plateau itself is twice as small as Nazca in area, but the variety of geoglyphs in Palpa is much greater. As in Nazca, on the Palpa plateau, the overwhelming majority of images are stripes and lines. The stripes can bifurcate, change their direction at right angles, turn into triangles. In Palpa, a strip 200 m wide was discovered. According to some researchers, there are lines here much longer than in Nazca. The size of the longest of them allegedly reaches 23 km! The logic of the ancient creators of this complex of images is still inaccessible to modern scientists.
With all the abundance of hypotheses about the origin and purpose of the geoglyphs of Nasca and Palpa, today scientists have not come close to unraveling this mysterious phenomenon. It is difficult to imagine that such a huge amount of work, comparable in scale only to the construction of the Great Wall of China, was carried out with any one utilitarian purpose.
The study of the grandiose complex of images of Nasca-Palpa is also complicated by the fact that there are still no detailed maps that display the whole picture of the geoglyphs of this area. With the help of aerial photography, the Americans made fairly detailed maps of that part of the Nazca plateau, which depicts well-known animal figures. But there are no detailed plans for the entire Nazca complex, and even more so, for the Palpa plateau. Pilots of tourist planes say that almost every year they discover new, previously unknown geoglyphs on the plateau. But pilots are not researchers and do not capture newly discovered images. This is done by scientists of small archaeological missions from other countries, who last years stepped up their work. And here are some interesting results...
Plateau Nazca located in the south of the state of Peru. Due to the 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,
that existed in these places in the time interval of 500 BC. BC . and 500 g. n.e. His plateau fame Nazca received thanks to geoglyphs - huge drawings drawn on the ground, which can only be seen from the air.
Discovery of the Nazca geoglyphs.
The 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 "road of the Incas" and about some signs also drawn on the sand. The first to see these signs from the air was the American archaeologist Paul Kosok , who flew over the vast plateau in 1939 . A great contribution to the study of Nazca drawings was made by the German archaeologist Maria Reiche. In 1947, she flew over the plateau in an airplane photographed geoglyphs from the air.
Description of the drawings on the Nazca plateau
Geoglyphs are several tens of meters in size, and the Nazca lines stretch for many kilometers and sometimes even go beyond the horizon, crossing hills and dry riverbeds. Images are applied to the surface by removing the soil. They form furrows about 135 cm wide and 30-50 cm deep. The drawings have survived to the present day due to the dry semi-desert climate. Today it is known about 30 drawings depicting geometric figures, animals, and only one depicts humanoid a creature about 30 meters high, similar to an astronaut. Among animal depictions, the most famous are the spider, hummingbird, whale, condor, and monkey. The geoglyph depicting the 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 meters.
Mysteries of the geoglyphs of the Nazca desert
The mysterious drawings left many questions for archaeologists and historians. Who created them? How and for what purpose? Geoglyphs cannot be seen from the ground. They are visible only from the air, and there are no mountains nearby from where these lines and drawings could be seen. Another question arises 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 scholars believe that the geoglyphs had ritual significance for the ancient inhabitants of the valley. Since they could only be seen from the air, only the gods could see them, to whom people addressed with the help of drawings. Many researchers adhere to the hypothesis that the images of Nazca were created by the civilization of the same name that lived in these places in the 2nd century BC. Explorer geoglyphs Maria Reiche believes that the drawings 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 point coordinates when drawing geoglyphs. The research results showed that the images were created at different times. Intersecting and overlapping lines indicate that ancient painting covered the valley ground in several stages.
Various versions of the origin of Heglyphs
Many historians and archaeologists hold astronomical versions of drawings. The ancient inhabitants of the Nazca desert could be well versed in astronomy. The created gallery is a kind of map of the starry sky. This version was held by the German archaeologist Maria Reiche. The American astronomer Phyllis Pitlugi, in favor of this version, cites 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 sure that only a small part of the lines and drawings of the Nazca desert are associated with astronomy. Some ufologists suggest that the drawings were a guide for landing alien ships, and the lines of the Nazca plateau served as runways. Skeptics do not agree with this version, if only because alien spacecraft capable of traveling tens of light years do not need acceleration to take off. They can take to 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 balloon. He explains this by the image of this flying object on clay figurines that have survived from ancient times. To prove it, Woodman made a balloon from off-the-shelf materials that could only be obtained in the nearest county. Hot air was fed into 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 a ciphertext 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...
The giant drawings of the Nazca desert gained wide popularity after the amazing illustrations, accompanied by explanations from Eric Von Denikin. In one of the films about the Nazca desert, an airplane flying over ancient lands showed geometric lines and contour drawings monkeys and other animals.
Mysterious ground drawings are divided into two types by specialists: the first is lines, zigzags, geometric shapes; the second type is represented by figures of animals, birds, fish, trees, flowers.
For the first time, the drawings were noticed by the pilots, who jokingly called them runways. In 1939, the historian Paul Kosok was involved in the study of the figures. Together with him, Maria Reiche conducted the study, who continued to study ground-based images for the next 40 years.
bird drawing - Hummingbird
The generally accepted teaching relates geoglyphs to the activities of the Nazca Indian culture, which lived here 300-900 BC. e. However, the drawings reveal only a modest part of a huge phenomenon, since such images lie in the Andean desert along the entire Pacific coast.
In the 40s it became known about similar lines and drawings near the rivers Rimac, Chilpon, and in the 70s drawings were found in the province of Peru Arequipa. That is, our phenomenon cannot belong to the Nazca culture alone.
According to the researchers involved in the study of the amazing phenomenon, it would take the participation of about 100,000 people to make these drawings. Moreover, the "artists" would have to work 12 hours a day!
It is quite possible that this was the case, but then it is interesting, but who, in this case, was engaged in agriculture and other pressing matters, if such a large number of people were involved in the creation of drawings? Where did the footprints go? After all, absolutely nothing remains of the Cyclopean works, although in these dehydrated places the prints remain for centuries!
Moreover, we have no evidence or mention of these drawings in history. It is strange, but the local population also allegedly does not know anything about their own history, or, well, does not want to talk about it. Maybe these drawings were sent to us by well-wishers from distant starry worlds?
Aliens were in Peru.
Among the construction of figures, one can note a peculiar structure, which is similar in general to some kind of decoration or computer graphics right on the surface of the earth. Interesting feature inherent in the drawing of a monkey - there are five fingers on the left hand, four on the right. The same is seen in another figure, which indicates the intentional delineation of images. Why such oddities?
There is one impressive legend that tells how a woman named Oryana flew to Earth on a spaceship with a mission to become the foremother of life on the planet. According to an ancient legend, Oryana had four fingers connected by membranes - you must admit, this is a suspicious coincidence with the image of an owl man.
If we assume the intervention of some extraterrestrial intelligence, then maybe the drawings carry some information? Most likely, yes, since there is a certain harmony in them, and on the slope of the mountain lies the figure of a man (by the way, the only figure representing the image of a man).
No one knows exactly what the lines of the Nazca desert mean.
The only indisputable fact is that they are located in South America, on the Nazca plateau in southern Peru. They were added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1994. However, this is the part where the indisputable facts end, leaving scientists with many unsolved mysteries.
Scattered throughout the plateau, giant geoglyphs represent geometric and natural features. They are carved into the ground about 135 cm wide and 40-50 cm deep in the soil.
It is almost impossible to recognize the real image from the ground level, the big picture can only be seen from a bird's eye distance. That is why the Nazca Lines were discovered only in 1939, when airplane flights became possible.
Despite many theories, it is difficult for us to understand the drawings of the Nazca desert, and indeed it may not be the time yet, and our mind is still not sufficiently developed. But since these “letters” exist, they must reach their “addressee”. In addition, other legends of the local lands are of no less interest. 
Reptiles are gods who came from the sky.
In the fourth largest city in Peru, an amazing statue of a reptile man rises. The artwork is intended to show the deity Morrop, and was created with ancient descriptions of the reptilian god in mind.
Reptiles - gods of antiquity from heaven?
About 2,000 years ago, the area of northern Peru was inhabited by the Moche people, a civilization rich in culture and mythology that continues to baffle us to this day. The fact is that the statue demonstrates the god Morrop, a man - an iguana.
In ancient legends, the iguana man is presented as a character with importance For . Acting as an intermediary between the world of the living and the dead, the deity was both feared and revered.
Given everything we know about the reptile, don't you think it's strange that people have chosen to associate it with underworld dead? Was this association made by chance, on a whim, or is it a subtle indicator real nature God?
Yes, South America is replete with legends and descriptions of ambiguous mythical characters, which nonetheless fit well into modern theories about aliens, hybrids and their relationship with the people of Earth.
From Viracocha to Quetzalcoatl to the Feathered Serpent, this continent seems to have had a large share secular extraterrestrial interactions. And this is best reflected in the local attitude towards.
As many of our readers will agree, South America is an open and highly receptive place to the issue of alien visitors. Is this a direct consequence of their way of life, or is it based on the fact that their ancestors were in contact with aliens?
The iguana sculpture itself is part of a larger ensemble conceived as a tribute to a rich culture. ancient civilization. The city of Chiclayo is also "home" to the sculpture of an anthropomorphic crab, a creature guarding the entrance to the sea and its inhabitants (like the Sphinx guarding the pyramids of the Giza plateau).
So, considering everything known facts and putting them together we are curious: a collection of strange drawings and sculptures could not be an illustration rich history region carrying a message about ancient aliens? What do you think of it?
The Nazca geoglyphs in Peru, created many centuries before the rise of the Inca Empire, are the most important evidence for the existence of a mysterious ancient culture in 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 visible only from the air.
The German scientist Von Daniken, in his book "An Answer to the Gods", claims that these lines were created as signals for the landing of alien spacecraft. 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 but 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 the pages of a book written in this strange alphabet.”
From the air, you can observe various figures 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 managed to be created in such sizes, accurately recreating all proportions.
In 1927, Mejia Hespe, a student of the famous Julio Tello, the father of Peruvian archeology, reported mysterious incomprehensible geoglyphs on the territory of the Peruvian plateau. Initially, this was not given any importance, scientists were engaged in research on other more significant areas, such as Machu Picchu
In the same year, a researcher from the United States, 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 extensive lines on both sides of the road. After careful examination, he was amazed to find that one of the figures was displayed perfect shape bird flight. Kosok spent almost 20 years studying 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 hidden in the sand, legends and myths of the locals.
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 stony surface. The following fact is also noted: since the white surface is heated less than the black one, a pressure and temperature difference 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 has stretched from beak to tail feathers for almost 120 meters, and the lizard has a length of up to 188 meters. Such enormous dimensions of the drawings are admirable, almost all the drawings are made in this huge scale in the same manner, when the outline is outlined by one continuous line. The true shape 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.
Other animals captured by the Nazca include a whale, a dog with long legs and a tail, two llamas, various birds such as herons, a pelican, a seagull, a hummingbird and a parrot. Reptiles include the alligator, iguana, and snake.
All geoglyphs are located on the map, with detailed names. Click to enlarge
So who created Nazca geoglyphs? locals or aliens? It's a giant solar and moon calendar or landmarks spaceship? It is impossible to know the answers to these questions, as the Nazca lines are one of the biggest mysteries in the world.
The biggest mystery Nazca civilization associated with huge images carved into the surface of the earth in the Pampa Colorado desert (called Nazca plateau) . The attention of archaeologists was drawn to them in the 40s. 20th century, when hydrogeology professor Paul Kosok made several reconnaissance flights over the desert in a small plane. He determined that lines and figures of gigantic scale cover an area about 100 km long and up to 15 km wide. The US Air Force took over 20,000 aerial photographs of Pampa Colorada during World War II. Military intelligence considered the long, wide lines, stretching for many kilometers and breaking off in the middle of the desert, as runways.
However, in addition to the lines, Paul Kosok also discovered giant geometric figures: trapezoids, triangles, rectangles and spirals, as well as images of animals. The technique for performing these figures was the same: the Indians cut off the top layer of soil, under which lighter soil opened up. Thus, a contrasting strip was obtained, framed by dark dumps of cut earth. With all the technical simplicity of such a solution, it required an excellent knowledge of geodesy. Before drawing lines on the ground, the people of the Nazca civilization created small sketches of future drawings and only then, enlarging them to an appropriate scale, transferred them to the surface of the earth. How they managed to do this without having devices more complicated than pegs and strings remains a mystery. In addition, most of the drawings are not visible from the ground, which gave rise to many extravagant hypotheses. According to the writer Erich von Daniken, aliens helped the Nazca people in creating the lines. Other enthusiasts tend to believe that the Indians knew how to do Balloons, sewn from skins and filled with warm air - references to such devices are found in legends.
The mystery of the drawings on the Nazca plateau
One of the theories trying to explain the secret of the Nazca civilization, is associated with the name of Kosok's assistant German Maria Reiche, who has been studying drawings since the mid-40s. until his death at the age of 95. In her opinion, the Pampa Colorada drawings are nothing more than a giant calendar that allows you to calculate the equinoxes or the cycles of the El Niño river. Reiche's theory is supported by the fact that many of the drawings are images of constellations, such as Ursa Major or Orion, and some lines correspond to the movement of the sun. There are lines precisely oriented to the moon, planets and some constellations, in particular the Pleiades. Based on astronomical calculations, Reiche was the first to name the time when the drawings were created - the 5th century BC. Later, in the area of one of the geoglyphs, a wooden post was discovered, the radiocarbon analysis of which confirmed the date indicated by Reiche.
Many archaeologists are inclined to think that the lines and drawings of animals were sacred roads that the Nazca priests walked during religious ceremonies. There is a theory that the giant drawings were a desperate attempt by the Indians to contact the gods during a long-term drought.
The Indians expanded their influence inland and laid the foundation for another civilization of southern Peru, the Nazca, whose “capital” was the large settlement of Cahuachi. It was a cluster of adobe residential buildings, terraces and outbuildings. In the center of the city stood the Great Temple - a pyramidal structure erected on a natural hill with a flat top, more than 20 m high. Squares, courtyards and burials were located around. In addition to Cahuachi, several other large building complexes of the Nazca culture are known. The most mysterious of them is the so-called "dead forest" Estakeria, which researchers figuratively call "Wooden Stonehenge". These are 240 pillars about 2 m high with a fork at the top, standing on a low platform. To the west and south of the platform, smaller pillars are installed, and not in rows, but in chains. Next to the "dead forest" rises a stepped hill with two rows of terraces.
On the territory of Estaqueria, as well as throughout the area of distribution of the Nazca culture, many graves were found. Fragments of clothing were found in the burial grounds. These are wide and long capes, decorated with a border. The Naskans also used classic South American ponchos - rectangular canvases with a slit in the middle. The color range of Nazca fabrics has up to 150 shades. The Nazca people, like their predecessors, used the practice of deforming the skulls and intravital trepanation, but on a smaller scale. Such people enjoyed a special attitude of others. When they died, their heads were separated from the body, and a decapitated body with a small gourd attached to it was placed in the burial. The heads were buried separately, in special caches. Often cut off human heads are found in Nazca burials, attached to cords on the belt - apparently, military trophies.
The culture of the ancient Nazca civilization is also known for its magnificent polychrome vessels. Their quality is amazing, because the Indians did not know the potter's wheel. Vases, cups, bowls and figured jugs were painted with six or seven colors applied before firing. But the greatest fame for this culture was brought by the mysterious and mysterious drawings of the Nazca plateau, which caused disputes of scientists about their purpose and methods of application that have not subsided to this day.
The skill of the “neurosurgeons” of Paracas and the “surveyors” of Nazca, who left giant geometric figures, images of birds and animals on the ground, remain one of the most intriguing mysteries in the history of not only South America, but of all mankind.
