"Nazca News"
latest discoveries building on the pioneering work of
Maria Reiche on the Nazca plain
text translation service for many worldwide languages
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a remarkable woman to whom the world owes
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Books by
"Markings: Aerial Views of Sacred Landscapes
"Mystery on the desert;: A study of the ancient figures and strange delineated surfaces seen from the air near Nazca, Peru"
"Geheimnis Der Wuste/
"Peruanische Erdzeichen/Peruvian Ground Drawings
"Geheimnis Der Wuste/
Books about the Nazca
"Maria And The Stars Of Nazca / Maria Y Las Estrellas De Nazca"
"Ancient Nasca "Nasca society arose on the south coast of Peru 2000 years ago and evolved over the course of the next 700 years. This text examines the range of sites occupied by the people responsible for some of the most exquisite art and ingenious hydraulic engineering of the pre-Columbian world. |
Probably the best known examples of geoglyphs are the magnificent lines and drawings carved into the desert on the Nazca Plain in Peru - only able to be seen in their fullness from the air. These were discovered in 1939 by Dr. Paul Kosok of Long Island University, who in 1946 handed over over all his information about these amazing geoglyphs on the Nazca Plain to Maria Reiche, a mathematician and graduate of Hamburg University. Maria Reiche spent the next fifty years living on the Nazca Plain close to the area of the drawings, painstakingly mapping each one, and trying to protect them from the encroaches of modern civilisation. She died aged 95 in Peru in June 1998, and left many feeling that the great Nazca geoglyphs had lost their champion. She was laid to rest besides the enigmatic drawings she spent half a lifetime protecting. And, as you will see from some of the aerial photographs, car tracks, horses hoof prints, and even the Pan-American highway have all contributed to the destruction of a number of the drawings. In many respects this has been caused simply by the sheer size of the geoglyphs which can only be appreciated properly from the air. It is the sheer size of the work undertaken by the ancient Peruvians that continues to fascinate all who encounter them, and Maria Reiche explains in her book, "Mystery on the Desert", the method of construction : "It seems almost incredible that ground-drawings made by superifcially scratching the surface could have withstood the ravages of time and weather over such long periods. The climate is one of the driest of the globe. One could say that it rains for half an hour every two years. And although strong winds carry great quanitites of sand, not encountering any obstacles on the vast tablelands open towards the north and south, they take it further north, where at seventy miles distance one can see huge dunes on both sides of the (Pan-American) highway. Moreover, close to the ground the air is becalmed considerably. Owing to their dark color, the surface stones absorb much heat, causing a cushion of warm air to protect the surface from strong winds. An additional factor contributing to the ground remaining undisturbed for hundreds of years is that the soil contains a certain amount of gypsum which, moistened by daily morning-dew, slightly affixes every stone to its base. This makes it possible to retrace the steps by which the ancient topographers laid out the accurate shapes of their complicated structures, having used stones as markers which have remained in the same place where they were put when the drawings were made. It was found, for example, that the huge regular curves of animal-figures were composed of segments of circles, whose centres were marked by a stone which had been, or was cut to, one hundredth of the the corresponding radius." Since that time many others have taken up the Nazca cause and, although some have felt that Maria Reiche's explanations of the lines, geometric shapes and geoglyphs of animals, birds and fish on the desert are only part of the story, all agree that without her lifelong efforts to protect them, many more of the lines and drawings would most certainly have been destroyed by now. Below are some of the latest discoveries, news items and the thoughts of archaeologists, anthropologists, astronomers and a wide variety of others who have explored these enigmatic geoglyphs:
"Nasca Lines aerial views on National Geographic magazine"
March 18, 2010, Andina, Peru:
An aerial view of a Nazca geoglyph Pictures are remarkable for their beauty and originality, especially aerial views that enhance the ongoing debate rather than revealing the origin of geoglyphs. The March edition of the prestigious National Geographic magazine, covering wildlife and environment conservation issues, contains a stunning photo gallery of Nasca Lines and its surroundings. Since the lines became widely known in the late 1920s, when commercial air travel was introduced between Lima and the southern Peruvian city of Arequipa, the lines have puzzled all the world." [Full Story]
"The Nasca Lines: An Incredible Fly-Over"
December 01, 2009, Living in Peru, Peru: The Nasca were one of many ancient cultures that reached great heights in this amazing country. The Nasca flourished from 200 BC to 700 AD and left behind not only a remarkable city with at least 17 temples, which are just being excavated, as well as a very advanced aqueduct system, but they also left these remarkable designs in the desert.
An aerial view of the spider geoglyph taken by Rodney L. Dodig
Most of them cannot be seen and appreciated unless you are flying over them in a plane, although a few can be discerned from the observation towers located in the area. On a recent excursion with friends visiting from the United States I had the opportunity to view these stunning works. Our fly over included the Trapezoids, the Astronaut, The Monkey, the Dog, the Condor, the Spider, the Frigate Bird, the Spider, the Humming Bird, Alcatraz, the Parrot, the Tree, the Hands and the Baby Condor as well as seeing some spectacular desert scenery. Researchers have demonstrated that the construction of even the most complicated geoglyph could have been accomplished by 4 or 5 people in less than a week." [Full Story]
"Nazcas' destruction of forests caused downfall"
November 01, 2009, The Sunday Telegraph, UK: Archaeologists examining the remains of the Nasca, who once flourished in the valleys of south coastal Peru, discovered a sequence of human-induced events which led to their 'catastrophic' collapse around 500 AD. The Nasca civilisation, noted for creating vast patterns in the desert that can only be seen from the air, disappeared partly because it damaged the fragile ecosystem that held it in place, a study found. Author Oliver Whaley, of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, said: 'The mistakes of prehistory offer us important lessons for our management of fragile, arid areas in the present.' In the study published in the journal Latin American Antiquity, the researchers found that the Nasca cleared areas of forest to make way for their own agriculture over the course of many generations." [Full Story]
"Nazca Lines to be protected from heavy rains"
April 13, 2009, AFP, France: 'It's a project that will serve the whole area in general, to avoid events such like the one last January, when rainwater accumulated and drained, covering with layers of clay the geoglyph called La Mano (The Hand)', he said. 'Only 1% of the geoglyph was covered by the clay layer, and will be withdrawn very soon', he said." [Full Story]
"Nazca Lines to be protected from heavy rains"
April 13, 2009, AFP, France: The Nasca lines are a collection of lines, giant trapezoids, and figures of humans, plants and animals in a desert 400 kilometres south of Lima, Peru. They were created between 400 BC and AD 650 by the removal of reddish oxidised stones from the desert pavement to reveal the lighter sand beneath. 'It's a project that will serve the whole area in general, to avoid events such like the one last January, when rainwater accumulated and drained, covering with layers of clay the geoglyph called La Mano (The Hand)', he said. 'Only 1% of the geoglyph was covered by the clay layer, and will be withdrawn very soon', he said." [Full Story]
More information about the Nazca geoglyphs at:
"Rituals of the Nasca Lines: New excavations reveal the purpose and origin of the famed geoglyphs"
May 2009 Edition, Archaeology Magazine, USA: Soon I spotted a wide, straight line that extended for hundreds of yards then turned 90 degrees to the left. Next to it lay the faint outlines of a whale traced in stone. It was one of the Nasca lines.
This excavation of a site near the lines at Pernil Alto in the Palpa Valley Created by Peru's Nasca culture between 400 B.C. and A.D. 600, the lines have puzzled researchers since they were first noticed by pilots in the 1930s. How could a prehistoric culture have made designs that are essentially invisible from ground level--and why?
Oyster (Spondylus) shells were crafted into ornaments After a decade-long effort, an international team of archaeologists, geologists, chemists, and even computer scientists from Germany, Switzerland, and Austria say they've cracked the secrets of the lines, revealing how they were constructed and why. If they're right, it could lay to rest a 60-year-old debate over whether the Nasca used the lines as astronomical observatories or water maps, or for some other purpose entirely." [Full Story]
"Peruvians walked their prayers into the earth"
January 26, 2009, New Scientist, UK: Now new details about these geoglyphs suggest they may have been made for 'prayer walking'.
Nazca culture's geoglyph known as "The hand" The Nasca lines are a collection of lines, giant trapezoids, and figures of humans, plants and animals in a desert 400 kilometres south of Lima, Peru. They were created between 400 BC and AD 650 by the removal of reddish oxidised stones from the desert pavement to reveal the lighter sand beneath. Tomasz Gorka of Munich University in Germany analysed five geoglyph complexes near the city of Palpa, focusing on the large trapezoidal structures which are etched on the plains there.
He measured anomalies in the Earth's magnetic field caused by changes in soil density at various depths."
"Heavy rains alter Peru's famed Nazca Lines"
January 21, 2009, AFP, France:
Nazca culture's geoglyph known as "The hand" The precipitation left a layer of white clay on parts of two of the geoglyphs, 'giving another color to the figures', archeologist Mario Olaechea of the National Institute of Culture told AFP.
The Nazca Lines are considered one of the world's great mysteries."
"Heavy rains damage Peru's Nazca lines"
January 20, 2009, PR-Inside, Austria: Mario Olaechea of Peru's National Culture Institute told The Associated Press that water from the unusually heavy rains washed off the nearby Pan-American highway and pushed sand and clay onto part of the site Sunday. The damage is minor, and the institute plans to clear the material and restore the glyph, Olaechea said." [Full Story]
"Ancient People Were Fond Head Collectors:
January 06, 2009, Softpedia, Romania: The heads were not captured in battles, but came from the same tribes as the people they were buried with. Why this civilization collected heads is still a question that leaves scientists puzzled, but at least now they know that these people were not in the habit of severing their opponents' heads from their bodies and taking them home. In the average tombs, the heads were suspended from woven cords, so as to be visible to all people and spirits that may have visited the tombs. There are numerous controversies regarding the matter, as the scientific community failed to come to a consensus as to why the heads were collected in the first place, and what their role was in the community." [Full Story]
"Taking trophy heads close to home"
December 19, 2008, Science News, USA: In South America’s ancient Nasca culture, some local folk literally lost their heads so that everyone else might fill their bellies. The Nasca obtained trophy heads, human skulls modified in various ways and intended to spur successful farming, from their own people, not from foreigners slain in battles and raids as was practiced by the Inca and other prehistoric societies of that region, a new study finds. Earlier analyses of paintings on Nasca pottery had suggested that members of this culture believed that the taking of trophy heads provided supernatural power needed for crop growth. Since the first Nasca trophy heads were discovered nearly 100 years ago, scientists have debated whether these items came from vanquished enemies or from local individuals thought to represent venerated Nasca ancestors." [Full Story]
"Quickbird Discovers Site of Human Sacrifices"
October 24, 2008, SatNews Daily, USA Italian researchers Nicola Masini and Rosa Lasaponara of Italy's National Research Council (CNR) discovered the pyramid by analyzing images from the satellite Quickbird, which they used to penetrate the Peruvian soil.
A QuickBird image showing the pyramid discovered near Cahuachi
Via Quickbird, Masini and colleagues collected high-resolution infrared and multispectral images. After the researchers optimized the data with special algorithms, the result was a detailed visualization of a pyramid extending over a 97,000-square-foot (9,000-square-meter) area. . Cahuachi is the best-known site of the Nazca civilization, which flourished in Peru between the first century B.C. and the fifth century A.D. and slid into oblivion by the time the Inca Empire rose to dominate the Andes. [Full Story]
"Satellite discovers ancient adobe pyramid in Peru"
October 04, 2008, Malaysia Sun, Malaysia: According to a report in Discovery News, Nicola Masini and Rosa Lasaponara of Italy's National Research Council (CNR) discovered the pyramid by analyzing images from the satellite Quickbird, which they used to penetrate the Peruvian soil. The researchers investigated a test area along the river Nazca. Covered by plants and grass, it was about a mile away from Cahuachi's archaeological site, which contains the remains of what is believed to be the world's biggest mud city." [Full Story]
"Archeologists in Peru unearth human sacrifices"
September 18, 2008, Reuters India, India: At the Cahuachi site in southern Peru, Giuseppe Orefici, director of the Italian center for pre-Colombian research, found two bodies along with textiles and ceramics. Cahuachi was part of the Nazca civilization, which flourished in Peru between AD 300 and 800 whose members carved massive lines depicting birds and animals in the Peruvian desert that are best viewed from the air. 'A human sacrifice is very important', said Giuseppe Orefici, an archeologist who has spent decades excavating Cahuachi. 'Human sacrifices added to the value of the offering', he said while standing next to a central pyramid that rises from the flat desert." [Full Story]
"Artifacts and textiles found at Cahuachi ceremonial center"
September 04, 2008, Andina, Peru:
Artifacts and remains found at Cahuachi include engraved gourds with nature-related and abstract designs, pre-Inca textiles and ceramics as well as the remains of a sacrificed child. The Ceremonial city of Cahuachi is located about 28 kilometres away from the modern city of Nazca, at the lower section of the Nazca Valley, virtually in the middle of the desert. Since 1982, Italian archaeologist Giuseppe Orefeci has begun tireless work uncovering the ancient city of the Nazca people." [Full Story]
"Archaeologists explore Peruvian mystery"
May 22, 2008, PhysOrg, USA: Dr Nick Saunders from Bristol University and Professor Clive Ruggles from the University of Leicester are locating and measuring the lines with high-precision GPS, photographing the distribution of 1,500-year old pottery, and painstakingly working out the chronological sequence of overlying lines and designs. Funded by the Anglo-Peruvian Cultural Association in Lima, their research hopes to unlock the purpose of the dazzling but confusing array of desert drawings. Bizarre explanations, such as alien visitations, ancient landing strips, and astronomical calendars are being replaced by serious archaeological and anthropological ideas." [Full Story]
"Archaeologist 'strikes gold' with finds of ancient
January 29, 2008, Purdue University, USA:
'Archaeologists know people in the Old and New worlds have mined minerals for thousands and thousands of years', said Kevin J. Vaughn, an assistant professor of anthropology who studies the Nasca civilization, which existed from A.D. 1 to A.D. 750. 'Iron mining in the Old World, specifically in Africa, goes back 40,000 years. And we know the ancient people in Mexico, Central America and North America were mining for various materials. There isn't much evidence for these types of mines.' 'What we found is the only hematite mine, a type of iron also known as ochre, recorded in South America prior to the Spanish conquest. This discovery demonstrates that iron ores were important to ancient Andean civilizations.' In 2004 and 2005, Vaughn and his team excavated Mina Primavera, which is located in the Ingenio Valley of the Andes Mountains in southern Peru. The research team performed field checks and collected some samples in 2006 and 2007. The findings of the excavation are published in December's Journal of the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society. The researchers determined that the mine is a human-made cave that was first created around 2,000 years ago. An estimated 3,710 metric tons was extracted from the mine during more than 1,400 years of use. The mine, which is nearly 700 cubic meters, is in a cliffside facing a modern ochre mine." [Full Story]
"We know who drew these giant shapes in
December 10, 2007, The Miami Herald, USA: Or maybe they point to hidden reserves of water, the source of life in the desert. Then there's my favorite: UFO landing site. Forty years ago, Danish writer Erich Von Daniken popularized that theory with his best-selling book Chariots of the Gods? Now, strapped into a four-passenger Cessna circling over a figure called the astronaut, I'm not sure what to think. One of its hands points to the sky, another to the ground. His owlish eyes stare into mine. Look at me, the 1,500-year-old seems to say. Can you solve my mystery? Here's what's known: For hundreds of years, the Nasca people created lines on the ground. Some form familiar figures: a spider, hummingbird and dog. Others - a whale, monkey and parrot - don't belong in the desert at all. The only way to see the Nasca Lines is from the air. That makes them even more mysterious. How did pre-Inca people make these images without being able to fly? And what was the point of forming lines if they couldn't appreciate their glory? The lines weren't even discovered until 1929, when a pilot flew over the area and was astonished to see eyes looking up at him. Thanks to the ancients, the town of Nasca now has a veritable air force: More than a dozen companies fly planes over the lines. The tours are an industry, as indicated by the handwritten sign taped to my plane's instrument console. 'Tips are welcome', it says in six languages. Not bad for a dusty desert town of about 20,000, a six-hour bus ride south of Lima. The modern city of Nasca, a place that gets less than an inch of rain a year, owes its prosperity to the mysterious markings. Statues inspired by the desert figures decorate the town plaza. Sketches of the lines are everywhere else. Elongated hummingbirds mark store signs, while a lizard graces City Hall. On sidewalks, brass inlays of a monkey and spider reflect the sun. But the lines might have been forgotten without Maria Reiche. She came to Peru from Germany in the 1930s as a tutor and eventually dedicated her life to documenting the creations. For years, she surveyed the area, measuring the markings and pondering their meaning." [Full Story]
"Nostradamus Prophecies Linked to the Nazca Lines"
June 12, 2007, PR-GB, Bulgaria: A direct connection between the two is surely impossible, no? 'To the contrary, it's highly possible', says Morten St. George, author of a Nostradamus decoding book called Incantation of the Law Against Inept Critics: A Guide to Cryptic Thinking. St. George's sensational decoding breakthrough was discovering that more than a half dozen of the Nostradamus prophecies cover, with extreme accuracy and detail, major historical events of an Andean people known as the Incas. 'The prophecies in question stand among the easiest to decode. No one ever did so because no one ever imagined that Nostradamus could be prophesying about such things.' Moreover, in a couple of those prophecies, the author displays signs of emotion over the future dire plight of the Andean people, implying that there was direct contact if not a bond of friendship. A reaffirmation comes in the first line of prophecy VI-2, which reads 'In the year 580 more or less.' Interpreters normally assume poetic license to add a thousand years. 'Not necessary,' says St. George. '580 are correct as it stands. Prophecy VIII-76, internally claiming to signal the time of authorship, recounts in detail known historical events occurring in England around 580 A.D.'". Meanwhile, it seems the people of Nazca used wooden stakes to mark out their lines, and archaeologists, using radiocarbon dating techniques, have determined that they began their grandiose project in the Peruvian desert around 580 A.D.." [Full Story]
"Priests may have designed Nazca lines, expert says"
September 24, 2006, Arizona Star/Reuters, USA: Researchers say the Cahua-chi compound, built in 400 B.C., is just across the Nazca Valley from the lines, one of Peru's most popular tourist attractions and a U.N. World Heritage site. The work is part of the Stonehenge Riverside Project, designed to explore the archaeological evidence from the landscape around Stonehenge, Woodhenge and Durrington Walls, and to examine this wide complex of monuments and human activities. 'It is logical to think that the Nazca people's religious beliefs originated in this ceremonial site and got expressed on the wide-open plain', Italian archaeologist Giuseppe Orefici, who leads research at Cahuachi, said last week. Geographical proximity is not the only evidence of links between the two ancient sites — the same religious icons appear at the lines and on ceramics and crafts excavated at the Cahuachi compound." [Full Story]
"Mystery Triangles Break Nazca Code"
August 27, 2004, PR Web, USA: It was just another hike thru the woods for three friends in San Diego on that glorious July day back in 1990. Only after the photos from the trip were developed did the hikers discover they were not alone. In the distant background of one of those daylight scenic photos, a formation of nine objects were accidentally captured hovering over a nearby hillside. 'These extraordinary photos are most pursuasive evidence of the existence of UFOs' an expert would claim months later in a popular magazine. On the trail that day however, nothing was out of the ordinary as the three adventurers set out to explore for the first time a beautiful loop trail at Inaja Memorial park in Santa Ysabel, California just east of San Diego." [Full Story] The phenomena of strange lights in the sky near to ancient sites is something that has been reported from almost every corner of the world. Until these phenomena are fully explained they do indeed remain adequately described as Unidentified Flying Objects. But it is pure idiocy to attempt to identify them in the context of some sort of extraterrestrial lifeforms visiting our planet. Ancient peoples all over the globe were capable of performing feats of engineering that we are uanable to equal, or copy, today despite our suppposedly superior technology. Regrettably many people are unable or unwilling to appreciate this simple fact despite the ample evidence to be found all around us. [Editor]
April 20, 2004, The Washington Times/AP, USA: 'Farther down this road there are illegal gold mines, too', he said, noting that the path is the side of a gigantic trapezoid. 'See how straight it is.' But it is not only trash and small-time gold diggers that threaten Peru's fragile Nazca Lines. Grave robbers, tractor-trailers and tourists have left their mark on the vast designs carved more than a millennium ago along a 35-mile stretch of desert. In many ways, the damage reflects Peru's inability to protect its myriad of pre-Columbian archaeological gems. Mr. Urbano blew the whistle on the municipality of Nazca in October for briefly dumping trash inside the 175-square-mile protected zone that has been a United Nations World Heritage site since 1994." [Full Story]
"Ancient Desert Markings Imaged From Orbit"
April 19, 2004, The Washington Times/AP, USA:
They were made simply enough, by moving dark surface stones to expose pale sand beneath. However their intended purpose remains a mystery. It has variously been proposed they were created as pathways for religious processions and ceremonies, an astronomical observatory or a guide to underground water resources." [Full Story]
"Over 1000 new 'geoglyphs' discovered on Peruvian
October 08, 2002, National Geographic News, USA: Peruvian archaeologist Johny Islas and German colleague Markus Reindel have identified new etchings made by the ancient Nasca people in the desert valleys of Palpa, about 460 kilometers (290 miles) south of Lima. After five years of work, the scientists were able to identify more than 1,000 new geoglyphs ... " [Full Story]
"Nazca Lines, Peru - latest satellite images"
January 15, 2001, Earth Observatory, Earth Orbit:
Near the top of the image, a spiral is nestled at the foot of the mountains. Below it is a spider, with its pincers facing the left edge of the image. Since the lines are difficult to see from the ground, the artists may never have seen their work from this perspective. So why did the Nazca go to the trouble of scribbling over the desert?" [Full Story]
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"Pathways to the Gods: The Mystery of the Andes Lines"
"Nazca: Eighth Wonder of the World?"
"The Nasca "Ancient Nasca culture of the south coast of Peru is famous for its magnificent polychrome ceramics, textiles, and other works of art, as well as the enigmatic ground markings on the desert plain at Nasca. In the past two decades much has become known about the people who produced these fascinating works. This scholarly yet accessible book provides a penetrating examination of this important civilization."
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