![]() Others still may have had a more prosaic purpose. ![]() Some may have indeed pointed to astronomical events, while others may have had purely ritual uses. In all likelihood, the different lines and drawings may have had different meanings and purposes. This theory, however, has been contested by other scholars. As a New York Times obituary of Kosok’s protege Maria Reiche explains, both Reiche and collaborator Phyllis Pitluga believed some of the lines depicted patterns in the sky. Others have postulated that the drawings of animals might be constellations. Further study convinced him that the lines marked key points on the horizon where celestial bodies would appear or disappear on important dates. Looking up, he noticed the line pointed directly at the setting sun, marking its position on the shortest day of the year. When Paul Kosok, a historian at Long Island University, was conducting studies of the lines in the early 1940s, he claims to have been standing at the end of one line just after the winter solstice. One of the earliest scholarly explanations for the lines holds that they serve as a kind of ground-based astronomical calendar. Archaeologists Clive Ruggles and Nicholas Saunders, studying a newly discovered, labyrinth-like design, suggest that the Nasca would walk the path of the line, perhaps as part of ceremonies or initiation rites. Such rites may have involved actually interacting with the lines. The geoglyphs may lay out the groundwork for ceremonies or observances aimed at placating deities and bringing rainfall to the desert, they think. There may be a more ceremonial relationship to water, however, as other archaeologists have suggested. An irrigation channel just a foot deep wouldn’t be very useful. It seems unlikely because, as some researchers point out, the lines are so shallow. Could the lines have been used to channel this water? Indeed, though the region is dry, it does occasionally see flash floods. ![]() The lines bear some superficial similarities to irrigation channels, suggesting they may have once been used to carry water. In 2019, researchers found that this geoglyph, once thought to be a hummingbird, actually portrays a hermit - a subgroup of hummingbird that dwells in the forested regions of northern and eastern Peru. There’s still no consensus on the lines’ meaning, though it seems likely that they may have served more than one function. Archaeologists have suggested a number of theories, including that the geoglyphs had religious or cultural significance, were involved with water somehow, or perhaps were related to astronomical observations. The purpose of the lines, however, has been more difficult to explain. These simple tools and methods would have been available to the Nasca at the time, and the reproduction easily shut down a theory that “ancient aliens” were somehow involved in the lines’ creation. In 1982, a small team was able to reproduce one of the larger drawings, the condor, using wood and ropes to mark off measurements drawn from a small-scale drawing. They vary from around a foot to over a dozen feet in width. ![]() None of the lines are inscribed very deeply into the soil - no more than a foot or two. The lines were made by scraping away the reddish desert topsoil to reveal a slightly deeper layer that’s more gray in appearance. Their construction, too, is easily explained. It rains so little in the Nazca desert, less than an inch per year on average, and the air is so still, that there’s little to wash the lines away. Of the many mysteries of the lines, their survival is perhaps the simplest. and 600 A.D., based on radiocarbon dating of pottery found nearby, estimates of rock aging and other measures. (The terms "Nasca" and "Nazca" are often used interchangeably, but the former refers to the period and culture, while the latter describes geographical locations.) Scientists date the lines to between around 200 B.C. The geoglyphs are thought to have been made by the Nasca civilization, who inhabited the region for around 800 years beginning in 200 B.C. The region's dry environment has preserved the markings for roughly 2,000 years. ![]()
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