The enormous Nazca lines were created by ancient humans around 2,000 years ago and are still visible today without any signs of degradation. No one has been able to provide a complete interpretation of what these lines signify.
Just for a moment, picture yourself flying across the expansive desert skies of southern Peru on an aircraft. You most likely anticipate seeing rocks and sands that are colourless, uniform, and drab in appearance. But that’s not all there is to see in this part of the world. The Nazca lines are huge formations that can be seen throughout the country’s terrain when viewed from above. These lines have been a mystery for the past two thousand years.
The lines were found in an area of Peru that is around 330 kilometres (or slightly over 200 miles) southeast of Lima and is near to the contemporary town of Nasca. There are over 800 straight lines, 300 geometric forms, and 70 animal and plant patterns that are referred to as biomorphs. In all, there are over 800 straight lines. Some of the straight lines are as long as thirty miles, while the biomorphs may be anywhere from fifty to one thousand and two hundred feet long, which is equivalent to being as tall as the Empire State Building.
They are well known for portraying various creatures and plants, such as a spider, hummingbird, cactus plant, monkey, whale, llama, duck, flower, tree, lizard, and dog. Other examples are also available.
The drawing of a humanoid creature that has been dubbed “The Astronaut,” complete with its hands and certain portrayals that cannot be identified, is possibly the most peculiar of the bunch.
According to research conducted by scholars, the Nasca people, who lived in the area from from 1 AD to 700 AD at the height of their civilization, were responsible for drawing the lines. It is possible that members of the Chavin and Paracas civilizations, who existed before the Nazca people, were also responsible for the creation of some of the geoglyphs.
In the area where the figures are located, which is covered in a layer of iron oxide-coated pebbles, anthropologists believe that the ancient people created the shapes by removing 12 to 15 inches of rock and digging deep to reveal the lighter-colored sand that lies below. This was done in order to make the figures visible. It’s likely that they started with figurines on a smaller size and gradually worked their way up to larger ones.
However, what exactly is the function of these lines? Since more than eighty years ago, people have been looking for an answer to this issue.
The next question you may ask is, “If they’ve been there for such a long time, why have scientists only been studying them for the past 80 years?” In any case, in the 1930s, when pilots flew their planes over the lines, they were able to attract the attention of a large number of people. Prior to then, no one was able to recognise the forms when viewed from ground level, and no one was aware of this enigma.
What is the significance of the Nazca lines?
… Do aliens have a role in this at all?
Paul Kosok, an American historian, started looking at the lines from the ground as well as the air in the late 1930s. He reasoned that the geoglyphs had some sort of astronomy-related function on the basis of the placement of one of the lines in relation to the sun around the time of the winter solstice. According to him, the high desert, which spans a total area of 310 square miles, is the “biggest astronomy book in the world.”
After Kosok, in the 1940s, a German archaeologist named Maria Reiche, who is known as “the Lady of the Lines” due to her 40 years of inquiry, concurred that the lines had an astronomical and calendrical meaning. This was her conclusion following Kosok. Reiche believed that certain animal geoglyphs represented constellations or clusters of stars in the night sky.
Another idea that stood out among the others and gained a great deal of interest was written by a Swedish author by the name of Erich von Daniken. He claimed in his book titled “Chariots of the Gods?” that ancient chariots were used to transport gods across the world. (1968) that these lines were a landing location for UFOs and that the ancient people considered extraterrestrials to be “alien gods.” (1968) that the ancient people believed that these lines were a landing spot for UFOs. Similar assumptions are used in other alien-related ideas, such as the one that suggests the shapes were created by aliens and that they were used to manoeuvre their spacecraft and as landing pads.
However, in the late 1960s, further scholars, such as the American astronomer Gerald Hawkins, looked into the Nazca lines and came to the conclusion that the astronomical and alien-related theories were both incorrect.
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The structure and ecology of the region that appears to be the one that comes closest to explaining the purpose of the Nazca lines has been analysed in more recent research, and those findings point to a very crucial element.
The Nazca lines brings some mysteries but do you mind to check the colourful Reed Flute Cave?
Johan Reinhard, a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, was quoted as saying, “Look at the broad natural system, what’s around Nazca lines, and where were the Nazca people located.”
He is referring to the dry environment of the area, which only receives roughly 20 minutes of precipitation on average each year.
This dry climate not only explains how these forms made it to this era without suffering any harm, but it also gives a vital insight into the function of the Nasca lines, which is the necessity for water.
Reinhard wrote in his book The Nasca Lines: A New Perspective on their Origin and Meanings that “it seems likely that most of the lines did not point at anything on the geographical or celestial horizon,” but rather led to places where rituals were performed to obtain water and fertility of crops. “It seems likely that most of the lines did not point at anything on the geographical or celestial horizon,” he said.
The inhabitants of Nazca were most likely performing rituals in order to entreat their gods to provide them with water. It’s possible that the lines were drawn so huge so that their gods could see them, and the forms were used as a way to communicate with their gods about how desperately they needed water.
Animal motifs and spiral motifs, both of which can be recognised in the forms, were also prevalent in other ancient Peruvian sites of Nazca lines, according to Reinhard.
When looking at the meaning of these symbols in the ancient times of Peru, it can be seen that it was believed that spiders were a symbol of rain, that hummingbirds were linked with fertility, and that monkeys were associated with their location in the Amazon, which was a place with an abundance of water.
In addition, the form of the hummingbird, which stands out among the others, appears to provide support for this concept. It is known that hummingbirds inhabit tropical locations that are located near to the equator. These are the places in which it rains for many hours each day, as opposed to only twenty minutes each year.
According to Reinhard, “No single judgement can support a hypothesis regarding the lines; but, the combination of archaeology, ethnohistory, and anthropology makes a convincing case.”
Along with the Nazca lines check the magnificent boiling water in Amazon.
Both the origin of life and the origin of change may be traced back to water. It’s possible that the individuals who lived there were trying to convey that message. By leaving messages, they hoped to bring about a transformation in the desert where they resided.
And it’s possible that what they really wanted was access to water, which is something that we might not have in the future owing to the effects of global warming on the way weather patterns behave.