The Nazca Lines – the eighth wonder of the world in the Atacama Desert of Peru

Nazca lines

The area around Nasca belongs to the Pampa Colorada, which limits the east of the Andes Mountain Range and forty kilometers west of the Pacific Ocean. About 50,000 years ago, the valleys of the Andes were filled with heavy gravel rains. After the glaciation of the Ice Age, a large plateau remained, in which the rivers had cut up to three hundred meters deep: The Aatacama Desert.

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More than 2,000 years ago, from the year 400 a. C., Ch., Here in the shadow of the Peruvian Andes, geometrical forms of a kilometer long and mythical formations were buried in the earth. In 1927, during a flight over the desert, the pilots discovered what they perceived as encrypted messages. In a short time they became popular in the media around the world.

In more than 250 square kilometers of rocky pampas extends a wide network consisting of lines up to ten kilometers long. The triangular and trapezoidal shapes alternate with drawings of plants, animals and humans. Completely, this monument can only be captured from the air. The contrast of color is possible thanks to the superficial stratification of the ground. If the top layer of reddish-oxidized boulders (also known as desert varnish) is scratched freely, a clear, clearly compensated yellow surface appears.

Meanwhile, we know that the mysterious sketches of the earth are a legacy of Nazca, an ancient Peruvian culture native to this region. The Nazca culture was developed between 200 BC to 800 AD in the coastal region of southern Peru today. To this day, imaginative fabrics and Nazca ceramics have survived. Some of the obviously mythical-religious beings represented there, like the monkey, are also found below the Nazca lines.

Of course, I was not in this daring thesis. Ethnologists and historians, scientists from various disciplines have been dedicated to the exploration and explanation of the Nazca lines in the last 90 years. We give an overview of the various theses, why here in Peru, in the middle of nowhere, huge drawings, probably significant, are carved on the ground, and provide practical travel tips for all those curious who want to see the lines of Be born closely.

The ’Nazca Geoglyphs thesis’ by Maria Reiche

Fifteen years after the first sighting of the images on the long, sterile surfaces of the Atakama Desert, the current Nazi pioneer of modern science Maria Reiche discovers the Nazca Lines as an area of research. It’s the year 1939; The German, who already lives in Lima, is particularly interested in the seemingly infinite geometric shapes that are not a foreign territory for her as a mathematician, physicist and geographer. However, she herself can not begin to investigate the Nazca lines in the place until 1946, after the end of the war, before she, as a German, was forbidden to leave the city of Lima.

Rich believes that the key to understanding the Nazca lines lies in the sky. She intends to find the secret of the so-called “geoglyphs”, in the conviction that “… if we can translate all the measurements in terms of time, we can read in the pampas as in a great history book”.

For more than 40 years, Reiche has been releasing the geometric images, photographing them and measuring them meter by meter, initially without a piece of equipment, with metric tape and sextants alone (today the Nazca lines are captured with high resolution aerial photography, GPS and laser scans). To avoid having to travel from Lima every day, he even moves to a cabin without water or electricity directly on the edge of the desert.

The exploration of the Nazca plateau becomes the task of his life. Between 1962 and 1964 it was assisted by the American Yonah Ibn Aharon. At the age of 52, Reiche is tied to helicopter skates to be able to take close-ups of the geoglyphs with a plate camera. The images make the rich famous. Later, it is supported by the aerial photography agency of the Peruvian Air Force (SAN) with overflights.

Reiche participated all her life, most recently from a wheelchair, for the protection and preservation of the Nazca lines. At the age of 95, the researcher died, received several honorary doctorates and was a bearer of the Great Cross of the Solar Order of Peru. Rich is buried in Nazca.

Previously, however, she has developed an integral theory of the Nazca Lines. After many years of research, she concludes that the lines of the abstract signs were the first indicators of the Nazca, while the representational representations may have had a more ritual character. Therefore, the term “geoglyphs”: Land for the determination of the position of the sun, so it sets the best time for planting and harvesting.

With this explanation, the scientist enters into a terrain that is alien to him, astronomy, but also remains purely scientific terrain. After 20 years of effort for academic recognition, this will be given at the end of their lives: in 1994, the Nazca Lines were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in response to their ongoing suggestions. Today they are considered the eighth wonder of the world. In Peru, Maria Reiche is still a hero; his birthday is an official national holiday, and his work has turned an inhospitable level into a tourist region.

The Nazca Lines from the point of view of Erich of Däniken

n 1968, a new explorer of the phenomenon of Nazca lines appears on the scene. Erich von Däniken claims that the Nazca plateau is a great landing strip for extraterrestrial spacecraft. With this thesis he created one of the basic components of the “preastronautics” that he defends, according to which extraterrestrial beings have visited the earth repeatedly over the centuries and have essentially influenced human evolution.

In the myths of primitive peoples, these space visitors were stylized into gods. In the decades after his theory of the Nazca lines, Däniken also interprets other buildings and relics of ancient civilizations such as Stonehenge or the pyramids of Giza in this context. Of course, from a scientific point of view this does not make sense, why would such a sophisticated technology have to land in the middle of the Nazca desert with the help of the signs of the earth? Until today, Däniken could not corroborate his thesis, although he himself is not particularly interested in the classical academic test.

Latest findings about the Nazca Lines

Since 1997, scientists from the German Archaeological Institute have been taking the Nazca lines under the direction of archaeologist Dr. med. Markus Reindel under the microscope. Dr. Reindel and his team are convinced that they will find the key to their history, especially in the settlement areas around the Nazca Lines. Reindel is sure that actors of the Nazca era at that time can help solve the mystery. Discovering how the population lived and what traditions it used could also reveal the purpose of the Nazca geoglyphs.

Reindel began to explore the conditions of the past and shed light on the Nazca culture. Fortunately, there are quite intact mummies of the colonists of the time who lived around the Nazca Lines. For example, Reindel could see in the digestive tracts that there was a social hierarchy among the inhabitants. For example, some residents ate more meat, others more seafood. Therefore, it was not an egalitarian and equal community, but apparently structured according to social classes.

This existence of hierarchies, which also had to include a high class, speaks of a long-disputed theory. Their tribal leader of ‘working classes’ of the individual clan issued the order to scrape lines and figures on the ground. The bigger and more imposing were the lines of a representation, the more powerful and rich were the clans. Each clan strove to perpetuate a typical motif in the desert sand, similar to a family shield.

The Scientists are convinced that the birth of Nazca will provide more answers. In search of information about the inhabitants of that time, they examined hair samples from well preserved mummies, which are kept in the Museum of the City of Ica. Hair stores chemicals from the earliest youth to the moment of death. Through the analysis of the hair, one can discover, for example, what food the dead consumed, even after 2500 years. In these hair samples, scientists like Prof. Dr. med. Stefan Hölzl as read in a newspaper.
The use of specialists in geoelectrical tomography also looks for remains of settlements from that time. This technology makes possible a direct look at the earth. In this way, entire settlements can be discovered below the surface of the ground. In subsequent investigations, the scientists found housing in the pits and also discovered the skeleton of a child, buried in the floor of the building. The subsequent analysis of the finding showed that the Nazca culture had its origin as early as 4000 BC.

At that time, Nazca had not created any drawings in the Pampas. However, the animal and human motifs of the later Nazca lines were already there, archeologists found them carved into rocks. They date these rock frescoes from the beginning of the Nazca era. Scientists now believe that these images represented personal messages to the gods. Later, the images were transferred to the plains of the desert region in the desert varnish.

Climate change as the key of the Nazca Lines?

Since 1997, scientists from the German Archaeological Institute have been taking the Nazca lines under the direction of archaeologist Dr. med. Markus Reindel under the microscope. Dr. Reindel and his team are convinced that they will find the key to their history, especially in the settlement areas around the Nazca Lines. Reindel is sure that actors of the Nazca era at that time can help solve the mystery. Discovering how the population lived and what traditions it used could also reveal the purpose of the Nazca geoglyphs.

Reindel began to explore the conditions of the past and shed light on the Nazca culture. Fortunately, there are quite intact mummies of the colonists of the time who lived around the Nazca Lines. For example, Reindel could see in the digestive tracts that there was a social hierarchy among the inhabitants. For example, some residents ate more meat, others more seafood. Therefore, it was not an egalitarian and equal community, but apparently structured according to social classes.

This existence of hierarchies, which also had to include a high class, speaks of a long-disputed theory. Their tribal leader of ‘working classes’ of the individual clan issued the order to scrape lines and figures on the ground. The bigger and more imposing were the lines of a representation, the more powerful and rich were the clans. Each clan strove to perpetuate a typical motif in the desert sand, similar to a family shield.

The shamanic soul goes through the Nazca lines

In the Indians, the shamans were responsible for the direct connection with the gods. To enter the necessary trance, the holy men took mescaline contained in the extract of the Peruvian San Pedro cactus. This was meant to free his soul from the power of earthly attraction. On the occasion of the sacred rituals, the shamans asked for enough food, abundant income and the good of the community.

The images of the desert could have played their part in these shamanic, and possibly quite “earthly” ceremonies. Not only did they indicate the beings that the shamans resorted to, but they also provided a visual guide to help them return to the present.

However, this does not explain the many geometric representations. To get close to them, the scientists sent a small one, equipped with a helicopter camera across the desert. The camera created a variety of frames, which were then merged into a PC to form a complete image. In doing so, the technicians created an accurate representation of the Nazca plateau around the year 300 BC.

It became clear: the abstract forms could also have served as a generous facility for Nazca residents. They mark a sacred place, but one in which as many settlers as possible should be able to perform their ritual actions simultaneously. A whole mass audience should have space. As evidence of the sacrifices, many fragments of pottery were also made in the most important places, in the event that the higher powers, the magnificent images in the desert sand are no longer sufficient.

Were the Nazca Lines witnessing a catastrophe?

In 2008, geographers came up with the idea that the desert around the Nazca Lines might not always be as inhospitable as it seems today. They examine the region more closely to the Andes and find incredible things: a shell. This discovery and subsequent soil samples leave no doubt that today’s desert was a fertile soil around 11,000 and 2,000 BC.

The sudden climate change that occurred around 2,000 BC led to a continuous expansion of the desert. Resources now increasingly scarce often led to disputes among the inhabitants of the desert. The Indians, therefore, asked the gods with increasing urgency for indulgence and, of course, for the rain.

When the gods stopped responding because the rain was no longer their sign of favor, the Incas were forced to turn their backs on their homeland. They left gigantic portraits, which many thousands of years later still offer a lot of conversation.

Travel Tips Nazca Lines

From Lima, about 450 km away, there are several buses to Nazca. Prices vary greatly depending on the comfort and characteristics of the buses. The trip lasts between six and seven hours. Nazca itself is a small city with all the necessary comfort.

Within Nazca, almost all accommodations, from the hostel for backpackers to the comfortable hotel, offer flights over the Nazca Lines. Almost always these reserved overflights are cheaper than an online tour with prior reservation. However: in the months of July, August and September is high season. Then it may be more difficult to book a tour on the site.

If you have time, it sounds a bit like what providers are recommended. Although airplanes are similar to each other, the quality of the flyby varies from company to company. Good sellers really fly as many characters as possible, try to allow different perspectives and circumnavigate particularly spectacular characters several times. They often offer passengers a general video before the start and share a map of all the Nazca lines for better guidance.

The earlier the flight is scheduled, the better. Here in the desert, there may be fog development in the afternoon, which severely limits visibility. However, there are flights throughout the day. By the way: whether calm or not, small Cessnas, mainly of five or six seats and single-engine, are not comparable with large passenger aircraft. Wind gusts and sharp curves can be difficult to overcome for those prone to nausea during sudden movements.

For the flight, light clothing is recommended, even if it is still cool outside on the ground. The plane can be very hot, especially in the summer months of December to March, when the external temperatures reach 40 ° C.
Flights of approximately half an hour are famous for their departure and can be delayed for hours. Vendors who pick up passengers from the hotel and take them to the small Nazca airport, which is about four kilometers away, can be a good option.

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