Nazca Lines
Contents:
• Where the “Nazca Lines” and what are are they?
• Construction
• Purpose
• Environmental concerns
The Nazca lines are a series of drawings done on the ground, located in the Nazca Desert, a high arid plateau (is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain.) that stretches more than 80 km (50 miles) between the towns of Nazca and Palpa on the Pampas de Jumana in Peru. They are believed to have been created by the Nazca culture between 200 BC and AD 700. There are hundreds of individual figures, animals, spiders, monkeys, fish, sharks, llamas and lizards, flowers and plants, objects, and anthropomorphic figures of colossal proportions made with well-defined lines. (Astronaut)
Construction
The creator of the lines and why they were created is not known. The leading mainstream theory is that the Nazca people made the lines using simple tools and surveying equipment. Wooden stakes in the ground at the end of some lines (which were used to carbon-date the figures) and ceramics found on the surface support this theory. Furthermore, researchers such as Joe Nickell of the University of Kentucky, have reproduced, without aerial supervision, the figures using the technology available to the Nazca people of the time. With careful planning and simple technologies, a small team of individuals could recreate even the largest figures within days. Contrary to the claims of several commentators, the figures can be observed from the ground by standing on top of nearby foothills.[1]
The lines were made by removing the iron oxide coated pebbles which cover the surface of the Nazca desert. When the gravel is removed, the lines contrast sharply with the surroundings because of the light-colored earth underneath. There are several hundred simple lines and geometric patterns on the Nazca plateau, as well as over seventy curvilinear animal, insect, and human figures. The area encompassing the lines is nearly 500 square kilometers...