Who made the Nazca Lines in Peru, and how?
The Nazca draw on the desert
Las líneas de Nazca
between 200 BC and 600. On the dry southern coast of Peru the Nazca people, who flourished from about 200 BC to AD 600 in valleys around their ceremonial centre of Cahuachi, scraped…
Where: Peru, Nazca
What happened
On the dry southern coast of Peru the Nazca people, who flourished from about 200 BC to AD 600 in valleys around their ceremonial centre of Cahuachi, scraped away the dark surface stones of the desert to expose the pale ground beneath. The result is more than 800 straight lines, some thirty kilometres long, 300 geometric figures and about 70 animals and plants: a hummingbird, a spider, a monkey, a whale. Most can only be seen whole from the air, which is why they were first studied in 1926 and became famous with the age of flight. Their purpose is disputed; the most accepted view is that they were walked in rituals connected with water and fertility, and some may point to the solstice sun. The Nazca also made brilliantly painted pottery and textiles.
Say it
Las líneas de Nazca solo se ven bien desde el aire.
The Nazca lines can only be seen properly from the air.
Why it matters
The lines are Peru's best-known mystery and a reminder that Andean cultures created monumental art without cities on the Mesoamerican scale; they are a World Heritage Site.
There today
- See
- Near Nazca, on the southern coast of Peru, the hummingbird, spider and monkey figures are best seen whole from the air, and the lines are a World Heritage Site.
Read about it
Connected
- Tiwanaku on Lake Titicaca (between 200 and 1000)
Sources
- Nazca Civilization — World History Encyclopedia
- Why the Nasca lines are among Peru's greatest mysteries — National Geographic